Sunday, September 11, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Failing at market research: example!
This came in the mail yesterday, and it was addressed to me...not Resident. Chris didn't get one, so I can only guess I'm on a mailing list that he isn't on. While I appreciate their desire to support charities, I really don't think they're going to do terribly well in their campaign...unless, of course, their campaign is limited to making me laugh hysterically every time I read this thing.
Anyway, presented without further comment:
(apologies on the quality, the scanner I used is NOT the best...click both to embiggenate)
Anyway, presented without further comment:
(apologies on the quality, the scanner I used is NOT the best...click both to embiggenate)
I thought we were supposed to be the bullies?
I used to be a fan of ikeahackers.net, and have gotten some neat ideas from the stuff posted. On Monday, the blog owner posted a hack for a Buckmark. While it involved minimal IKEA parts, it was different and a bit refreshing to see posted on that particular blog, especially since the blog is popular worldwide and is regularly viewed in countries that don't allow firearms.
This morning, however, I read this. This disappoints me. When I last saw the comments on the removed post, they were mostly supportive...so I wonder when the train wreck happened.
I guess we evil, evil gun owners lost another battle. Or something. Because the SuperMegaGood anti gun people harassed yet another individual to the point of pulling content from something they own.
This morning, however, I read this. This disappoints me. When I last saw the comments on the removed post, they were mostly supportive...so I wonder when the train wreck happened.
I guess we evil, evil gun owners lost another battle. Or something. Because the SuperMegaGood anti gun people harassed yet another individual to the point of pulling content from something they own.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Ugh.
We're now onto day 5 without power.
This is the sort of thing I'd expect if we were, say, in the middle of nowhere. Heck, I'd expect it if I still lived a county over, where there were cows a 20-minute walk from my house. I certainly don't expect that in Baltimore CITY, where (generally speaking) the power doesn't go out for us.
What kills me, though, is this is an issue that could have been easily prevented. Heck, most of the outages were preventable. BGE simply refuses to do the proper maintenance and due diligence required in order to run an effective power company, and they do this in order to protect and increase profit margins.
In our little town in Harford County, where I used to live, our biggest cause of outages was squirrels. Not storms, not freak wind, not ice. Squirrels. Why? Because out there the county and the power company actually kept trees away from power lines (and squirrels apparently love to chew on the lines). I vividly remember major storms (both ice and rain) coming through and watching the power flicker, but it very rarely went out...and it always came back in a few hours. Even in the nasty ice storm of 1994, we retained power with nary a hiccup.
In the decade+ that Chris has been in the house, the trees have been trimmed once, and those who did the trimming left a limb sitting on the lines...but not attached to the tree from whence it came. Because that makes sense. In the 5 years I've been with Chris, the power has twice gone out for over 24 hours. Both situations were caused by trees damaging the lines or the transformer. Last time, the line was knocked off the pole, and this time there's no visible damage, so we're assuming the aforementioned limb hit the transformer.
Last night, Chris and I drove through an area north of Baltimore to assess the damage, as we have friends around there who have gone without power as long as we have. The first thing I noticed: there were bucket trucks up there. LOADS of them! I counted five in a 2 mile drive through the neighborhoods. Where are our trucks? The work locations list says they were working near our home yesterday, but I didn't see any trucks. I didn't even see a marked city-owned vehicle. There is no indication whatsoever that we have any priority.
So where does that leave us? Generatorless (because we have a specific model we're buying, and it's backordered to kingdom come), borrowing an outlet at a neighbor's house so the fish tank can filter for an hour or two a night, and generally miserable. It's frustrating knowing the Governor's on TV and all over the news saying how they're working diligently, blah blah blah...and it's especially disheartening when BGE gets a nice big fluff piece in the Baltimore Sun, touting how awesome they are for getting so many people back up and running in such a short time.
And here's an interesting little bit of information: in Florida, everyone would have had power by now, save a few individuals out in the boonies. Friends down there agree, and they've actually seen real hurricanes.
Frustration is high, morale and sanity are low, and BGE is not the shining star of success they'd like to be.
While I was writing this post, the power was turned back on. THANK YOU Michigan, Ohio and Georgia Power!
Interesting tidbit - I don't know if Chris got the names of the gentlemen who said this, but they say they've never seen a power company with this poor maintenance. What does that tell you, BGE?
This is the sort of thing I'd expect if we were, say, in the middle of nowhere. Heck, I'd expect it if I still lived a county over, where there were cows a 20-minute walk from my house. I certainly don't expect that in Baltimore CITY, where (generally speaking) the power doesn't go out for us.
What kills me, though, is this is an issue that could have been easily prevented. Heck, most of the outages were preventable. BGE simply refuses to do the proper maintenance and due diligence required in order to run an effective power company, and they do this in order to protect and increase profit margins.
In our little town in Harford County, where I used to live, our biggest cause of outages was squirrels. Not storms, not freak wind, not ice. Squirrels. Why? Because out there the county and the power company actually kept trees away from power lines (and squirrels apparently love to chew on the lines). I vividly remember major storms (both ice and rain) coming through and watching the power flicker, but it very rarely went out...and it always came back in a few hours. Even in the nasty ice storm of 1994, we retained power with nary a hiccup.
In the decade+ that Chris has been in the house, the trees have been trimmed once, and those who did the trimming left a limb sitting on the lines...but not attached to the tree from whence it came. Because that makes sense. In the 5 years I've been with Chris, the power has twice gone out for over 24 hours. Both situations were caused by trees damaging the lines or the transformer. Last time, the line was knocked off the pole, and this time there's no visible damage, so we're assuming the aforementioned limb hit the transformer.
Last night, Chris and I drove through an area north of Baltimore to assess the damage, as we have friends around there who have gone without power as long as we have. The first thing I noticed: there were bucket trucks up there. LOADS of them! I counted five in a 2 mile drive through the neighborhoods. Where are our trucks? The work locations list says they were working near our home yesterday, but I didn't see any trucks. I didn't even see a marked city-owned vehicle. There is no indication whatsoever that we have any priority.
So where does that leave us? Generatorless (because we have a specific model we're buying, and it's backordered to kingdom come), borrowing an outlet at a neighbor's house so the fish tank can filter for an hour or two a night, and generally miserable. It's frustrating knowing the Governor's on TV and all over the news saying how they're working diligently, blah blah blah...and it's especially disheartening when BGE gets a nice big fluff piece in the Baltimore Sun, touting how awesome they are for getting so many people back up and running in such a short time.
And here's an interesting little bit of information: in Florida, everyone would have had power by now, save a few individuals out in the boonies. Friends down there agree, and they've actually seen real hurricanes.
Frustration is high, morale and sanity are low, and BGE is not the shining star of success they'd like to be.
While I was writing this post, the power was turned back on. THANK YOU Michigan, Ohio and Georgia Power!
Interesting tidbit - I don't know if Chris got the names of the gentlemen who said this, but they say they've never seen a power company with this poor maintenance. What does that tell you, BGE?
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Has anyone been paying attention to Iceland?
Actually, I have a better question: Why can't we do this here?
Monday, August 29, 2011
So, we survived.
As everyone else is saying, this hurricane wasn't as bad as we were expecting. Chris and I were pretty much prepared for whatever it could toss our way, but we were really hoping we didn't lose power. Sadly, we did, and we've hit Hour 32 of no 'lectric to the house.
The worst part, though, isn't that we lost power. It's that my block is the only block in the neighborhood to lose power, and it's all because the city sucks horribly when it comes to maintaining trees in the easement behind us. Last year, after over 10 years of letters and phone calls from Chris and other neighbors, they finally came out to trim the trees. They left a limb hanging on the lines, and we're pretty sure that played a part in killing power to the block. I'm told there are tree people in the neighborhood (currently lounging on the side of their truck, if twitter photos are any indication), so hopefully power will be restored sometime today.
My fish will be happy. So will I - I have lots of baking to do.
DISCLAIMER: yes, I know, we should have had a generator. We'll be rectifying that soon.
The worst part, though, isn't that we lost power. It's that my block is the only block in the neighborhood to lose power, and it's all because the city sucks horribly when it comes to maintaining trees in the easement behind us. Last year, after over 10 years of letters and phone calls from Chris and other neighbors, they finally came out to trim the trees. They left a limb hanging on the lines, and we're pretty sure that played a part in killing power to the block. I'm told there are tree people in the neighborhood (currently lounging on the side of their truck, if twitter photos are any indication), so hopefully power will be restored sometime today.
My fish will be happy. So will I - I have lots of baking to do.
DISCLAIMER: yes, I know, we should have had a generator. We'll be rectifying that soon.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
I hate living on the east coast.
I'm supposed to be driving to New Jersey for a friend's wedding reception right now, but instead Irene decided to rain on my parade. The winds aren't what's keeping me home...it's the fear of getting lost and stranded somewhere in NJ, and I'm really not down for that.
So I'm home, and being home allowed me to help get the house ready for the Smackening (and potential crazy power outages to follow).
I got gas on Thursday, and was absolutely amazed at the amount of people at Costco. The place was so packed they were spilling over into other parking lots just to park their cars. I heard they still had water as of yesterday morning, but I'm sure their shelves are now bare. The milk, eggs, bread, and TP are surely gone, as well. People have to make their TP casseroles, you know.
It made me wonder...just how few people actually know how to handle extreme weather in this stupid state? I'm somewhat used to the panic from a potential snowfall, but we really don't deal with hurricanes all that often so the idiots are even more frenzied than they would be in the winter.
Anyway. Those of you in the path of this thing, stay safe.
So I'm home, and being home allowed me to help get the house ready for the Smackening (and potential crazy power outages to follow).
I got gas on Thursday, and was absolutely amazed at the amount of people at Costco. The place was so packed they were spilling over into other parking lots just to park their cars. I heard they still had water as of yesterday morning, but I'm sure their shelves are now bare. The milk, eggs, bread, and TP are surely gone, as well. People have to make their TP casseroles, you know.
It made me wonder...just how few people actually know how to handle extreme weather in this stupid state? I'm somewhat used to the panic from a potential snowfall, but we really don't deal with hurricanes all that often so the idiots are even more frenzied than they would be in the winter.
Anyway. Those of you in the path of this thing, stay safe.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
What happened to customer service?
I started looking at some polymer 9mm pistols and one of the pistols I was interested in was the Walther P99. I checked out Walther USA's website and there wasn't much information on different models or accessories. You see I'm a lefty and although I have seen and fired Walther p99 pistols with right side slide locks and safeties I did not see any reference to them on the website or in the product catalog. For those of you that don't know Smith & Wesson distributes Walther pistols in the US. The pistols are still made in Germany they're just imported and sold through S&W. I did find exactly what I wanted on the Walther Germany website and so after checking various boards and sites on the web with no luck on model numbers I decided to email customer service an ask. I sent
"Hi,
After looking at the website and current catalog I am still having difficulty finding the correct model of one of your handguns. I am interested in the Walther P99 AS 9mm shown here
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=13152&storeId=10002&productId=58947&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=43803&isFirearm=Y
I have heard of, and seen pictures of this handgun with an extended, right side, ambidextrous slide stop and long magazine release for lefties but I cannot locate the model on the website or the catalog. I do see the model listed on the German Walther site here:
http://www.carl-walther.de/index.php?company=walther&lang=EN&content=products&hid=2&uid=1&product=860
It shows additional codes for various features
PS = steel sights with phosphor 3-dot
AM = elongated ambidextrous slide stop
LM = long magazine release
Is a pistol so equipped available, and if so what would the model number be that I would tell my gun shop to order?
Thanks,
After about a week I received this reply.
Hello,
the models you saw are only available in Europe and are not available in the states. Thank You
While it directly answers my question, he doesn't go any further at all. Not, but we have this model, or this kit is available for it, or anything. Just NOPE, sorry. I do believe Walther has a pretty recently released similar pistol that even has ambidextrous controls on it. I don't think that's asking too much to expand on an answer or make an alternative suggestion. I guess this might be a partial explanation why you don't see a lot of Walther sales. It even makes me wary of buying a S&W now.
"Hi,
After looking at the website and current catalog I am still having difficulty finding the correct model of one of your handguns. I am interested in the Walther P99 AS 9mm shown here
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=13152&storeId=10002&productId=58947&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=43803&isFirearm=Y
I have heard of, and seen pictures of this handgun with an extended, right side, ambidextrous slide stop and long magazine release for lefties but I cannot locate the model on the website or the catalog. I do see the model listed on the German Walther site here:
http://www.carl-walther.de/index.php?company=walther&lang=EN&content=products&hid=2&uid=1&product=860
It shows additional codes for various features
PS = steel sights with phosphor 3-dot
AM = elongated ambidextrous slide stop
LM = long magazine release
Is a pistol so equipped available, and if so what would the model number be that I would tell my gun shop to order?
Thanks,
After about a week I received this reply.
Hello,
the models you saw are only available in Europe and are not available in the states. Thank You
While it directly answers my question, he doesn't go any further at all. Not, but we have this model, or this kit is available for it, or anything. Just NOPE, sorry. I do believe Walther has a pretty recently released similar pistol that even has ambidextrous controls on it. I don't think that's asking too much to expand on an answer or make an alternative suggestion. I guess this might be a partial explanation why you don't see a lot of Walther sales. It even makes me wary of buying a S&W now.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Even Woot is selling gun stuff?
This was a pleasant surprise this morning. Apparently even a immensely popular site like woot.com is now selling occasional gun-related items.
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