spackling is my new hobby

i’d made a promise to myself that i’d get my spare bedroom repainted before year end, so guess how i spent the christmas holidays?  spackling and painting!  woohoo!  i’ve discovered that not only do i just like to say “spackle”... A LOT (spackle spackle spackle)... but it’s FUN to do. while prepping to paint, i even *made* nail holes just so i could spackle them :|  dude… it’s all *pink and gooey*, you squoosh it into the holes and VOILA it turns white!  *awesomest thing ever* (yes, i’m easily amused, kthxbai.)  i’ve gotten so good at it, i’m thinking of adding it to my resume, “the spackling goddess”.

a conglomeration of my childhood toys and furniture with my stepdaughter’s stuff. she doesn’t stay much any more, but it’s still ~her room~. also, the purple/red/yellow? if you weren’t manic going in, you might be once you come out :O

yes, that IS a giant powerpuff girl in the corner.  we WON it.  and only had to spend $750 for skee-ball game tickets to do it ;o (also, those birds hanging in the corner? from *my* baby mobile. it’s amazing their poor wings haven’t fallen off by now.)

it’s a tiny bathroom so not easy to get a picture, but the fixtures have been replaced, the wall to wall mirror over the counter taken down and replaced with a nicer mirror, etc. i’d like to replace the cabinets/countertop and the tile floor, but… that’s for another day.)

i’ve still my bedroom and the stairwell to paint, but that’ll have to wait til i can use the a/c to vent out the paint fumes.  it’s a bit chilly for that, atm.  but oh… the spackle continues to call to me…

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Tagged as: home,personal,spackleisthebestthingever January 04, 2010 @ 02:16 pm

adt, it still sucks, *proof*...

in a follow up to why adt sucks, i give you this beaut (oh, and now? comcast sucks, too, but we already knew that), False Sense Of Security?:

adt customer’s alarm found lying on the floor, beeping, after her house is burglarized.  adt never called her nor the police.
another adt customer found her system wasn’t working either.
comcast customer sets off his own comcast alarm accidentally… no response by comcast.

“You may have service. You may not. Play Russian roulette and find out,” said Dan Parsons, president of the Houston Better Business Bureau.

Parsons said it’s not what consumers expect when we pay for a service.

“People are doing this, thinking they are doing the right thing and counting that that expenditure’s protecting them,” he said.

in the case of the comcast customer, his account was accidentally placed in “inactive status” for 15 months.  15 months that he’d been paying for service.  (comcast did credit the customer for those 15 months.)

one adt customer was told that the ~adt authorized dealer~, protect your home, (seriously, don’t get an alarm from some guy in a back alley) had placed her account out of service.

the other adt customer…

When ADT refused to give McDaniels any answers, her insurance company hired an alarm expert to test her alarm system.

We obtained a copy of the investigator’s report that says ADT improperly installed the cellular backup alarm in McDaniels’ home. When the burglars ripped out the alarm hooked to her telephone line, the backup never sent a signal to ADT.

The investigator wrote, “ADT’s actions and inactions in this matter were deceptive and a deliberate disregard to the safety and security of Ms. McDaniel”—what he believes is a violation of the Texas Occupations Code.

“They provided me with a box that beeped when I went in and out of my house to make me feel a little better,” McDaniels said.

McDaniels’ insurance company is now battling with ADT to recoup the $14,000 in damage and stolen property from the burglary.

both adt and comcast put the onus on the customer to test that their systems are working properly (btw, so does broadview security).

“You’re doing your part in paying the bill and turning it on isn’t enough,” Wilson said.

Local 2 Investigates got the same information from alarm companies. Both ADT and Comcast told us it is the customer’s responsibility to test their alarm every month.

Comcast’s customer contract actually reads that the subscriber shall “carefully test the system daily during the term of this agreement” and “notify the company in the event of any defect.”

“The company’s getting paid to do this,” said Parsons. “And you’d like to think that you shouldn’t have to worry and then have a false sense of security. It’s more than a false sense of security. It’s letting the ball drop from someone who’s in the business to do this.”

in other words, make sure you’re testing your alarm, because the alarm companies aren’t really as interested in protecting your home as much as they are in collecting your payments.

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Tagged as: home,day2day December 02, 2009 @ 07:19 pm

why adt sucks and how to drive an arin to drink.

so recently, i had the condo’s back door replaced (aka, “house rebuilt from ground up”)... and let me say, the door works ~magnificently~.  it does all the things a door should do - opens, closes, stands stalwart against home invaders like GINORMOUS tree roaches, AND has won every staring contest i’ve put it to. 

why am i staring at the door, you ask? 

i’ll tell you!  because when they finished it, they painted it.  there are 70 gabillion whites in the paint spectrum and somehow they managed to find the two (door and trim) that looked most awful with what i already had. 

this is called “matching”.

well, okay, the walls were repainted when they leveled the building foundation a year ago, but they didn’t repaint the trim, so it was probably due to be painted.  ~no problem~, i’ll just repaint all the trim downstairs.  and seriously, by “repainting all the trim”, what i really mean is “dunking myself in paint and throwing me at the trim, doors, and bookcase”.  a week to paint, it’s done, and thankfully, paint DOES come off tile floors… and i appear to be washable.

but WAIT.  see, when they fixed the door, they broke my burglar alarm.  so i call brinks broadview security.  i can either pay $95 to have them come out to repair it or i can pay $95 for a wireless system, which would mean i could get rid of my landline… so YAY, i’ll take the wireless system.  guy comes out to install the wireless system… and informs me that by “wireless system” what THEY really mean is “the control box is wireless, but we’ve to hardwire all the connections and YOUR wires are bad, so they have to be replaced, but we can’t run them the way they’re run now, so we’ll have to flop the wires all around the walls, from the control box to the doors and windows.” 

me: 

ok, that’s not going to work.  i want *wireless*.  “well, see, wireless is $300 to install, $15/mo more, and we don’t have the equipment to do that.” 

me: 

i talk to customer loyalty at brinks broadview security, they give me a cheaper price, reschedule for 2 days later… when they’ll hopefully have the equipment with them.

in the meantime, i call ADT.  may as well get a quote, since it’s already costing me more than i’d planned on with brinks broadview security.  they send a mr. warren perrilloux out, who proceeds to walk through my house, badmouthing brinks broadview security (nevermind that i’ve never had any trouble with brinks broadview security… i hate when salesman badmouth their competitors.  sell me on YOUR product, not why the other guy’s product is terrible.)  but he walks through commenting on my belongings, asking me where i keep dog treats, etc. and totally not in a “neato!” kinda way, but a flaky “i’ll be seeing you later tonite when an army of GINORMOUS tree roaches and i do the ~home invasion~ thing” kinda way.  (this is called “fear tactics” - bring attention to items that are likely to be stolen in a burglary in order to sell the customer on a burglar alarm.  the dog treats thing was a nifty addition, but heart ellie who will NOT take a treat from strangers but instead races around the house barking like the demons of hell are hot on her heels.)

once he finally gives me the prices, he tells me that i have to SIGN RIGHT NOW or those prices won’t be valid.  i hate that.  if you can’t quote me a price that’s good today AND tomorrow, ...or even next week, then seriously, don’t be wasting my time and your’s.  i despise high pressure salesmen and, since i’ve gotten the flaky vibe off of him, i’m not signing anything with him.  but WAIT… see, by SIGN RIGHT NOW, what he really meant was “this price is good only for right now, unless i call my supervisor later and get them to approve that price at a later date, which i can totally do, so really the price is good all the time, but i can’t say that or you might not SIGN RIGHT NOW”.  at this point, i’m seriously eying the broom and 12 cans of raid.

i don’t sign.  i won’t sign.  ever.  take your flaky fear tactic type ADT salesmanship out of my house and stay gone.  (i’m not the only person, apparently, to have trouble with ADT’s warren perrilloux. )

but all is well.  brinks broadview security is coming at 8am that thursday! (and just as an fyi: the brinks broadview security wireless is a much better system than the ADT.  it works off cellular phone towers, which ADT’s does not.)

brinks broadview security comes.  5 hours late.  and they don’t have the part.  they’re going to send someone else out.  that guy comes and by 7pm, he’s still “installing” the system, only he can’t make it work.  they’re going to need to send someone else.  they send out the next guy on the following day…. and guess what?  the control box still won’t work.  they’re going to have to send someone else.  ok, i’ve been pretty patient through this (after all, this was all because i’d wanted the condo’s door rehung), but they’re beginning to press their luck.  to make a long story short: 5 days later, they sent someone else out, installed the system, they’re giving me discounts all over the place and IT WORKS.

WOOHOO.

also, the pest control guy was out for his scheduled appt and i should no longer see GINORMOUS tree roaches on my patio.  or in my house.  he is mah hero.  forEVER, or at least until i see the next live bug.  but, in the meantime, Chem-Tech RAWKS. 

of course, this means i’ve overstocked on tequila and xanax, but i’ll cope.  somehow.

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Tagged as: home,day2day,personal July 24, 2009 @ 10:53 am

a day in the life…

so recently, while i was on mah mad decluttering phase (no, i’m not done, i still have the 2nd floor to do, but i’m biding my time til i can sneak up on it and *attack* muahaha?)...

anyways. 

while i was going room by room, i called the condo association and asked that my back door be rehung, as since they’d leveled the foundation, it had begun to hang crooked, leaving a one inch gap at the top left. 

air-con leaking out, heat coming in, yeah yeah.  no.

BUGS.  came through. 

not just any bugs, either.  GINORMOUS tree roaches came through that gap.  HUGE.  GIGANTIC.  GARGANTUAN.  i’m not sure any of those even comes CLOSE to describing what came through that door gap, though i’m pretty sure that SATAN SPAWN comes close.  if you don’t know what a tree roach is, it’s a 2 to 3 inch FLYING cockroach.  they typically live outdoors, but every now and again, they declare war and make their way into a house.  i have a completely irrational fear of the things, which has resulted in what appears to be a heightened radar… i’m aware almost immediately once one has breached my home defenses. 

at that point, there’s only 2 options… run SCREAMING like a little girl to whatever male you can accost and drag back to deal with said monster OR… should you be forced to defend yourself and your home alone, you’ll need a case of raid, a large broom, a shovel, preferably a beekeeper’s suit, a large box of kleenex, a bottle of tequila, and some xanax. 

don the suit.  spray the roach with the raid.  as it flies DIRECTLY AT YOU begin beating at it with the broom, all the while keeping a steady stream of raid aimed at it.  pace yourself… this will not kill it, it will only make it more determined than ever to land on you (this is where the beekeeper’s suit comes in).  prepare to begin *the dance* - while simultaneously shuddering, hopping, cringing, blubbering, ducking, and doing moves that would have made michael jackson proud, you’ll continue to fend off it’s air combat, using whatever means is at your disposal - broom, raid, shoes, books, large boulders, small children and/or pets - all in the hopes that you can daze it somewhat.  within an hour or so and by the 12th can of raid, you’ll see the demon spawn beginning to show signs of inebriation.  bide your time.  THE END IS IN SIGHT.  continue smacking at it with the broom and soon, the hellion will finally succumb, flipping itself over onto it’s back during it’s final death throes.

at this point, you can use the shovel to scoop up the corpse and carry it outside while screaming, “VENGEANCE IS MINE”.  i suggest cackling wildly as well, since you want the roach’s friends to see that you ARE indeed a force to be reckoned with. 

now, go back inside.  get the box of kleenex.  swallow the xanax and suck down the bottle of tequila as you devolve into a blubbering snotty mass of jelly repeating “uggy buggy, uggy buggy”, as you hug yourself, rocking to and fro.

fast forward… they finally show up to rehang the door.  apparently by “rehang the door”, you’ve meant “rebuild my home from the ground up” without realizing it.  they take the door off.  hang another door.  tell you that nope, the entire door frame has to be rebuilt.  so they rip out your door frame.  replace that.  then tell you that nope, the entire threshold has to be redone.  now they’re having to pour concrete.  then you find out that the tile inside no longer goes all the way to the threshold.  there’s a one inch gap.  so you’re going to need tile work.  along with needing to paint the door frame, threshold, etc. 

three days later before your door is finished and GUESS WHAT?! 

your burglar alarm no longer works.  when they ripped out the door frame, they ripped out the wires to the alarm.  so now you need the alarm company to come out.

you step out onto the patio, intending to clean up the mess that’s been left behind and you hear a sound…

you look up at the large tree shadowing your patio and you swear you see a mass of slithering, scurrying, chittering *things* and they’re cackling wildly…

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Tagged as: home,day2day,personal July 10, 2009 @ 07:06 am

hurricane preparedness

since it’s the middle of the hurricane season, here’s a handy do it yourself home safety checklist from the ‘federal alliance for safe homes’.  i ~fail~.

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Tagged as: home,links,hurricanes,safety September 07, 2008 @ 01:49 pm