Week 49 - Hot Dog

Week 49 - Hot Dog, originally uploaded by Twister65.

I threw this shot together quickly for The DailyShoot earlier this week. The assignment was to take a picture of food (duh). I nearly forgot until after we were finished eating supper. As luck would have it, there was a lone hot dog left in the pot.

It was barely warm, but good enough to use for the shot. I don't normally dress my hot dogs up this much; I tend to keep it simple and just put mustard on them. But, as I noted in the comments of the photo, I needed more colour.

I fired off four of five shots before putting the hot dog out of its misery (I ate it) :)

Apparently this month is National Hot Dog Month in the U.S. and tomorrow is National Hot Dog Day.

It is/was a coincidence.

Week 48 - Marbl(u)es

Marbl(u)es, originally uploaded by Twister65.

This weeks pick was easy and was from another DailyShoot.com assignment.

The theme was "blue". I first started with taking close-up shots of my daughter's eyes. By definition, they are blue, but I wasn't able to get them to "pop" and look as blue as I would have liked them to be.

My son suggested his marbles. He got a selection of blue ones, I grabbed a sheet of white paper from my printer, and we went out to the front patio to see what we could do.

After leveling the table, we placed them on the sheet of paper in whatever layout would keep them from rolling around. I fired off various shots with my 18-200mm lens, switched to the 100mm for a few more, and then back to the 18-200mm.

In the end, the best shots came from the 18-200mm. Had I taken the time to use a tripod with the 100mm, I'm sure I could have gotten some good ones.

This was all natural lighting from a somewhat cloudy and hazy sky. The only adjustments I made to the image was a crop and a slight boost to the saturation to bring out the blue a little more, all done in Picasa. :)

I'm very pleased with the results. It's one of those photos that makes you want to keep looking at it.

More than a pretty face

The other week, Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” was on one of the free movie channels. We decided to watch it and see what the big deal was about.

I have to admit, it was a pretty decent show. But that’s not what I’m writing about.

The guitarist was really good; her name was Orianthi Panagaris. She really kicked ass. My wife questioned whether it was the same “Orianthi” that sings a pop song that she happens to like.

Out came he laptop and my daughter did a search.

Sure enough, they were one and the same.

I’m more of a “rock’n’roll” kinda guy, but I don’t mind most pop songs. I had to find out what else she sings and/or plays.

I found out some really cool facts about her as well as some videos of her playing less pop-like material. To quote Santana from that linked web site:

"It's not cute any more. It's seriously ass-whupping. If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice."

I had to add her album to my collection. Having recently acquired an iPod Nano, I picked up “Believe (II)” from iTunes. On it, she also does a instrumental guitar duel with Steve Vai.

I love this one listener review from iTunes:

As a fan of heavier music (generally screamo and metal), I was impressed by the skills of Ori, from the first album “Violet Journey”, up until Believe (II), her music is continuously high on my playlist.

She’s like a bridge between the pop and rock gap.

Look ‘er up and give ‘er a listen.

Week 47 - Wax Monkey Frog

Wax Monkey Frog (47/52), originally uploaded by Twister65.

We visited the Canadian Museum of Nature on Monday, along with my sister and her family. It was the first time I've been to see the exhibits. I did go once for a wedding a long time ago. It was the first time for all of us since they renovated the museum and built the large glass structure – now named the "Queen's Lantern" – to replace the stone tower that was sinking.

One of the exhibits was frogs. These little guys are Wax Monkey Frogs and look so laid back. The second coolest frogs were the Poison Dart Frogs, but I messed up the exposure settings on my camera so the photos didn't turn out very well. :(

Week 46 - Beach at Voyageur

Beach at Voyageur, originally uploaded by Twister65.

An ending to a great week of camping with my family and friends.

Week 45 - Colour Depth

Colour Depth, originally uploaded by Twister65.

Although my choices for this week are very few, this was an easy one. Again, I chose from one of my DailyShoot.com shots.

It's is a colour cube that sits on my cabinet at work, mostly collecting dust. After blowing the dust off it, I sat it on my desk and placed a white sheet of paper behind it. I tried a couple of shots with my 100mm lens before switching to my 18-200mm which is ultimately what gave me the best shots. Before uploading it, I gave a nudge to the saturation to brighten the colours a little.

If I could convince my wife to let me hang it on one of our walls, I'd get it printed on canvas like the flower in last week's photo. However, I don't think it's going to happen because she doesn't see it the same way that I do. Maybe I'll find a spot on my den wall...

Relay for Life – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

After sleeping away most of Saturday, catching up on a sleep and fighting off whatever cold bug I caught between Friday night and Saturday morning, and now feel rested and pretty good.

The good

Our team goal was blown away this year!  “Lassiter Walks to Fight – Team WTF” raised $6,660, achieving the “Bronze” level status. That is incredible!

Great job team!

The experience, once again, was amazing. There seemed to be a lot more people on the track in the wee hours of the morning than I recall in previous years.

The bad

I didn’t reach the goal of $1,500 that I set this year. In fact, I didn’t even make it half way, leaving me below last year’s total. I raised $730; nothing to be ashamed of, just not what I would have liked. It happens, I guess.

Once again, a HUGE thanks to everyone who did donate toward my participation! I got to see some of the people that your donations help and they are indeed grateful.

The ugly

It was disappointing to hear that due to complaints in previous years from some residents in Orleans, they were going to shut down or turn down the DJ music at 11:00pm. The music plays throughout the night to help give people energy to keep walking.

This is a once-a-year charitable event for a good cause. A cause that will likely help you or a member of your family at some point in the future. It’s not some kind of profit-making carnival or concert. What’s wrong with some people?

Thankfully, the music did NOT turn off. I think they did turn it down a few notches though. Or perhaps they decided to continue until someone complained? I don’t know, but I’m glad it kept going.

Sure, it’s easy for me to say because I don’t live out there, but if I did live out there I still wouldn’t complain because I’d be participating.

If you’re one of those people who complain about it, why don’t you drop by next year at around 10:00pm for the Luminary ceremony and see if it changes your view. I think everyone should experience that at least once in their lives.

Big corporations DO care – go figure

I arrived home from work today to a surprise: a plastic-wrapped package sitting on my dining room table, from UPS.

It was my Xbox power supply.

So, it would appear that the manager I spoke with was right, it could arrive today – and it did.

So, yes, I did get all worked up over nothing. However… had a few things been done differently by Xbox support and the repair process, this blog post and the other two wouldn’t exist.

This is where things make a  change for the better.

Just over an hour ago, as I was typing an update saying that I got my power supply, the phone rang. My wife answered it and handed me the phone.

It was another surprise. A surprise that restores my faith in big corporations, like Microsoft and reassures me that there are indeed people out there fixing the wrongs rather than simply ignoring them.

The surprise was a man by the name of Anthony, who was calling from Microsoft. He had received a “heads up” about my problems, and my earlier blog post. I honestly don’t know how he was made aware of it, nor does it really matter. What matters is that he called to make an effort to fix my problem and make me a happy customer. If someone out there took it upon themselves to escalate the issue up the corporate ladder at Microsoft, thank you very much.

I won’t go into the small details of the call, but I will say that we had a great conversation. He apologized for the experience. He explained the hows and whys that lead to the problem.  He didn’t try to deny that there were areas that needed improvement. He didn’t make any excuses. He was well aware of XboxSupport on Twitter. :) He listened to my suggestions on how to improve the service.

He also told me that he was sending me a new power supply for my Xbox, to arrive tomorrow. That was before I had a chance to explain that I did in fact receive the original one today. They actually thought that it got lost in transit, so he took it upon himself to send me a new one. Now I will have a spare.

He also asked me if I had any trouble setting up the replacement Xbox. We talked a little about that, and he asked me for my email address so he could send me his personal contact info so I can let him know how it goes and if I have any problems.

There’s not much else to say, except that I am still somewhat shocked that I received a call, and so quickly. A lot of people, including myself, often bash Microsoft. My earlier blog posts are proof of that. All it took was one call to change my view of the company.  They are listening and doing something.

Kudos to Microsoft and kudos to Anthony.

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• It must really suck to work for Xbox support (scottpaterson.org)
• Canned responses (scottpaterson.org)

Canned responses

I sent the Xbox email support a message last night using their support submission form. I chose the “Other” option from the drop down list, thereby eliminating all of the more common issues they help with the hope that I’d get a human to read my message.

Because the form is limited to 1000 character, I suggested that they visit my blog where all of the details are posted, or forward my message to a manager or someone higher up as I had already dealt with support.

Seemed simple enough. Or so I thought.

This was in my email this morning:

Hello Scott,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft online support for XBOX. I am Kody and I will be assisting you today with this issue.

I understand that you are encountering problems with your Xbox 360 console.

As our dear customer we are committed on giving the best possible service. We know how unsatisfactory your situation is when your console is not performing correctly.

In order to check what is causing the problem and give you the correct steps to resolve the issue, please provide us further with more specific details such as:

• Exact error message or error code as seen on the screen (if there are any).
• Games (Original Xbox games or Xbox 360 games) that are affected.
• The number of red lights flashing on the Ring of Light (surrounds the power button light), if any.
• The color of the indicator light on the power supply unit while the console is turned on.
• Please include other details that can help identify the issue.

You may also include other details that can help identify the issue.  I look forward to hearing from you again and helping you resolve your problem.

If you need to reply to this e-mail, please reply 'with history' (include any previous e-mail) or reference to Service Request Number 1133432296 so we can expedite our service to you.

Thank you for visiting Xbox.com. We hope that we were able to assist you, and that your experience with our customer service was positive - something we constantly strive to improve. If you should have future questions on Xbox products or services, please be sure to revisit our Web site as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Best Regards, 

Kody
Microsoft XBOX Support Services
http://support.microsoft.com

That’s a canned response if I ever saw one. And based on the time I received it (6:19am) in comparison to when I sent it late last night, it’s not an automated canned message. A human, whether it really was a “Kody” or someone else, had to click a button to send it to me. Do I assume they simply didn’t read my message and just blasted through a bunch of “Other” flagged messages with the same canned response, or did someone actually read it, not give a damn, and then send the canned message in hopes that I’ll go away?

Is it any wonder why Tech Support gets a bad rap, often being compare to monkeys, when all they’re told to do is act like monkeys?

I was originally going to reply with a simple one-liner pointing to my original request, but the more I read this canned response, the more it bothered me. The temptation was too great, so this is what I sent:

Hello Kody,

Thank you for replying to my online support request for XBOX. I am Scott and I will be replying to you today with more details on this issue.

I understand that you are encountering problems with reading my original support request pertaining to my Xbox 360 console.

As the the dear customer you say I am, I am committed to giving you the best possible reply. I know how unsatisfying your job must be when upset customers, like myself, send long-winded support requests with very little detail.

In order be as clear as possible about what my problem is, I will again provide you with a link containing all of the information necessary so that you can provide me with the best possible service. I know, that you know, how unsatisfactory my situatuon is when my console is not functional.

Here, once again, is the link containing the information about my issue:

http://blog.scottpaterson.org/2010/06/it-must-really-suck-to-work-for-xbox.html

Thank you for visiting my blog containing all of the details you need. I hope that you are able to assist me, and that my experience with your customer service will be positive - something I'm sure you constantly strive to improve. If you should have future questions on my problem, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards, 

Scott
Microsoft XBOX Customer
http://blog.scottpaterson.org

Hey, if they can do it, so can I. :)

I’m still chuckling.

It must really suck to work for Xbox support

I don’t even know where to begin.

This might come out all jumbled because it was one of the most frustrating experiences with customer service I have ever experienced; and I have experienced them from both the customer side and the support provider side many times in my life (more so on the provider side)

As mentioned in previous blog entries, my Xbox Elite died and I sent it off to be repaired or replaced. It wasn’t a warranty repair, so I paid about $123 Cdn for the “service”.

Much to my surprise, once I finally sent it off, I received it back today. Amazing four business day turn-around. I was happy.

Until I opened the box.

There sat a nice, plastic-wrapped, refurbished Xbox Elite with a 30-day Xbox Live Gold card taped to it to add onto my existing account (for my troubles, I assume)… and no power supply brick.

Now, before anyone says “WTF? You sent the power supply too? You’re not supposed to send accessories!”, let me explain something.

In a brief chat with @XboxSupport on Twitter, I specifically asked if I should send the power supply with the Xbox console.

To which they replied…

I am well aware of the “no accessories” rule, but the reason I asked was because my Xbox did absolutely nothing when turned on. No power at all. By sending the power supply, I was hoping to ward off any bad experiences with a refurb Xbox and a faulty power supply.

So much for that idea.

So, I decided I would call up Xbox support and have a chat. Surely this can be resolved quickly, and to my satisfaction.

First off, their support line seemed to throw me into a loop. I guess it detected my phone number, saw I had a repair incident and decided I should need to know the status.

Ok, thanks, but I want to talk to someone.

For some reason, it kept telling me that for repairs, visit support.xbox.com online and submit the repair request and then just left me hanging to go back to the main menu. It may very well have been my own mistake, but I couldn’t seem to find an option to speak with a real human being.

I hung up and swore a few times.

I called back. I decided I would try Tech Support. If anything, I’m sure they could tell me who I should speak with.

I lucked out and got through to an option to speak with a person.

I really don’t recall his name, but the guy was polite and had a slight accent. It’s nothing personal, but I rarely listen to names. Bad habit. My mind is so preoccupied with what I want to say, that it goes in one ear and out the other.

So I explained what the problem was. After a few misunderstandings, he asked if he could place me on hold to look for my power supply. Yep, look for my power supply.

He came back, thanked me for holding, and proceeded to explain that it would be 9-12 days for it to be returned to me.

Umm… wait a minute… 9-12 days???

I asked him how this was possible. It took 4-5 days for my dead console to be shipped to them, be replaced, and shipped back to me… yet it’s going to take 9-12 days for them to return a power supply to me?

He actually interrupted me and began to explain that for “accidentally returned” accessories, this was the norm.

I then proceeded to clarify that this was not an “accidentally returned” accessory. (Never mind the fact that I don’t consider a crucial part for the operation of an Xbox, like a power supply, to be an accessory) I told him that had asked @XboxSupport if I should send the power supply with the console and I was told yes (or “yeah” as the case may be)

This is where we got stuck in a loop. The support rep stuck with the corporate policy of 9-12 … me explaining that this was not my mistake… him giving more apologies… me poking and prodding for some kind of compensation… more apologies… more corporate policy… and then me thanking him for his help, assuring him that I appreciated his help, and then asking to speak with a manager.

When I worked in support, I hated that. But it happens, and you comply with the customer’s request.

I got some resistance, as expected. It was explained to me that the manager would tell me the same thing. I thanked him and insisted. He asked if he could put me on hold while he found a manager. I thanked him.

{Insert annoying hold music here}

I don’t know how long I waited… 2 or 3 minutes perhaps?

He came back and explained that he was still looking for a manager. I thanked him. He thanked me again for holding.

{Insert same annoying hold song here}

More waiting.

He came back again and explained that he was still looking for a manager. I thanked him again. He thanked me again for holding.

Repeat that once or twice more. I actually thought that maybe they were hoping I’d just hang up.

Supper was ready. I was getting hungry.

Finally, he returned to say that a manager was found and told me his name. Again… bad with names. See above. He let me go and left me with the “manager” who asked me how he could help me.

He seemed a little uncertain of what to expect from me. Nervous perhaps. I know that feeling well. I asked him if he was aware of what the problem was, and so it began.

More of the same corporate policy, and apologies (a little more apologetic actually), and now it seems that it was going to be 5-10 days. In fact, my power supply might arrived tomorrow since it has already been 4-5 days since I sent it to them(???)

I explained that 5-10 days was unacceptable, especially considering that it only took 4-5 days for the entire exchange of dead Xbox for a refurbished Xbox. How could it possibly take 5-10 days to send me a simple power supply?

From what I gather, I’m lucky that it was an exchange, because that’s fast. Had it required a repair, I could be waiting 2-3 weeks and my power supply would arrive before my Xbox.

Again, it was implied that I made the error in sending them the “accessory”. Again, I corrected him.

And then something shocking happened. He asked me for more information about @XboxSupport on Twitter. He paused. He then began to explain that corporate policy forbids employees from using Twitter in any official capacity.

I told him that it is indeed official support. He repeated the policy. This went on back and forth for a few minutes. I said “So you’re telling me that there is no official Xbox support on Twitter?” He said he stood by his comments.

I had to laugh. And I did. Sorry, but it was funny.

I went on to explain that Xbox Live’s own “Major Nelson” recommends @XboxSupport on Twitter and that the Twitter account is even listed the Xbox.com support page. He asked me where. I frantically searched for the page. I had seen it earlier, but now I couldn’t find it.

In the meantime he assured me that he was well aware of the support available in their department. I told him that I believed him, but that he was obviously unaware of the support available outside of his department.

I then found the link. I read it out to him and he went there. There was silence. I asked him if he could see it.

He then tried to tell me that they don’t do hardware support. (I was later assured by @XboxSupport, during a rather humerous exchange when I told them they don’t exist, that they do indeed do hardware support) I also explained to him that I never went looking for help from @XboxSupport in the first place. They asked ME how they could help after I made a comment about waiting for a box. I then asked them about the power supply.

I told him that he should be upset that they are not made aware of their support offerings. I sure as hell would be. I’d be pissed if I just finished debating with a customer, and betting the farm that I was right, only to have them prove me wrong.

When then got stuck, once again, in the loop of apologies, corporate policy of 5-10 days, etc. I’ll give the guy credit, he sure was stubborn.

I had enough. I thanked him for his help and then asked to speak to someone higher up.

He kindly explained that there is nobody higher. Everyone higher doesn’t take calls. I then got a little sarcastic. I said “Surely they have a phone, and surely they speak to people on a daily basis!” I used to hate when customers did that to me. He said they don’t speak with customers.

I said “So they aren’t customer focused people… they don’t care about customer service?” I then went onto explain that when I was in support, there was always someone higher to speak with. If I, as a manager, couldn’t make a customer happy, there was my boss… or his boss… or the CEO. SOMEONE in the company had the power to turn an unhappy customer into a happy one. It was rare that someone would not go away happy and it was very rare that they had to go above me.

I told him flat out that I was looking for some form of compensation for what was not my error… anything… 30-days of Xbox Live Gold… anything.

He didn’t budge. They don’t have that power, unlike the refurb centre and their 30-day Xbox Live Gold cards.

I explained that’s why I would like to speak with someone higher.

Again with the “they don’t accept calls” stuff… more apologies… and so on.

I interrupted him and politely asked him when I would receive my power supply. 5-10 days was the response. I said “Fine, thanks for the help, and be sure to let your boss know that I will be calling them… or someone else there, because I am not finished” and then I hung up.

This actually seems much shorter than our conversations, believe it or not. There was far more repetition from him, and me.

I really do feel sorry for the guy, in a way. To be kept out of the loop like that… that’s embarrassing and a shining example of how not to run a support department (or any department for that matter).

But then again, he’s probably working for peanuts at an outsource centre. The corporate mother ship doesn’t really care about them. Do your job and nothing more. You can be replaced.

So now what? I don’t know. Yet. I’ll figure something out.

In the meantime, if you’re a Microsoft / Xbox employee and you have any power in you to make even a half-assed attempt at making me happy, feel free to give ‘er a go. You certainly can’t do any worse than your hand-cuffed, out-of-the-loop support people. I really feel sorry for them.

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• Big corporations DO care - go figure (scottpaterson.org)

Week 44 - Mounted Flower

Mounted Flower, originally uploaded by Twister65.

This is my first photo printed and mounted on canvas. I built the frame this afternoon and mounted it myself. It was my first try and there's room for improvement, but I'm pleased with the results. Oddly enough, this photo never made my Project 52 before because it was taken prior to starting the project. I'm glad it made it this way. :)

Fast!

As of this afternoon, the status of my Xbox 360 repair is now set to Device shipped to customer – Your console has been repaired or replaced. We are shipping it back to you.

I realize that it shouldn’t take long to ship a refurb, but it surprised me to see it happen so quick.

If it’s as quick in transit as it was to send to them, I’m assuming it’ll arrive on Monday or Tuesday.

My Xbox status

Because this is why you are here…

Yesterday, I received a notification from UPS that my Xbox had been delivered to the service center.

The status on Xbox.com had not been updated; it was still in Waiting for device at service center mode.

As of this morning, it is now in Device received at service center mode. :)

On completely unrelated note, I am still waiting for the 16GB iPod Nano that I won from Dove via Twitter. I was told that the minimum wait was 10 business days. This is the 11th day. Yes, I’m impatient. I’d be less impatient if the rep handling the prize had replied confirming receipt of my email that I sent with the signed release form, as I requested.

Bon voyage, Xbox 360!

I dropped off my Xbox at the UPS Store on the way home from work today. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes to receive the refurb replacement.

As a side note, I really dislike UPS for their crappy brokerage fee practices when getting something from across the border. But the guy working in the UPS Store really makes it difficult to dislike them. He was nice and friendly, and chipper. He printed off a drop-off receipt quickly and explained how I can track my package even though it isn’t rocket science. You don’t often find someone in as good of a mood after a long day at work.

My Dad

My Dad in Scouts in Scotland (back row on the right):

I’m really not sure when this was taken; before I was born, I assume:

This is my sister, my Dad, and I, after we arrived in Canada in 1967. This is somewhere in Montreal, I think. No idea what kind of pose I’m doing or why:

Most of the photos I have of my Dad are really old ones, like those. We never were big on taking pictures. I have a few more recent ones, like when my Dad was my best man at my wedding in 1993. One day I’ll scan those in.

My Dad is no longer with us because he died of cancer in 1998.

Here’s some thought provoking stats from the Canadian Cancer Society:

• The number of new cancer cases will increase by approximately 60% over the next 20 years due to our aging and growing population.
• Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Canada.
• Nearly 1 of every 2 men is expected to develop cancer during his lifetime and slightly more than 1 of every 3 women will develop cancer during her lifetime.   Approximately 1 out of every 4 Canadians will die from cancer.

1 out of 4 will die from cancer.

Take a look around you and think about that for a minute. Ignoring it won’t make it go away.

No amount of money in the world will ever bring my Dad back, but every dollar that you donate to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life will go toward fighting this disease.

There’s about a week and a half left before the Relay for Life on June 18th and I am still $820 away from reaching the goal I set this year.

My 45th Birthday is on June 16th. It sure would be an awesome Birthday if I reached my goal by then.

Click. Give. Make a difference.

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

Yes, this is the last time I’ll ask for donations for this year.

To everyone who has taken the time to read this and my other posts on the topic, to everyone who shares these pleas on my behalf, and especially to everyone who has donated any amount toward my goal this year and the last two years – THANK YOU. You are making a difference.

 

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• It started as a Tweet... (scottpaterson.org)

No box for Xbox?

It’s been a day over a week since I logged the repair ticket on my Xbox Elite and still no sign of a box being mailed to me to ship it for repairs.

Out of curiosity, I sent a message to @XboxSupport on Twitter and asked how long it usually takes, at the same time as sending a friend an email asking how long it took for him to receive the box.

My friend replied: 2 days.

@XboxSupport replied: In most cases a box is not sent.

Well that certainly explains why I haven’t received one.

I told @XboxSupport that people I know have all received boxes, which is why I have been waiting. They replied: You will want to find a box to safely ship it in and use the shipping label provided. Umm… yeh, I kinda figured that.

I told them I would use the box it came in, and they said: You will want to use a box other than the 360 box and be sure to keep your hard drive and any other accessories.

The box it came in is suitable for buying it in, but not for shipping it in? Not too surprised.

Anyway, when I got home I found a good box that our DVD player came in, and modified the foam supports that it used to suit my Xbox. Samsung sure knows how to pack their hardware.

My Xbox is now packed, labeled as per the UPS instructions, and ready to be sent. We’ll swing by the UPS store on the way home tomorrow and send it on its way.

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• My Xbox Elite - R.I.P. (scottpaterson.org)

How I made someone’s day

I’ve complained about this before. Up until today, I’ve never had the opportunity to confront any of the offenders, other than give them the hairy eyeball.

At around 7:30 this morning I got my chance.

As I approached the median, to turn left across it and into the Esso/Tim Horton’s parking lot, a grey Dodge Neon crept out of the exit, crossing the lane, to make a left turn into the lane that I’m leaving. This is illegal between 7:00am and 9:00am.

I slowed down and stopped on the median, waiting for an opening to continue. She continued to creep across her lane to break the law.

I had no opening, and my chance of finding an opening was diminishing quickly. Why? Because stupid in the Dodge Neon was now blocking the traffic on that side, to make her illegal left turn.

This is the very reason why there are signs indicating NO LEFT TURNS between 7:00am and 9:00am, Monday to Friday. There are two on the median, and one at eye level at the end of the Tim Horton’s drive-thru. You can’t miss them. (This is the location as seen on Google Street View, before the two signs went up on the median; you can see the one sign at the exit from the Esso/Tim Horton’s.)

We were at a stalemate. I couldn’t cross because she was blocking the traffic, which was blocking me, and she couldn’t continue to break the law because I was blocking her.

She then made a really bad decision; she gestured with her hands and mouthed something at me like I was the one at fault. Her window was up, so I couldn’t hear anything she said.

My window was down. I yelled back and pointed at one of the two signs on the median, “Look at the sign! No left turns!”

She gestured again as if to say Pffft… who cares…

The traffic continued to build up. I yelled back, and pointed to her right, “Go that way!”

Seriously, it’s not that difficult. Turn right and then make a legal U-turn where the median breaks 5 seconds down the road.

She mouthed something that looked like “I can’t” and shook her head.

I yelled again, “GO THAT WAY!” I don’t know why I bothered; clearly her Dodge Neon was not capable of turning right. My bad?

Again, she said “I can’t.”

Traffic started to build up behind me. A few cars drove around her, leaving an opening for me, so I continued across.

As I passed her window, I took the opportunity to express my displeasure and yelled, “You’re breaking the fuckin’ law!”

I sincerely hope their day continues to be as bright and cheery as it began. :)

Week 43 - Hot Wheels!

Hot Wheels!, originally uploaded by Twister65.

Another DailyShoot.com entry makes it into my Project 52. That's kinda like cheating... or is it? :)

This one had to do with choosing something that was nostalgic... a childhood sport, game or activity. I chose Hot Wheels because I used to play with them as a kid. It's something I don't see many kids doing these days, at least not in the same way that I did when I was young.

Every spring, someone's parents would receive a truckload of topsoil, or sand, or dirt dumped onto their drive way. For a few days, it became our playground, and we'd build intricate roads and tunnels on this "island" and drive our cars for hours. Kids just don't do that anymore. The don't have the same imagination that we did.

With this entry, I’m also trying a different layout that Flickr’s integration publishes. I think I like the larger photo.

Name change? WTF?

Yep, I changed the name of my blog. And I added a fancy new graphic that took all of two or three minutes to throw together (subject to change). It took longer trying to figure out what code in the blog template forced it to be centered. *sigh*

So now the name matches the domain name.

I recently started digging into my family ancestry and figured that naming it with my own name might make it easier to find, should I ever decided to break off with some family tree stuff here as well.

Incidentally, you can also get here using www.scottpaterson.org. I thought that scottpaterson.org would also work, but apparently it doesn’t. I must have messed it up.

My Xbox Elite – R.I.P.

My 2½ year-old Xbox Elite died on Saturday morning. No, not the RRoD (Red Ring of Death) or the E74 error, both of which every Xbox owner dreads.

I simply wouldn’t power up.

On Friday night while I was playing Red Dead Redemption, I noticed what can only be described as “snowing in the wild west”. Yet, it wasn’t snow. I booted up Blur for a look-see and the symptoms were the same. I continued to play for a ½ hour or so before powering it down for the night.

I searched the web to find that this could be an early indicator of the E74 error, which is basically an overheating GPU.

On Saturday morning, I grabbed my can of compressed air and cleaned the rear grill of the Xbox, in an attempt to help keep it cool when I turned it on. It wasn’t extremely dusty, but it had more than I expected.

After I was done, I hooked it all back up and hit the power button.

Nothing. No lights. Nothing at all.

I checked all connections and still nothing.

As much as I feared the RRoD or E74, either of those would have been a good alternative since both are covered by a 3-year warranty. But dead meant I’d have to pay to get it repaired.

No, I wanted to play games this weekend. So, I went out to Future Shop and picked up one of the newer “Arcade” Xbox models. As basic as they come. For $200 plus tax, I got a new Xbox with a 1-year warranty and another controller. The alternative was be to pay ~$120 and wait 2-3 weeks to ship it to MS and have them ship a refurb back to me.

I decided that I will still get the old one repaired, to keep as a spare and put in the basement for the kid to play. Time will tell if this is a good idea or not.

I logged a ticket on MS’s Xbox site and they sent me an email with a UPS label to print out, and I’m currently waiting for the shipping box to arrive so I can send it to them.

That’s pretty much the whole point of this blog entry – to keep track and see exactly how long the entire process will take.

• Saturday, May 29 – logged the repair request in the afternoon (credit card was required)
• Sunday, May 30 – received an email from UPS containing links to: instructions, the UPS return label to print, and a receipt.

Stayed tuned for more. :)

Week 42 - Yellow Lily

Yellow Lily (42/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

For some reason, I thought the yellow lilies in our front flower bed bloomed earlier than this in previous years. I checked photos from previous years and found that they usually bloomed in early June. I guess they're right on time.

There are many buds this year too. More than I've seen in previous years. This is one of the first and actually opened up the following day.

Week 41 - Container

A container
Originally uploaded by Twister65

Yeh, I'm a day late... I was busy socializing on Saturday and then we had fireworks in the evening, and then I had to watch the series finale of LOST. Busy, busy, busy! :)

I originally shot this for Dailyshoot.com, but it really turned out well so I chose it for this week's Project 52 posting.

I fired off about 5 or 6 shots before I ended up with this one. I placed it on my dining table, and the only lighting I had was from the light fixture above the table. I sat it close to one end of the table, and then I sat at the opposite end and almost rested the camera on the table to get the shot.

This container came from St. Maarten while I was on a Caribbean cruise that I won in 1989. I remember arriving on the island with hundreds of other people and we were all making our way toward these large taxis to ride into town for a day of shopping. Before we could get there, locals were lined up ready to sell their wares. I think I paid about $3 or $4 for this. It's cute... and currently holds loose change on my desk. :)

Privacy? What privacy?

I'm not a web expert, nor am I the paranoid type... but should QuitFacebook.com, who has privacy concerns against Facebook, be tracking its visitors with cookies?

I found these in Firefox's cookies.

In case you're wondering what they do:

• __utmz tracks where a visitor came from (search engine, search keyword, link)
• __utma tracks each user's amount of visits, first, last visit.
• __utmb and __utmc are used to track when a visit starts and ends to some decent time resolution (c expires quickly). If you look at cookie state changes (e.g. using firecookie), you will see these change regularly.
• __utmv is used for user-custom variables in Analytics

http://helpful.knobs-dials.com/index.php/Utma,_utmb,_utmz_cookies

Why would they care where you come from? Or how often you visit their site? Hmmm...?

Setting date and time on Mini DV Pocket Video Camera

I picked up a cheap Mini DV Pocket Video Camera off Ebay recently for 1 cent. Ok, so the S&H was $15.99, but for the whole price, it was a steal. My intent is to mount it onto my R/C plane this summer and shoot some aerial video like I did a couple of years ago with another camera. Since it has no internal storage, I also ordered a 2GB Micro SD card for it, from another Ebay vendor, for $7.

My purchase finally arrived yesterday. The camera is smaller than I expected which makes it ideal for my purposes. The brackets it came with will make great plane mounts.

The software drivers came on a mini CD and installed without a hitch. The printed instructions were clearly translated from Chinese, and not too surprisingly, difficult to understand. On the CD was a batch file, Updata Time.bat, used for setting the device’s internal date and time. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. (That’s not a typo – that’s how it is spelled) :)

I searched the web and found a couple of different YouTube videos demonstrating how to set the date and time on this camera. None of them worked. First, it didn’t seem to recognize this TAG.txt file that the videos used. The file created by the batch file is named time.txt. The information being put into the file didn’t look quite right. I determined that it was parsing the date from my PC incorrectly, either because I’m running Windows 7 or because the region is set differently than a Chinese system.  After some trial and error, I managed to fix the batch file so it inserted the date correctly, and in turn, was accepted by the camera.

If you have one of these cameras and the batch file isn’t working for you, the solution is really simple, and you don’t need to mess around with the batch file.

Open Windows Notepad (NOT WordPad) and enter the following information on a single line: yyyy.mm.dd hh:mm:ss.  So, for example, if you were to use today’s date and time, it would be 2010.05.18 08:29:00. Note: the time format is 24 hour time. Save the file to your desktop as time.txt, plug your camera into the PC, copy the file to the camera, unplug the camera and turn it on. When you turn on the camera, it will read the date and time, set it, and remove the file on its own.

If you’re the type, like me, who wants to fix the batch file, this is the section you need to change:

set b=%date%
set yy=%b:~0,4%
set zz=%b:~5,2%
set dd=%b:~8,2%
set xx=%b:~11,3%

Change it to the following:

set b=%date%
set yy=%b:~10,4%
set zz=%b:~4,2%
set dd=%b:~7,2%
set xx=%b:~0,3%

If it still doesn’t work, you may need to add or change one of these lines:

if exist J:\DCIM copy time.txt J:\

Change the “J:” to the drive letter that the camera appears as on your system.

That’s it, that’s all. I might throw together my own video and post it. In the meantime, I let the author of the linked video above know about this so if anyone contacts him, he can share the information.

Week 40 - Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by Twister65

Today was my daughter's 12th Birthday. She decorated this cake yesterday, for her Birthday party and asked me to take a picture of the masterpiece.

The Habs are not Canada’s Team… sorry

I am an Ottawa Senators fan.

I stopped watching all hockey when my beloved Ottawa Senators were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one of the playoffs. That’s my choice – why can’t some people respect that?

I don’t believe that once your team has been eliminated, you should now cheer on the remaining Canadian teams fortunate enough to remain in the playoffs. That’s not my thing.

We have one Habs fan on my team at work. For the great run that the Montreal Canadiens are having in their playoff run, the Habs fan is not a problem. I’m happy for him and his team. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with me not cheering on his team or watching the games.

Which makes this somewhat amusing, and confusing.

The problem I am having is with a couple of non-Habs fans who have jumped on the Habs bandwagon and feel that, being a Canadian Citizen, I should be cheering on the Habs because they are “the last Canadian team in the playoffs!”

They feel that, because I am not also on the Habs bandwagon, I am a “jealous Sens fan”, and anything I say that they feel might bring bad mojo to their adopted team, makes me evil.

Let’s be clear here. The Montreal Canadiens, or any “Canadian team” for that matter, is not “Canada’s Team”. The NHL is not the OIympics. The NHL is not the IIHF World Championship. Team Canada is not playing in the NHL playoffs.

The players on each “Canadian” team in the NHL aren’t even all Canadian Citizens. The only thing that makes a “Canadian” NHL team Canadian is their home city.  (We’ll ignore the fact that the Montreal Canadiens play for a city in a province that has tried to separate from Canada… that’s a whole other story) :)

“The cup needs to come back to Canada!”

Sure, that would be nice. But my cheering or not cheering for a team is not going to make a difference in whether or not the Stanley Cup comes back to Canada. That’s up to the mixed bag of nationalities playing for the Montreal Canadiens. Direct your energy into positive vibes toward the team, not as negativity toward me.

My decision to not cheer for the Montreal Canadiens does not make me a bad Canadian Citizen, nor does it make me a “jealous Sens fan” anymore than it makes you a “jealous {insert your team here} fan”.

Good luck to whichever team you cheer for, but please stop telling me that I have to cheer on a team that is not my chosen team.

My cheers are reserved for the Ottawa Senators.

GO SENS GO… maybe next year. :)

Week 39 - Tulips

Tulips
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I took this at Rideau Falls on the way home one day. I stopped to look for a monument or sculpture for the dailyshoot.com photo and they had tulips. It was really windy, so it made it a little difficult to get a nice shot. About 30 minutes before this, it was raining heavily.

Here's an amusing story about this location. About 5 minutes before I took this shot, there was a woman here pushing a child in a stroller. As I walked toward the tulips, camera in hand, she approached me and asked "Can you take our picture?" I paused for a moment wondering why someone would want me to take their picture with my camera... she didn't have one visible. I then asked "With your camera?" She nodded, and THEN she took our a small point & shoot from her bag. Now it made sense. Oops. I agreed and then she posed in front of the tulips with her son.

It started as a Tweet…

I was going to make this a multi-part tweet, but it was getting kinda long… so blog, it shall be. Plus, I can write more. :) If you took the time to click the link I tweeted and are reading this, thank you.

I lost my Dad in 1998 to live cancer. I lost a friend 2 years ago – he was 35 years old. It started as a simple mole on his arm. In less than a year, it spread and he was gone. Seriously… 35 years old. My wife lost an uncle last year. My brother in-law had it and beat it. That’s four people in my “circle”. I’d bet $5 that someone in your family, somewhere, has had it.

I decided that I had to do something, not only to raise awareness – clearly, we are all aware of its existence – but to help support those who are looking for a cure, or are making the lives of those affected by cancer easier.

In 2008, a friend and I put together a team for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and raised just over $3,073.

Last year I shaved my head bald after beating my personal fundraising goal of $1,000. It was awesome. Well, not the being bald part, but beating my goal. Being bald was actually rather annoying – head stubble is like Velcro. But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Our team raised around $2,661.

This year I decided to raise the bar a little and set my goal at $1,500. In return for your generosity, I wasn't quite sure what to do that would top last year.

So, I pledged to shave off my goatee. That may seem rather lame in comparison to shaving my head, but personally, I'd rather be bald. I really like my goatee. My goatee is  like a security blanket, I guess. My kids (14 and 11) have never seen me without my goatee, or were too young to remember. It'll probably shock them. I will probably dislike being clean-shaven more than being bald.

This is where you come in. All of you. Canadians, Americans, Europeans. All of the people who follow me on Twitter and clicked the link I tweeted or posted on Facebook today and are now reading this. Well, hopefully still reading this.

If you knew me personally, you’d know how much I dislike asking anyone for anything. I’m not a pushy guy. Hell, if I had $1,500 to spare, I’d donate it all towards my goal so I didn’t have to ask anyone for anything. Seriously. So, asking for help is difficult for me. Asking for money is more difficult. But I’m going to do it anyway because it’s not for me.

And I’m not asking for a lot. A few dollars, or pounds? Anything that you can afford. It all helps. And it doesn’t matter that it’s going to a Canadian charitable cause because we’re all working toward one goal, right?

So instead of having three coffees today, how about skipping one and donating the money to me? Or, how about $5 for every person in your “circle”?

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

or

http://cancer.scottpaterson.org

They both go to the same place.

Although I’d prefer that donations be made directly online via the Relay for Life web site, if using a credit card isn’t your thing, you can also send it as a “gift” via PayPal to spaterson AT hotmail.com and I’ll add it as an offline cash donation, with your name, so you can see it on my fundraising meter.

As of this posting, I am $1050 away from reaching my goal with 43 days left.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this.

Week 38 - It's beer:30

It's beer:30
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I took this shot for dailyshoot.com on Friday. The goal was to "make an artistic shot of your favorite beverage or libation today". It was as if the task was made for me. :) When I got home I grabbed a beer from the fridge, sat it on the floor, put on my 100mm macro lens and snapped a few shots.

I was surprised to find that I got a couple of comments on it too. I like comments. :)

Who stole my little boy? And who is this man in my house?

Everyone says “Kids… oh my god, they grow so fast!”

It wasn’t until around Christmas that I realized how much of an understatement that is. They don’t just grow fast – they grow incredibly fast.

Since last summer, my 14 year-old son (soon to be 15) has changed from a whiny little kid, who could bring tears to his eyes simply by telling him he was losing computer privileges, to a deep voiced (and getting deeper), hairy-legged, long-haired monster with a Sidney Crosby moustache (circa 2009) who could probably come pretty close to taking me down in a wrestling match.

Where the hell did my little boy go?

Where did the time go?

I am still shocked every day that I see him, or when he opens his mouth.

I can’t help but feel that I have I have somehow missed a year or two of his life during this transition. Seriously. I got ripped off.

Let this be a warning to parents who have children around the same age. If they still look like kids to you, enjoy every moment you can… because one day you’re going to blink and miss it.

Week 37 - Go Sens Go!

Go Sens Go!
Originally uploaded by Twister65

A co-worker brought in a little luck the the Ottawa Senators. Unfortunately, as of last night, they were eliminated in game 6 of round 1.

I was messing around with my 100mm Macro at lunch one day earlier this week and took this shot. I really like that lens. Can't wait to get outside with it and shoot some stuff.

Xbox 360 compatible USB storage

Ever since Microsoft released the dashboard update for the Xbox 360 that allows it to read and write to USB drives, I’ve been searching for any information on compatible USB sticks storage. The last I read, a list was “forthcoming”.

In addition to that update, Microsoft also announce that they would be selling preconfigured, Xbox branded, USB sticks by Sandisk. In typical Microsoft fashion, they will be overpriced at around $70 for 16GB, and $35 for 8GB. I wouldn’t hold your breath on MS providing a list of compatible USB sticks.

I already tried a 4GB “Energizer” brand that I had lying around on my Xbox and it gave me a warning that it did not pass the performance tests. Despite that, it has been working fine.

I noticed that the part number on the Xbox sticks was similar to Sandisk’s own Cruzer flash drives, so I had a look around for those. I found 16GB Sandisk Cruzer USB sticks at Best Buy for $40 each. It wouldn’t surprise me if they are the exact same drive in different cases. The one linked above on Sandisk’s own page says “new design” but looks pretty much the same as the one at Best Buy.

I ordered a couple and they arrived today. They seem to work great and they pass the Xbox’s performance test.

It should be noted that these drives come with some program installed called U3 Launcher and a hidden partition. If you plan on only using this on your Xbox, it might be worth removing it and freeing up the space. You can find information and a removal tool by searching Google.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Xbox 360 update brings long-awaited USB storage support, SanDisk ready to cash in (engadget.com)
• Xbox 360 USB Mass Storage Support Now Live (inquisitr.com)

Week 36 – New floor

New floor
Originally uploaded by Twister65

This isn't a particularly interesting Project 52 photo unless you are me. But it marks an event in my year, so I find it worth posting.

We spent yet another weekend spent with renovations. Despite the rainy weather on Saturday, we managed to get started on installing the laminate floor. It drizzled on and off for most of the day, so we were able to get outside to cut the floor, but had to keep bringing the saw back in so it didn't get wet, and got about 1/3 done. We continued on Sunday morning and pretty much finished it 9 hours later. There's a small area in front of the stairs that still needs to be done, but we want to get the nosing sanded and stained first. We still also have two landings to do, and the small upstairs hall. We're not putting a plywood subfloor down for any of them, so they'll go pretty quick (I think... and hope)

Week 35 - Nickelback wait...

Nickelback wait..
Originally uploaded by Twister65

My wife and I went to the Nickelback concert here in Ottawa tonight. The show included Sick Puppies, Shinedown, and Breaking Benjamin.

The show was to start at 6:30pm. We were a little late in arriving due to me misplacing the stubs. As we drove to the parking lot, we were shocked to see a huge line-up, stretching around the corner of Scotiabank Place, after 6:30pm. WTF?

We weren't quite sure why, so we followed others to the front of the arena, skipping past the line-up. This photo shows where we were, and the time we were there.

By the time we got into the show, we had completely missed seeing Sick Puppies. Our friends, who got there earlier, told us that the doors didn't open until 6:00pm.

Seriously.... they opened the doors 30 minutes before the concert, where 17,500 people were attending.

I read this evening that the Prime Minister and his son were there, and security was tighter as a result. I guess it took them time to sweep the building for bombs? I don't know, but it sucked... and I sent Scotiabank Place a complaint email. Someone should have know about the PM's attendance way before and this shit should have been taken care of earlier.

Anyway, it was a great concert. Shinedown rocked. Breaking Benjamin rocked. Nickelback rocked. I'm not a huge fan of Nickelback, unlike my wife, but they sure know how to put on a great show.

Did I mention I hate painting?

I think all of the painting, minus the baseboards and trim, is now down. Thank God.

Today we tackled the entrance and the kitchen. It always seems to take longer than expected and we finished at around 10:30pm this evening.

We did take a little time during the day to sit outside in the sun and have a beer while we waited for the first coat of each room to dry.

The leak in the bathroom returned. I noticed the brass nut under the sink was a little wet this morning. Not enough to drip down the pipe or anything. I tightened it some more. A little later in the day I checked it and it was wet again. I tightened it a couple more times throughout the afternoon. After a few more uses it has remained dry. I hope it stays that way.

We are now at the point where we have to decide when to tackle the living room and dining area floor. The laminate has been waiting in the basement since day 1, way back in January. Before that, I told my wife we have to get those areas back to being functional and tidy. It’s going to be difficult enough having to move furniture around as we go. We don’t need all of the other crap that we have in there right now. It’s insane.

I mentioned to my wife today that it’s a good thing we’re tearing up the carpet in the living room and dining area. The wear and tear it has experienced just from working on the bathroom, kitchen and entrance is unreal.

I’m wiped. Need sleep.

Week 34 - Gummy-cide

Gummy-cide
Originally uploaded by Twister65

Messing around with my 100mm lens at work during lunch one day, and this was one of the results. I love it. I even printed out an 8x10 and hung it in my den at home.

Bathroom done… almost

Stuff I learned today during our ongoing reno:

• They actually sell the under-the-sink pipe elbow fittings all together for one price. Saves searching for the individual pieces. I like.
• I can’t cut very squarely with our hacksaw.
• ABS pipe doesn’t cut well with a jigsaw. Too much heat is generated by the blade, causing the pipe to melt back together as it cuts.
• ABS glue really smells.
• There hundreds of people in Ottawa with new BBQs from Lowes. Man, were they busy today.
• Our bathroom walls aren’t as square as I would like.
• Minor leaks are stubborn.

So, the bathroom is pretty much done. The vanity is screwed to the wall. The counter top is glued on with silicone. The pipes are all done and glued and don’t leak. The new faucets work. The new toilet seat is on. The new toilet roll holder is installed. New door knob is installed (Sandra wanted silver to replace the gold ones) All that’s missing is the baseboards, like everywhere else in the house where we’ve done stuff.

Sandra sanded and painted the entrance and bathroom door this morning. Unfortunately, the sanding wasn’t quite done well enough to hide most of the patches she did to the wall.  We didn’t bother doing a second coat. We’ll let it dry properly and take the hand sander to them tomorrow to see if we can get them down more so they’re more invisible.

Back to the minor leak. The faucet’s drain attachment seems to have a small leak where it meets the underside of the sink. It has a huge rubber washer that should prevent that, but it seems to leak no matter how tight I make it, and I’m paranoid of over tightening it and damaging the sink.

I removed it all and reassembled it again, and it seemed to stop at first, but then the plastic pipe with the drain plug lifter sprouted its own minor leak. I’m not sure even plumber’s tape will seal them, just because of the way they’re designed. It’s difficult to explain. I have a plan on how to stop the lifter pipe leak, but the other one still has me stumped.. unless I tried to tighten it even more.

A guy’s washroom

We grouted the entrance and bathroom on Thursday night and Sandra applied a few coats of grout sealer on Friday.

As well on Friday, we installed the vanity and dry fit the counter top – it looks pretty good. I decided to cut off the pipe elbows from the drain to make it easier to maneuver the vanity over the water supply pipes at the same time as fitting it over the drain pipe on the wall on the left. Because if that, we’ll have to pick up new pipe tomorrow to hook up the drain.

The toilet has now been reinstalled. Talk about paranoia. The first few flushes had us crossing our fingers. No leaks. At first I thought that maybe we’d only need the ½” flange extension but in the end I decided to also add the ¼” one as well to bring it to floor height. We also decided to throw out the toilet seat and get a new one. Until then, the toilet is for guys only. :)

So, tomorrow (err.. today, rather) I screw the vanity to the wall, permanently attach the “cultured granite” counter top to the vanity, and install the new faucet. Sandra is going to paint the bathroom door and I think get started on painting the kitchen and the entrance. That will pretty much finish what we have to do in the kitchen, entrance and bathroom, except for the baseboards which will come once the living room laminate floor is done.

That is next. Maybe even next weekend. We’ll see.

Home Reno – no more tiling

The tiling is DONE. Sorta. All that’s left to do is the grouting and sealing. It was so awkward trying to fit my fat ass into such a small room and install tiles, all the while trying to maintain the alignment and spacing. My knees and my back hate me.

Anyway, done. Grouting I can deal with tomorrow or the day after.

Next week we will attempt to install the new vanity, sink and faucets.

Week 33 - HMCS Sackville @ 100mm

HMCS Sackville
Originally uploaded by Twister65

I picked up a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens off Ebay this weekend. It took about 2 months of bidding on different auctions and losing on those bids either because I was outbid or the auction was canceled. It's crazy.

Somehow, I lucked out this time. I was the ONLY bidder on this auction, perhaps because the seller only had 1 feedback. He was local to my area, so I took a chance and won. The guy was even nice enough to meet with me downtown to save me $8 S&H.

This is one of the first shots I took with it, so it's really not the best. This is a collector plate of the HMCS Sackville, a WWII corvette, that I had the pleasure of spending a few days on to help to restore while I was in the Navy in the mid-80s. I think I bought this plate years later at the Stittsville Flea Market.

I’m cuttin’ pipe… all night long…

Yeh, bad attempted at pipe pun. Sue me.

I took Friday off work again, this time to tackle the bathroom part of the reno. All we had done up to now was remove the old laminate and the toilet. Today it was to be gutted: vanity and sink removed, which involves cutting the copper pipes, and hacking the vanity all to hell.

It went surprisingly well, although we did run into a hurdle when I went to cut the pipes.

The pipe cutter that we bought wasn’t small enough to full rotate around the pipe to cut it because the pipes were too close to the back of the vanity. It looked like that red one in the picture, except ours was blue. My wife went to Canadian Tire to buy a smaller one, while I searched for our pipe wrench.

Cutting the pipes was a piece of cake, after shutting off the water main of course. :) We then began dismantling the vanity. It turned out that the left side of the vanity, attached to the wall, was actually the wall itself. Cheap. It took us about 10 minutes to remove all the pieces, leaving us with a floor lower than the rest of the floor. It’s a good thing we kept laminate floor scraps from last week. Laying then two-deep was enough to bring it up to the floor height.

The funniest thing of the day had to be when I removed the toilet toll holder. It was old and inset into the wall and my wife wanted it gone.  I scored the edges and pried it off, leaving this massive chunk of plaster and carpet(?!) inside the wall. It took a lot of hammering to break it free. I'm not sure why they jammed carpet in behind it and also to the right of it. And, they stuffed plastic underneath it -- as insulation or to stop it from seeping down into the wall as it dried? Very odd.

With the vanity now gone, I attached the pressure-fit shutoff valves to the cut pipes. That went great. No leaks after turning the water back on. The main water shut off tap does seem to now have a very slow leak though.

My wife took some careful measurements of the floor space, taking into account the pipes and the toilet drain hole, and we managed to cover the entire floor with two large pieces of plywood. A couple of dozen floor screws later, and it was installed.

We dry fit some floor tiles and discovered the bathroom door isn’t going to close with tiles on the floor, so we’ll have to remove it and plane the bottom down. We were also quite happy to see that the layout of the tiles could not be better. The toilet drain occupies the space of a single tile, which will make the cutting really easy. As well, the sink water pipes also fit in part of a single tile space. Another easy cut. We planned this layout perfectly. :)

We also, finally, got to move our stove and fridge back into the kitchen. I didn’t mention that we grouted the tiles earlier in the week. It seems we had the presence of mind to buy quit-set grout, that dries in 3 hours.

My wife wants to paint the bathroom tomorrow before we begin laying the tile, so that’s the first thing on our list for tomorrow. We should also be able to install the floor tile. This time, I think we’re going to try and get the cut ones installed at the same time. Once the tile is laid, we really have no choice but to wait until Sunday to grout and install the vanity, if we’re lucky.

Confirm THIS!

This WTF Moment is brought to you by the Herongate Dental Clinic.

I have a dental appoint for tomorrow morning at 8:00am. Last week the phone rang and I answered it, which is rare for me as nobody ever calls me. It was an automated message from my dentist’s office reminding me that I have an appointment on Friday, March 26th at 8:00am and saying to “press 1 to confirm the appointment”.

I pressed 1 and hung up.

Yesterday I checked the messages on our answering machine. There was one from my dentist’s office, again reminding me that I have an appointment on Friday, March 26th at 8:00am, and adding that the appointment is not confirmed until I contact their office.

WTF?

I’m not going to call them. I’m going to go to my “press 1” confirmed appointment tomorrow morning for my check-up.

Home Reno – finishing the puzzle… well, mostly

We lucked out and the forecasted rain did not become a reality!

The entire day was spent cutting tile to fit near the walls… or around walls… and thresholds. We didn’t get started with cementing them down until some time after 3:00pm. We were so tired by then, that we almost decided to wait until another time. It’s hard to believe that it took that long. I never would have imagined it.

Anyway, we stuck it out and got it all done. The bathroom still has not been touched since we removed the laminate and the toilet. I’m sure that old vanity is going to take forever to remove because of the awkwardness of the plumping. So the floor in there still has to be done. It’s small, so it shouldn’t take long. (Famous last words)

After setting the last piece of tile at the entrance to the den, I was standing on it to make sure it was set and the damn thing snapped clean in half. I came so close to just leaving it. It didn’t look that bad. :) But I couldn’t. I cut a new one.

Our primary concern is still with getting the kitchen back to being functional, so we’ll be looking at grouting this week. Bathroom next weekend.

We’re both contemplating taking another Friday off as well.

Week 32 – Screwed

Screwed (32/52)
Originally uploaded by Twister65

This weeks photo is... 3700 flooring screws. :) All part of our main floor home reno. I should have shot it closer and might have gotten a cool texture image out of it.

Home Reno – pieces of the puzzle

The whole day was spent mixing mortar and laying tile.

We started off laying the tile without mortar to get a good idea of how they should be placed so that we didn’t end up with small pieces along any of the walls.

Thank god we bought the big mixer bit to attach to my drill. That stuff is thick and doesn’t mix easily. I thought it was going to burn out the drill, it got so hot. It said to mix for 5 minutes, let sit for 5-10 minutes, mix again and then use it. It took more than 5 minutes to fully mix so there was no powder at the bottom of the bucket.

Here’s a tip: make sure you have two buckets. Start to mix in the first bucket and then pour/scrape it into a second bucket so you can get all the unmixed powder at the bottom of the first bucket.

Everything I read said to lay all of the full tile pieces first, let them dry and then do the cut pieces later. It makes sense, but it can be a big pain to scrape the excess mortar from the non-tiled areas so they remain smooth for when you do put those tiles down.

Our living room looks like hell now. My wife joked that our house looks like it belongs on an episode of Hoarders. Funny, but so true.

We still haven’t done any more to the bathroom. There’s rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so I suspect it’s unlikely that we will be getting it done anytime soon. I guess we’ll continue with the tiling to get the kitchen back in order, and then we can work on removing the old bathroom vanity.

Home Reno - demolition

We got to Home Depot at around 7:15am or so. We wanted to get there early so we had a chance to rent their $20 van to deliver our own plywood, rather than pay the ~$60 for them to deliver it.

We picked up fifteen 8’x4’x½” sheets of plywood, two bags of mortar, a box of 3700 flooring screws. Thanks to the cashier at Home Depot, we saved $2 on the screws and got 2700 more! We had originally picked up two boxes of 500. They had larger boxes at the cashier, and she pointed out that the 3700 box was $2 cheaper. Go figure. Good thing we went with the larger box because I went screw crazy on the plywood.

By around 3:50pm, we had moved all of the kitchen appliances into the dining area, we had all of the old laminate ripped up, all of the baseboard and ¼ round off, the toilet removed (that old wax(?) ring was f’n gross) and two sheets of plywood installed. It was slow going, mostly because we were trying to cut the plywood to fit all the angles, as opposed to using lots of smaller pieces.

We also slowed down when we were removing the laminate in the bathroom. We had originally planned on gutting the entire bathroom before starting to put down the plywood, but it turned out that the braided hose we got to replace most of the copper pipe was too short. My wife went back to Home Depot and exchanged it for longer hoses and different pressure fittings. But at the same time, we decided on NOT removing the old vanity for the time being because it’s going to be time consuming and we need to try and get our kitchen back to being functional as soon as possible. I figured we could get the kitchen and front entrance tiled and grouted first, and then do the bathroom later.

We stopped at 7:20pm after installing plywood in the kitchen and the front hall. That’s not as much as I had originally hoped on getting done, but I’m still happy with it. The weather forecast was originally calling for rain tomorrow, so we tried to get as much of the cutting done today since we were doing it all outside. I just checked the forecast now, and there’s no rain forecast for tomorrow, so maybe we will be able to get the bathroom floor gutted and plywood down after all.

I have to say that the best tool I have, and used today, was my Dad’s old variable-speed Black & Decker drill. It has to be around 30 years old and still works like a charm. My own drill is not variable-speed.  With a Robertson screw driver bit in it, it was a huge time saver screwing down all the plywood. I can’t imaging the hell it would have been screwing them all down by hand. There’s no way I could have done it. His old steel yard stick also came in handy. My Dad used to do a lot of home reno projects when I was a kid, so I like to think that he was with us in spirit, via his old tools. Thanks Dad! :)