Stefan’s Stuff

Ok, It’s been quite a while since I updated my blog, so here is a rundown:

• I’ve been working on my little backyard garden every weekend since it’s been warm enough. As a result, the lawn looks good, the vegetable garden is growing and our flower beds are weed free and has cedar mulch.  The Iris that our neighbor, Mrs. Chiu, gave us is really taking off. She planted that Iris in every house she owned, but finally moved to an apartment so she gave it to us. I have to call her son to let them know that it continues to grow (30-40 years!). It’s hard work, but it’s enjoyable as WE benefit from it.
• Related, I striped apart our Weber Genesis BBQ cleaned it, replaced the gas line (old quick connect is not used anymore), and we are good to go. That grill is a hand me down from over 10 years ago. The good thing about Weber grills: it will last forever if you keep it clean. I can’t wait for our small July 4th BBQ.
• We have so much Mint and Sage that we’re giving it away (Luckily our neighbor likes Sage). Since we have so much mint, we’ve learned to make an occasional mojito too.
• Thanks to Janny, I’m finally learning how to cook. I’m starting with simple meals like Tilapia fish marinated with coconut curry and collard greens. I also can safely cook chicken and pork chops too. Anyone that knows me, knows what an accomplishment this is. Having a good Zojirushi rice cooker also helps.
• Our home computer had a very persistent computer virus. The virus scaner (Two!) would ID the files but could not clean it as their was a persistent lock on them. As my brother suggested, I downloaded Ubuntu, burned a boot CD, booted up in LINUX and removed the infected files.  That was so easy that it was a bit ridiculous. Booting up in LINUX completely disables the threat.
• After using our PC since 2000/2001, we decided now was a good time. So, Janny and I got a Dell XPS 630 and pretty much optioned it out (8gb RAM, 1TB RAID 0, Intel® Core 2 Q8300 (4MB,2.5GHz, 1333FSB), 24 inch Flat screen monitor, etc. ). To put it mildly, I’m really looking forward to getting it.

In summary, life is pretty good.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

Lot of things hapening lately. Here is a rundown of the things that interest me:

• Our new President issued an order to close Guantanamo prison within one year.
• House Republicans are proud that they can’t possibly compromise in the name of “Bi-partisanship”.  Hardly surprising as they seem think acting like the extreme “Right Wing” will get them back into the majority. IMO, They should let the adults get some work done. I bet the Senate Republicans also vote against any stimulus package.
• I went on a photo walk practicing long exposure photography. It was fun and I hope to do it again.
• My Lasik Surgery was a complete success. I’m still getting used to not wearing glasses or contact lens.  Other than an occasional dry eye, I’m fine.
• Work still keeps me busy. In this economy, that is a good thing,  but I’ve noticed that things tend to break in the middle of the night.  I suppose that’s better than during the day, but it is tiring.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Better Days” by Supertramp from the “Brother Where You Bound” Album. You can see the video here.

Well, I got LASIK Eye Surgery yesterday. I’m happy with the results and I thought I’d describe how it went.

I was a little nervous (By far, this was NOT the hardest procedure I’ve had) but looking forward to it. Janny and I got there early, checked in and waited in the room outside the procedure area. First off, they give you a hair net and booties. This is too keep the room with the equipment completely clean.

Prior to the surgery, a nurse explained the procedure to each of us. There were several people queued up and we had different procedures so the nurse explained the procedures to the two groups.  Then we were to be seen by the Doctor and checked out one last time.

The doctor picked me first, so I went to the examination room, reviewed my file with the doctor, and got one more eye exam. After that, I was taken to the procedure room where they again explained exactly what was going to happen. After lying down,  they put drops in my eye that numbed the eye. It must of numbed the eyelids too since they next put in clips to keep my eye lids open and I only felt a mild pressure.

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Janny has bee considering it for a while and wanted me to think about it too. After making an appointment to the Eye Doctor, we’ve decided to do it.

The initial appointment is very comprehensive. The staff at the eye doctor’s office takes various measurements using different tools. It took a while, but when it was all over, we met with a counselor to discuss our options and any questions that we had.  Janny and I had a big list of questions that they answered without any issue.

Wikipedia has a very good write up about the procedure. To be honest, I’m a little nervous as it basically involves using a sharp blade in my eyes.  If I didn’t know so many people who had the procedure, I’ve be even more hesitant.  I’ve been wearing glasses since the third grade and it will be very odd not having a pair of glasses on my face. I’m sure I won’t miss them.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Let it Rock” by Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne from the “In The City” Album. You can see the video on VH1.

After suffering a cold since Wednesday, I stayed home in bed Saturday, Sunday and am out today on Monday. Bad enough that I’m sick, I have work piling up back at the office. Hopefully, I’ll be OK tomorrow and return.

As many of my friends know,I suffer from sinus problems nearly year round.  Going to Costco, I saw this Sinus rinse (2 pack for $13) and figured I’d try it.

It works surprisingly well. It’s pretty simple and basically a saline rinse of your sinuses. In my case, it means I’m not congested during the day and I get a good night sleep. This is the same company as Neti pot.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment, I’m watching “Returner” on DVD.

Empire State Building
Originally uploaded by S.D.

Lots of fun, with an added bonus: Janny works in the building. That means that we don’t have to stand on line. Instead of taking 30 to 60 minutes to get to the top, we just go right to the head of all lines.

I think that got some people annoyed at us (we heard “Hey! There’s a Line!!!” a few times) but it was worth it.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy and hazy but we could always go back. Since the sun is setting earlier as winter approaches, I think we’ll go after work one night and get some great night shots.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing, I’m watching Mythbusters.

Yep, I’m bored. Janny is out shopping, I’m home doing Laundry and working from home.

Overall, I’d say this is a good day. It’s calm, quiet and I’m actually accomplishing work that needs to be done. Before the rain from Hurricane Hannah hit, I was able to get some fresh Jalapeno Peppers from our garden.

Music I’m Listening to now:
“Rain, Rain, Go Away!” Obviously.

What a busy week this has been. As Inigo Montoya once said “Let me explain, no, there is no time, let me sum up“:

• Finished the Oil to Gas conversion. Our OLD oil burner was installed in 1952 and designed in the 1920’s. Needless to say, it was expensive to run, especially in winter. I’ll write up a post on that exclusively later on. We used John Sideris Plumbing to do the work and we’re very happy with the work and the results.
• Attempted 3 times to have Time Warner Cable come and fix our Cable issues. After blowing off TWO appointments and arriving nearly an hour LATE to the THIRD appointment, they “diagnosed” the issue and left within 10 minutes. My wife called me after they left and I called TWC and got them to go back. The Technician insists there is no problem and that the screen going blank is “normal” and happens “occasionally”. The problem is, the issue is intermittent and unpredictable. Explaining that to the technician was an complete waste of time and he frankly did not care or want to hear it. As soon as humanly possible, we are switching our Cable TV service to Verizon. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had issues with Verizon too, but after all the issues I’ve had the last few months with TWC, I’m willing to give it a chance.
• Work is fun. We had an outage on Friday night that took quite a while to resolve. I was not able to leave work till 9:00pm. That in itself was bad, but I had to be in Princeton New Jersey by 7:30am the next day. Since I was late last time I had to go to Princeton, I left my house at 5:00am and got to work at 6:30am (Better early than late). That actually worked well, as I was able to get a good breakfast, relax and just jump right into the work that needed to be done. Thanks to my co-workers, everything went great (I mostly had a support role), but I was not able to leave till 7:00pm for a 2 hour drive to get home. Now on Sunday, I’m very tired. I’m glad days like this are few and far between.
• We recorded the Olympic Opening ceremony on our DVR (Only one Blip in the Recording! “Normal” right???) for viewing later. After seeing it, my wife and I could not help but think: The Next City to host the Olympics can’t possibly top that. You can see some fantastic photos here at Boston.com and here at the Official web sight, en.beijing2008.cn.

Other than that, life is pretty good. Mostly, we are taking it easy, watching the Olympics. I was able to record “Shoot ‘em up” on the DVR this week. I’m looking forward to seeing it as both Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti are great.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment. I’m watching “Shoot ‘em Up“, With Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci. It’s a great Action film and Lots of fun.

The last few days, I’ve been working at home while my heating system is being converted from an old Oil Burner (from 1952!) to a Natural Gas solution.

Since I’m stuck at home and I’ve also been having spotty performance on our Cable TV for at least 2 weeks, I scheduled an appointment with Time Warner Cable of NYC. They were supposed to come around between 12:00pm and 4:00pm and if they need to call me, call my home or my work number.

After they missed the appointment, I called TWC and asked what was going on. Basically, the Cable Repair technician called and apparently No one picked up at my home number, my work number or My cell.

All of these phone work fine, with voice mail on all of them and yet I didn’t get a call on a single one. No voice mail either. How Odd…

When I call a company for a problem, I try to be polite and professional. Getting mad does not help and the guy on the other end of the phone did NOT miss that appointment. He rescheduled for today (Hope they don’t miss that one too!) between the hours of 12:00pm and 4:00pmand with any luck, my cable will be fine.

Which leads me to the “Timing” part. My Door bell rings and it’s NOT TWC, but rather Verizon. They want to go to the backyard and wire FIOS to the telephone cable. Apparently, my neighborhood is the next one to get Fiber Optic FIOS.

In other words: If Time Warner Cable screws this up, I now have more options.

UPDATE 1: It’s 4:20pm do you know where your Time Warner Technician is?
Called Time Warner, they said the appointment is still open and to wait another half hour.

UPDATE 2: Now 5:10pm and no call. I called TWC again, got a fast Busy and redialed until I got thru. After listening to classical piano (Chopin?) music for a few minutes, my call was picked up by Yolanda and she offered to call the Technician and see what the delay was. Put on hold for over 5 minute with very good piano music.

UPDATE 3: Yolanda called the dispatcher who will be calling me back. Not thrilled at the occasional video issues, but everyone I’ve spoken to at TWC has been very friendly and professional. I await the dispatcher’s call.

Update 4: 6:30pm, No Call from the TWC dispatcher. Calling the number got a busy signal, but after 6 redials I got in and heard the nice piano music again. End Result: Dispatcher will call back.

Update 5: 7:00pm (sigh) Dispatcher called back: Today is canceled. TWC gets to try again on Wednesday.

Verizon is looking GREAT and I have NO idea what they offer.

Music I’m listening to now:
“Pocketful Of Sunshine“, by Natasha Bedingfield from the “Pocketful of Sunshine“ album. You can see the video here.