Kevin's Ramblings…

Well, it is Saturday morning and it is -13 celcius out there… Not typically an issue really, but today I volunteered to be a ref for a ball hockey tournament. The tournament is outside. Fun, fun, fun… I am not sure what the wind chill is but I am sure it will be DAMN COLD…

Oh well, I will dress for it. Two pairs of socks, under armour, long sleeve t-shirt, short-sleeve t-shirt, hoodie, waterproof jacket and regular jacket – that’s the top… Under amour, track pants and nylon pants on the bottom… Should be ok, might look like the Michelin man, but who cares – perhaps I will stay warm. Touques are always good too 🙂

I am not 100% sure who the proceeds go to, I think it is Raise the Roof, homelessness essentially. I am all for supporting local (Canadian) charities where the money raised stays in Canada. I think that we need to resolve problems on our own door step BEFORE we resolve all of the problems of the world.

Anyway, gotta throw on a couple of more layers and get going. I will report on events later this afternoon.

Busy day today and I am off… Slept in until 7am which was a nice change… I have a LOT of appointments today:

• Meridian CU to change my home branch
• Mortgage appointment with CIBC in NOTL
• Stop by work to get my expense cheque so I can cover the next item
• Lunch with friends (Carlos Cantina – downtown – excellent Mexican food)
• Mortgage appointment with a mortgage broker
• Meeting with Matt @ Buckner’s

That is it, I think… The day will zip by anyway.

This morning has been relaxing – watched a little news, did a little surfing – nothing too stressful at all.

It is coffee time – later…

Well, I have decided that BlueFur.com is an absolute joke of a company – how they remain in business is beyond me…

Three weeks ago (approximately), I register kevindarcy.ca and request their Mini-UNIX hosting package. The domain is added quickly enough, same day in fact but nothing from BlueFur about the other options that I’ve requested. I email them after 4 days and they reply that they didn’t receive an order for hosting, just domain registration.

OK, I am not new to the Internet … I know how to fill in an on-line form and I know what I selected but, mistakes do happen.

I sign-in, register for mini-UNIX again… Three days pass – nothing other than a confirmation of billing from PayPal. I email BlueFur AGAIN early this morning and 18 hour later I receive a reply that although they have confirmation of the billing they don’t have an order… What? Give me a break.

The person goes on in his email that I should re-register with them and this time NOT enter any billing information (obviously he says) and he’ll be able to set the site up right away…

Well, I’ve heard of the old expression – fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me… I immeiately reply back telling them that their company is a joke and to cancel my service. I expected some sort of apology, etc., and for them to try to retain my business. Nope – he replies within 2 minutes or so stating that he is sorry to see me go and has refunded my money…

So, I guess I am looking for a new host. Hopefully I will find one that has some sort of a clue.

I will let you know what I find.

I have downloaded Windows Live Writer.  I am going to try it to see if I like it for making Blog entries.  Looks like a small version of Word or FrontPage perhaps…

Microsoft can do a good job on some of their products I must admit.  This seems to work all right.  I am not sure how I would edit old posts or add to old posts – there is a Open menu though, likely under there.

Well, I must get ready for work.  Good job Microsoft.

Well, back to getting up early it would seem… Awake at 4:45AM, took Zeus for a walk – damn cold out there today… I guess it is winter though…

I will have a long day at work today. I have to cover a Committee of the Whole meeting tonight. Not exactly sure what they will be discussing but I am sure it will be boring… LOL… Oh well, gotta do my turn I guess.

The actual work day will likely zip right by, lots to do. I have a few projects to get started on. I don’t know what has changed recently but I really enjoy going into work. I think part of it might be the new area that we are located in – it is really nice. Who knows – there is likely something else at work but I don’t mention it – don’t want to insult anyone… LOL

So, guess I will make some breaky and watch some news. More later.

I took a second look at the house this evening and RK joined me. It has a new roof, new windows and really is in move in condition.

I also spoke with HM tonight and she is putting me in touch with one of her “people” tomorrow @ CIBC to see about a mortgage with them. I will see how that goes.

I have an to pass by GL. He has just signed an agreement with his agent. My idea is for me to rent his place until the beginning of July at which point his contract expires. He can then privately sell it to me and he’ll save 2.5% on the commission fee. He may or may not go for it, don’t know but it is worth asking.

I hope that the mortgage application goes well. It would be nice… Time will tell…

OK, I have made an appointment with CD at Re/Max (he’s a mortgage broker) to see about getting a mortgage. I am interested in a house. I love where I currently live, but, if I had a house, what I am paying Frank could go to paying my own place down and by the time that I retire, I could be rent free. I am nearing 40 (1.5 years or so to go) and it is about time that I get moving on it.

My credit isn’t the best in the world, it isn’t the worst in the world but could be better. I rarely get turned down for things though so that is good I guess. We will see what happens. I know what I can afford. I currently pay $875 for rent, $25/mnth. for water, average of $50-60 per month for gas, $50 per month for hydro – that is $1000 per month before cable, phone, internet get thrown in on top.

I figure that I should be good for it… 🙂 It is a nice place, I guess they call it one and a half stories. Not sure why that is – it clearing has 2 stories, maybe because the upstairs is not as large as the main floor – that’s my guess.

There is a good size living room on the main floor – I would use one end of it as the dining room seeing as there isn’t a dining room. The kitchen is on the opposite side of the house and runs the entire length – not too wide but lots of counter space and cabinets. There is a huge closet at the front door as well.

Downstairs is 1/2 finished, 1/2 storage & laundry (furnace room). I think I would put my bedroom in the basement. They are cooler, darker and more relaxing than the upstairs variety… Speaking of upstairs, it has two bedrooms. One would become the office and the other would be a spare room. The bathroom is up there as well.

Good size for a bachelor all in all. Outside, there is a large deck and a HUGE backyard. There is also a good size garage. It would be idea in the summer to keep the Jeep in there when the doors and roof are off – no more tarps to keep it dry @ night.

The asking price I think is a little too high – $179,900. Here it is:

Not a bad looking place. The inside is amazing, truly move-in condition. The price will be a little bit negotiable – he HAS to sell. He is moving in with his fiance/girlfriend and that is happening soon. I will have to see how flexible he is – the more the better for me 🙂

If you want to see the complete listing, visit:

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8894817

That’s it – gotta get ready for work, how time flies in the morning…

Nothing exciting to report today really… I slept in (sort of) until 6:30am or so… Wasn’t late for work or anything but I wasn’t the first one there either…

Work went by quickly – we have been really busy recently which is good. Lots of new hardware to bring out all over, various issues to fix and fires to put out (not literally)… The days go by pretty quickly…

I am off on Friday this week – ADO day… I had nothing planned for the weekend but I volunteered to help out at the ball hockey tournament that is being run at the Region for Raise the Roof… I will be helping setup the rink @ 8am and then being a ref for some (all?) of the games… Not sure how long I will be there… Anyway, that is Saturday – I guess I will watch the Pro Bowl on Sunday. I am guessing that none of the Saints nor Colts will be playing, maybe I am wrong. If I was going to be in the Super Bowl the next weekend I wouldn’t be playing anyway…

What else is happening? Hmmm… Not a heck of a lot. Same old really – that’s good though I suppose.

Oh well, guess that’s it for now. Later…

Well, BC was over this evening to check out the home entertainment system setup that I have. Every room in the house (nearly) has speaker wire in it which all connects through the walls to a central “closet” in the middle of the house. There is also an RCA cable (2 actually) between the closet and where the cable, etc., come into the house and terminate where the TV is.

So, I had BC check and identify the speaker wire and test the RCA jack. All looks good. I can now move my stereo receiver and speaker-splitter in the closet and connect all the speakers in the house – this is going to be cool…

Imagine watching a movie and hearing the sound from 6 or 8 speakers – all over the place… I am really looking forward to getting this all set-up and a go…

Mind you, as we all know, I am high-up in the Executive of the Procrastinators club – VERY high up… Not sure when I will actually get it done. My aim is to have it all completed on Friday as I am off work. Yeah, that’s the ticket…

I will let you know how I make out.

I registered kevindarcy.ca a few weeks back.  I tried to sign up to register the domain AND host the domain on their “basic” UNIX package…  Well, something went wrong I guess and the hosting part of it didn’t quite take.  The domain got registered OK, just not the hosting.

So, I had to go back through the process AGAIN…  This time I am sure that I’ve done it correctly.

I am going to have a web site as follows:

http://www.kevindarcy.ca

I might link this BLOG into:

http://blog.kevindarcy.ca

and who knows what else.  My primary email will be:

email@kevindarcy.ca

I am also going to set-up a web site for the home-based business that I am going to start up again.  I will be doing computer stuff – fixing spyware, viruses, hardware issues – just on the weekends and some evenings.  Nothing too much, I am busy enough.  Just want to make some extra income is all…