Bid early, bid often!

This is a public plea for people to look at my eBay sales. I had time on my hands yesterday, and these things were already boxed up, so I listed them:

• An aluminum tortilla press that I never got the hang of using (a looker asked me why it was so "inexpensive." I replied that it IS an auction, typically starting low to attract bidders...)
• A vintage Pyrex covered casserole from the 1930s, made for the Russakov Club by Corning Glass Works
• A vintage 1950s set of 3 Pyrex clear glass nested mixing bowls in lovely condition
• A shabby woolen runner in reds and blues that may or may not be a vintage Navajo rug (eBay doesn't let you say what you think it is if you don't have provenance on it).

It's mainly because, even with the contract pay, it will take me ages to pay down the debts I incurred while I was out of work. I don't know how people do it. I don't usually live with debt for very long (I don't count the mortgage). When I had cable I'd watch TV programs on dealing with singles' or couples' debt. I could easily sympathize with the subjects, but couldn't relate---until now. I'm not in dangerous debt, but I'm unhappy about it, since I'm not making enough money to pay it off quickly.

And my lovely tax refund, which I usually get in mid-March, will go right to what's left of the debts!

A fine kettle of phish, and Protestant "guilt" ethic

My third day at work, and I call in sick. I started feeling not so great yesterday afternoon, after a poor night's sleep on Monday night. Woke up in the middle of the night coughing. Buckleys Mixture does work, for a while. Woke up again with the cat alarm ("We're alarmed! Wake up! Feed us! Let us help you wake up by knocking everything off your nightstand!"), just before the radio went on. Sneezing. Headache. Chills. Put on a fleece jacket under my thick cotton jacket since the indoor temp is over 20C. Good thing too, because Handsome Stranger was busy keeping my neck and shoulders warm, and I haven't clipped his claws lately.

I e-mailed and left voice messages with HR and my co-worker, asking for something to do. It's not strictly the Protestant Work Ethic---more like the Protestant Guilt Ethic. I can't take any cold/flu products that are available over the counter to alleviate symptoms, since almost all (including Alka-Seltzer) are contraindicated for diabetics. Otherwise I'd suck it up (unlike me, since I'm so self-indulgent when it comes to my health, sort of). So I asked for a document to work on.

And I got a very realistic PayPal message the other day. But I knew I hadn't sent a payment to anyone for anything. PayPal agreed that it was a spoof/phishing e-mail. I think these "phishers of men" take advantage of those of us who, while in our cups or three sheets to the wind or looking upon the wine while it is red, bid on auctions or buy products late at night. I try to avoid that these days, after the DazzleWhite fiasco. Though I was stone-cold sober when I fell for that one.

New Job, and New Scanner

First day at the new contract job. Apparently it takes over a week to requisition a work station, so I didn't have a computer to work on (this isn't the first time it's happened at a new job; at one place they forgot I was coming at all, and then my new boss couldn't remember my name). But my new co-worker and I toured the building and she introduced me to the Admin team members, and we reviewed the list of documents we will be working on. They are posted on the corporate intranet. And I figured out how to record a personal greeting on the phone. There's a Tim Hortons downstairs, and an underground walkway to the subway station. I can imagine that, with winter coming, the uphill walk to work and the downhill back will be (voice of Cloris Leachman as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein)...treacherous. (Remind me to write a note to myself to get a copy of that movie; it's one of my favourites.)

I just wrote about my old computer equipment but didn't mention my refurbished scanner (bought in 2000) was an Epson Perfection 636. Perfectly serviceable still, but when I upgraded the operating system from Win98 to WinXP the software drivers for it couldn't be updated. It took ages to find and download new software, but the $50US or so was worth it. It takes an 8.5 x 11" page. But the software only implies that it can scan negatives to positives. Either it's lying to me or I can't figure out how to work it.

I want to make family calendars as Christmas gifts this year, and I want to use old family pictures. A few months ago I bought a negative/slide scanner on eBay (FS-C1-VP-BX2 Film & Slide Digital Converter). But no how, no way could I install it on my Toshiba laptop. I gave the whole mess to my brother who was able to get it working on his laptop, but he's not very fond of it. And he's a lazy sod: he scanned exactly one image---from his and Mom's trip last year to Australia. I'll take it back and re-sell it on eBay.

So instead of trying to get him to scan old negatives, I'll get Mom to send me her selections of actual photos from multiple albums and I'll scan them and upload them to one of the custom calendar sites.

In the meantime, spending money I don't have again, I fell for a new HP Scanjet G3110 flatbed from Staples that also does slides and negatives (and bulky items: useful for online auctioneers). And it actually works! The bonus is that it plugs into a USB port so I can use it on the laptop. I can also scan to PDF and e-mail. So I'm happy now. Tra la!

Here's a scan of my girl Bwai from a negative strip using the Scanjet. If she looks blue, she is---she just had a shave. Note how her fat belly hangs over her back feet.

Old computer and software still useful

I started working in Information Technology in the summer of 1989. My first work PC was an XT, similar to this one, sound effects and all. I used Word Perfect on DOS to write and update financial systems manuals. I think we had network folders, and a primitive e-mail system. A few higher-tech people had Windows PCs, but I didn't get one for a year or so.

In 2001 I was fired from a job after five months (gawd, what a relief! I hated that job!). I got a decent severance package, and went out and bought my first (refurbished) home computer---a Compaq tower with a staggering 9G processor, Windows 98, CRT monitor, roller-ball mouse, and PS2 keyboard. People had been making fun of me for a few years because I didn't have e-mail. But I got hooked up with an ISP a day or so later. I called Bell Canada, but they would only send me their Internet start-up package by snail-mail, and I wanted to be online pretty soon. I got on the phone with a tech from another service provider, and he walked me through the steps. I put my résumé online (I think it was Workopolis) in the morning and by mid-afternoon I was getting calls from head-hunters. Those were the days, eh?

Over the next couple of weeks I met about eight recruiters and hiring managers, and had several interviews. I turned down one job because it was too far to commute, and another because there were too many people on the writing team. I interviewed for a lone tech writer position in the morning, and when I arrived home shortly after I found a voice message from my head-hunter that I'd been offered the job.

Anyways, to make a long story even longer, I was allowed home-use installs for Microsoft Office, Adobe FrameMaker, and Acrobat. I've since upgraded from Win98 to WinXP and MS Office 2003, and I have a pirated version of PhotoShop. I had bought a refurbished flatbed scanner, which came in very handy when I was selling a lot on eBay. (My primitive method was to take film photos of my items and scan them and upload them.) And all that software still works! I scanned my autograph yesterday and created a digital signature using Acrobat, so I could e-mail my prize declaration form and not have to spend a dollar plus tax on faxing it.

I don't have Internet access on it anymore, though, and I need to take the tower apart so I can fix the CD drawer. I guess I used it as a cup holder for too long...

The money is just pouring in!

Along with the $100 CA or so that I will get for the shoes I sold on eBay, the $10 CA I earned filling out web surveys, and the one-cent piece I found on the floor of the pharmacy the other day, I have been notified that I won $50 in an online draw.

Once I fill out the Declaration and Release Form and fax it in, and send an e-mail with my answer to the skill-testing mathematical question ("without mechanical or other assistance in the amount of time permitted") within seven days, I will get my prize e-mailed to me in four to six weeks.

The last time I won anything of value was at a company Christmas party in about 1992. The prize was a Hitachi boom box (CD, AM/FM, dual tape deck). The CD player no longer works, but I still use the radio part as a morning alarm. I have tonnes (well, quite a few) pre-recorded cassette tapes from my favourite artists in the 1980s and 1990s. So I hang onto the thing even though it takes up a lot of room. My car has only a tape player, and my road trip music tends to be stuff I can sing along to, like Prince (really!), and The Mamas and Papas' and Eagles' greatest hits, so I hang onto all the cassettes too.

I haven't bought a lottery ticket in quite a while because I spend my imaginary disposable income on smokes and cat supplies. But with all the luck I'm having lately I'm going to keep my eyes open, and if I find a two-dollar coin in the gutter I might just indulge. Not buying a lottery ticket has been about as successful for me as buying one (punchline to old joke).

Time to turn on the furnace, dammit!

I hate this time of year. Well, not hate, exactly: I don't like having to turn the gravity furnace on, and not just because it's not a simple matter of flipping a switch and turning up the thermostat. Last year I didn't turn it on until October 3, so I haven't held out quite as long. But it just hasn't been that cold here until today.

It's freakin' cold in the house, though (probably because I still have quite a few windows open). While it's sunny the outside temp is about 8C (48F). And in here it's about 14C according to my ancient thermostat.

A gravity furnace, while it may be inefficient in fuel use, has some advantages. There are no air filters to change. It has no moving parts such as a fan. The only electricity it uses is to turn the gas valve on and off. There are no electric blowers, so you don't feel air flow when the furnace is on, and there's less dust in the air. Because it's made of cast iron, the whole thing retains heat, so even while it's off it's heating the basement (and the dining room floor). I have double-glazed windows, and I have sealed up any drafts I can find using caulking, expanding foam insulation, and backer rod, especially around the south side of the house. When I had the house inspected in November 1998, the carbon monoxide reading was extremely low, like 9 parts per billion or something (the inspector told me and my real estate agent that the cigarettes we just smoked put out way more CO than the furnace). I of course have a carbon monoxide detector. The only time it sounded was when I wiped it with a furniture polishing cloth that had some volatile compounds impregnated in it. I stopped using those!

The only cold air leaking in comes from the ancient back door frame. I remedy this by stuffing an old blanket in a plastic bag between the doors, since the weather stripping doesn't quite do the job.

On the other hand, the gigantic ducts take up a lot of head room in the basement. I'm 170cm (5'7") and I have to duck in a few places. The furnace itself takes up a lot of room, sitting as it does in about the centre of the space, and having a circumference of about three meters/10 feet. Getting it out will require some specialists in asbestos removal, since there are sheets of AB protecting the floor joists from the hot water duct to the chimney. It's probably less than 50 percent efficient (though the higher gas bill is offset by the lower electricity use). And getting a mid- or high-efficiency furnace will cost, well, a lot more than I have in the bank.

And I was lucky I bought the house when I did---new insurance rules in 1999 required a furnace to be less than 25 years old. Mine is almost 90. If I wanted to change my insurer I'd have to replace the furnace first. These rules also require replacement of knob-and-tube wiring and galvanized plumbing pipes, and an upgrade to 100-amp input service. This has been done already, but there's more to go.

So the furnace is on, I'm covered in dust and cobwebs, the windows are closed, the temp is already up to 17C, and my ankles are feeling warmer. Maybe I'll put on some socks, though.

My Daily Kitten Klub has a new member

And while Handsome Stranger is not guaranteed to be the next featured feline on The Daily Kitten, he has joined the Kitten Klub:

http://thedailykitten.com/klubkitten/KBinTo/handsome-stranger/

Though I'd really like to bludgeon the webmaster for such a nasty name.