Great song

The weird thing about Muse is that some songs like this one just blows my mind and then other of their music sounds like U2.... weiiiiiiiiiiiird,

THey had a sale!

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, Got my fix of my favourite cruciferous vegetable. The cauliflower was only $2 at IGA last week. I made grilled cauliflower for dinner last night.

Grilled cauliflower

Tablet addiction.

Zoey has been completely addicted to her tablet since she got it after we got back from Halifax. The first few days she literally didn't sleep. She spent 24/7 on that thing. It got bad to the point where school complained she was sleeping on her desk.

Last night her dad went to work and he told her lights out was at 11.  At 11:45 Ziva and Toby had a spat and she just ran out of her room to check it out. She did not look the least bit asleep. As she had not even gone to bed yet.

This morning I woke her up at the usual time, but she was fast asleep by the time dad arrived home to take her to school. 

I don't like being played for a fool.  Starting now, any time her dad goes off to work at 11pm, the internet will stop working on her tablet. Right now I'd like to give the device a name so I can find it on my router to put it on a schedule, but I can brute force it by removing the MAC address every night the minute dad leaves. The tablet really isn't much fun without the internet.  I'd rather do that then to have to be a drill Sergeant. Didn't like being the enforcer back then still don't like it.

Interesting read about nurturing.

I used to say I looked for men with a strong feminine side.  I liked people that are not stereotypically their gender. However I've recently realized that what I've always been looking for is for a male that nurtures. That was one thing I loved about my step-dad, he was a very nurturing men.  I've realized my current SO is one of the most nurturing men I have come across.

This article suggests that the opposite of rape culture is nurturing. Considering how much time I've spent recently going on about the rape trial this article balances things. It highlights that not all men are dangerous, there are those who nurture the people they love.

Windows 10 and things people just press ok to

Windows 10 is full of spyware and sends information to Microsoft when it wants. Most people don't spend much time reading these things, and use automatic install so all these are turned on by default.

More Fabrics!

Sunday despite working overnight, my sweetie took me to the Fabricville in Laval so I could see if there was anything else I wanted for 50% off with a coupon.

Fabric I got for $2 a meter

More baby terry cloth, this one a dark pink with hearts and Terriers

I found some fabrics in the liquidation area for $2 a meter. One is a lacy flowery cotton, the other is a greenish turquoise stretch poplin.   Both can be used to make small summer dress.

Addictions.

Since Halloween I have been addicted to Cheetos. Cheezies, Cheese Sticks and other versions aren't quite as satisfying.

Even Toby is in love with Cheetos.  Will climb all over me when I eat them.

There was a sale!

Fabricville is having a 3 day sale with a 50% coupon. Today I bought the red butterfly batik with the 50% coupon. Paid $30 for it instead of $60. I also picked up some green rayon knit. Normally $19.99 a meter, got 2 meters for $14.00.

Toby loved the red butterlly batik

Why report you have been sexually assaulted?

In Canada it seems there is no justice for those sexually assaulted. It amazes me that victims of other crimes never get victimized like sexual assault victims. No one tells a woman who has had her purse stolen that it was a he said she said....

A few notes on Jian Ghomeshi

I have more to rant about this.....

[From Charlie Angus, on Facebook]

I have known Jian Ghomeshi casually for 25 plus years. What did I learn from the trial? 1) That a woman who remembers being beaten is not considered credible because she didn't know the make of his car. 2) That famous people can afford lawyers known as "Hannibal Lecter" for their ability to take sexual assault witnesses apart. 3) That Jian won't bother to refute any of the charges because as some law expert says: "There are many reasons why an accused elects not to call evidence. One of them is that the complainants have been destroyed in cross-examination.'' 4) That Jian flourished as a predator in what should have been the safest organization in the country and that the legal system continues to fail women and 5) that nobody close to Jian even pretends he is innocent, and somehow this isn't an issue -- the women are.

Special place in hell - the sequel

So to unpackage 24 mini-HDMI to DVI adapters took me 2 days.  My hands are covered in cuts and scrapes and my fingers hurt from the stiff plastic.

The worst is the footprint.  See how much garbage is generated by the 24 adapters?

The black bunch is the Adapters. How hard would it have been to make cardboard boxes that can just be flattened once adapter is removed. Instead I have shit tons of plastic and paper to dispose of. 

Special place in hell

I believe there should be a special place in hell reserved for those people who think packaging everything in this molded plastic is a good idea. For starters the plastic is either too rigid or too thick to rip along the dotted line. Half of the time the plastic just breaks in half and risking cutting you. IF you manage to pull all of the tab off, then you have to try to go dig into the packaging to lift the paper up, and then try to get to the adapter packaged in more plastic.

Every single time I buy ACCELL adaptors I end up cutting all my hands and it's a miserable experience. I received 24 adapters that I need to get out of the packaging and then put a pink label on. I've only done 3. My poor poor hands. Also to the morons who design this packaging, how about the environment?

The company I work for now only uses cardboard boxes and they use cardboard inserts to protect the product from moving. Large manufacturers of monitors and computers are also moving in that direction, so what gives with this crappy plastic packaging that creates tons of waste?

Hard to rip the damn plastic without hurting your hands

Looks easy, but the plastic keeps breaking and not along the dotted line..

Feminism doesn't mean blindly following other women

I've never cared much for US politics but I do have opinions. Last time I had an opinion was before Obama  was chosen to represent the democrats. Even back then though I thought it was nice Hilary Clinton was running, I clearly saw Obama as being a better choice.

Well several years later, still not a huge fan of Mrs. Clinton. While I'd like to see a female president, not any woman will do. Mrs Clinton to me represents the values of the Old boys club, the one her husband was part of.  I don't have huge opinions on Bernie Sanders, but I'm definitely feeling "The Bern".

I think it's pathetic that Albright and Steinhem think that young women should just be supporting another woman, instead of the best choice for them!

I'm all with this articulate young woman, who says it best. I believe an America run by Sanders will be a better America for young women.

The child was estactic.

I blogged a few days ago how unimpressed I was with both Walmart and RCA. 

My opinion of RCA has changed. Kudos on their great customer service. So the tablet's power supply stopped working late Saturday night for Zoey.  We looked for one on Sunday and Monday. We also called RCA customer service on Monday, as well as filled out an RMA form on their website the same day. On Tuesday we got an email confirming the RMA had been approved and we would receive a tablet within 14 days.

Yesterday the tablet arrived via UPS, and we just need to put the defective one back in the box, call UPS and they will pick it up from the door. So let's recap, child had dead adapter Saturday, we RMA'ed on Monday, child had tablet in her hands Thursday night.

On top of it, they sent us the model with twice the Ram, We also noticed that the power adapter of the new tablet seems substantially more robust, so we hope the tablet will survive at least till next Christmas.

Melted Power Adapter

Old melted adapter vs the Adapter that came with new tablet.

Things people do to their homes.

When I moved into my house back in 2000,  I noticed that 80% of the telephone plugs in the house were left hanging with just wires. My impression was that the guy must have had a security system that he removed, and he did not bother putting back phone jacks. I took the time and installed phone jacks. I did not check the wiring.

Now 15 years later, my phone doesn't work and the Bell guy claims the short is in my house. Despite the fact that we have not touched anything in my house. No flooding either. Not sure how a short happens when nothing touches.

However he was nice enough to ensure that the main phone line in the kitchen, the plug works as well as the one phone line in the basement where all the internet is connected.

So I have service coming into the house and reaching 2 plugs.  To debug the rest of the house would have been expensive and really I don't have the money to spend on that.

Not impressed with the guy who wired my house all weird. And when I say that I mean it.  When I moved in there was a 2 plug Power plug sitting under a water faucet.  It scared the fuck out of me. You never have water and electricity overlap.. like WTF?????

So my internet should be less flaky now and I have exactly ONE phone line that works. Not even sure if I will put answering machine back on.

Uninmpressed with both WalMart and RCA

In their infinite wisdom, Walmart is selling RCA tablets that come equipped with power adapters that are not available in the country they are sold in.  He bought Zoey a tablet at Walmart in Canada for Christmas, and within 2 days the power adapter had already melted.

Now a month later, the power adapter does not work anymore.  It will not charge the tablet. I spent 2 days, went to 4 different stores looking for a power adapter for her tablet and no luck.   I went to Acess Electronique in DDO, and the guy said when he got a 5V adapter in to bring in her tablet, because he'd have to change the end to the barrel connector of her tablet.

I can find adapters for other RCA tablets on Amazon.ca but not for HER tablet. She has a 10" Viking, model  RCT6303W87.  Doing a google search only enabled us to find a compatible adapter but only available from the US.

Walmart does not sell power adapters for the RCA tablet.  RCA doesn't appear to sell adapters either. Yesterday, he spent 30 minutes on the phone with an RCA customer support. I could not believe the nerve of the guy asking us if we tried another power source.   IF we COULD FIND ONE maybe we would have, but we CAN"T.  Then we spent another 30 minutes filling out a form on their website, then we got an email saying we'd be contacted in a few days with instructions on RMA.

She's got good taste I tell ya

Of course no trip to Club tissu would have been perfect without Zoey wanting some fabric. These are the 2 fabrics she chose to make summer dresses.  A turquoise blue cotton print with flowers, and a pink and purple rayon print that's very soft.

Fabrics for making things for my offspring...

Fabrics from Club Tissu

It's a soft lavender print with silly sheep

Terry cloth lined baby print

Solid knits for maternity & nursing tops

Duck flannel print.

Turns out my photos are really dark. The solid knits for maternity tops are first a red organic cotton knit, then there is a royal blue  polyester/rayon knit, a greyish blue polyester/rayon knit, and a purple polyester/cotton knit.  On the first photo the dark geometric print is a very fine corduroy. It's a purple/hot pink design and I think it might make great pants and jaclet for the baby.