Author: chuma

  • dish trip

    I’ve had it trying to install my own satellite system. Never doing it again. I’m calling a professional installer today. I just don’t want to talk about it…

  • many, many hits.

    Hey, I just noticed that a few weeks ago this page topped the 40,000 hit mark. Cool.

  • Oh, moving!

                   [Homer searches under the couch for a peanut]
            Homer: Hmm...ow, pointy!
                   Eww, slimy.
                   Oh, moving!
                   Ah-ha!  [looks, then says remorsefully] Oh, twenty
                   dollars...I wanted a peanut!
    Homer's brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
            Homer: Explain how.
    Homer's brain: Money can be exchanged for good and services.
    -- The voice of reason, "Boy Scoutz 'N the Hood", The Simpsons
    

    We have moved. It was much more difficult than the last time. For one, our house’s former inhabitants were extremely high-strung crazy people who seem to have gotten coffee stains… everywhere. Second of all they weren’t our of the house in time and threatened us with lawsuits because they blamed us. But they were only two hours late, luckily.

    So after over 96 hours of moving and unpacking we are mostly unpacked. It looks a bit bare because we’re not putting anything up on the walls until we patch and paint them.

    I’ve also had a fun (hah!) time installing our StarChoice system. First of all let me say that StarChoice are bastards when it comes to providing help for self-installers. There is none. I hate them. Also I don’t have a handheld signal finder which apparently makes it much easier to do. Today I’ll be picking one up and making another trip to the dish……. fun.

    Our neighbourhood is really nice! Most of our neighbours are under-30ish couples starting families. We’re already planning a new front garden design with our neighbour to replace the ugly stuff the previous owner did. All in all I don’t think I will ever be bored again.

  • D-Day

    Today we sign the papers for our new house.

    Tomorrow we take posession and start moving. I am so damn stoked. I know Sandy is too but she’s too tired from packing to show it 🙂

  • snap, crackle, pop!

    Kellog’s Rice Krispies? No, the sound of me stepping on my glasses yesterday morning! Fun! Joy!

    I’d been putting off going to the optometrist for months now, and it was fast approaching three years since my last visit so it seemed as good a time as any. I worked from home and got into the optometrist across the street by 11. Dilating my pupils rendered me unable to look at my computer screen for a few hours anyways.

    Today I am sporting geek-chic tape on the left arm of my glasses. Luckily, my new funky specs should be ready for me to pick up by this evening. Woot.

  • what’s going on? what’s happening? what’s all this?

    What else has been happening?

    • We are entering box hell – that time before we move when we try to do as much pre-packing as possible. You can tell it’s getting time to move because photos and pictures start to come off the walls, and then when we talk it sounds like we’re living in a barrel. It’s only three weeks until we take possession of our house.
    • Maptuit (where I work) is plugging along. Check out our new corporate website with lots of juicy press releases and technology demos.
    • Sandy got into York University for teacher’s college, as you may have noticed. This is the news we’ve been waiting for for months now. It’s a huge relief to know that she’s going to school in Ontario.
    • As a result, we’re seriously looking at buying Sandy a notebook computer. Her requirements are “as light as possible and good battery life” for normal Office / Web browsing use. My requirements are “must last at least three years without failing” as I’ve seen so, so many notebooks become doorstops over the years. Also it must be under $2000. So far I’ve looked at the Sony VAIO 505 series, Apple iBooks, and some IBMs that were in their clearance center. Mmmm… IBMs are looking good actually.
  • WAHOOOO!

    Sandy got into York!

    Sandy got into York!

    Sandy got into York!

    Sandy got into York!

    (for teacher’s college)

  • When someone inconveniences you, hit ’em right bacl

    I feel great. I just had someone’s car towed.

    I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m starting to realize that living in the city teaches you to be harsh and swift.

    Last night we got home from seeing Erin Smith Band, and there was someone else’s car parked in our spot. It’s not the first time this has happened: the time before, it was a simple mix-up between permit holders, so it wasn’t a big huge deal. However, this car did not have a parking permit for our building, so this was a problem. We waited an hour and the car was still there.

    I should point out that I’ve never been in this position before: I was faced with either calling the police and having the offending hunk of metal tagged and towed or waiting for the people. Sandy and I talked/argued about it a bit and I decided that we would wait until the morning, simply because I didn’t think that parking enforcement would respond very quickly and I wanted to get some sleep (Sandy needed some rest too).

    So this morning (10:45am), lo and behold, the bloody car is still in our spot. Furthermore, our car, which was parked in the visitor’s parking, has a parking ticket. So I’m screaming blue bloody murder in the middle of the parking lot for a few seconds (this is Toronto, so it’s a regular occurance anyways) and then I drive Sandy to work and race home. Car is still there. Smoke comes out of Victor’s ears. Victor calls Toronto Police Services and they dispatch a parking officer.

    The fun ensues! 20 minutes later the lady officer shows up, I’m waiting outside because I really don’t want these people to leave. I show her the parking tag inside our car with our parking space # on it, that’s all the proof she needs. Writes the offending car a ticket, asks me if I’d like it towed (“Hell yeah!”), I sign the indemnity that this is my spot and this car shouldn’t be here, she calls in a tow truck.

    I will admit that I have never actually seen the entire process of a car being towed performed for me before, so I sat around and waited. I can now safely say that I will never put my car in danger of being towed, ever, EVER, EVER again. Tow truck operators are not gentle.

    All said and done it only took about an hour… I should have done it last night but I was just too forgiving. Not any more!

    PS: Sandy was right all along.

  • For those of you who are keeping track, yesterday Mike’s girlfriend gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Raven Rochelle Kamenka came into this world weighing 9 pounds and 15 ounces. We went to see them yesterday evening at the hospital: everyone was doing A-OK.

  • We did manage to watch Secret Window. It was… alright. Not excellent. Not garbage either though.

    Watched the first episode of season 8 of South Park last night. It was brutal to watch. Somehow they manage to keep pushing the envelope of taste. It was just painful, painful to watch. On the other hand, the episode “Christmas in Canada” last season was bloody brilliant.