Tech

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A Good Day For Laundry

Today is quite sunny and windy, a perfect day for doing lots of laundry since it can dry so quickly. I started with the bed sheets and then did a couple of loads of tops and undies.

As I suspected, my clothesline doesn’t hold much, only about two Wonderwash loads of clothes or one of bedsheets.

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The clothesline has a tendency to fall over the minute a slight breeze hits it. I tried to stake it into the ground, but only got bent tent pegs for my trouble. So I decided to try bricks and they are doing a fine job of keeping my clothesline upright in all this wind!

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Here’s the antenna in the truck. The wind keeps turning the pole today and I have to keep running outside to correct it and try to get it to stop moving. I am not annoyed. I just can’t be bothered to ‘properly’ install the antenna when I plan to put a building in that part of the yard soonish.

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While the current load on the line is drying, I am soaking my dish cloths and towels in a mild bleach and very hot water solution before washing them.

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I really like having hot water accessible from an exterior tap! This is yet another feature of my RV that I have yet to take for granted. I don’t think I’d be so keen on doing my laundry outside if I had to traipse into the kitchen to get hot water.

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Internet Disbelief

My internet connection really does work CONSISTENTLY now!

I have been online all morning catching up on so many little tasks that needed a fast, steady connection. I uploaded about 1GB worth of pictures in the blink of an eye. I had a couple of Youtube videos to watch; no problem. Getting through all the spam comments on the blog? Easy. And Netflix? No problem there; movies stream seamlessly.

I have sooooo many blog posts to write, dating back to the RV seminar, and the plan is to write them up and schedule them to post at a regular interval.

It sucks that it took a third of the summer to get to this point, but I’m back in business!

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Companies Like Novatel Wireless Make Me Sick

I don’t know about you all, but I stand by my work. If a customer has a legitimate complaint, I make it right. So I just don’t get companies like Novatel Wireless that put out junk knowing that it’s junk. The proof of that is in their warranty. You don’t write a warranty like that if you know you’ve got a good product that you can stand by.

Bell Mobility even told me that Novatel knows the Mifi 2 is a disaster but instead of fixing the problem, they are just replacing units.

Moreover, there have been problems with the Mifi since its first iteration, with complaints about dropped signals and the device freezing. Novatel keeps playing with the physical appearance of the device but has shown no interest in fixing its operating issues.

If I had just gotten a lemon, fine. Replace the device and move on. But ALL the devices come with a Trojan horse. So I might have a replacement unit, but I have to live in fear of this happening again. What do I do when my warranty runs out next May with another year on my contract? Needless to say, the next time the device freezes, I am not going to waste time and will demand an immediate replacement.

As a point of contrast, I’ve been in talks with Cascade Designs, manufacturers of the MSR MiniWorks EX Microfilter, since I got back from the wagon train.

My water filter crapped out on me on the Thursday and still isn’t working despite running through all the troubleshooting steps. They have never heard of one doing what mine is doing (not maintaining suction). Am I screwed? No. They’re sending me a new umbrella valve and if that doesn’t solve the problem, they’ll have me ship the unit back to them at their cost so they can repair or replace it. That’s a company that deserves my money.

I’m stuck with Novatel because I need the generous Bell Mobility bandwidth plans and I’m once again struck with the realisation that it’s the Canadian government I am actually angry with for giving me zero choice in communications matters. But I can’t file a Better Business Bureau claim with them, so I’m off to tell Novatel they are bad, bad, bad people and that I am angry with them. Politely and rationally, of course.

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Making the Best of a Forced Internet Sabbatical

After I hung up with Bell on Tuesday, I used Caroline’s computer to email some clients to let them know that I’d be out of touch for a few days. Then, I went home, tidied up the whole rig, rearranged my pantry, and made a nice dinner.

Then, I spent the evening searching for the lagoon where I can go dump my holding tanks (I took my Blue Boy once to the dump station in Assiniboia, but that was a hassle). Well, I finally found said lagoon, but accessing it requires four-wheel drive. So I will go there every few days with a partially filled (ie. not too heavy) Blue Boy that I can slip into and out of the truck and drag up the hill to the lagoon by foot. Not ideal, but cheaper than going to the dump station.

I called my mother on Wednesday morning and learned that she had work for me to do. Even though driving to Assiniboia to use the library wifi would cut into my profit, I needed the work experience, so loaded up my PC and headed into town. The very nice librarian gave me the wifi password and I spent about three hours getting the work done.

Even though I knew there was no hope in hell that my package from Bell had arrived, I checked in with the post office and they got my info and promised to be on the lookout for it.

I came home and just wilted. Caroline was doing the lawns, so I got my yard cleaned up. My yard didn’t get done, so I had dinner then went out to whack some weeds. Before long, Charles was back with the mower to do my lawn (and by that I mean jungle of weeds). I got the water hose and antenna wire out of the way for him. I had been sleepy all afternoon. So that done, I went to bed at 8:30, and slept to 8:30 Thursday morning!!!

Thursday morning, I headed up the hill with the booster and cell phone to call the post office. They don’t pick up, so you have to leave a message and wait for a call back. Hence why I decided to use my own phone rather than wait at C&C’s. I brought my iPad to pass the time… but the call back came in minutes! No Mifi. 🙁

So I called Bell to make sure the order had gone out. I’m glad I speak French as the rep I got had only very basic English skills and I have no idea why she was put on an English line. Anyway, no skin off my nose. She had a hard time finding confirmation that my order had gone out, but she eventually figured it out and got me a tracking number. I thanked her and headed to C&C’s to check my email and the status of my shipment.

C&C had started work on their addition so I arrived in a construction zone, but Caroline dropped everything to get me online (bless her) then left me to do what I had to do. I knew my modem wasn’t going to arrive that day so I went outside and asked if they needed help. YES. So I went home to change into grubbies and work boots, grabbing a pair of gloves and my hammer on the way out.

I spent the day pounding nails out of 2X6″es that had covered the old deck. Like me, C&C are big on recycling, so there was no way that good lumber was going to waste. It was hard work, but I was fed a nice lunch AND a snack, and there was lots of cold water. I even got a gin and tonic with lime with my snack. 🙂

Reading took up the better part of my evening, I went to bed at a more normal hour, had another good night, and woke up ready to face yet another day without internet. So imagine my surprise when I learned at C&C’s that my Mifi had landed!!!

I didn’t head straight to town, but rather helped Caroline pack away some fragile items ahead of the day’s grand event: jacking up their house to make it more level. That done, I got a tiny shopping list from Caroline and then headed to town.

After I got the Purolator thing sorted out, I continued a few blocks to Subways, Fridays being my treat (not cheat) day. I made healthier choices than I normally do there and enjoyed my sandwich (bread, oh bread I have missed thee) immensely. I headed back up Centre Street to the Co-Op, got Caroline’s groceries, and then went back to the post office to get my truck.

When I got in, I immediately headed over to C&C’s, put the groceries away, and went to help with the jacking up the house. They had thought they wouldn’t need help, but I’m pretty sure I was helpful, if only in using the sledge hammer (that thing was HEAVY) to wedge 2×4’s between the foundation and the house.

It was really impressive to see the house corner lift a full three inches! I didn’t go inside after, but apparently the ski hill in the kitchen and living room is gone. Water on the counter would always run to the northwest corner of the house and now it just sits where it’s spilled. What an improvement! Now that the house is reasonably level, they can build the addition.

Now, I’m trying to catch up on an unplanned week offline and trying to figure out how I’m going to make up for the income shortfall.

In happier news, my friend L is incoming and should be here next week! Other blog readers are in Montana and might be landing the first week of Augustish! I am SO pleased to be able to return some hospitality.

Finally, wow is the Yagi antenna sensitive. My connection just slowed to a crawl (not dropped) and I looked out to see that the pole had turned a couple of inches, dropping my connection to -105 and one bar. A small turn and a couple of wedges later, I have -96 and three bars. Let’s hope that my internet woes are over!

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Bell Canada Makes Up For A LOT

I called Bell at 3:30PM Tuesday about my junky Novatel Mifi 2 crapping out on me. The tech didn’t even have me do any troubleshooting. She knew what was wrong and that I needed a new one. Once we established that going to a store was out of the question, she agreed to Priority post one overnight.

I suspected that my device would be leaving from out east (I was right, Mississauga), so we were right at the end of business day there. So I was wasn’t surprised when I called back Thursday to confirm the order had shipped that it hadn’t gone out till Wednesday morning.

Instead of Priority, it was sent the slightly slower Xpress post route. Having worked in shipping, I know that outside of major centres, Priority and Xpress are pretty much equal in speeds, but not in price. So I wasn’t miffed at all, just disappointed that Canada Post estimated that delivery would be Monday.

So imagine my surprise this morning when I got a call from the post office in Assiniboia telling me the package had arrived! That’s right, the post office called me. Talk about service!

I drove out to town, got my package, and went back to the truck to make sure the new Mifi would work before sending back the old one.

The Mifi 2 is so badly designed that it takes fingers the size of a Barbie doll with the grip strength of the Hulk to remove the SIM card. I am not exaggerating. It took me 20 minutes to get the damn thing out of there and I only succeeded by slamming the device hard against the dash to force out the SIM card. If the device wasn’t dead before, it surely is now. But there is no evidence of my brutal SIM card extraction as the device’s programming might be crap, but the its casing is very sturdy.

Inserting the SIM card into the new device was slightly easier (you just needed the Barbie-sized fingers or longish fingernails). I was pleased that the battery was charged. The device powered right up and I had no trouble connecting with my iPad. Success!

I repackaged all the pieces (device, battery, cord, 120V adapter), keeping all the new stuff they’d sent, and brought the box back into the post office to be taped shut and mailed.

I didn’t even notice that Bell had included a prepaid PUROLATOR bill of lading. The post master was at a loss. He said that he knew Purolator delivers to Assiniboia and that maybe I could bring the package to ‘Great West’ to be picked up there, as he knew they got Purolator stuff regularly, but that I should check with Purolator first.

I spent 20 minutes on the phone with Purolator. The guy wasn’t even able to confirm that they service Assiniboia. Finally, he called a supervisor over and the supervisor said that I should take the post master’s suggestion, but that there was no guarantee ‘Great West’ would accept to hold my package or that a driver would pick it up without knowing s/he had something to pick up.

So I decided to mosey on over to ‘Great West’ and see what they had to say. Worst case, I would call Bell for an alternative sending method.

I left my truck at the post office and walked the block to Centre Street, turned left, and what did I see but a Purolator truck!!! It was pulling out, but the driver’s window was rolled down, so I called out. The guy stopped and I asked if I could give him a package. He asked to look at it and said, “You’ve got a label and it’s being paid third party; perfect. I can take it!”

Talk about serendipity!

I got home and couldn’t get online. I glanced out the window and noticed that the antenna had moved so I realigned it and tried again. Success!

Now, I am going to file a Better Business Bureau complaint against Novatel with the hope of recovering lost wages and the money spent on fuel this week since I have evidence that they know their device is prone to crapping out and they are still forcing it on an unsuspecting populace.

But first, a post about my week!