Home Reno – Turning off the water

When I got home from work, I decided to make sure I could shut off the water to our house. I didn’t want any surprises tomorrow when we gutted the ½ bathroom. I knew where the tap was, but never had the need to turn it off. Until now.

The tap was very stiff, but I managed to turn it a dozen times until until it turned no more.

We turned on the tap in the bathroom and the water flowed freely. This was definitely not what one would expect with the main tap being turned off.

I had a look around the basement for another tap. Nothing.

This one had to be the one. It was attached to a pipe coming up through the concrete floor. The pipe was very cold. There was no doubt. I turned it back on again. And off again. We tested the basement taps near the washing machine. We still had water. WTF?

I tried turning off the tap leading to the hot water heater and then turned on the hot water tap at the sink. No water. I turned it back on. The pipe leading to the hot water tank comes from this main tap, so I was 100% sure this was the main source and all leading to this sink.

I swore a lot. My wife asked me to stop swearing. I told her I needed to swear.

I turned the main tap off again… as tight as it would go. I was afraid that it might snap off.

I walked over to the sink and turned on the cold water.

It dribbled out. Success!

I guess the stubborn tap, having not been used for such a long time, just needed loosening up… or something.

I ran up to the bathroom and tested its taps. They too stopped working.

I turned the main back on until tomorrow.

One problem overcome… with persistence and a lot of swearing. It is now beer:30.

Bring on tomorrow.

Home reno 101

I don’t consider myself to be a contender for Canada’s Worst Handyman, but I am also far from being a home renovation expert.

I always get nervous when trying new reno projects for the first time. 99% of the time, they go well, but there’s always that 1% taunting me that I’ll mess it up.

We’ve been doing a main floor reno since January. What started off as simply “replacing this old carpet” has turned into…

• removing carpet from all stairs, sanding, staining and finishing steps (done)
• installing ceramic tiles on the risers (done)
• repainting the stair stringers (done)
• removing all baseboards on the main floor, stair landings and upstairs hall (done)
• repainting the upstairs hall, stairs case walls – upper and lower – living room and dining area (done)
• removing carpet in the living room and dining area and replacing it with laminate flooring, including a ½" plywood subfloor
• removing old laminate floor in entrance, kitchen and ½ bathroom and installing porcelain floor tile, also including a ½" subfloor and removal of old vanity
• installation of new baseboard throughout all affected areas
• possibly installing crown moulding in living room and dining area

The two parts of this project that I have never “experienced” are:

• Gutting a bathroom and installing a new vanity and sink, including the removal and reinstall of a toilet and cutting pipe copper pipe
• Installing porcelain floor tiles

The vanity happens to be the original vanity installed back when this townhouse was built in the 1970s. It has no shutoff valves on the plumbing underneath the sink. Thankfully the toilet appears to be newer and does have a shutoff valve installed, so that’s one less thing to do (or screw up)

I’ll be taking the easier route and won’t be welding any pipe once I cut the old ones. I have the braided hose with pressure fittings and shutoff valves. One day I’ll take on the welding task, but for now, easy is key for me.

Wish me luck.

Things that I remember about my Dad

I remember once when we were visiting friends of our family, we were in the backyard playing badminton... it was hot and I asked him for a sip of his beer. I must have been like 11 or 12 years old. He let me have a sip and I remember not liking it.

One morning, when I was really young, my Mother woke us up and warned us that my Father had been in a fight the night before. He got punched in the face by some thieves breaking into a car in downtown Montreal. He thought they locked themselves out of their car and checked to see if they needed help. Not his brightest moment. He was greeted with a punch to the face, breaking his dentures and causing a deep cut above one of his eyes that required stitches. For weeks, while he waited for new dentures, he had to eat soft food. He got the soft toast in the morning. He called it his "wallopy bit".

His favourite beer was Molson Export.

He had THE smelliest feet ever. After a day of work, his feet could stop a herd of bull elephants in their tracks. And kill them.

He had a mole, dead center, on his back. It looked like a Jelly Tot stuck to his back.

I remember the first time my Dad said "Fuck". We were driving in our car and some kid threw a snowball at it. It startled him and he said something like "What the fuck was that?". It was eerily quiet in the car after that, when he realized what he said. The second time I heard him say it was when I visited him at work one day. Someone came into his office to ask about some changes on a set of plans, or something like that, and he mumbled "They don't know what the fuck they're talking about..."

My Dad was my best man at my wedding. On the morning of my wedding, I was sitting in the Minister's office talking to the Minister while we waited for my Dad to arrive. He was late. Apparently, in all of the confusion of who was driving who, and when, my Dad was forgotten. When he finally arrived, he rushed into the Minister's office, wiping the sweat from his brow, and said "Jesus, it's hot out there!" He then noticed the Minister, remembered where he was, and said “Oops… sorry!”. The Minister responded, "That's ok, we say that a lot around here."

He would always wear his kilt on New Year's Eve. I have a picture somewhere of him wearing it to walk our dog, one New Year's Eve.

I remember cutting off all contact with him after he left my Mother and all of their debts. As a result, he never got to meet either of my children. He lived in Louisiana, so it wasn't too difficult. Still, it’s not something I’m proud of.

I remember calling him when he was in the hospital, in the days before he passed away, and letting him speak with his 3½ year-old grandson for the first time. It was also the last time. I heard later that he was so happy.

 

My Dad passed away after a very short battle with liver cancer and all the hell that goes in December 1998. If you have a few bucks to spare, please make a donation in support of my participation in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life scheduled for June 18th. Any amount is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Click here!

Week 31 - Super Cub

Super Cub
Originally uploaded by Twister65

This week's Project 52 photo is my Hobbyzone Super Cub.

Back in April of 2007 I took up a new hobby of flying electric R/C planes. My first plane, the Hobbyzone Firebird Freedom, despite being a "beginner" plane, was quite difficult to fly and resulted in a lot of frustration and purchasing new wings and a tail.

Not long after, I decided to get a new plane: the Hobbyzone Super Cub. This plane flies like a dream. It is the ultimate beginner plane and is so much fun to fly. Many days that spring and summer were spent up at a nearby school, flying it with a friend and my brother in-law, both of whom also had R/C planes. I even rigged up a small digital video camera to record in-air footage and put a bunch of videos up on YouTube.

After logging a lot of air time with the Super Cub, I was finally able get my first plane in the air and keep it flying, now that I was more comfortable with correcting for wind and my own errors.

We didn't go flying as much the following year, and not at all in 2009. I had attempted to change the battery connections in the winter of 2008 to something more stable than the Tamiya connectors, but failed due to my crappy soldering iron. I never did get around to fixing it that year, even though I had also picked up a couple of batteries last year in anticipating of flying.

I have decide that this year, I will get back to flying. I bought a new soldering iron and this evening, I fixed up the connections. Hopefully those two batteries I bought are still good and I may have been able to salvage one battery from a couple of years ago. We'll see if it holds a charge.

This was the last video I made of my plane in August 2007.

Future Shop pre-order fail

What is the benefit of pre-ordering something before its release?

In my mind, I think it is so you can be one of the first to get your hands on it when it becomes available.

Am I wrong?

Let’s assume that I am right.

So, why does Future Shop and Best Buy accept pre-orders for new video game releases and then NOT ship the damned things on their official release date, or at least the day after?

Last summer, I pre-ordered Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360. The official release date came and went. My order was stuck in “in progress” limbo for almost a month before it shipped.

Along came Final Fantasy XIII. Screw Best Buy. I pre-ordered it from Future Shop a few days before the official release date to get $5 off the price (Yes, I realize that Best Buy owns Future Shop but I was hoping for a better experience this time… apparently I was wrong)

On its release date (Tuesday), I posted a question on the Future Shop fan page on Facebook:

Scott Paterson How soon do the online pre-orders ship? The last time I pre-ordered a game from "that other" store, it took a MONTH after the game's release before it shipped. The only reason I didn't cancel it was because it was on sale. I'm rrreally hopin' Future Shop is different.

I got a prompt reply:

Future Shop @Scott: It should be shipping on the day of release which should be today.

As of noon today, the order status on Future Shop’s web site still indicated “In progress” and “Out of stock”.

I posted three replies in the thread since Tuesday and there hasn’t been any response from the Future Shop rep in that group. My last message said that I would cancel the order at noon if it still hadn’t shipped.

Guess what I just did.

Week 30 - Rideau Falls, Spring 2010

Rideau Falls, Spring 2010 (30/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I drove out to Rideau Falls on Saturday morning hoping to snap a few shots of massive ice chunks flowing over the edge, as it did around this time in 2007. I guess the milder winter played a large part in disappointing me this year, or maybe missed it?

Week 29 - Winter Wonderland?

Winter Wonderland?
Originally uploaded by Twister65

After many days of spring-like weather, last Thursday evening gave us this. It was gone by the weekend. Crazy weather.

Yes, I'm a day late. I watched the Canada vs. USA gold medal game on Sunday and enjoyed a few too many beers celebrating Canada's victory. :)

Week 28 - GO CANADA GO!

We love hockey
Originally uploaded by Twister65

At the start of every hockey season, I get out the Ottawa Senators flag and hang it on the wall behind the TV. We have a large Ottawa Senators blanket that is folded in half and placed on the back of the couch, with "Ottawa Senators" facing outward. A small Stanley Cup is placed somewhere in the room. This year it happens to be on the CD rack beside the TV. This is all done with my wife's blessing. She's as much of a fan as I am. In fact, she may be a bigger fan because she knows all of the players' jersey numbers. Oh yeh, we also wear team jerseys while watching the game.

For tonight’s Team Canada vs. Team U.S.A. Olympic game I got out the Canada flag and hung it on the wall in an attempt to bring some good mojo to the team. It didn't help. Maybe I was too late.

Anyway, thanks to the Olympics for my Week 28 Project 52 inspiration!

Uh oh… it’s the cops!

A little while ago, I wrote about all of the illegal left turns coming out of the Esso/Tim Horton’s at the corner of Ogilvie Rd and Montreal Rd.

A day or so after, I actually sent the Ottawa Police an email about the issue. It took them a while, but they did respond saying that it was forwarded to the department(s) in charge.

This afternoon I received an email from a constable asking for my name, address, phone number and birth date so he could follow-up on my “complaint”. I sent it to him.

He called me this evening.

He gave me a brief rundown of the history of the signage – how it started off as a single, waist-high sign at the Tim Horton’s drive-thru exit, and eventually became a larger sign, with an additional sign on the median. He acknowledged the fact that despite the multiple, clearly visible signs, many people are ignorant of them.

He said one day when they were enforcing the signage, they gave out over FIFTY tickets, and he had to call for assistance because while he was issuing a ticket, someone else would make the same illegal left turn.

Unreal. But based on what I see every morning, not too surprising.

He thanked me for the update that it’s still occurring and said that they would likely be out enforcing it again in the near future.

Like I said before, they could make some serious $$ in handing out fines.

Anyway, it was cool that they followed up. I wasn’t expecting it since I don’t really consider what i sent to be a “complaint”, but more of an “FYI”.

One of these days I’ll get some video footage of all the City of Ottawa trucks ignoring the sign and post it. :)

Week 27 - Flashback to the 70s

Flashback to the 70s (27/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I replaced an old light fixture on the landing going to our basement and found this behind the base of the fixture. Obviously, when one of the previous owners removed the wallpaper, they took the quick'n'easy way out and didn't remove the light fixture.

This must be vintage 70s stuff. The black has a velvety feel to it. Considering the basement walls have wood paneling on them (now painted) I have to assume that the main floor of our house was covered with this stuff at one point. A small piece of history to our home. :)

Week 26 - Brian Elliott

Brian Elliott (26/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

This week's photo comes from my trusty 'ol Canon S3 IS.

My family and I went to the Sens Super Skills competition this afternoon. Unfortunately, they frown heavily upon fans who use, or try to use, a DSLR camera.

This is Brian Elliott take a fun shot on a junior goalie warming up. It's so cool to see pro players playing with the kids and treating them like an equal.

Team Red beat Team Black this year, for the third year in a row.

Week 25 - Stair Reno

Stair Reno (25/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

Nothing fancy this week. Haven't had much time for that. But, it is a memorable shot for me. Or will be at some point in the future when I look back.

We started a main floor renovation a couple of weeks ago, and part of that involved removing carpet from the stairs, pulling staples, patching, sanding, staining and finishing them to match the laminate flooring that we'll be putting down in the dining room and living room in the spring.

We decided to put ceramic tiles on the risers, and this is the pattern and colour we chose.

I'm already sick of the smell of Varathane and I'm only half done, after putting on two coats on every second step.

I need a shave!

It's that time of year again!

June 18th and 19th will be my third year participating in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Orleans, Ontario.

The Relay for Life is an overnight non-competitive relay that celebrates cancer survivors and pays tribute to loved ones. It's a night of fun, friendship and fundraising to beat cancer.

Thanks to your generosity last year I achieved my goal and, as a result, I shaved my head. It was a lot of fun and I would do it again... but where’s the fun in that?

Last year I set two goals. The first was to reach $1,000 and I would shave my head. The second was to also shave my face (moustache and goatee) if I reached $2,000. I didn't reach that second goal so I got to keep my facial hair.

I've had my facial hair for a long time and I’ve kinda grown attached to it. :) In fact, my kids (14 and 11 years old) have never seen me without my moustache. I have friends who have also not seen me without it.

So. here's the plan for this year:

I set my goal at $1,500.

$1,500 will let me shock my kids with a clean-shaven face.

I have approximately 4½ months to reach my goal. Want to help and support a great cause?

Visit here http://convio.cancer.ca/goto/scottpaterson

Or click the SUPPORT ME button on the left column of my Facebook profile.

Like they say, every dollar helps. That’s a fact.

Thank you for reading!

(P.S. if you have any better ideas that aren't painful, extremely embarrassing, or illegal, feel free to suggest them!) :)

Smoke photography

I am inspired by Photocritic.org’s smoke photography collection.

One tiny problem. Ok, maybe two.

I don’t have a remote flash for my camera, nor do I have a stand for my SpeedLite 380ex flash. I don’t think the 380 would work with a remote anyway.

But, after studying the photos and the setup, I realize that I may not need either.

What if I set up the camera and “smoking device” in a similar manner and then switched the camera to bulb exposure mode. With my infrared shutter remote in hand, turned off the lights in the room, stood off to the side, triggered the shutter and then fired the flash test mode?

Would that work?

Hmm… another photography project on my To Do list.

One year later

One year ago today I quit smoking. I am still nicotine-free.

I was going to write more about it but I’ve written enough before. If you want quit and would like to know what worked for me, click here for a previous post.

Oh ya… congrats to me! :)

Week 24 - Concentration

Concentration
Originally uploaded by Twister65

Tough choice this week. I had a few photos to choose from an decided on this one.

Another shot taken with my 50mm. I really like this lens and I so like B&W photos.

This is my daughter playing Lego Star Wars on my XBox earlier this week. She was so into the game, she hardly noticed me snapping away with my camera.

Week 23 - Feeed meee!

Feeed meee! (23/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I had plenty of photos to choose from for this week, but I figured that seeing pictures of our stairs being stripped of carpet, scraped and sanded wouldn't be too interesting. :)

So, here's our cat, Sam, once again gracing my blog. I bought a 50mm f1.8 lens off a seller on Ebay earlier in the week and it arrived on Friday. While testing it out, Sam decided she wanted to be fed and was quite vocal about it. I couldn't pass on the opportunity to snap a shot or two.

Week 22 - Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel (22/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

A fairly easy choice for this week's choice for my Project 52, although one of my recent B&W shots was a possibility.

We had put our Christmas tree out in the back yard, leaning up against our shed. I remember making a comment at the time that I'd better not find any squirrels making a home in it.

I was off work on the Monday, alone at home, and puttering around with my camera when I heard what I thought were birds at the bird feeder. I peeked out the back door window and saw this red squirrel running around inside the tree branches, snacking on small pine cone buds. He definitely saw me, and was only about 4 feet away. There was no way I could open the door to take the shot, so I poked the lens through the blind and snapped a few.

The only thing I did to this photo was crop it and increase the saturation a little to bring out the squirrels colour a little more.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Beige? White? Hot pink?

At some point this afternoon, Facebook statuses started appearing with a single word. That word was a colour. Any colour.

I was puzzled. What’s with all the status colours?

I did a little searching and found the reason.

Women on Facebook were changing their status to the colour of bra they were wearing to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.

Cute. Fun. Many status comments were hilarious. Some guys had fun with it, posting the colour of their underwear. Or the fictitious bra they were wearing to hold their “moobs”.

Some other guys, like me, were puzzled. And some, when they found out what it was for, thought it was “useless”, or “retarded”. They said that it did nothing. It was no different than a chain letter.

I questioned this.

How could this be useless?

They asked what it was for. I knew, and I told them. By asking what it was for, they proved that it worked. It raised awareness.

The debate began.

I argued that it’s comparable to… wearing a pink ribbon. Or, wearing a poppy. Neither of those is a waste of time. They both serve a purpose. They raise awareness.

It was said that those two are different because they raise money for charities.

True, they do, but by us wearing them they also RAISE AWARENESS for those charities. What other purpose do they serve? A thank you? Sure. If you want to say that their sole purpose is to raise money, then wouldn’t it be a better idea to take the money spent on those little ribbons and use the money for the charity?

Perhaps. In fact, I could argue that a Facebook status is better than a ribbon, or a poppy because it costs nothing.

It is impossible for a charity to raise money without raising awareness first. If you know how, speak up. I’m sure they’d love to hear it.

By giving you something in return for your donation, and you wearing it, you are helping to raise awareness so more donations come in.

It’s silly to think that nobody has ever heard of breast cancer.   But awareness isn’t just about telling you something you’ve never heard of.  It’s about making you think about it, regardless of whether you’ve heard about it before.

I really makes me sad to think that some people think it was a dumb idea. A waste of time. That it served no purpose.

If one person made a donation as a result of those “useless” and “retarded” bra colour status, then wasn’t it worth the effort? Did it not raise awareness?

I proved that it worked. I made donation this evening to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

I now challenge you to do the same. Doing nothing is useless.

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

American Breast Cancer Foundation

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How the Ottawa Police made my day

About a year or two ago, the Esso station at the corner of Montreal Rd and Ogilvie Rd was torn down and rebuilt. In addition to the new pump islands and convenience store building, they got rid of the car wash and added a Tim Horton’s drive-thru that runs around back of the building.

It wasn’t long before someone realized that this was a problem, especially in the morning, when cars try to leave the property, turn left onto Ogilvie Rd toward Montreal Rd and block the traffic heading north on Ogilvie as they wait to merge into the southbound traffic lanes.

Signs went up indicating NO LEFT TURNS between 7am and 9am. It’s not allowed in the evening either, but I can’t remember the times for that… 4 and 6pm perhaps? Anyway, you can see the signs as you leave the drive-thru and the sign that sits on the median between the north and southbound lanes. If you can’t see them, you’re blind.

If you park at the Esso in the morning you’ll notice that at least 9/10 cars completely ignore the signs and turn left. I see it every morning. Even City of Ottawa trucks ignore the signs, and they’re the ones who put up signs! This has become a huge pet peeve of mine. Granted, they don’t always block traffic, but the signs is there for.

It takes about a minute to turn RIGHT from the Esso and make a quick U-turn at the first corner, and you’re where you want to be. I do that every morning. It’s no big deal.

This morning the Ottawa Police made my day.

As I pulled up to the traffic light after making my U-turn, I saw flashing lights on an unmarked cop car stopped behind a Honda sedan in the middle lane.

My first thought was, “Oh please tell me they got busted for making a left turn…”

I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the officer bent over talking to the driver, and pointing back at the sign on the median.

Finally, someone got nailed and hopefully they got fined as well. I’m tired of seeing lazy-ass drivers ignoring the signs.

To the officer who busted that lazy ass this morning: thank you. :)

To the Ottawa Police: if you want to make a killing on fines, park at the Petro Canada cross the street every morning from 7am to 9am.

(Note: Google Streetview only shows one small “No Left Turn” sign. More have been added since Google took the photos last Spring)

Resolve THIS!

I can’t remember the last time I made a New Years resolution. I tend not to follow through with them. (I think that’s the case for many people)

This time, I have decided I should make a few really easy ones, maybe a couple of slightly challenging ones, and one tough one.

The Easy:

1. Finish reading Light -- Science & Magic. I started it in the summer and I’m so close to finishing it.
2. Start and finish reading Theo Fleury’s Playing With Fire that I got for Christmas.

Slightly Challenging:

1. Ride my bike at least once per week starting in the spring (once the snow is gone), and through the summer. I did it the year before last and it was awesome. Last summer I got a case of the lazys. :( This will help with The Tough One.
2. Drink more water. Again, this will help with The Tough One. I really do not drink enough water, or any liquids for that matter.
3. Shoot more photos! I don’t do it nearly enough lately. Maybe that’s in part due to the fact that it’s winter and takes more effort to get off my ass and outside. ;)

The Tough One:

1. Lose weight. My goal is 200lbs. That works out to about 5½ lbs per month to hit that by next year. Possible? We’ll see. One month at a time is all it takes. My idea is to not necessarily focus so much on what I eat, but more on how much I eat. Naturally, I’ll eat healthier stuff, but I’m not going to eliminate some of the foods I like. I’ll just eat less of them. If I cut all of that out, I’ll be miserable and give up.

It feels great to not put down “Quit Smoking” as a resolution for the first time in forever, because I kicked that bitch out of my life almost a year ago. :)

Week 21 - Laser Pointer Art

Laser Pointer Art (21/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I almost forgot about a photo for this week. I'm sure I could have dug up another Christmas photo, but instead I decided on something completely different.

Ever since I first saw this done, it was on my to-do list. Luckily for me, our cat got a laser pointer for Christmas. This also gave me an opportunity to use my wired remote shutter that I bought off eBay, and try out the BULB exposure mode on my Canon.

I brought all of my equipment to the basement and set it up on the tripod. I remembered reading that the ISO should be set to 100 and the focus set to manual. I first set the focus with the lens's autofocus and then switched it to manual so it didn't change.

I changed the exposure to BULB and then using my remote, fired off a few 3-4sec shots of the wall while the lights were on just to make sure I got the area I wanted.

Show time. Lights off. Stub toe on couch while walking back to my camera.

I turned on the laser pointer and aimed it at the wall where I wanted to start, turned it off again, pressed the shutter release, and then turned the laser back on and went nuts.

I repeated the process a few times, writing different things and drawing different pictures. The results were pretty good.

I then switched from my 18-200mm lens to a 10-20mm lens. This was a better move, imho. It allowed me to get closer to the wall while providing me with a nice wide angle "canvas".

This is only one of four that I posted on Flickr. Enjoy!