Of Cellphones & Mothballs

Without going into too much ranting detail let's just say my new apartment has a lot of quirks...and rules.

The Area

I'm in a pretty nice location. My street is all residential, though we have a bit of traffic. It also seems, at least the last two nights, a small group of bikers enjoy zooming by in the evening at just around dusk.

It's about a 5 minute walk from a popular street with a lot of little shops, restaurants, and cafes.

Along this stretch is the Dollarama (one word), where I went today for a few things. I found almost everything I was looking for; light-bulbs, dish-soap, baking soda, and vanilla extract. No clorox wipes, though, or a Canadian equivalent. I also got to hear this gem from my high school days. At first I was afraid it was going to be the new rap-remix (ugh), so it kind of made my day.

The vanilla extract was purchased for a very specific reason (which I will explain later) but I almost didn't find it at the store, because of the size of the bottle.

Needless to say, I thought it was a bottle of syrup. Even after further investigation I wasn't convinced I wouldn't bring it home and find out it was vanilla flavored syrup. Considering the circumstances, though, the size was perfect.

In the opposite direction you can find la Banquise, which offers "no lessthan 25 different types of poutine" and is also open 24-hours. This is where we had dinner on Thursday afternoon for my dad and my Nana's last night in town. I'd say it's very similar to Redbones in terms of atmosphere, the tables are all painted differently and it's very loud and busy, but I liked it. If you hadn't already guessed, this is where I will bring you if you come to visit me. (Yes, there is a vegetarian option).

After dinner we went for a walk in the park near my house. Saw this cool tree, or, well the bottom of it.

The Apartment

Back to the vanilla extract. Why was such a large bottle a great find?

Before I moved into the apartment I knew that my room came with a bed and a dresser. Therefore I left my own bed and dresser back in the states. The only problem now is that the dresser absolutely reeks of mothballs.

To touch on the oddity/rules; I told my landlord about this issue and said I was trying a few remedies I found online, but if it continued to smell could we get rid of the dresser? The point being that I cannot and WILL NOT put my clothing in this thing only to have everything I own smell like mothballs. Gawd-damn do I hate that smell...

The answer was no, because it's a "nice" dresser (everything in my apartment is "nice." I'm sure even the couch pillow with the burn mark on it is, too...right)

He claimed he didn't know why it would smell like mothballs because they never put them in there (they being him and his wife...who don't use this apartment...tenants do...whatever). He also said he wasn't sure what it smelled like (since I already had some vanilla in there) but I assured him it was mothballs. My grandmother, love her dearly, uses mothballs in most of her closets, I know the smell. I told him, this dresser smells like my grandmother's house. True story.

Moving on.

The internet is a wonderful place and has given me many a home-made solution for ridding furniture of mothball stink. One of these cures is putting a bowl of vanilla in the dresser (while it's empty and with the drawers closed).

So, I decided to try this, only I just had half of that little bottle of vanilla shown above. I diluted it with water and put 3 bowls of it in the drawers since there are 3 sections to the dresser, each with 3 drawers. I've also been putting all 9 of the drawers out in the sun on my porch since sunlight is also supposed to help. I already knew this because sunlight (somehow, magically) helps remove the smell from clothes. You have to air out clothes/or whatever for a few days in the sun for this to work, it's not a one-shot deal.

For the time being anything that isn't hung up in my closet is folded neatly on a bookshelf I put on top of the dresser, or military-rolled and packed in clear-plastic buckets, also stacked on top. If anything it makes a good table, it's very long and wide.

Oh, let me show you a picture, I guess.

I put the drawers out in the sun today. Since I am the only one home for the weekend I just left them in the kitchen for night to put them back out in the morning. The vanilla cure is supposed to work best if the drawers of the dresser are closed (and in the dresser), but I figured it wouldn't hurt to just have the bowls in there while the drawers got a tan, seeing as I can't put the dresser itself out on the porch...

I also bought baking soda as a back-up plan, and to use in the bathroom, which smells like silicone caulking (from repairs). Don't go thinking I have an amazing sense of smell and can identify anything, my dad was the one that pointed out what the bathroom smell was. He's a handy-man and knows that kind of stuff.

Cellphones (and acquiring my school ID

Yesterday I spent most of my time walking. Googlemaps says it's about a 45-minute walk from my apartment to school (one-way). I do have my bike here but since I don't know the city yet I decided to learn it on foot first.

Even though the deals at Bell seemed better($10 cheaper) I figured I'd try VirginMobile instead because there is a location right near campus.

My first trip down was a predicted flop when I was halfway there, thinking, maybe bringing my passport would have been a good idea. Yeah, I know I mentioned that in my last post. About that. I am an idiot.

Being halfway there I went all the way, just to get in the walk and explore. The girl at the VirginMobile kiosk told me I would need either a Canadian credit card or an SIN (Social Insurance Number) which is the Canadian equivalent of a SSN. Some Canadian approved ID would help, too. Doh.

Though I haven't had a chance to look into it, I swear I received something from school saying I would be assigned a SIN at some point/somehow, or have a chance to get one, etc. With this is mind I set my sights on school after I gathered all my necessary documents and trekked back and got my school ID and health insurance card squared away (the latter being a happy accident). Yet, the woman helping me get my ID said she didn't know where I had heard the thing about getting a SIN, and also, she didn't know why I needed one for a cell-phone.

After returning to the cellphone kiosk I found out that I need either the SIN or the Canadian credit card for a credit check, and only if I want a monthly plan. I don't need either for a prepaid-card-doohicky plan.

I decided to sleep on it and have been exploring other options since yesterday afternoon. One suggested alternative was Google Voice (which is free) though it seems it is not available outside the US (much like hulu, which made last night very lonely, at first).

There may be a loophole, but I think I'll wait to see if it works before I blab about it.

I can still call phone numbers from my gmail chat, but not having Google Voice means not having a number for people to call me on. Google Voice is also all computer based (unless you have a smartphone with an app, I suppose, but that still requires a new phone).

I did find this service but it seems I need to have an already existing Canadian number to register for it.

My mom also suggested MagicJack, because we were discussing if there was a way to keep my current phone number (it's been around for almost 10 years now, and I am pretty attached to it...lame, I know). MagicJack, though, also assigns you a new number, and it is also computer-based just with your phone hooked up to it.

At the moment I still have my old phone, I am just not using it unless it's an emergency.

The idea of having a free service, especially for calling home, sounds very appealing. But, having it all be internet/computer dependent only bothers me in the respect that my laptop would become even that much more of a necessity. I guess I will most likely be bringing it to school with me everyday, but if I am out and about say, with friends, or at a party, how will anyone get ahold of me? Hmm...

I think I will probably end up with a cheap pre-pay and just use it for texting...?