If you've just dropped by or random'ed into me, please leave a comment and say hello.

Let me know how you found me, where you're from, why you're here, a little about yourself, recommend a book, recommend a movie, tell me a secret, tell me something, ask me a question, etc. =)

Ad Astra,

The Bride of the First House.
bride (at) livejournal (dot) com

---

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		14.2°C
mood	:		glad

Every time this phone number helps someone, I re-post it to the top of my journal.

This is Fido's Super Secret Hotline for cancelling their cell phone plans. It's not published anywhere. It's not on their website. It's not on the invoices. It's nowhere to be found. None of the call-takers who answer the phone at any of their other numbers can cancel your plan.

1-888-259-3436

I got it five six seven years ago after jumping flaming hoops like you wouldn't believe. I was trying to cancel my Mother-In-Law's stupid phone for her because she was so frustrated with it. I was so pissed off that I immediately posted the number to my journal as soon as I was done with it.

I'm just glad to have helped somebody else with this. When you get sick and bloody tired of losing your signal every time a butterfly farts on its migratory path in Southern Chile, there's the cancellation hotline up there.

Oh, and if you get a French dude named Christian, please be nice to him. I think poor Christian is the only person manning this line and, in all likelihood, it's not his fault that Fido sucks.

And if it helps you, pay it forward. Post it to your own webspace and help someone else. =)

For increased Google indexing/pagerank:

CANCEL FIDO. FIDO CANCEL.

NUMBER TO CANCEL FIDO.

FIDO CANCELLATION NUMBER.

HOW THE HELL DO I CANCEL MY FIDO PLAN?

CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL. FIDO FIDO FIDO.

weather	:		partially cloudy
outside	:		9.0°C
mood	:		...

Having been around a handmade merchandise community for a while, I had some thoughts.

The reality of it is, there is no quality control in handmade products. You can't assure quality on your own work. If it were bad or wrong, you would NEVER have done it that way to begin with.

You'll see some really well made items by some really talented people. But there are an awful lot of people out there who just think they're talented. It's very inconsistent. The buyer, customer, end user has to do their own quality control. You need to be able to tell good stitching, good wire work and generally what "well made" means in each skill category.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, per se. Being more aware and involved in the quality of your environment and what goes into the things you use, I feel, is definitely in some ways an improvement over mindlessly raking things off the shelf.

But it's exhausting for me because I do quality assurance for a living. I'm constantly checking things over, sending things back for defect resolution and improvement. I'm damned tired at the end of the day and given the choice, I would rather someone else handle that for me in other aspects of my life.

I see some very nice things. Merchants of handmade items tend to be very down to earth and practical people which is reflected in the designs of the things they make. The items are in very down to earth styles and colours. I can totally see myself wearing some of the clothes and jewellery, etc. I see a lot of things that I would love to own.

But these items are Things That I Don't Need™ and usually priced like high-end, luxury items. I can appreciate that that's how much it cost in materials, labour and they've priced it to be able to cover overhead costs and make a living. I can appreciate that they have been fair in their pricing decisions.

But that doesn't change the fact that I still can't afford it.

I only occasionally find things that I both like and can afford. But it's like shopping for things on sale all over again which I really wanted to avoid because I hate shopping.

There's no advantage to me to buy handmade. It's not always more cost effective. The styles are not necessarily nicer. The quality is not necessarily better.

I have gained perspective on merchandise. Some things I will continue to buy handmade or make myself. Other things will be bought mass produced.

Whatever I decide, I'm more aware of the choices I'm making.

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		19.4°C
mood	:		glad

Every time this phone number helps someone, I re-post it to the top of my journal.

This is Fido's Super Secret Hotline for cancelling their cell phone plans. It's not published anywhere. It's not on their website. It's not on the invoices. It's nowhere to be found. None of the call-takers who answer the phone at any of their other numbers can cancel your plan.

1-888-259-3436

I got it five six years ago after jumping flaming hoops like you wouldn't believe. I was trying to cancel my Mother-In-Law's stupid phone for her because she was so frustrated with it. I was so pissed off that I immediately posted the number to my journal as soon as I was done with it.

I'm just glad to have helped somebody else with this. When you get sick and bloody tired of losing your signal every time a butterfly farts on its migratory path in Southern Chile, there's the cancellation hotline up there.

Oh, and if you get a French dude named Christian, please be nice to him. I think poor Christian is the only person manning this line and, in all likelihood, it's not his fault that Fido sucks.

And if it helps you, pay it forward. Post it to your own webspace and help someone else. =)

For increased Google indexing/pagerank:

CANCEL FIDO. FIDO CANCEL.

NUMBER TO CANCEL FIDO.

FIDO CANCELLATION NUMBER.

HOW THE HELL DO I CANCEL MY FIDO PLAN?

CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL. FIDO FIDO FIDO.

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		19.6°C
mood	:		...

Meet Pip. =)

Short for Philip Pirrip, of course. =) He's slightly less than 3 pounds, from Osaka and is a Fujitsu Lifebook P7230. Not terribly exciting really. I just wanted something smaller and lighter. Pip has a lot of things that I'm not sure I'll use... like the built in webcam and the fingerprint sensor.

So far, it's a little cramped, but I think it will be okay. It gets interesting if I'm on AC power and need the USB port and I want to eject the CD slot. I much prefer to use my USB mouse over the touchpad, so I plug it into the other side. But that means I'll have to figure out how to plug my memory stick in. =P

I opted for XP. I've finally gotten the environment to a point where I've stopped having the urge to dig my eyes out with a spoon again.

Office 2007 looks like an ass clown shat all over it. Holy cripes, I hope whoever designed that has long since OD'ed on whatever they're snorting, smoking or shooting rather than have to live with the embarrassment of being credited with that piece of shit.

On top of the eye-bleeding ugliness, there's a big fat yellowy-orange Office button that DOES NOT STOP BLINKING and couldn't be turned off easily. There is no way to revert it back to a "classic" UI without buying and installing third party utilities. I uninstalled it, I didn't even want to try it for the whatever duration free trial I have. I would use OpenOffice in a heartbeat, but there are too many quirks with trying to open/edit/view/save the same files between MS Office and OpenOffice. You either can't fix certain things or you have to keep fixing them every single time.

Speaking of pieces of shit (it never ends, does it?), IE 7 is somehow displaying images from domains that I have redirected to 127.0.0.1 in my /etc/hosts file. I've saved changes, cleared the browser cache, deleted cookies and temp files, restarted the browser and even rebooted (shut down, count to 10, power back up). I know it's been done correctly because SeaMonkey behaves as it should with those blocked domains.

Anyway, my Mother-in-Law will be using my Dell.

weather	:		clear
outside	:		11.8°C
mood	:		squeeful

I have a new phone. Well, I've had a new phone for a while.

I now tote along a Sony Ericsson W810i with a crystal case. My phone is white, but the crystal case shows up better on a black phone.

I got a Nokia 5300 for my Dad. He hates flip phones, but he also wants something small. That narrows down the choices considerably. The Nokia 5300 is a bit of a compromise — a slider. It's still a good size brick, but we'll see what he says. If he likes the Sony Ericsson better, I'll give him that and I'll take the Nokia. I like the sliding thing better, but the Sony Ericsson has better features.

In the meantime, I've discovered that I can't use MP3s for ring tones. That was supremely poopty for a while. So, I've finally gotten around to searching for good MIDIs of my favorite songs.

Thus far, I have:

• Congratulations, Ah My Goddess
• The Secret of Monkey Island Opening Theme
• Danny Boy
• Picard's Ressican Flute Piece, The Inner Light
• Star Trek: TNG Theme
• Star Trek: First Contact Theme
• Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Theme
• The Legend of Zelda Theme
• Kakariko Village, Zelda III

The first four made me very very squeeful. =) The Congratulations from Ah My Goddess was a particularly exciting find because it's the adagio arrangement and it's more rare than the regular upbeat allegro arrangement.

Not all of them are good for ring tones though. Some of them start off too mellow. Good ring tones really need to start with a burst of sound.

No one has a good conversion of the Ba'ku Village Theme from Star Trek: Insurection. The best one I've found still drops too many notes =P But I've tried converting MP3s to MIDI myself, so I can appreciate how difficult it is to compensate for the loss of data. Just doing "Congratulations" had me fuming so hard.

Anyway. Very. Squee. Yes. =D

[Update]

HOLY SHIT!!!! I just found the Moderato and Andante Semplice movements to the Danse Russe suite from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. WOW! Wowowowow!!! And it starts off really nicely for a ring tone too!!! =D =D =D

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		10.5°C
mood	:		...

I was unhappy enough with TD Canada Trust that I closed both my accounts with them. And this is even considering the fact that they are open late on weekday evenings. Evening business hours is HUGE plus for someone like me. I opened an account with them when they had the best high interest savings account around, but their staff did some things that... didn't impress me.

I momentarily felt bad because the teller girl who closed out my accounts was so nice. She said I was the third person in 15 minutes to close my accounts with her. Apparently, I'm not the only one going to greener pastures. I tried to be nice about it too, saying that I'd gladly re-open an account if they had a great rate.

One of my accounts was a USD account. So, I've been looking around for somewhere to park it. I only ever plan to deposit and withdraw USD. I'm not going to be letting the bank automatically convert it for me.

Finding a good high interest USD bank account option in Canada is not easy. Every bank has a no-interest, everyday regular-use account option, but I don't use it that often. I mostly let it sit, accumulate and earn interest. I use it on trips abroad which is only once in a while. So, an everyday regular-use account is not right for me.

Most other USD Savings accounts have pitiful rates. I was almost thinking about finding out what rates American banks would give foreigners for an account...

And in the Learn Something New Every Day Department™:

I'd heard a lot about ING Direct, so I looked into them. Generally, good products sell themselves. When something is heavily, heavily advertised, that's usually the first clue that there's something wrong with it.

ING Direct is no exception in this regard. I've never had reason to care, so I always had the impression that they were a bank that gives customers a much better deal than the other banks. They're not a bank at all, but they're very happy to mislead you into thinking that they are.

They just offer financial services that are very similar to what banks have. They blare loudly, in an obnoxious orange colour, no less, that they give better rates and they are a better way of "banking". What they don't say is that those better rates come at the price of much greater inconvenience. It's fine if you can accept the greater level of inconvenience, but there's a sliminess to how they present themselves.

You still have to have an actual bank account at an actual bank in order to use ING's services. That external account is going to have fees. I find it bizarre that this is a prerequisite requirement and nobody mentions that.

I found this out when I was looking at their 3.5% USD account. That sounded great, but you don't have the ability to write cheques or order drafts from any of their accounts, so I can't use them because I would need a USD account at a real bank that I can transfer funds to and then write a cheque from the external account.

That just defeats the whole purpose of it.

When you deposit or transfer funds into your ING account from your other bank account it's held — by their own admission — for an excessively long time before you have access it. "It's MY MON-EY", is it? Transfering money electronically or by paper doesn't take more than 2 business days. Yes, I know they're hedging and they have to make their money somehow. I just don't like that they're advertising "different" as "better" and hiding the "not better" part.

I remember my mortgage advisor saying that their mortgages were crap too. They really don't have the best products, their advertising is just very very calculated. Famous Dutch actors with cool accents, who are largely unknown in North America, are exceptionally effective Marketing tools.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		8.4°C
mood	:		*ow*...

Oy, my body hurts. I vacuumed about 4000sqft's worth of newly laid carpet yesterday.

After giving them a fair try, I've decided that I really don't like upright, bagless vacs. After watching dust get blown outwards away from the nozzle, just out of the box as well as shortly after cleaning out all the bins and filters; after watching the outer casing collect more dust than the vacuum sucks up; after trading it for a Eureka Whirlwind Lite and finding the same damned thing, I had just about had it.

As far as vacuums go, I'd rather change bags.

So, kat_box, you're very welcome to keep my Bissel or give it to someone who needs/wants it. I'll be returning your Eureka sometime this week. I'll surprise you. =D

Incidentally, our old little Kenmore canister vacuum had to be brought out of retirement and really pulled us through The Big House Cleanup Job of 2007. We're finally getting rid of it, not because it's stopped working, but because it's been over 20 years, it's on its last legs and it's just time now.

So, we have a brand spanking new, hot rod red, Kenmore Elegance today. =) I didn't like the hot rod red, but it's an excellent vacuum, so I conceded.

It merrily sucked up a bag and a half of loose carpet crumbs from having brand new carpet. And we brought it over to the apartment. It was great for both. It hugged the stairs well in the old house and it has soft wheels for the hardwood floor in the apartment. The base unit has a motor but can also be air driven, which is nice for bare floors.

We can use the bags that we got for the old vacuum, they're Kenmore standards. After that, we'll get the Kenmore HEPA filter bags.

So, now I don't know what to do with the Swiffer® SweeperVac®. It just isn't enough. It has trouble holding a charge long enough to do the entire 1200sqft apartment. I can only really do a third to a half at a time before it gives me this gaggy and tired sound. Add to that, having to emptying the cup and clean the filter, and I'm really not impressed.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		3.2°C
mood	:		...

I've been wanting to try a pair of rimless glasses for a long time, but I don't _need_ them, so I couldn't justify spending $300+ on something I didn't need.

Husband Guy found a blog entry that reviewed a whole bunch of discount online prescription eyewear sites. I don't remember the name of the fellow and I didn't bookmark the link, but I remember he went into way too much detail for me. He's one of those people who does EXTENSIVE consumer research before buying ANYTHING. I really admire people who do that though. I try, but I admittedly don't dig as far into things as I, perhaps, should.

Looking through the different sites in his review, I wandered my way over to Goggles4U. USD$25.99. No tax. Free shipping. With the exchange rate, it came to a whopping total of CAD$30.58. For $30, I can afford to get a play pair of glasses. And if they didn't work out, I wouldn't be too upset.

I went into it knowing that if there was anything wrong with them, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. I could try to bring them in to LensCrafters and see if they'd adjust them for me, but that was about it. I had a pair of glasses once from a one-hour eyewear store that made my eyeballs feel like they were being squashed. The store staff tried everything they could, but nothing was helping and they finally just gave me a full refund.

So, I really wasn't going to get my hopes up. If these glasses weren't going to work, they'll just be donated to one of those Donate Your Old Glasses To A Child In A Developing Country bins.

Goggles4U lets you browse by category. Each category has a frillion pairs that you have to step through page by page. A different colour of the same style counts as a separate pair and is displayed separately. You have to have the patience to pore through it all. Tabbed Browsing and Bookmarks are your very best friends.

I finally decided on this pair. I didn't really like the pink on the temple tips, but I figured they'd be completely hidden when I'm wearing them.

When you're ordering, you need to provide an accurate prescription as well as your Pupil Distance. I was due for my biennial eye exam anyway, so I got my Pupil Distance measured while I was there. There are instructions floating around on the internet as to how to measure yourself, but my Optometrist, Dr. Dosanjh, said that was very prone to error.

So, there you have it: if you're going to order glasses online, get your Pupil Distance measured by a professional along with your prescription.

I ordered the glasses on November 18 and they arrived Thursday, November 30. I missed the delivery, so I wound up actually receiving them today.

When the Canada Post clerk returned from the back room, he handed me a loosely sewn shut, plain white cloth sack from Pakistan. =D Inside was a styrofoam block with my glasses in it sitting in the hard cover case. They were in a clear plastic bag packed in cotton. The lettering on the white sack was done with a Sharpie with the neatest block letters. Digression: I have a theory that people who write regularly in Asian and Middle Eastern glyphs have a more trained/honed sense of proportion and balance in penmanship, so their Roman/Cyrillic characters are very neat and tidy by virtue of that.

Anyway, the glasses fit very well and I can see very well through them. I don't get that squashed feeling in my eyeballs. I don't even need to bring it to a store to get anything adjusted. The pink on the temple tips isn't as bright as they look in the picture (they look like a dull, muted peach) which is fantastic. Maybe I was just that lucky.

Shipping cost them 340 Pakistan Rupees which is about USD$5.59/CAD$6.39. They also came with a little eyewear screwdriver-keychain thing, two extra nose-pads with tiny screws. The case that they came in, is the butt ugliest flurescent orange/red hard cover case I have ever seen, so I'm going to be getting a different one for it XD

Now that I have them, I think I might have chosen a style that had a larger total frame width. But I really couldn't ask for anything more for not being able to try them in person before buying.

weather	:		mostly sunny
outside	:		9.3°C
mood	:		...

I might have a buyer for my laptop. =) A Co-worker's wife was wanting something, so I brought mine in to Work, to show him. If they want it, I'll take it home, move my stuff off of it, scrub it, reinstall WinXP, Office 2003, et ceteries.

And if they don't want it, no worries. I think one of Husband Guy's Uncles said they were kinda thinking about a laptop too.

So, I think from March of this year to now counts as A Fair Shake™ at using this thing. I have gotten used to the "low ceiling" feeling a bit, but I still don't like it. The screen isn't as bad of a fingerprint magnet as I thought. My husband is a complete and utter Don't Touch The Screen Nazi, so I must not be too bad with the pointing at the screen myself =D And the ghosting isn't too bad because where I sit, the lights are behind the screen.

I also find that I don't quite care if I get another machine of my own. I don't know if I'm just tired of trying to decide what computing device I want right now or if, for the first time in this half of my life, I don't care to be totally connected anymore. I've posted to my journal during a transpacific flight; I've out-geeked a lot of people and done some nifty things along the way. So, I'm thinking that I'll just sell this thing and see how I do going computer-less for a while.

I wouldn't be totally computer-less, of course. I have access at Work. I'm not online much at Work... well, that's not true, I'm perpetually online at Work. But it's for Work, not for leisure. The point is, it's still something. And from home, the guys have more than enough machines that I can use one for a while if I really wanted to do something. The only thing I absolutely need to do is pay bills.

So, sell it or keep it, get a new toy or don't... I can go either way.

[Update]

Ha =D It was a no-go. It was going to be too heavy for them as well. And I sold him right off of it by saying so XD Ah, well. There's a reason I'm not in Sales; I don't want to sell people stuff they don't want... =)

weather	:		mostly cloudy
outside	:		17.2°C
mood	:		...

Because of the Pavarotti concert cancellation, I was feeling pretty terrible that I wound up, essentially, doing nothing for Father's Day this year. Yeah, I wasn't going to admit to contributing to the stupid commercialistic highway robbery of a fake holiday.

But I love my parents. What can I say?

I've been looking and looking and looking for a computer desk for my Dad that matched his specifications. As people age, they'll have different needs. And it's up to us to have the compassion to try to help them meet those needs.

Dad wears bifocals which makes it very difficult for him to use a computer.

The part of the glasses that he needs to see with, at close range when he's reading, is near the bottom. Computer monitors, on the other hand, are meant to be viewed straight ahead. He ends up tilting his head way back to be able to see and that gets really hard on his neck and shoulders. Which, in turn, wreaks havoc on his back.

He said that he loved the desks at the public library close to home that had the monitors lying flat underneath the desk with a glass window on the surface. I set about looking for one.

And looking for one.

And looking for one.

And looking for one.

I saw sartorias (through kaseido) in my FriendsFriends view sometime last year. He was showing pictures of his lovely home, writing space and TO-DIE-FOR library... seriously, I'm betting a lot of libraries would be jealous of his collection. He had a beautiful wood writing desk with a glass top in one small area with his monitor underneath and tilted up. That was EXACTLY what I wanted. I asked him what it was called and where he got it. It was an antique desk that he got at an antique show or a yard sale and he had no idea what it was actually called; he just loved the sliding door.

I cried.

Not upset at him for not knowing, but for being SO CLOSE and still not getting anywhere.

I was beginning to think very seriously of calling up B'nice to commission a custom made desk with a glass tabletop for Dad. B'nice made all the silk flower arrangements for my wedding and she hand made her own computer armoire. Very crafty lady.

Today, I was looking for computer furniture at random again. I love to just randomly browse for cool, interesting and crazy ideas for home furniture. I will have my Elegant Trek home, one day.

I was looking at this desk which wasn't that interesting or special, but I'm so glad I looked at it anyway... this picture caught my eye.

!!!

That's what I want!! So, the caption says they're called "Down-View Desks". Plug that into Google and ...

TA-DA!!!!!!

OMG, are those ever beautiful. I'll be going over to my parents place this afternoon to show him and order one. I'm head over heels for the blue one, but I'm thinking Dad would prefer this one in Cherry Oak or Teak. But I'm just elated — damned near EUPHORIC — that A) I FOUND ONE and B) they actually cost less than what I was anticipating I'd have to pay B'nice for a custom made one.

So there you have it. They're called either "down view desks" or "recessed monitor desks" and they range in price from a little under USD$200 to anywhere in the $1000+.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		20.0°C
mood	:		...

REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING!!!

Review the instructions. Not just read them, but review them.

KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN!!! BONDS TO SKIN IMMEDIATELY!!!!

NOT FOR USE WITH LITTLE BROTHERS' EYELIDS!!!

Because you just know that's happened before. "I SAID, NO PEEKING!" XD

For all the dire warnings on the packaging, for all the exclamation points on it, for all that drama, I didn't realize that super glue doesn't dry properly on plastic... or much of anything.

I'll be trying some shoe glue on various things. The shoe glue stuck a DVD disc holder back on the box triple-fold cover thingie. And it's holding quite well. I have two hair clips that fell apart, one of which was my favorite heart-shaped clip. The other one is a brand new butterfly one that didn't last past taking it off the cardboard backing. Maybe it just saw how much hair I have, freaked out and fell apart preemptively, just to save time. =\

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		15.3°C
mood	:		blah

Our Bissell upright bagless arrived.

Well, it advertises well, but I'm not that impressed.

The sucking power is decent, but it's not as amazing as what I've read. This thing is brand new, right out of the box, so nothing should be full or in need cleaning/changing.

But our 20 year old, bag vacuum, with one wheel falling off and occasionally caught farting blue lightning bolts out of its butt, picks up dirt just as well.

The outer casing of the Bissell is plastic so it gets a static charge buildup from being run back and forth on carpet. It looks like it's picking up more dirt from having it all stick to the outside of the machine than sucking it up the way it's supposed to. Maybe that's a bit of a hyperbole, but that's the perception.

I was constantly seeing gobs of dust caked onto the wheels, on the top of the foot, on the back, on the handle and all over the machine. I had to turn the knob to the upper tank and use the wand to suck up the crap from the machine itself as I was going along. I had to wipe it down afterwards with a piece of Swiffer cloth to get what was still on it that I couldn't vacuum off.

It also really irks me that I walked by a mirror and saw a thin, even layer of dust on my hair. I didn't touch my hair. If I did, it wouldn't be a nice, evenly sprinkled, blanket layer like that. I really don't think that should be happening...

The fact that the power cord is not retractable is really annoying me.

Hmph. It was free, so I'm not that mad. If I paid for it, I might be fuming about it by now.

Sometime next week, I'll be temporarily swapperoo-ing my Bissell with kat_box's Eureka Whirlwind Lite just so I can compare apples to apples. I'm curious to know if it's just this beast I don't like or if I don't like upright bagless vacuums in general.

To be continued, after I try the Eureka. This'll be a three parter. At least.

[Update - 1854h]

Cleaning the Bissell is not quite a bitch, but it's no picnic either. It was nowhere near full, but I decided to try it anyway. So, the things that need to be cleaned:

1. the main dirt container
2. two dust screens in the main dirt container
3. the upper tank
4. the foam filter inside the upper tank
5. the foam filter holder

The whole machine plus garbage bag had to be taken outside onto the back deck. I emptied everything outside, then brought everything inside to the laundry room sink. All the individual parts got rinsed with warm water and a sponge cloth. They've been towel dried as much as I could and I've left them on the counter to completely dry.

The Pre-Motor filter didn't look too bad, so I just slid it back in.

The Post-Motor filter is the HEPA filter. It's the last thing the air goes through before returning to the room. This one isn't cleaned, but is replaced after 4 or 5 years of use.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		14.3°C
mood	:		...

I'd forgotten all about my VISA reward points for an amazingly long time. We used to always get those free Famous Night Out coupons that give you two adult admissions with two regular softdrinks and a big bag of popcorn. But thanks to dummy me, we have more than enough points to get tons of those and a free new vacuum cleaner.

Backing up a bit: we could have gotten some travel package too, but it was either we had to leave TOMORROW or go somewhere we'd never heard of... which, No Sense Of Adventure™ aside, we couldn't quite understand how anything worked in the travel section to even book something anyway, so we opted to redeem for merchandise instead. It was between getting a new vacuum cleaner or a ridiculously high thread count Egyptian cotton bedsheet set. Husband Guy said he'd rather have a new vacuum.

Our old vacuum cleaner is still running okay, believe it or not. We thought it would finally go out in one great big sputter a few years ago, but it kept going. We'll keep it around as an extra and backup so long as it's not too inconvenient. Maybe someone can inherit it from us. Dunno yet.

But since we had enough points, we redeemed them for a Bissell 3595 CleanView Revolution Upright Bagless Vacuum. There were many excellent reviews, but there were some really bad experiences. That made me squint and look at it sideways a bit, but most of the other bagless vacs have rating/review patterns that look like that as well.

The one that stuck out, to me, was the one that said the reality of a bagless vac is that you need to empty the dirt cup and clean two out of three filters after one or two full cleaning sessions (his house, that is). After I read that one, then went back to the bad reviews, it looked like the bad reviews could be because of lack of understanding in general usage. Of course. If you're used to changing the bag only once in a long while, you may not grok having to clean the filters and empty the dirt cup that frequently. And that kind of misuse sounds like it could cause damage, especially judging by the number of them that say "it started out fantastic, but..."

Well, after all that questioning, I didn't end up trying any of the recommendations. Ah well, this one was free. And free is good. =)

weather	:		mostly sunny
outside	:		6.7°C
mood	:		...

Dell sent me an Inspiron 630m. Yay, shiny. The specs online say it's supposed to be heavier than the 600m. But when I picked it up, the 630m somehow felt lighter even without anything attached in the 600m.

I've been reading bad reviews of the VAIOs. I may keep my 630m afterall, but I keep flopping back and forth on that. For every recommendation of a good lightweight notebook that I get, I read/hear at least a few others that say "don't EVER get that!". The Husband, his Boss Lady and Boss Man, just about spat blood at the suggestion of an IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad. =P

But here's the huge disadvantage of invoking your warranty and making them send you something new: you have no choice as to what they're giving you. They're only obligated to send you the same thing or a better, but comparable model, subject to availability. Whatever they have is whatever they're giving you. You may not like it. I even tried to trade down. I asked if I could have an Inspiron 330m. No kewpie doll.

I hate the screen on the 630m. It's exactly what I would avoid if I were buying something anew. I've never used one for any extended period of time, but from casual use, I tend to hate the 1.6:1 screen ratio (kinda-widescreen proportions). I get this weird "low ceiling" or "glass lid" feeling that drives me blazing loony.

And The Peanut Gallery can shut up about me being blazing loony anyway, uh-kay? XD

The other thing is, I hate the fucking fingerprint magnets reflective screens for the ghosting of the reflection when there's a large black window like I'm apt to have - I use the Command Prompt and CygWin a lot; I SSH here, there and everywhere.

I'll give it a fair try though and see how I react to it once I start using on a long term basis.

weather	:		raining
outside	:		5.3°C
mood	:		...

Well. When Mercury is in retrograde, it really is in retrograde.

Dell is sending me a brand spanking new laptop that will be an Inspiron 600m or comparable. And I'm thinking of selling it.

I've had this thing since last July when the harddrive in my desktop died. I've been using it like a desktop replacement with a notebook cooling pad. I haven't been carrying it around with me. This has been working fine and I haven't had any problems with that.

However. Earlier this week, I lugged it with me so I could use it in the great wide wilderness with wireless access. I had the additional battery in so I could have 6 hours of use. I didn't bring the power adapters or the cooling pad because with the extra battery, it was going to be heavy enough.

About 20-30 minutes into using it, one spot off to the left of my keyboard got ridiculously hot just sitting on the table. My hand recoiled when I went back to typing after 15 minutes of conversation, partially from the heat, partially from just the surprise factor. As I was trying to use it again, the mouse pointer and my open applications started getting really sluggish and slow to respond. I closed the lid and continued talking. After it cooled down a bit, I opened it up again and it was fine.

Some of Dell's batteries for their Inspiron line were recalled a while ago for setting fire to tables and fun stuff like that, but mine wasn't in the recall list. And the source of the heat was not coming from one of the batteries either.

I called Dell a few hours ago. Why I'm home on a Work day and had time to make the call is a whole other post. I'm still employed, in fact Work made me Employee of the Month for February (THANK YOU, WORK!!)... just to head off the Conclusion Jumpings =)

It's most likely the internal cooling unit and, apparently, they haven't had very many problems like this... so why everyone I know who owns the same model that I do has to use an external cooling pad, I'm not sure. But in any case, the good news is I was smart enough to get the 3 Year CompleteCare Warranty. They are replacing the whole thing with a brand new comparable model.

The bad news is I'm supposed to hear back Monday with instructions as to where to send it or what to do. Then it will be 5-10 business days after THAT until I get the new unit. Then another day or two of dickering and configuring time to make it usable again... assuming they give me the right bits and pieces that I originally bought and not have to call them again to get the right pieces.

*sigh* This was really not a good time. At least I have a desktop I can still use, but I really wanted something to take with me.

I'm now SO SO SO wanting to sell whatever Dell is giving me and getting a VAIO.

Functionally, the Dell Inspiron 600m is great, but 5 pounds is still too heavy for me to be running around with it. When you include the primary battery and the additional battery (this thing is a monster), the power adapters, my shoulders start feeling funny from the two backpack straps even though they're very thickly padded.

The only thing is, if I sell it, I don't know what that means for the warranty... I'll have to look that up in a bit. But it _is_ a brand new unit. Maybe if I sell it to a friend or someone local that I know, I'd be willing to make the tech support calls for them if there's a problem in the next two years until the warranty is up.

Maybe not. I'm really wanting to just sell it, at whatever price I can get, as is, with no further attachments.

weather	:		light rainshower
outside	:		5.9°C
mood	:		glad

Wow. So, apparently, this number still works.

This is Fido's Super Secret Hotline for cancelling their cell phone plans. It's not published anywhere. It's not on their website. It's not on the invoices. It's nowhere to be found. None of the call-takers who answer the phone at any of their other numbers can cancel your plan.

1-888-259-3436

I got it five years ago after jumping flaming hoops like you wouldn't believe. I was trying to cancel my Mother-In-Law's stupid phone for her because she was so frustrated with it. I was so pissed off that I immediately posted the number to my journal as soon as I was done with it.

I'm just glad I've helped somebody with this. So, here it is again. If and when you get sick and bloody tired of losing your signal every time a butterfly farts on its migratory path in Southern Chile, there's the cancellation hotline. ... Oh, and if you get a French dude named Christian, please be nice to him. I think poor Christian is the only person manning this line and, in all likelihood, it's not his fault that Fido sucks.

=)

And for increased Google indexing/pagerank: CANCEL FIDO. FIDO CANCEL. NUMBER TO CANCEL FIDO. HOW THE HELL DO I CANCEL MY FIDO PLAN? CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL. FIDO FIDO FIDO.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		6.2°C
mood	:		idiotic

In a momentary lapse of judgement, I let the Husband fast talk me into getting a pair of low rise jeans. USD$20; Tommy Hilfiger. It's spelled correctly too, which isn't as entertaining, but what the hey...

Let me get this straight. I paid a whole twenty dollars — USD — for the express privilege of continuously feeling like my pants are falling down. All day.

How do people put up with these things?

How long does it take for you to stop feeling the urge to yoik up your pants every three seconds in public, thereby giving yourself a humongous wedgie in public?

Of course, they are a bit loose and I could maybe use a belt. But they're a Size 2. I'd already been hopping in and out of the fitting room, trying on a 6, then a 4, then a 2. I didn't have it in me to try the Size 0...

Oh, and yes, I fell for the "could you please pick up that thing from the floor for me?" ploy once. *smirk*

weather	:		sunnysunnysunny
outside	:		22.6°C
mood	:		TGIF!!

Warning: The images under the cuts in this post are ENORMOUS.

We're moving into the Husband Guy's Grandparents' bedroom... sometime... soon... ish. There's no real timeframe, it'll happen once things are done/fixed/settled and furniture bought/sold/moved, etc. Part of me wants to and part of me doesn't want to move in, for various reasons, so I'll just let things happen as they will and go with it.

But the task at hand is to pick out new bathroom sink faucets. We'll be picking out something sensible, reasonably priced and matching... "in case the house needs to be sold" type of deal. And it has to be entirely polished brass. Grandma and Grandpa preferred the gold colour so it would be odd to have anything that's chrome in there at this point.

The faucet in our bathroom now is the same style as the ones in my parents house that I grew up with. It looks similar to ( this. +1 )

We'll be getting something that sort of matches the faucet set on the jacuzzi tub. Something like ( this. +1 )

In the meantime, I'm having fun ogling at faucets that I would love to have.

I love sheet flow and flume spouts. They look so beautiful when the water is actually on. Water flowing in odd and uncommon shapes is so mesmerizing to look at. And they would fit my "Elegant Trek" motif really well. =) But I wonder if there isn't something about sheet flows that make them annoying or impractical to actually use, day in and day out.

Anyone have any experience with those?

The sheet flow spouts look okay on their own, without the water on. But the flume spouts don't look as nice without the water though...

( Here are some sheet flow spouts. +3 )

The first one is just an approximation of the one I liked. It was also an Alterna, but it was about three or four times wider and it didn't have the little plug pull knob thing. The third one reminds me of the U.S.S. Hathaway =D

( Here's a flume spout with water and a flume spout without water. +2 )

See what I mean? I think it's gorgeous with. But without the water, it just looks like a silly little spade thing sitting there. I probably don't want it if it's the water that's making all the difference.

And I'm probably just in love with the photos. I like the black background photos the best. But I'd never choose an all black motif for any room in my own house. So, those faucets would probably look icky in the yellow-ish incandescent lighting in the bathrooms... *sigh*

As much as I like the look, I don't want round or square knobs that you have to twist to turn on. When you have gunk on your hands, you can at least turn on the tap with your elbows if you have lever knobs. With round/square knobs, you're stuck with having to touch the knob, get it dirty and clean it up afterwards. Moreover, one or both of us could develop carpal tunnel, chronic tendonitis, rheumatoid arthritis or something in our old age and the wrist twisting motion could be painful. There are touchless faucets, but they A) are overkill for us and B) have their own pain-in-the-ass-ness issues.

Oh, and while I was flipping through the Delta faucets catalogue, there was this ( scary Sasquatch Lady in the shower. +2 ) That was pretty funny... XD

[Update]

I found the spout that I reallyreallyreally liked. It's not an Alterna, it's a Cirrus. I also discovered that it's a bath mount, so it's not for sinks... if it were chrome, for sink use while maintaining those height/width proportions, it would be so perfect. ( Clickie here to see. +1 )

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		18.3°C
mood	:		calm

It's funny that I'm the one who usually gets the Husband Guy his anti-perspirant. As much as I hate shopping, he hates shopping even more. So, for the past who knows how long, I've been getting him Gillette Clear Gel (Arctic Ice and Cool Wave, once). I think I got him Right Guard once or twice... and centuries ago, I got him Men's Speed Stick, just the generic "Scented" one with the blue cap.

I'm usually good about having one unopened backup ready for him when he runs out, but I guess I've been slacking. Minus 100 Wife Points for me. And there must be a 20X multiplier on that for having a gaffe like this land on our anniversary. Anyway, this morning, he completely ran out. He was a bit self-conscious about being smelly, so he looks over at mine. I told him to go ahead if he wanted to use mine. But it was so funny watching him. He gingerly picks it up, opens it and sniffs it like we really should be calling a Hazmat team or something.

"ACK!! It smells so girlie!" he exclaims.

It was either smell like an ape or smell like a girl. I've never seen him so conflicted. I laughed at him and tried to goad him into using it.

"Are you secure enough in your masculinity to wear a woman's deodorant?" XD

He wasn't. It's Soft & Dri, Kissed Peach. It's peach! I can understand men not wanting to smell like a flower, but peaches are fruit and, thus, gender neutral, aren't they? Oh well.

I promised to get some pit juice on my way home in the evening. I decided to get him AXE For Men — one Touch, which I like better, and one Phoenix. I'm a bit baffled as to how a MEN'S product gets a name like "Phoenix" and still sells, though... I guess in the West, the phoenix is not associated with the feminine element. Right, anyway, I liked those two the best out of the three they had on the shelf (Tsunami was the other one, but I thought it was kinda icky). He claims that I hate the AXE commercials because they're dumb. I remember the commercials he described, but I honestly didn't associate them with this brand. That's why I got them... *shrug*

But just so I know, I'd like to put the question to all of you:

What brand deodorant/anti-perspirant and what scent do you use?

Ladies too, I wouldn't mind getting some recommendations to try. I'll keep this list and pick out something new for him once in a while =)

weather	:		snowing *sigh* =P
outside	:		0°C
mood	:		discouraged

Swiffer WetJet Power Mop

I really hate this thing.

The idea is, you push the button and it spritzes the cleaning solution out from the bottom. You drag it over the cleaning solution and it cleans the floor. Three easy steps and I get stuck at Step 1. *grumble*

It assumes that you're always generally moving forward. Am I the only person that travels backwards sometimes? I find it really bad for that.

I didn't measure exactly how far away the mystery cleaning solution* went, but when I was mopping, it was REALLY FAR. That meant going back and cleaning areas that I had already done so that there wouldn't be splotches. I ended up picking it up and turning it upside down to blast the liquid onto the floor where I wanted it. And then turned it back over to continue mopping.

Finally, I put on a pair of slippers and went forwards because it was clear that I was supposed to. But when I was going forward, I still thought it better to pick it up to spray the cleaning solution because I could control where it went. Like NOT onto the wall. And NOT onto the carpet.

Maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with the way I mop because I've heard from people who are totally in love with it. I prefer the sponge mop. =P

* "Includes cleaning agents (including solvents), perfume and water. CONTAINS NO PHOSPHATE." And smells like artificial apple.

Oh, speaking of household cleaning instruments, I'm still looking at getting a new vacuum any moment now. Wheels falling off at random and occasionally shooting little blue lighting bolts out of the cracks is not a good sign, hm? I'm collecting recommendations here.

[Update - 2054h]

I find it interesting that only the girls are answering this post and my vacuums post. Draw conclusions as ye will. XD

She says, in an attempt to goad the boys into answering =D