My partner and I have spent the entire afternoon fussy with SiriusXM Canada. I hold an introductory (or trial) plan of music and videos following the purchase of a new car from Reid Bros in Arnprior. I was attempting to locate and manage my account on-line and to facilitate the “streaming” of music to our separate devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro). Streaming (which is basically “transmitting or receiving video and audio material over a computer network as a steady, continuous flow”) is an added bonus to subscription to SiriusXM Canada including its availability to a limited number of family members. In the result however – after struggling to make it all work – I am feeling exceedingly strained and drained. Translation: I am kaput!

SiriusXM Canada Holdings Inc. (commonly referred to as SiriusXM Canada) is a Canadian broadcasting company which distributes the services of American satellite radio provider Sirius XM in Canada.

The current company was formed on June 21, 2011, following the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s April 2011 approval to merge the formerly distinct XM Radio Canada and Sirius Canada services. This followed the 2008 merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio in the United States.

Today’s technological impediments have rendered me out of touch with modern scientific knowledge – in spite of having been an early adherent to the burgeoning desktop and laptop computers, smartphones and smartwatches. My redemption from today’s pitiable performance is that, at last, we were able to make it all work. That is, in spite of the hours of frustration – at first unable to Log In to my account, followed by a parade of alternate User Names and Passwords – we managed to secure access to my account.

The peculiarity is that the User Name used by either me or my partner is different (though the Password is the same).  Because I do not intend to use Sirius XM Canada on my devices other than my new car, this anomaly is of no consequence particularly as we have so far resisted the (frequent) invitation of the Sirius employees (Travis and Mo) to undertake a monthly subscription. My interest in connectivity to Sirius XM Canada is therefore academic at best. But today’s accomplishment represents achievement of a goal notwithstanding the repeated hurdles to overcome. As I said to my partner, I do not like defeat. It isn’t primarily a popular aversion; rather, it is the desire to understand what I believe are necessary elements. The glory is not the resistance but the attainment.

The curious feature of this affair is that it strangely echoes what I have previously experienced with the SiriusXM Canada after the purchase of other cars. Indeed throughout today’s turmoil there were repeated notices on the websites for SiriusXM Canada that they were having “technical difficulties”, the frequency and incommodious nature of which may well have augmented the prickle of events. And I can tell you that it made for several heated moments between my partner and me – though thankfully I resisted blaming the SiriusXM Canada employees for these trite roadblocks. This is particularly gratifying because I interrupted Mo to ask, “Do I hear children in the background?” He replied that he had three children. He told me as well that he spoke Arabic and that he lived in Egypt. I concluded he worked “from home”. He punctuated my comments by saying only, “I try” which I instantly felt was an admirable expression of enterprise.