The Kobo: Five Months Later

I realized the other day that I have had my Kobo for five months now.  Initially I was happy with my purchase, and I just  thought I'd pass on my thoughts on ereading several months later.

First, the price of the Kobo went down by $20 a month after I bought mine.  That was a bummer.  Then a month ago, the touch version of the Kobo came out. Another bummer.  However, one thing you learn with technology is that there is always something newer and better just around the corner.  If you always wait for that newer or better thing, you'll never have anything.

Second, Jen has recommended some books to me since I've had the Kobo and have read them.  They were both very large books, which brought into sharp relief how much I enjoy my little Kobo.  I am currently reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin and it is quite a large book.  But I can lie in bed and read it with one hand.  I can be sitting or laying in almost any position on the couch and still read my book comfortably.  I never have to worry about losing my page.  If I am going to be waiting for something or someone, I can stick my Kobo in my pocket (well most pockets) and take it along with me.

Third, I have several books waiting to be read and they are all in one place.  I haven't added a book to our overcrowded book shelf since I got the Kobo.

Fourth is a little bit of a downside.  Many of the books I read have maps at the beginning of the book.  During the story many place names are mentioned and it's helpful to flip back and check out where that place is exactly or how far the character has traveled.  On an ereader, that is not feasible.  It takes quite some time to get to the place you want to go, so you just have to study the map in the beginning and remember as best you can.  If you are reading a popular book, there are sometimes copies of the map(s) online to look at.

Fifth, if you have just a short time to read, you can just flip open a book.  The Kobo needs to be fired up, unless you knew you were coming back shortly and just put it to sleep.  Powering up the Kobo and then loading the book you want to read probably only takes 2 minutes, but that seems like a long time when you just want something to do while you wife touches up her makeup before you leave the house.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with my Kobo.  It is inexpensive, small and handy.  I am sure there are better ereaders out there, but this one is at the right price point for me.  I would definitely recommend getting one if you have been toying with the idea.

A Dark and Hungry God

I thought I was going to get away with merely laying time and a small amount of money on the alter of the Dark and Hungry God (my house) this summer.  Alas, I was playing the fool.  This morning the appliance repair man came to look at our oven.  It appeared that our oven's thermostat was shot, so we were hoping that he would be able to replace it.  After looking at it and calling the parts people he broke the news that there were no parts in Canada at the moment and it would be three weeks before he could get one.  I thought that wasn't so bad, as we barbeque most of the time in the summer.  Then he announced that it would cost $200 for the part and another $45 for him to come back and install it.  This on top of the $95 he was charging us to look at the damned thing today! 

Now we are left with making the decision to drop over $300 on a 10 year old appliance or buy a new one and not have to worry about it.  We are leaning towards a new range.  I could almost see the flat screen TV I was planning on buying this year go up in smoke.  I guess I've waited this long, another year of television envy won't kill me.  Mame me maybe, but not kill.

By the way, if a friend ever tells you how great it is having a house and you should buy one to, you should punch them in the face.  I mean really hard.  That person is not your friend.  That person wants someone else to get the shaft too and then you can commiserate.  Just saying.

A Kept Man

I've been experiencing a new sensation over the past couple of days.  I am home alone.  Jen got a job at Canadian Tire for the remainder of the summer.  I become the hired help.  My job is to do the housework and continue to check items off of the Honey Do list that we established at the beginning of the summer.

What I have noticed is the amount of pressure I put on myself to accomplish a lot during the day.  I know as long as there is something for Jen to eat, or at least a plan to get there, she'll be happy.  But, it's almost like I feel if she is working, I have to have something to show for my day as well.  When we were both lazing about for the summer, it didn't bother me if on a rainy day, I just read and painted minis or played video games.  Now I feel like I'm wasting time.  I wonder if housewives (sorry, we like to be called domestic engineers), feel the same way.  I've never thought to ask before.

Before you all go and think that I've thrown my wife to the wolves, you should know that I also got a job, but could only nab a part-timer.  I have to wait until after the long weekend for the manager to come back until I can start my job.  So, I'll still be working on the Honey Do list, but I'll be working for money too.

It's Back!

The mini-hoe has made a return to Dude's house.  They had a couple more basement floods, since Dude dug up the yard so he wouldn't have to move his truck anymore.  Maybe something is going to happen with the foundation this time.

Film at eleven!

Blah

I noted that it's been seven days since my last post.  I really meant to post earlier in the week.  I was rocking around this house and then the rain came and I've been blah since then.

On Monday, I resolved to change the exhaust fan in the bathroom.  In the winter we discovered that the fan had been installed backwards, with the wrong type of ducting, with gaps around the box allowing excess moisture to flow into the attic and with no insulation covering it.  So, I was going to pretend I was handy for the day and fix all this stuff up.  What a cock-up that turned out to be.

  Whichever IQ 8 person that installed the fan used plastic dryer hose to hook up the fan to the outside world.  Trying to get that off was not fun as it stretches A LOT before it comes off.  I found myself laying in the fibreglass insulation stretched to my maximum trying to reach the end of the ducting with my fingertips to no avail.  This necessitated taking down the ladder (we only have one) and moving it outside and setting it back up again and trying pull the vent and it's attached hose outside.  Now, when I say I had to take down the ladder, I mean I had to collapse it.  We have one of those ladders that can be a full length ladder or a step ladder.  So, I had to collapse the legs of the ladder down, fold it up, manouver around the corners in the house and take it out back and extend it again and set it up against the house.  I did this three or four times during the course of the day.

Did I mention, that the sun came out that day for the first time in a week and it was hotter than a snake's ass in a wagon rut in that attic?  I was sweating so much when I was trying to remove the box for the fan that I couldn't see properly for the sweat in my eyes.  Did I also mention that the box was not set up on the joist, but was moved out with some poorly matched pieces of wood?  So, I had to take the box off, then move one of the pieces of wood to the other side so, the fan would still be in the same hole, then screw the wood on and the box.  Of course the drill wouldn't fit in the small space left between the wood and the joist, so I had to screw them both in by hand.  My hand was so slippery with sweat that I had trouble turning the screwdriver.  All of this by flashlight.

It turns out that a job that should have taken an hour took most of the day.  During this episode, I very nearly took a match to the house to make the solution easier.  I also cursed every one of the incompetent hacks that has worked on this house over the years to an excrutiating eternity in Hell.  I've been recovering my sanity ever since.

I should also mention that we've had about five hours of sunshine since that day. It has been rainy, grey and cool nearly everyday.  This is why I'm blah.

My Wife's Idea of Fun

I need to preface this post with the fact that when my wife says something is fun, she is silently adding "for me", on to the end of it.  Fun for Jen is fun for everyone or so she thinks.

This afternoon we met Bryce and Michelle at Whole Wheat and Honey for lunch.  We had a great chat and a delicious lunch.  I was extra excited because for once I wasn't hungry after I had finished my $10 lunch.  But I digress.

After lunch we all went down to look around a local furniture store.  We are in the market for a new table and chairs, as our Wal-Mart set has given all it can give us after four years.  Bryce and Michelle are looking to replace the furniture that went swimming with the poops when the sewer backed up in their basement.  This was considered "fun" for Jen and because of the company, it was not "unfun".

After we left Bryce and Michelle, we went to have more "fun".  We looked at more kitchen tables that we didn't like.  Then the "fun" hit a frantic pitch as we went to the thrift stores.  Now, I don't know about you folks, but sifting through layers of other peoples crap does not fit into my definition of fun.  If I could ever find something that I like or wanted at one of these places, I may change my tune.  Thrift stores are glorified garbage dumps, missing only the rats and seagulls to make them real dumps.  And what is with that smell?  As soon as you walk into a thrift store your nose if assaulted by an odor that is somewhere between someone's soiled underpants, unwashed feet and grandma's basement.  So, I hold my breath knowing that the whole while, all of the unclean particles are going unfiltered into my lungs.  We went to three thrift stores and they were all "fun".

Nanna wants to know where her stuff went.

Finally, my Saturday afternoon ended with a visit to the local scrapbooking store.  You've never had "fun" until you've spent a block of time touching ribbons, sifting through piles of paper and checking out the newest stamps.

Now I am home and I don't know what to do now that I'm not having so much "fun".

Nosy Neighbour Update

Special delivery for Chuck and Mike, here is the nosy neighbour update.  As of the last post, Dude had finished digging the big hole in his lawn.  Yesterday he proceeded to fill the hole with the gravel sitting on the lawn.  Due to dude's lack of skill with the mini-hoe, he had to dump a couple of buckets of gravel in the hole and then jump out and rake it out.  He must have got tired of this because he tried to use the small blade on the front of the mini-hoe.  It was a good idea in principle, but poorly executed.  Dude ended up pushing WAY too much gravel to the end of the hole and then had to back up using the bucket to try and drag it back.  This process took most of the day.

After finally filling the hole, Dude figured he had this heavy piece of machinery, he should use it to pack down the gravel.  Anyone who has seen a tracked vehicle move will see the problem with this plan.  He could go straight up and down the hole and do a great job, but when he turned a bit at the end to drive on the parts he missed, the tracks just dug up a bunch of the gravel he had packed down. 

Finally, a dump truck came and Dude loaded the dirt into it.  Well, he loaded the first truck load.  On the second load, he had to run into the house for something and the truck driver hopped into the mini-hoe.  The truck driver had obviously been operating hoes for longer than 6 days and he filled the truck in half the time it would have taken Dude.  Dude came back out and looked on dejectedly while his fun was taken away.

Today, Dude was wearing the sad face as Peace Country Rentals came to pick up his toy.  He got one bit of fun as he drove the mini-hoe over his lawn again to pick up the second bucket.  Then the rental guy kicked Dude out and he ran into the house to lay weeping on his bed (this last part it pure conjecture).

I don't know what Dude payed to rent the mini-hoe for a week, but I'm sure someone who knew what they were doing could have done the job in less than two days and for less money and made less of a mess of Dude's property. 

The Theatre of Life

Let me explain how this all began.  The neighbour across the street had a small backhoe delivered to his driveway 5 days ago.  We all wondered what they were going to do with it.  Their basement had flooded in the monsoon of the week before, so we thought maybe it was for some foundation repairs.

The next day, Jen and I came back from work to find my father and brother in-law sitting on the couch with coffees in their hands and watching the dude across the road play around on his new toy.  I the first three days he managed to break up the asphalt on half of his driveway and put it in a dumpster.  The next day he managed to dig up part of his lawn.  Now on day 5 he continues to dig up his lawn.  Along the way, he has also managed to destroy part of his eve troughs and take some major chunks out of the concrete retaining wall along his driveway.  When cleaning up the loose asphalt this guy would move the chunks away from his neighbour's fence by hand and then get back into the hoe and use it to pick it up and move it back to the dumpster. 

My guess is that my neighbour is expanding his driveway, but only time will tell.  Today the guy would dig a bucket of dirt and run the backhoe along the edge of the hole so he could put the dirt in the pile because his pile of gravel was in the way.  This fella is clearly not a hoe operator.

I have promised my in-laws to keep them up to date on this drama across the way.  So, here it is.

Well, That Was Unexpected

My in-laws have returned to Vancouver Island and the school year has finally finished.  Life should return to a bit slower pace now.

As everyone knows, we bought our first house nearly one year ago.  The dark god that is my house requires regular sacrifices of money and time.  In order to satiate the god's hunger, Jen and I have decided to get jobs this summer.  That's right, no lazy days of summer this year.  My plan was to go out and get a job as a labourer.  I want a job with as little brain power required as possible and that I can leave behind at the end of the day.  I got a pretty big shock when I began my search and quickly realized that I was underqualified to a labourer in this town.  I have three university degrees and none of them give me the qualifications I need to lift a shovel, move some pipe or get the coffee for anyone in this town.  It turns out that there is a litany of oil field tickets that one needs to possess in order to work for nearly all of the companies in this town.  I have exactly zero of these.  I also have exactly zero desire to spend the money and the time to get them.  I guess it's back to the drawing board.