Archive for August 2005
Hard Work…no water in the basement?
Samantha started excavating by the front porch while I was in Minneapolis. We were hoping to find the cause of the basement flooding we get whenever it rains.
We were expecting to dig an 8 foot long by 6 foot deep trench to find the problem.
When I hit the 2.5 foot mark this morning, I hit a really big rock. When I pried it up, this is what I found.
It looks like an animal burrow. It’s not. It’s 85 years of erosion that created a tunnel throgh the foundation and into the weak spot in the basement where the water streams out.
Hole patched with mortar and stones and hydraulic cement to patch the inside.
Fingers crossed.
MSIE: It is hosed
Ok, I will admit to using MSIE for one thing: Outlook Web Access.
I am at a hotel in Minneapolis where
- I have to pay $9.95/day for wireless access
- They block my VPN access to the Exchange server
So, I fire up MSIE and start getting weird errors. And other things go wrong when new windows get opened.
Looks like I have to re-build my system. I hate that.
IceRocket: Off like a rocket
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…
Space Control to IceRocket…
Technorati: GrabPERF, Web Performance, Web Performance Measurement, Web Performance Monitoring
IceRocket: GrabPERF, Web Performance, Web Performance Measurement, Web Performance Monitoring
Flickr Toys == FUN!
Why I Will Not Recommend Gutter Helmet
Follow the entire saga – The Gutter Helmet Category!
Yet Another UPDATE: Another unpleasant encounter with the “technicians” detailed here.
UPDATE (October 19, 2005): New update on my experience here.
UPDATE (October 6, 2005): More on this topic here.
The Canadian Consulate here in Marlborough, MA needed some new gutters. We decided that since the gutters are at least 30 feet off the ground, we would Install some that needed far less maintenance.
The Gutter Helmet system seemed to suit our needs. So we arranged to meet with the sales guy.
After that meeting, I should have gone with my gut feeling. Think high-pressure car salesman, and you will get the picture. We assume he was an aberration, and about a month ago we set the date for the installation.
We were having the Gutter Helmet team install both new gutters and the helmet system. Second mistake. According to what Samantha described, this team was definitely on the F-List (found out today that this installation team is “no longer with the company”). And they were far from professional in the way that they removed the old gutters and installed the new ones. I am still finding sharp metal pieces, screw, and old gutter hangers around the yard, including 7 or 8 gutter hangers conveniently disposed of in what is very obviously our leaf compost.
As well, we discovered that not all of the straps were installed correctly, the downspouts were not attached to the higher gutter sections. We called, and out came the inspector. This gentleman told Samantha that they have had issues with this installation team…and set up a ticket for them to come and repair their mistakes.
Next problem is that we have an in-ground drainage system to carry water away from the downspouts on the north side of the house and out to somewhere where it will not fill the swimming pool in the basement. It took a third trip for the installation team to put the downspouts into the special end caps we purchase to prevent other crap from getting in the system.
And then, yesterday, during a thunderstorm cloudburst, we notice that there is water dripping down between the gutter and the house. This is definitely sub-optimal. Another call in to the customer service centre, where Samantha is curtly told by the woman on the other end of the line (who, I learned in a later call, is actually the call centre manager!) that some house require flashing and that they don’t install it in order to try and reduce the cost of the project.
This cost us over $3,000. Flashing is $2/foot. Put the flashing on; damn the cost.
Oh, and since I mention the cost, did I mention that we received no rebate or credit for this. Likely Gutter Helmet’s response would be that they repaired their work at no charge to us. My response is that I know a lot of houses in my neighbourhood that need gutters
I know a great roofing company, a great electrician, an amazing mason, and a lousy gutter company.
These companies always give a rebate if you advertise their service with a lawn sign. Maybe I should put an anti-endorsement sign on my lawn. No slander…just clearly stating that I would share my experience with Gutter Helmet with anyone who is considering their service.
Technorati: Gutter Helmet, gutters, contractors, customer service
IceRocket: Gutter Helmet, gutters, contractors, customer service
WORLD TOUR: Minneapolis
The Newest Industry World Tour picks up again with a trip to Minneapolis on Wednesday and Thursday nights (August 24-25, 2005).
Any Twin City bloggers that want to grab a drink (non-alcoholic in my case) or a meal (substantial in my case), drop me a comment.
Technorati: Minneapolis, Twin Cities
IceRocket: Minneapolis, Twin Cities
Alan Meckler: CMP and LightReading.com Get Flamed
Ouch!
Alan Meckler revises some revisonist history. [here]
Via: PC4Media (Another Marlborough, MA lad!)
Technorati: cmp media, lightreading.com, Alan Meckler
IceRocket: cmp media, lightreading.com, Alan Meckler
I said move to the back of the bus!
GrabIP: This week’s IP Registrar Stats
Here are the IP Block and Address allocation by registrar, as well as the number of officially allocated IP Addresses in each country (with 65536 Hosts or more) as of August 17, 2005 00:30 UTC.
This data has been extracted from the GrabIP database
IP REGISTRAR BREAKDOWN
registry NUM_HOSTS NUM_BLOCK -------- ---------- --------- arin 1481414400 36355 ripencc 361039644 18864 apnic 285163264 11402 lacnic 38433536 1534 afrinic 10534912 473
NUMBER OF ALLOCATED IP ADDRESSES BY COUNTRY (65536 Hosts or more)**
COUNTRY COUNTRY_CODE NUM_HOSTS NUM_BLOCKS ------------------------------------------ ------------ ---------- ---------- UNITED STATES US 1313949696 31216 JAPAN JP 140817920 1502 EUROPEAN UNION EU 113810588 4595 CHINA CN 69473536 871 CANADA CA 65890048 4921 GERMANY DE 50366576 1651 FRANCE FR 41834624 1188 UNITED KINGDOM UK 39048024 1630 KOREA, REPUBLIC OF KR 37513472 350 UNITED KINGDOM GB 33562368 25 AUSTRALIA AU 26410240 4743 NETHERLANDS NL 16426144 995 SPAIN ES 16301856 417 ITALY IT 16213856 728 TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA TW 15157248 322 BRAZIL BR 15075072 261 SWEDEN SE 12033664 526 MEXICO MX 11030528 154 RUSSIAN FEDERATION RU 10389536 1150 SOUTH AFRICA ZA 8184064 251 POLAND PL 7318686 704 FINLAND FI 7100800 260 SWITZERLAND CH 6875584 754 DENMARK DK 6839072 274 HONG KONG HK 6124800 534 INDIA IN 5891072 352 AUSTRIA AT 5667232 383 NORWAY NO 5054240 242 BELGIUM BE 4309760 290 NEW ZEALAND NZ 4274944 1126 TURKEY TR 3664064 167 CHILE CL 3002112 314 ARGENTINA AR 2923520 237 IRELAND IE 2903200 114 THAILAND TH 2853376 295 CZECH REPUBLIC CZ 2804480 186 ROMANIA RO 2764160 274 ISRAEL IL 2726272 118 SINGAPORE SG 2677760 304 PORTUGAL PT 2604864 96 MALAYSIA MY 2569472 191 HUNGARY HU 2220288 131 GREECE GR 1766400 161 VENEZUELA VE 1753088 79 UKRAINE UA 1354458 618 BULGARIA BG 1352192 191 EGYPT EG 1280768 55 INDONESIA ID 1267200 224 COSTA RICA CR 1254144 12 PHILIPPINES PH 1136384 186 SLOVAKIA SK 975872 88 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AE 964608 14 SAUDI ARABIA SA 902400 79 COLOMBIA CO 864768 102 LATVIA LV 798528 101 LITHUANIA LT 788352 66 IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IR 778752 52 SLOVENIA SI 667392 100 PERU PE 646656 58 ESTONIA EE 645376 44 VIET NAM VN 625664 38 ICELAND IS 507904 28 PANAMA PA 467712 30 YUGOSLAVIA YU 347392 35 PAKISTAN PK 345600 77 CROATIA HR 338240 32 LUXEMBOURG LU 307968 50 KUWAIT KW 297728 24 CYPRUS CY 274720 58 BOLIVIA BO 263424 20 KAZAKHSTAN KZ 242688 27 ECUADOR EC 242432 125 MALTA MT 240384 31 MOROCCO MA 233728 9 PUERTO RICO PR 218880 29 URUGUAY UY 206592 25 JORDAN JO 191744 29 BANGLADESH BD 178688 52 QATAR QA 176128 6 PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, OCCUPIED PS 173824 17 BRUNEI DARUSSALAM BN 172544 11 SRI LANKA LK 167936 30 OMAN OM 163840 5 NIGERIA NG 159744 24 EL SALVADOR SV 156416 12 GUATEMALA GT 145152 19 MACEDONIA, THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MK 143360 11 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DO 128768 21 MACAO MO 127232 15 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BA 124928 23 BELARUS BY 119552 16 GEORGIA GE 118784 18 LEBANON LB 112640 16 KENYA KE 108800 23 TUNISIA TN 106752 4 CUBA CU 95232 12 AZERBAIJAN AZ 92160 11 ALGERIA DZ 90880 16 FIJI FJ 88832 10 ARMENIA AM 86016 10 NICARAGUA NI 81152 9 UZBEKISTAN UZ 77824 9 GHANA GH 74496 13 BERMUDA BM 66048 18 KYRGYZSTAN KG 65536 9
I will try and post these weekly.
**Please note that the total number of IP Addresses for the United Kingdom is the sum of totals for the two unique country codes used when registering IP Blocks — UK and GB.
Technorati: ARIN, RIPE, LACNIC, APNIC, AFRINIC, GrabIP, GeoIP
IceRocket: ARIN, RIPE, LACNIC, APNIC, AFRINIC, GrabIP, GeoIP
A little close to home…
In Lisa Haneberg’s article, I fall into the first category.
Lisa, this is not weird, but it is becoming increasingly common as the knowledge worker generation collides with the industrial management culture we still hold.
I want to do more. See more clients. Solve more problems.
When I am bored, my productivity decreases exponentially. When I am challenged and pushed, my productivity increases exponentially.
We want challenges, not obstacles.
That said, my resume is drifting around like a message in a bottle.
Technorati: management, Middle Management, human resources, resume, curriculum vitae
IceRocket: management, Middle Management, human resources, resume, curriculum vitae
