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Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:41. 0 comments
Assuming we figure out financing, construction of our new house will begin in a few short months. The first step in that process is to get rid of the existing house, which is decidedly in the way.
One of the primary goals with our new construction is to manage all aspects of the project (or delegate that management) to maximize recycling and re-use of materials. Rather than demolish the existing structure after picking it clean of any salvageables, we thought we’d see if anyone would be interested in taking the entire building. We started contacting building movers last week.
Now I understand that physically moving a building is serious business, but here’s a tip for estimators: if you agree to come give me an estimate, don’t do a drive-by in your truck, decide you’re not interested, and then never get back to me. Yes, Chamberland Lalonde Building Movers, I managed to figure out that you weren’t interested on my own, but I’m sure glad I didn’t take the day off work to wait for you. Enjoy the bad reviews you’ll be receiving around the internet today.
The estimator from CDS Building Movers was much better, showing up early, and taking a proper look around. He seemed keen, but alas, a key part of the building moving process is getting it from our site to his. They’re based way out past Kanata, so he politely declined.
Sadly, that pretty much exhausts the list of businesses in the Ottawa area who will move an existing structure for resale. If anyone out there wants a free house and is willing to pay the costs associated with moving it, it’s all yours.
Otherwise, we’ll be stripping it for parts, which is a lot more effort for less gain.
Current Tunes: Above and Beyond - Trance Around The World 314 - Marcus Schossow - 2010-04-05 | Filed under House, Ottawa, Reviews
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 19:30. 1 comment
Sorry I haven’t written much in the past month. Could you even tell? Anyway, there’s a reason.
I’m pretty reliant on an internet connection. I work from home, I have an IP phone for work, I have a Tivo that needs to talk to the internet to get its program data, I have a son that loves to watch old Sesame Street clips on YouTube…etc, etc. We had been connected via Bell at the old house. The service was decent, but recently we’d started having problems with random charges or long distance packages being added to our bill without our consent. As the base monthly cost crept up, we resolved to go with something new and non-Bell when we moved. (Aside: we are, in fact, all moved now, and the old house has been sold. More on that later.)
I did some research, and had decided to go with a bundle from Rogers since we already had cell phone service with them. I arranged everything to be setup on the day before our move (Feb. 25th), and that’s where our tale of epic fail begins.
I won’t bore you with the details, I’ll just bore you with the summary instead: between Rogers and Bell, it took them from Feb. 25th until Mar. 20th to get all our various services running, with internet being the last one to come up on the 20th. The details are somewhat comical (if you don’t happen to be me) and I’m happy to share them over beer at some point.
Despite initiating the entire fail chain, Rogers actually salvaged a lot of good will at the end of the process by getting their act together, but I’m not very impressed with either company or their customer service to be honest. Thanks to my parents and in-laws for letting me work at their houses over the course of this fiasco, although I hope I don’t have to commute in order to telecommute again any time soon.
Gotta love a two-party system.
Current Tunes: Josie and the Pussycats - Come On | Filed under House, Ottawa
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 09:26. 0 comments
This will likely be the last year I play winter ultimate. Of the 3 years I’ve played in Ottawa, twice I’ve been among the players chosen to change teams in a mid-season effort to rebalance the league. In each case, I’ve gone from a strong team that I enjoyed playing on, to a subpar team that had trouble winning a single game…even after rebalancing!
I think I understand why I’m (seemingly) always chosen to change teams. I’m not that strong a player — I’ve never captained a team, I’ve only been to a handful of tournaments, and I’m getting older — but I am athletic, I am consistent, and I am level-headed. The teams I end up on lack most/all of those things.
This year has been particularly frustrating because not only is my team lacking the above factors, but it also seemingly has no desire to get better, or even to compete. We’ve managed to tie one game since I’ve been moved over, making our record an abysmal 0-9-1. This team is happy when we score in double digits. For reference, only once this season have our opponents scored less than 20 points.
What’s most annoying is that we’ve had our chances to win some games: up by 5 with 10 minutes left in one game, up by 2 with 2 minutes left in another. My personal favorite: in one game we were down by 1 with 2 minutes left. This is a situation where you’d expect everyone on the team to be fired up and ready, or at the very least paying attention, but it took us more than a minute to even field a full line. I was so disgusted after that loss that I couldn’t even go out for beer afterward. That’s pretty serious.
I think I’ll take a pass next year.
Current Tunes: GrooveSalad, courtesy of SomaFM | Filed under Frisbee, Ottawa
Posted 2 years, 11 months ago at 21:43. 0 comments
- Get a digital camera.
- Set it down on something when you’re taking your pictures. Ideally, this should be a tripod, but any flat surface will do, really.
- Clean up your room/yard/pool before you take a picture of it. Pile all that crap right behind the camera or wherever…I don’t care.
- Check the pictures once you’ve taken them. If they are blurry, take them again. THAT IS THE MIRACLE OF THIS TECHNOLOGY!
- If you need to do anything other than crop your photos, you fail. Misrepresenting your property and/or wasting my time is _not_ going to make me buy your house.
You’re only trying to unload your most expensive asset, I’m just sayin’.
Current Tunes: Orbital - Nothing Left 2 | Filed under House, Ottawa
Posted 3 years ago at 09:56. 0 comments
The FIFA U-20 World Cup got off to a slow start in Ottawa goal-wise, but yesterday more than made up for it. 10 goals in all, and Argentina certainly seems to be the class of our pool.
Despite my long-standing bias against South American theatre troupes…er, football teams, I find myself compelled to cheer for Argentina. Their fans are awesome — our section features a bunch of guys in Mexican wrestler masks playing large drums — and their play on the field has been inspired.
It might also help that chanting “ARGEN-TINA!” is only a short leap from “ARRRRGGGGOOOOOOS!“
Current Tunes: No Doubt - Artificial Sweetener | Filed under Football, Ottawa
Posted 3 years, 1 month ago at 14:25. 2 comments
In what is possibly the best non-bacon-related idea ever, the Centrepointe Children’s Drop-in Centre also runs a toy library. Toys can be checked out for a period of two weeks, which is probably longer than your child was going to remain interested in a given toy anyway.
Current Tunes: A Tribe Called Quest - After Hours | Filed under Ottawa, Parenthood
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 09:52. 0 comments
The weather ended up being exceptionally nice yesterday, so we took Will over to Andrew Haydon Park. The evidence is on flickr.
Will also got his first, real haircut this weekend. He needed it.
Current Tunes: Porcupine Tree - The Sleep of No Dreaming | Filed under Family, Ottawa
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 11:31. 0 comments
Need something to do next Saturday? I recommend the following progression:
Hot->Cold->Rest
Hot->Cold->Rest
Hot->Cold->Rest
Hot->Cold->Rest
Massage
Port
Chocolate Fondue
Two thumbs way up for Le Nordik spa, just outside of Ottawa. Gladly would I give greater praise would but that I possessed more thumbs.
Current Tunes: Fatboy Slim - Song For Lindy | Filed under Dining, Ottawa
Posted 4 years, 2 months ago at 22:19. 1 comment
The weather was awful over the long weekend. Fortunately, the only thing we had planned was indoors: a fine rendition of Tom Stoppard‘s The Real Thing at the NAC, featuring an all-grown-up-now Megan Follows in the female lead. I’ve always been a Stoppard fan — Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead remains one of my favorite movies — and it was a rare treat to see one of his works performed live.
If you fancy yourself some clever and funny wordsmithing, the play continues its Ottawa run until May 27th.
Current Tunes: Black Lab - Keep Myself Awake | Filed under Arts, Ottawa
Posted 4 years, 2 months ago at 10:08. 0 comments
The NAC has closed circuit television set up so that tardy theatre goers can watch the performance in the lobby until a suitable break in the performance when they can take their seats. There was no theatre performance last night, so the staff had helpfully tuned the TV to the hockey game for ballet patrons like ourselves.
Sadly, the savage ballet that is pro hockey didn’t end quite so well for the Senators last night, nowhere near as well as it did for Houston Ballet who delivered a stellar performance.
