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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Arnel Pineda -- who is he?

Arnel PinedaImage via WikipediaThis is Journey with their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, whom they discovered on YouTube on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

I had read about him a little while ago, but this is the first time I've seen and heard him.

After watching the video, and being quite impressed, I then discovered that Journey has had quite a few lead singers after Steve Perry's departure, all of whom have been pretty impressive.

Here's a comparison:


Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Dribble Cups

Why is it that 9 times out of 10, Tim Hortons employees seem to line up the tear off part of the lid with the cup seam. Coincidence? It can make for a dribbly sip of coffee.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Weekends and Paint Chips

Once again, a weekend is over before ya know it. I’ll be taking two weeks off work in about 3 weeks. I’m soooo looking forward to it.

After washing our truck yesterday afternoon, I discovered two chips in the paint on the plastic bumper near the rear wheel well. There also appears to be a small bubble that hasn’t yet chipped off.

Our truck is less than a year old, so I’m assuming that something like this would be covered by the warranty. My wife called the dealership this morning asking what we can get done about it and they told her that the service manager would have to see it. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring it in this week.

It certainly doesn’t seem like something that can be “touched up”, since it’ll more than likely continue to get worse over time, which leaves repainting the entire bumper. Or could they replace the bumper with an already-painted bumper? I’d be happy with either of those options. I just won’t settled for a “touch up”.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Hello? Is anybody home?

Over the last few months a representative from MTS Allstream has been leaving us messages on our answering machine regarding our "account". According to the message, there is an outstanding balance on our account that we must rectify to avoid a disruption to our service.

Up until a day or two ago, we have been ignoring these messages. Not because we don't want to rectify the outstanding balance, but because we don't have an "account" with MTS Allstream. In fact, up until today we didn't even know what they did or what kind of service they provide.

My wife decided to call the rep back to let them know that they have the wrong number. The rep who has been calling us was busy, so she spoke with another rep.

MTS Allstream apparently provides communications (phone service?) They have our number on file as the business number for Sophistication. This doesn't come as a complete surprise to us. Sophistication was a bridal clothing store. For the last four years, we've been receiving phone calls every spring from women looking for bridal gowns and/or prom dresses. You used to be able to find our number using Google. It took a few emails to various business listing web sites to get it removed. Now it seems that I can only find it using Yahoo.

Anyway, my wife told the rep that our number is residential, we've had it for four years, it does not belong to Sophistication, we have nothing to do with that business, nor have we ever had anything to do with that business, and that they can remove our number from their system.

The reply she received was "We'll see what we can do."

My wife then clarified that she wasn't asking them to remove it, she was telling them to remove it. It's our home number and they have no business calling it. They will never get in touch with Sophistication by calling it.

I don't know what else was said, but my wife said that the rep didn't seem as pleasant after that.

It wouldn't surprise me if the calls don't stop because they think that we're bullshitting them to avoid paying whatever the oustanding balance Sophistication owes them.

I hope I'm there to answer the phone the next time they call. I'll be polite. I'm really curious what they they're hoping to gain by continuing to call. I'll tell them that they're more than welcome to send someone to our home to verify that they are indeed calling a residential number. I'll also going to ask them if they have a contact name and address on file for Sophistication.

$10 says they're not mine.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Great Mileage

A recent study found the average Canadian walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found Canadians drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Canadians get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Makes you proud to be a Canadian, eh?

(I have no idea if those stats are real... it's just funny)

Friday, May 16, 2008

Drive-thru follies

A smaller Tim Horton's location, with a focus on drive-thruImage via WikipediaWe pulled into Tim Horton's this morning, the same as we do every morning, to get our coffees before I drop my wife off at work.

This particular Timmy's is a small one, with two drive-thrus (driver and passenger sides) and no seating inside the building. There is, however, a counter to place and receive your order.

We always use the passenger side drive-thru. I place the order, pull up to the window, and my wife pays and gets our coffee. That is how a passenger side drive-thru is supposed to work.

This morning, like many other mornings, some nimrod drivers alone in their vehicle used the passenger side drive-thru and held everyone up with their stupidity.

Now, if you can pull up real close to the window and reach across with your payment and get your order without the Timmy's employee having to lean out the window, it's not that big of a deal.

What drives me crazy is the two examples we saw this morning.
  1. Moron pulls up to the window, stopping 2 feet short, and leaving 2 feet distance betweeen his car and the window. He then GETS OUT of his car and walks up to the window to complete the transaction. My wife summed it up perfectly. If you're going to get out of your car anyway, park it in a spot and walk inside to get your damn order.
  2. This guy was immediately after moron #1. He pulled up beside the window, but left at least 2 feet between his car and the window. He then reached over the passenger seat, and out the passenger window to pay the girl. She practically had to hang out the window to reach for his payment and to hand him the tray of two coffees.
Why is Tim Horton's condoning this practice by serving these people? I'm sure there used to be a sign that said they wouldn't serve people at the drive-thru window if they weren't in a car. I'll have to look for it again, because if they'd enforce that, it would take care of morons like #1. As for #2, they need a new sign that says:
** ONLY VEHICLES WITH AN OCCUPIED PASSENGER SEAT WILL BE SERVED AT THIS DRIVE-THRU **

It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

Sometimes there's an old lady who walks her dog to this Tim Hortons, and instead of tying her dog outside and walking inside, she walks up to the drive-thru window and places her order there, which usually involves butting in line.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

PCmover download link -- found it!

I finally found the download link for PCmover. Their site is so slow that the main page never finished loading. Try here for the download.