New Mazda 5

This will be a short post, but... there is good and bad with this post.

The good?  I bought a new Mazda 5.  Love it.

The bad?  Avante Mazda has damaged it, and I'm currently entrenched in a battle with them to take ownership of the situation and repair it.  Actually, I no longer want it repaired, I want to return it for another new one to "start over", since I've barely owned it 3 weeks.  They damaged it (more than once), and seem to have no interest in making it right. :(

Turned the blog back on

That's it.  In case it matters, I turned the blog back on.  Hurrah.

Oh.  AndIgotengaedandI'mgettingmarriedinOctober!

Other than that... not much new. ;)

Complete Fitness, 354 Newkirk Rd (Richmond Hill)

I just found out last night (after noticing a double-charge on my credit card bill) that this club is CLOSED! The lights are out, the doors are locked, and their phone service has been disconnected.

I'll admit, I haven't been in the club for at least 6 weeks (I've been VERY busy)... but... does anyone know how long they've been closed? I sorta felt like I was the last guy let in on a sour joke.

Anyone else get hosed by Complete Fitness? Check your statements!!

Faceboook

I think I'm actually starting to hate Facebook. It's so tedious.

And really. My email is ON Facebook. If you've spoken to me anytime
in the past 5 years, you have my IM addresses as well. Why do people
insist on sending me messages through Facebook alone?

And I've said it before, but I need to say it again: all the useless
application plug-in things are really annoying. The reason I liked
Facebook when it first came out was the fact that it wasn't all
cluttered and insane looking like MySpace. And now, it's looks like a
dog's breakfast. Just like MySpace.

Man, I hate that Facebook sucks. I wish it could be cool again. Maybe
it's just the people who use it that suck.

Man, I hate that People suck. I wish they could be cool again.

Pete

iPod. The best, and the worst.

The iPod is simultaneously the best and worst consumer electronic device on the market. Currently I own two of them (there's the little darlings right there). Not because I love them so much, but mostly because they're so friggin finicky.



When I bought my first iPod used for just under $300, I thought it was a bit expensive. But it worked, and it worked nicely. But, after a short period of time, I reallized that my HD had issues. The 40GB drive holds a lot of music (I actually only *own* about 12GB of music), but, it had it's troubles. I'm sure this isn't a new story to anyone, but mine would tick, whine, and start this process all over, while NOT playing music. If you slam it REALLY hard against a solid surface, sometimes it comes back to life. Sometimes, it would do nothing and need to be reformatted, or "updated".

So, after months and months of slamming the iPod to make it work, I traded my useless (yet, reliable) PSP for another used 40GB iPod. Which worked *way* better than the first one. Of course, the love affair was ill-fated, as now my "good" iPod is displaying the same characteristics as the "bad" one.

I love my iMac. I love my iPod(s). They work fantastic. But the iPod is also a source of endless frustration when I'm trying to actually USE it.

I can't think of anything else that I've had such a strong love-hate relationship with before!

I am still alive,

despite the rumours of my untimely demise from the online world.

 

I’d say it was because I spend too much time on Facebook, but in reality, that’s not true either.  I don’t spend much time there at all…

 

Speaking of Facebook… what’s with all the plugins?  I seriously reconsider the valuable time I spend online on Facebook when I see the hoards of plugins people are subscribing and unsubscribing to.  They seem like a whole lot of work.

 

It really cuts into my porn time!

Old roof... new roof!

Mmmm... mold...



New Roof!



It's sort of nice to be able to see OUT of the rear window again. :)

Cashing in my Geek Discount

For the past few weeks, the stereo in my car has been cutting out the audio on the left side. It's annoying. Try setting the balance fully to the right in your car, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Assuming it was just a loose wire behind the deck itself, I pulled it out earlier tonight to repair the wire. But the wires were all ok. I fiddled with it some more, and it looked like something was loose internally. So, I took it out, and brought it upstairs.



Not having done this before, I wasn't sure where to look - but had an idea that if something is loose... it should be relatively evident. Well, I had to take the entire thing apart. Even removing the CD player from inside. All to see the bottom of the circuit board, where I suspected the problem was.



That's pretty much what it looked like mostly taken apart. The culprit? As I suspected, there were some solder connections on the main board that have broken over time:



Now that I could tell what the problem was... the only thing to do was solder it all back together. Thank goodness for magnifying glasses and 30 year-old soldering irons. That Cold Heat soldering gun would have been fantastic.

But, I hacked the thing back together. It's ugly, but - it works! :D Who'd have thought being a bit geeky would pay you back financially?? If not for my "geek discount", I'd have to go and buy a whole new deck!