Whoa, it’s been a while but here’s a catch up…

Things have been so crazy for me that I’m having a hard time hanging on!  So let’s see, where to start!

Well, I guess one of the most incredible things is that I now host my own radio show – that’s tres cool.  Something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time – even took courses in Broadcasting way back when and finally it’s all coming together.

Our Hydro Ottawa story has grown in length, almost a year now since we’ve been trying to get them to correct their Smart Meter errors – today, Jun 6/09 we decided that we’d been patient enough since Kim called us on March 16/09 to tell us she was going to put our request to have our account erradicated of the erroneous just shy of $3000 excess billing – we gave her 3 months to put this in front of her Supervisors but seems she didn’t quite have the time to give it any attention.  Today we contacted our MPP office in Ottawa South, Lauren at that office has been an awesome help.  She apparently sent a request to Ottawa Hydro May 20, 2009 to ask them to provide her with a follow up on the progress but she hadn’t heard anything back.  Tsk, tsk…so she requested that we authorize her to deal with this situation again – thanks so much Lauren!!!

We fully expect Hydro Ottawa will want to move their tushies on this now – we’ve had roughly 6 months worth of billings that are about 2500kws lower than the old Smart meter was ringing up and given we’ve gone through the winter months with much less kws used than Hydro Ottawa’s defective Smart Meter was ringing up in Aug of 2008 when our home was pretty well as “turned off” as we could possibly get it without taking it off the grid completely – we are pretty certain that Lauren will work her magic and Hydro Ottawa will be trying to gouge someone else for their mistake somewhere along the way.

If you’re having billing issues with Hydro Ottawa stick with it because they certainly don’t have your best interest at heart – but utilize the avenues that will get you were you need to go – MPP, Media, Legal – whatever it takes – it’s money you deserve to fight for…and money they don’t deserve to have!    If you think your Smart meter is reading ridiculously high – you’re probably right, particularly if you still have a 1st Generation meter with “known” motherboard malfunctions – don’t let Hydro Ottawa tell you they’re Smart meter is reading perfectly because they are fully aware of the motherboard issues and this is why they are currently introducing 2nd Generation meters….so call em up and get yourself a new meter if you have one from 2006-2007 – particularly  if you are finding your hydro bills out of control.

My family took part in the Relay for Life in a small city this past weekend – the entire effort raised $305,000.00!!!  That was so awesome.  I was a little disappointed to see so few of my husband’s family out and active in this effort given that they have a mom, brother and sister in law who passed away from cancer – but next year I have a solution – I’ll just contact everyone – door to door and yank em out and get them up for even 1/2 an hour show up – least they can do right?  My family drove 2 hours to get to the Relay – walked most of the night – then drove 2 hours back home so all I can say is I think anyone who lives just 10 minutes from the activities can give at least a 1/2 hour of their time for this great cause!

Well, that’s about it at this end – tons more I could add but apparently I have children who are fading away for lack of “instant” food so it’s out to the grocery store to ensure they keep up their strength – after all, they still need to clean their rooms!

Have a great day everyone – enjoy it to the fullest – like the Nickelback song – If today was your Last Day – you want to ensure you do it up right!  I’ll try to get in here and update some tutorials and jewelry finds for you – schedules, schedules…have to learn how to work with those!

Take care,

Akaiya

How to make … GeltDesigns tutorials & Blue Buddah classes

Sometimes it pays to have your Twitter ‘on’ so that you don’t miss some really great little nuggets of info through out the day. Thanks to Blue Buddah Boutique , a Chain Maille shop with lots of supplies for the Chain Maille enthusiast, I noted a link they had twittered about that lead me to a great group of Tutorials on how to make all kinds of jewelry clasps.  This led me to a main site of tutorials where you will find a lengthy list of even more How to do’s related to Resin Jewelry, Precious Metal clays, How to make different types of jewelry and much more.

The site with the tutorials is for GeltDesigns.  All the tutorials come up in a paged format with great images and step by step instructions.  An excellent resource.  If you also want to take in their tutorials on their blog, you can visit them at GeltDesigns.com.

If you’re into Chain Maille and are fortunate enough to live in the Chicago area where Blue Buddah Boutique is located, you might be interested in taking up some of their upcoming classes starting in April related to Wire Crochet, Viking knit,  knotting and beaded maille, or if you’re like me and just need lots and lots of Jump rings, they can help you out there too.  I’ll have to get an order into these folks!

While I’m on the subject of fine things and great finds, again a link from Blue Buddah, you have to check out some of the most incredibly devine Dragon sculptures from Unicorns and Dragons on Etsy!  These are amazing and I must say, they are absolutely stunning!  For the amount of work that obviously goes in to making these gorgeous items the prices in my opinion are very reasonable.  Beautiful work and thought I’d pass it along for others to enjoy – and lucky you if you find yourself unable to resist purchasing one or more of them!  I’m envious

Enjoy your day,

Akaiya

Smart Meters, New Blog & Odds n Ends

I’ve been incognito the last while, tying up some loose ends on a few things and with Spring just around the corner I’ve been in Spring Cleaning mode – doggy dung is high on that priority list and no, it’s not a fun chore

Tools for the freelancer – Your rates, your time & billing your way

Freelance writing – freelance anything, is a business and like any business, you have to know how to determine a fair and workable income that will allow you to continue freelancing – otherwise you’ll starve, your bills won’t be paid and it will be mighty difficult to keep that roof over the head too, right?  You also need to know how to manage your time – and know how much time you spend on your projects and of course there’s always Invoice and billing practices to be dealt with.

Today, there are a number of ways that freelancers can manage and track their business and do it directly from the Internet or from their desk/laptop without spending a large amount of time and energy from scratch.

So, if you are still trying to get your pricing matrix in order, still trying to organize and keep track of billable hours, want to know what your break-even point is or are still writing out Invoices by hand – then let me see if I can make it a little less work.  Although some of the following tools will no doubt need to be ‘tweaked’  to fit in with your specific requirements while others are pretty complete, almost all will provide you with a  jumping off point and if they aren’t ideal, they will at least give you a good foundation for your own custom development.

McBead Creations, a “Gem” of a store!

The idea for a wire Bonsai pendant (similar to this one shown as item #30 at Step-By-Step Wire Jewelry Magazine’s website) led me on a quest to find jump rings that would allow me to complete the chain maille chain I decided to make for it.  I’d already started the chain and was about 1/2 finished when I realized I’d need to purchase more jump rings or make my own.  A stop at one store and I had a package of 500 jump rings that were slightly bigger than those I’d already been working with.  Hoping that I’d have better luck at the next store, I headed to what I can only describe as a “Gem” for bead enthusiasts and anyone else who loves being creative with beads, findings, wire and more!   Nestled among residential homes in a nice little strip mall in the Craig Henry Area, just off Greenbank Road in my favorite city – Ottawa, Canada, is a fabulous bead store called McBead Creations and here is where I found not only the right size jump rings to complete my project, but so many other wonderful things that the hour visit I enjoyed there, just wasn’t long enough and I intend to go back again very soon!

A fabulous bead store find is MY kind of chocolate!

If you are a beader, wire worker, chain maille artist, jewelry designer or just someone who loves to browse through lots and lots of wonderfully creative finds, or perhaps purchase gorgeous hand crafted jewelry for yourself or others,  you must visit this  shop!  From the moment you step inside the door you realize you’ve found an absolute goldmine of every imaginable bead, bobble, crystal, wire, finding,  pendant  – (oh the list is endless) -  that you could ever possibly hope to find all in one spot.  That isn’t were this treasure store ends however.  The staff is exceptional!  Like long, lost friends they greet you warmly and do everything possible to ensure your shopping experience with them is one you’ll enjoy.