Category: Computers

  • Fiat gone, but not forgotten, new ride, laptop woes

    Fiat gone, but not forgotten, new ride, laptop woes

    As the snow flies this Saturday afternoon and I prepare to go out with my spouse to run some errands, I sit here quietly in my office contemplating a warm cup of coffee and looking at wires and harness connectors strewn all over my desk. The wires are for a new car radio that my spouse bought me for Christmas for my new ride, a 2012 Toyota Yaris I picked up about two weeks ago (lower left)

    As you may recall from my previous post, my beloved little Fiat 500 (above right) had a problem with a drive shaft that turned into an almost two week ordeal trying to find a replacement part. Since I needed a car to get to work, time was of the essence and in the end I had to get rid of a whole car because I couldn’t find a part in time. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I ended up finding a good deal on a gently used Toyota Yaris four door Sedan. It’s certainly not sexy or cute like the little Fiat was, doesn’t turn heads or make children smile, but it will be dependable transportation, hey it’s a Toyota! I’ve had many Toyota Echos grace my driveway over the years, so I know these cars very well. As you can see above, the little Fiat, which I had named Kira, ended up on a flat bed truck as I gave her to a charity who will fix her eventually and auction her off to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to the Montreal SPCA to help little kitties and doggies. Good luck little Kira, hopefully you’ll go on to some great adventures.

    As for the little laptop I ordered, a Lenovo X270, it was never shipped and fearing a scam, I opened a dispute with Paypal to get a refund, that is still pending as of this writing. I think I’ll just stick to my old laptop for now and use the money perhaps for a trailer hitch on the aforementioned Yaris, more news on that later.

    What’s next, financial recuperation for one, buying another car was never in the cards. I also have to seriously start looking for Christmas gifts for the gang. Like last year I’ll probably do the donations on behalf of everyone along with a fun little joke gift or stocking-stuffer. I’m hoping once things settle in the new year I can get back to some other projects, ideas and past-times that I’ve been meaning to get reacquainted with.

  • Canada first initiative

    Canada first initiative

    Now with the US administration having put into place the 25% tariffs as they had threatened and Canada doing a tit for tat and imposing tariffs on incoming US goods I felt it was time for me on a personal note to reduce the number of US-based online services and products I am using. I started with my domain name and email provider. I initiated a transfer to a Canadian-based domain and DNS host as well as email provider. This should all go down by the end of this coming week.
    I was also subscribed to the US-based Tidal music streaming service and severed my account with them and opened up one with a French-based company Qobuz, OK, not Canadian-based, but at least it’s not in the US. I also stopped donating, at least for the immediate future, to SOMA FM, one of my favourite online Internet radio stations out of San Francisco. Again, it’s nothing personal against the fine people working there or elsewhere, it’s just that I feel compelled to support my fellow Canadians in this very difficult moment.
    Only time will tell what will happen next…