Category: Condo

Serendipity

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Why, you may be asking yourself, is Dan blogging at 3:43 AM? Well, I’m up for work. Implementations happen overnight and I’ve been up since about 2:20.

So here I was, sitting quietly in the living room with my laptop, when all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off. Now, fire alarms at 3 AM in a high rise are never calming events, but at least I was already awake. There’s nothing quite as jarring as being ripped from your sleep by a warning that you’re about to be immolated.

So, we check the hallway and it’s going out there too. Not much activity on our floor, but I can hear people in the stairwell. By this point Nellie’s roused herself and starts to get dressed. We see fire trucks coming up the street. We stuff the cats into their bags, gather wallets & keys and debate whether to start the long trek down. Then the fire department comes on the intercom and tells us it’s a minor situation (not even a fire, I’m guessing) on the 43rd floor (above us…a good sign) so we wait a few minutes, let the cats out of the bags and go back to work/sleep.

My implementation’s almost done, so I should be going back to sleep myself pretty soon. Fingers crossed.

[tags]fire alarm[/tags]

Gas leak: reprised

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

About a month ago we had a gas leak in the den. That’s where the cutoff for our unit is, and we first noticed the smell the very day the building’s maintenance people came by to open it up. We were up ’til 2:00 that night waiting for the guy from Enbridge, who shut off the valve, located the leak and left a problem report for the building’s maintenance guys.

The next day Nellie called our condo’s customer service office and explained what happened. They said they’d look into it and get back to us. Later that day nothing had happened so Nellie called back. They told us that because Enbridge had turned off the valve and we could no longer smell the gas they didn’t consider it an emergency and they’d get to it later.

So we waited. An entire summer month, not able to barbecue, and no word from customer service. Nellie followed up several times, most recently with an email and a letter last week, to which we got no response. Their customer service center is only open during business hours during the week, and we’ve both been so busy at work that we haven’t been able to go in person, so they’ve been free to ignore our requests.

Last night, around 11:00, Nellie smelled gas in the den. We waited for a while and double-checked, but it was definitely gas. So we call Enbridge again; the same guy comes over around 2:00 and is incredulous that the building hasn’t fixed the problem yet. He gets up by the panel, his little detector thing goes off…yup, the leak’s still there. He checks the cutoff…the valve has been opened.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Nellie didn’t open the valve, and I sure as shit didn’t either. We had no warning that anyone from the building would be coming by to do it either, but it seems like a strange coincidence considering we just last week sent them a letter (which is, reportedly, the only communication they respond well to). The only other possibility is that the valve is loose and fell closed…which is no less troubling.

I don’t know exactly when I’m going to get downstairs to the customer service office, because this week will be even worse than most work-wise, but when I do it’s not going to be a polite conversation. I’ll be cursing like Mel Gibson in Signs. Get your tickets now.

.:.

On a happier note, we have fatblogging check in #2:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 231
  • Weight this week: 229

So another 2 pounds lost. Not a great week for exercise, but I seem to be better with cutting out the junk food.

[tags]gas leak, fatblogging[/tags]

The club that everybody wants to join but no one wants to visit

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Long day yesterday. I got out of work some time after 7:30, got home a little after 8:00 and went straight to C’est What with Nellie for some comfort food beer. My red curry noodles were quite hot and rather without flavour, but the Dennison’s was cold.

We came home, crashed on the couch, watched a little TV and passed out around 11:30. Clearly we have achieved new levels of lame.

.:.

Today: not much better. I’ve been relaxing a bit so far, cleaning up, reading the paper, doing laundry, checking feeds…basically, everything I can do to avoid working on my paper.

If my life is occupied with working, studying, exercising, sleeping and enjoying myself, I have come to the realization that I can do 3, or maybe 4, of those at any one time. Right now I’m working lots, sleeping less than I should, exercising when I can and putting together a few moments of enjoyment (the odd beer with my wife, for example). That leaves out school. This weekend I believe school (and work) will be absorbing what’s left of any potential enjoyment. Well, I guess I knew what I was signing up for.

.:.

We got our final condo closing date earlier this week. As of Aug 14 we’ll join the official club of people who get jumpy when the realities of a mortgage sinks in.

[tags][/tags]

Some of us work, Bluto

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night the people downstairs decided to have an incredibly loud party. Until 1:30 AM. We managed to remain nice while still getting them to keep it doown. The worst part of all: the godawful shitty house music they were playing.

Needless to say we had difficulty getting up this morning. There’d better not be any noise tonight; I’m getting up at 6 to go for a run.

.:.

The weather for this week’s round of basketball was much nicer than the last time we played. We only had a few people out, but it was good fun.

[tags]animal house, basketball[/tags]

Can one glamp in Central Park?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

This is my favourite time of night. Not day, but not night yet either. That’s St. James Cathedral, by the way. It’s the structure that inspired my building.

.:.

Apparently I’m even further behind the time than JR, ’cause I’d never heard of glamping either. But I like the sound of it. Someone needs to make a canoe with a Bang & Olufsen stereo in it. I’m also in the market for an inflatable 5-star bathroom.

.:.

Porter is now cleared to fly to New York. Well, Newark airport, but close enough.

Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, and now New York; I may never fly from Pearson again. Uh, until September when I got to Europe.

[tags]st james cathedral, glamping, porter air[/tags]

Experts agree: The Strokes suck

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Our bbq has gas. Not flatulence gas, natural gas. Not natural flatulent gas, just natural gas. We can now cook food. In fact, Nellie is outside doing so now whilst I try to recover from the day that was.

.:.

Four interesting things that RSS’d their way to me today:

  1. There will be a Voltron movie. When it is released I shall re-live my childhood.
  2. Voting for the Golden Tap awards is now open. The awards honor the best microbreweries (and their beers) in the GTA, and in Ontario. My picks are as follows:
    • Best microbrewery in the GTA (Granite Brewery)
    • Best beer brewed in the GTA (Granite Brewery Dry Hop Special Bitter)
    • Best microbrewery in Ontario (Neustadt)
    • Best beer brewed in Ontario, outside the GTA (Neustadt 10W30)
    • Best pub in the GTA, in terms of draught selection (Bar Volo)
    • Best pub in the GTA, in terms of bottle selection (Smokeless Joe’s)
    • Best pub in Ontario, outside of the GTA (Manx, in Ottawa, though I should admit that it’s the only one I’ve been to)
    • Best brewpub or tied house in Ontario (Granite Brewery)
  3. Il Fornello, a Toronto restaurant, will be adding an Ontario-only menu.
  4. There are a lot of “classic” albums that I just can’t stand. A few of them are mentioned in this Guardian article, and some folks agree with me. In fact, the only ones I don’t agree with are the Arcade Fire (which seems out of place from the rest, and I think it’s just an easy and controversial target) and to some degree Nirvana and Pink Floyd. The rest I don’t care for at all.

[tags]natural gas bbq, voltron, golden tap awards, ontario microbrew, granite brewery, neustadt, il fornello, arcade fire, nirvana, pink floyd[/tags]

We'll keep the spider that bites the lady that cleans the couch that swallowed the fly

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Three things about the condo:

  1. We have a new couch. It’s big and squishy.
  2. We have a giant spider (seen here) living on our balcony. I’m not particularly fond of spiders, but he’s eating the swarm of insects that seems to frequent the area, so he can stay. Click on the picture if you want to see a higher-res version.
  3. Cleaning lady: best invention ever.

.:.

CBGB came over last night while I was at work and taught Nellie how to make GB’s excellent veggie burgers. I got home in time to enjoy the beautiful weather on the balcony with them. We actually spent the whole night out there, ate some pizza from Amato, and even saw some unexpected fireworks. It was a nice end to a long week.

.:.

Violent protests in Halifax? Ontario supporting public transit? Yesterday was topsy-turvy day, apparently…

[tags]condo furniture, spider, cleaning lady, amato pizza, fireworks, halifax protests, ontario public transit[/tags]

Is 36,000 BTUs enough to cook eggplant?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday we got up early, went to St. Lawrence Market to pick up some shrimp and scallops and fruit, ran a few errands, picked up some shirts we ordered from American Apparel, did some work (schoolwork, in my case) and went over to CBGB’s place for a barbeque. The barbeque fun didn’t stop there; we zipped around the corner to Home Depot and ordered a barbeque of our own: this one by Vermont Castings [pictured at right].

.:.

The party at CBGB’s (in belated honor of GB’s birthday) was a lot of fun…a packed front porch followed by a packed backyard patio, great food, cold beer, many laughs, and a slight overindulgence in the desserts. What’s better than that?

.:.

Today’s been great so far too: I slept in until 9:00 (the cats practically kicked me off the bed after that), got up, read the paper, went out to find some breakfast and came back raving about the perfect weather: it was warm but not hot, and breezy enough to keep the smog off. I collected Nellie and we headed off on a stroll to the Distillery District. We had a peek in a few galleries, stopped at the Mill Street Brew Pub for some brunch, got some amazing chocolate at Soma and wandered home along the Esplanade, popping up to Front Street so that we could see all the dogs at Woofstock. Now, sadly, it’s back to reality as Nellie has to work all day and I’m catching up on a bunch of stuff. It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning though…

.:.

My comment spam problem is getting worse and worse. Most of you never see it (unless you subscribe to my comment feed) because the comments are buried in old posts, and the vast majority of it gets caught, but when you get 1300/day a few are bound to slip past my spam filter. What does slip past is often very nasty too, so if you’re reading the comments and you see unpleasantness, I apoligize.

[tags]st. lawrence market, american apparel, home depot, vermont castings, distillery district, mill street brew pub, soma chocolate, woofstock, comment spam, akismet[/tags]

The people living in 1304: doomed.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Our patio furniture has arrived. Well, most of it anyway; the the table & benches were delivered this morning, but it’ll take a while to make the cushions.

.:.

While it makes sense that our building has a 13th floor, it’s going to take away a little of my happiness. It always made me laugh a little that people superstitious enough to be upset by a 13th floor would also be dumb enough to not figure out what the 14th floor really was.

If I lived at Cityplace, where there are no 4th, 13th, 14th, 24th or 34th floors, I’d probably laugh myself silly every day.

.:.

There are two types of people in this world: those who find singing animatronic puppets funny and/or charming (past the age of six, anyway) and those who find them a devilish scourge upon the earth. You can probably guess where I stand on the issue. Visits to my local grocery store checkout have become trying as there are whole racks of these things just waiting to tinnily excrete “When I’m 64” or “Roll Out The Barrel” when some kid jostles them.

.:.

Something that got lost in yesterday’s missing post that I feel is worth repeating: last Friday, June 1st, was 10 years to the day since I moved to Toronto. I clearly remember getting off the plane, taking a cab to my apartment at Yonge & Sheppard, being met there by my friend & roommate CBJ and immediately heading downtown to meet friends for brunch at the Movenpick on York Street (which is now a Keg). That seems like…well, 1/3 of my life ago.

[tags]patio furniture, unlucky numbers, movenpick, the keg[/tags]

"Coupons…you want coupons, don't you?"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Today was day 1 of the mesh conference here in Toronto. I met up with Colin, cursed the caterers for only having bagels to eat, drank as much water as I could and found a seat before the proceedings got underway.

The first (and best) part of today’s schedule was TechCrunch‘s Mike Arrington. He’s a pretty frank guy, and when he lambasted Ted Murphy from PayPerPost — calling him “the most evil person in the room” — things got fun. He also spoke frankly about how silicone valley is in need of another meltdown, to get all the PR and money-grabbing types out and let the real revolutionaries take over again.

Tom Williams and Austin Hill were also good, giving their perspectives as two guys who got very rich very young, and have devoted their time to effecting social change. Hill talked about an interesting new distributed computing power saving tool; think SETI@home for saving electricity. Check it out at DarkGreenPC.org.

After a sad lunch (strike 2 against the caterers: only vegetarian options were ceasar salad and pasta salad) I saw a very funny panel with Rachel Sklar, Loren Feldman and Cynthia Brumfield about whether or not old media should be scared shitless of new media. The consensus: maybe a little. New media won’t kill old media, but it’ll scare it into reacting.

I also watched panels entitled “Digital Blinders – Are We an Inch Wide and a Mile Deep?” and “The Always-On Generation – What Do Youth Do with the Web?”; the former was more like a university lecture or radio show than panel discussion, while the latter was amusing for how old it made most of the participants feel. A sample snippet:

[panelist] Erica Sum: “How many people in here have been to YTMND?”

[I raise my hand, as do maybe 4 or 5 other people in a room of about 100. Erica then starts talking about how cool it is in a screwy kind of way.]

Confused audience member #1: “Umm, could you maybe describe what that is for people who don’t know?”

Confused audience member #2: “Yeah, like how it’s different than Facebook or MySpace?”

Erica [trying to stifle laughter]: “Oh, it’s not at all.”

You can’t fault the audience members for not knowing what YTMND is, or for thinking it has something to do with social networking, since it’d been the dominant theme of the day. It was just a funny exchange.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Note to self: bring a nutrigrain bar.

.:.

Obviously, if I’m at home writing this, I wasn’t able to attend the free screening of Severance that I won passes to earlier this week. I was feeling too wonky, and have too much to do tonight. As soon as I finish writing this I plan to do an hour or two of work while I watch the hockey game. Dagnabbit…I wanted to see that movie too.

.:.

Things I’ve learned in the last 36 hours: never wear a white dress shirt to the dentist (that pink shit they polish your teeth with sprays) and screens for balcony doors are outrageously expensive (we’ve been quoted >$400 each).

.:.

An instructional video: how to break up with advertisers.

[tags]mesh07, severance, dentist, balcony screen doors, bring the love back[/tags]