SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM

I received this e-mail today. It told me that I could buy my drugs from Canada for 70% Off of what I normally pay. WOO HOO ! ! ! Except for one thing. I LIVE IN CANADA ! ! ! ! I am getting sick and tired of receiving spam for offers from FREE IPOD and Mac Mini's to a better mortgage rate and on the bottom of EVERY E-Mail it says "Offer good for "U. S. Residence only". If this offer is good for U. S. residence only then why the hell are you e-mailing this crap to me.

It's bad enough that I'm getting spam from "another country" but after I waste my time with it, to discover that I couldn't use this service even if I wanted to is really annoying. It's like TIVO not being available in Canada. We need to use PVR's from our "Cable or Satellite provider" (Good thing I have one, thank you Expressvu).

One thing I like about being Canadian is how prices seem to be higher for everything. Now I do understand issues with the exchange rate but the Canadian dollar has gained in value lately, (now hovering in the mid/low 80 cent range) but items, like electronic products have not gone down in price from when the dollar was in the low 70 cent mark. It's coming to the point that it would be cheaper for me to go across the border and buy it myself.

Then again Canadian internet pharmacies seem to be doing well right now with people from across the border buy our "cheaper" drugs, even Homer was doing it. One thing I found funny was that some people think that the drugs aren't safe, like were making them in our "Igloos" or something, when in fact they come from the U. S. The reason that they are cheaper up here is simple, PRICE CONTROL. The Canadian government regulates how much a drug company can charge for its product so that consumers cannot get gouged.

Though I should be grateful for some things, like movies being released in Canada at the same time as the U. S. I hear that they tend to come out later in other parts of the world. The same thing with music CD's, videogames and software. Apparently every other industry considers Canada to be the same market as the U. S. (except they have to slap a bilingual label on whatever they try to sell up here, though I usually throw away the "French" instructions.

Now that I think about it, the Canadian government is just as much at fault in allowing me to be marginized. It's the CRTC fault that I cannot get HBO, and a whole load of U. S. cable TV services. In fact, they made it "illegal" for me to own a U. S. satellite receiver. They also have a firm hold on what channels I can watch. Only recently has Fox News been available in Canada (but not through Expressvu yet). I look forward to the day in the near future when I will get my TV through my IP and the CRTC will have NO CONTROL over what I watch.

Well I can accept everything else right now but for now, STOP SPAMING ME ABOUT THE FREE IPOD.

(Oh and check out what I've done with my Geek Blog, oh look real hard)

My 2 bytes