Stuck in your head.

I'm always a little surprised at myself, when I initially am not that fond of something, and it winds up being something I completely love. So much so - that I will go out of my way to find it.

Which is how Mr S. and I found ourselves at another tile store. It's called Porcelanosa. It really is one of the most beautiful showrooms I've seen. Its very modern, and doesn't have any country kitchy stuff that doesn't interest us.

Some stuff is a little over the top. Like this sink. It's glass.





I'm not sure who in their right minds would have a glass bottomed sink. But it does look kind of neat. A marriage ruiner - but still very neat looking.

Anyway... it all started out with these tiles.



When we saw them recently - they really stood out because they were 12 inches by 35 inches. It's a pretty unusual size. I couldn't imagine how they could be used. And they had this weird moray pattern. They just seemed odd to me. I didn't really like them.

But, I was intrigued because of their unusual size, and wound up looking for a store on the web to see if they showed any design pictures of them. Turns out - the company who makes them had a store here locally.

This is how they are displayed at the tile store. I completely fell in love with them.



The rest of these are just other design displays.



OH! Except for this one. Remember those bubble tiles I've talked about a few times? Here. It turns out they don't look as odd as I thought. They had a display of them.



They still aren't my style - but I found them interesting.

You had me at blinky lights. End.

Alright... this is the end of the car shots. I'm done with it. You are done with it. Let's just get them over and move on.

Lamborghini doors were also a big thing this year. Normally, I wouldn't even make mention of it - except Mr S. wants to put Lamborghini doors on everything! I hate the idea.

For a while, he was really stuck on buying those kind of doors for the Solstice and I had to talk him down time after time. I think it would look tardly. Go figure - huh?



I just like this shot. Because sometimes I think I'm a car photographer, and I'm not. But when does that stop me?



The obligatory lime green Ferrari. You can't go to a car show without seeing one.



I don't even care about this car. But it had these lights I was super fascinated with. They sort of made me feel like I needed to pollinate something.





Oh yeah! You probably got to the end of this series and wondered why the fuck I would use such a stupid title? Anyone? You just have to take my word for it. Neon and blinky lights everywhere on these cars. I was so close to having a seizure.

Part 1 and 2 here.

You had me at blinky lights. Part2.

Part 1 here.

This year the cars seemed to be less about having a million monitors. Like last year. More about having a super fantastic - over the top paint job. Monitors did still show up in unusual places like this one in the area where the motor goes.

Yes.. that is Snoop Dog.

You had me at blinky lights.

I'm going to start out with the car stuff. I realise I'm probably the only one who thinks the cars at CES are awesome. Even Mr S. isn't that interested in them. And he is a car guy.

I am not even sure why I find them so interesting. Honestly, it's pretty unlike me. If I saw one of these cars on the street - I'd probably want to beat the owner with a club. Or burn holes in their heads with the lasers I shoot from my eyes. But when I get to CES, I turn into complete tard. I just can't explain it. Mr S. says it's the same reason guys like boobs. Men can't explain it. They just like them - and I get about as goofy as men do around boobs. Even the reaction from the others guys at the show make it clear they think I've lost my mind. But, see those same guys over with the booth babes... they turn into dorks. Same thing~!

Let me give you an example. Try to look at the faces on the guys crowding around this van which was easily the loudest on the show floor. Vibrate the walls, feel the bass on your chest loud.



Now look at the face on this guy at a babe booth.



Honestly... as you are browsing my pictures - look at the faces of the guys in the photos. Then refer to my booth babe shot.

-
I just realised I'm going to have to charge some batteries before I can unload more pictures. So let me start you out with this:

Shouldn't there be some law that if you are wearing a pink turban and tie, you shouldn't be allowed to checkout this fine Bentley? Honestly. They should make a whole law. Right?

Hello Kindle.

Mr S.'s kindle arrived this morning. It was ordered on Dec 1st. For all those tracking that sort of thing to find out when theirs might arrive.

First impressions?

It is less hideous in person than it looks in pictures. It is also much smaller than I expected. Most of the pictures I've seen makes it look bigger.

This is what it looks like next to the Amazon shipper invoice. Which is about a 3rd of a sheet of regular paper.







Now I must drink more coffee and unload about a billion photos from CES. Yeah - I know everyone has already covered CES. But you are going to like my coverage better. I wasn't forced to be there. So I'm not all jaundiced and resentful.

See you soon!

Leaving Las Vegas.

As if!

Seriously - I'm sitting at the airport on delay. But when I get back.... I have some crazy photos for you!

Embarrassing customer support at iRobot.

It is really rare for me to yell at a customer support representative. I actually can't remember the last time I did. Even though I've had some truly horrible customer service experiences.

Plus, I used to work that field. So while I can be upset at the company, I understand it isn't usually the fault of the person trying to solve my customer service needs. I go out of my way to not not yell at the reps, and let them know I'm upset at the company. Not them.

Today, however - I lost it on iRobot.

It started this way:

I've been waiting 5 weeks for a cleaning head assembly and wheel module for our new Roomba 560.

This model was just released, and ours arrived at the beginning of September. After two months of use - the machine became really loud and stopped picking stuff up. Even accumulated dust. So we logged a trouble ticket on 11/24/2007 01:52 PM. At the time there was known known ship date for the replacement parts. After Christmas, I started to become cranky. So we ping'ed them. Again - no known date for replacement parts.

Today I decided to call them. My machine has been unusable for 5 weeks!

I started to become irritated pretty quickly. Their automated menu system makes it almost impossible to get to an operator. If you try to "Operator Out" - it actively prevents you - by saying that it will transfer you to an operator after you've made a selection from the menu system. Most people who "Operator Out" do so because the menu system doesn't accommodate their need - or they are pissed enough they just want to get to an operator.

At any rate, after navigating 5 menu levels I was put into the hold queue. Listening to this for 20 minutes. Honestly.. listen to the whole thing and imagine what 20 minutes of this is like.



When I got the rep, I immediately asked for a manager. Who promptly said she would need to know what the issue was - so she could see if a manager was available.

In my head I thought "she'd better make a manager available". But I did manage to give her a rundown of my problem. I'd been waiting 5 weeks for a part, and had been on hold more than 20 minutes to find out where my part was.

She proceeded to try and transfer me to a manager, but clearly didn't know how. She tried a couple of times. At one point saying "oh crap". It took her 4 more minutes to try to transfer me. And! She wasn't even sure she had successfully done it - because as I was unloading on the manager - the original support rep was leaving me voicemail saying she thought we got disconnected and letting me know how to get in contact with the them.

By the time I got transferred it had been over 30 minutes. And... I... was... hot.

I told him I'd started out just trying to do a status check on a part. But now I wanted to know what the hell is going on over at the company. I told them the menu system made it almost impossible to talk to anyone. The amount of time I'd been on hold. And have they even listened to their hold music?

He said they'd been understaffed because of the holidays, and they were trying to get items out due to that. So I asked "when do you plan to get stuff out for your current customers"?

He said they had been doing an inventory, and it was completed on January 3rd. Again, I asked "so when can I expect my part"? He didn't want to give me an answer, but said for my trouble he would send out a brush set which normall would cost something like 17 dollars.

I was so mad at this point.

I told him I would rather he keep the brushes and have the company save that money and get peoples items out. I just wanted to know when he expected I could receive my part. He finally relented and said 12-14 days. Which will make it almost 2 months with a roomba that doesn't work.

And the thing that makes me oh so livid - is we were some of iRobots first customers. We have spent a lot of money with the company. The first 2 roomba's lasted 3 years. The third lasted a year. Our scooba needed to be replaced within the first 3 months. Story Here.

So - product quality has definitly been going downhill.

Now, this is how they treat their customers? It isn't like they are a new company anymore.

Tell me iRobot - why should I ever spend another dime at your company? After all these years, I don't even think I would refer their product to anyone I know.

The day of dread has begun.

One of the neighbors came over this morning to talk about our common fence.

I was a little bit surprised actually. He is the cheap one. He's also the one who has a bad rep in the contractor rumor mill.

Contractors all seem to know each other. And they all have their own little clicks. Which - I don't even want to get involved in. I don't care that much. I have too much crap going on. I don't even know if the rumors are true. But he did something to make them spread non-payment rumors about him.

Normally the idea of replacing the fence which was broken when we moved in (two years) ago - would make me super happy. But the whole thing sort of fills my head with static.

He wants to get quotes. I mean, I think he wants me to get quotes. He will probably want the lowest one. Which, I'm fine with. But the only guy I trust who does good work at a reasonable rate, wants to be paid in cash.

Since my neighbor is turning in an insurance claim for the fence due to the recent storm, I don't really know how that is going to work. And yes, it isn't lost on me that the he is probably committing some kind of insurance fraud. I told you - I don't care. I'm tired. He's probably been waiting for a giant fence wrecking storm to get someone else to pay for replacing it.

At any rate - I'm nervous to pay my guy to fix the fence, and hope the neighbor pays me. I'm also nervous that if I pay our half, the neighbor may never pay my guy for his half.

And, I need my contractor. He's a good guy, and a hard worker. I'm not doing anything to alienate that relationship.

Then finally - I'm a little neighbor overloaded. You know I have two sets right? So having my neighbor privacy taken away for a few days by having the fence down doesn't appeal to me right now.

I should note - except for the whole dog thing, the neighbor has been really good to us. He even gave us some quail he'd shot for Christmas. (No - I don't live in the country.) But it was a nice neighborly gesture. I guess. Right?

And - Oh yeah! I don't want his fucking dog camping out in our yard.

Update: I swear - I spoke too soon. The dogs always know when I'm running on no sleep. Cheap neighbors dog has been howling for ages. I'd share it with you if I knew how to embed audio files in my blog. But, I'll just slowly go crazy instead.

When the rain cleared.

First this:



Then this:



Shot with a zoom lens.

An old crush revisited.

Since it was still raining today - we decided to visit the tile store. I must confess, I have a real fetish for tile. I have no idea why.

What I love even most are the tiles I think no one in their right minds would actually use. Below are a few examples for your pleasure.



Oh yes! That color burning your eyes is salmon.





These. I actually like. Although, finding a design that didn't look overdone would be complicated.

Yeah.. if you thought I was in my right mind, you've been reading the wrong blog. Duh.



I never understand the endless choices of tiles that look like wood grain. But they are somewhat fascinating.



And tile that make your project look like an old leather desk. Somebody must use them. Right?

Here is one from a recent tile store visit.



Other entries on my tile fetish here, here, here, and here.

These three crisis' are me.

Today was a pretty intense day. It really needed the song "O Fortuna" running in the background. You know... the one from Excalibur.



Not only were we trying to keep our garage from flooding - the crap shack also started to flood. So, between rotating 7 giant keg sized buckets in the garage to catch leaks, we had to try and figure out a way to divert water away from the foundation of the crap shack.







I'd like to say I'm upset about it. But honestly, I'd rather know now - than when another 100 year storm hits in a couple of years. 100 year storms hit every few years in California apparently.

I obviously don't want to get sued. But also we want the new owner's of the crap shack to be happy with the house. It would suck to move in a find out your place floods, and the previous owners probably knew about it. (Like the garage at my house for example.) It's not un-fixable, just surprising considering how much water was around the foundation. I guess it should have clicked with me why the neighbors yards are all higher than ours.

Anyway...the hurricane force winds were taking down trees everywhere.



Rain was coming down in buckets and making everything flood.







The wind was strong enough it actually put out the water heater pilot light in the garage. And - I still need to deal with my 2 neighbors about the fences.

But hey - the original worry of the morning, the crap shack gates - held up beautifully.

So - that's how they get bottled water.

Welcome to 2008~

This morning has been all about damage control. You see.. we are in the middle of a storm the likes we don't really see around here. The wind is unbelievable.

We are basically having a hurricane. It's so bad in fact, I'm listening to the emergency police scanner. And the emergency services are being taxed to the max.

This morning - first thing, we went to check on the crap shack because we because just stuck up those gates. They have a 12 foot span - so I'm concerned about them. Trees had already been dropping.



So far I've already lost 2 segments of fence with two different neighbors at my place.

You know how I love dealing with neighbors to get fences repaired. It's a pain in the ass. They never want to spend the money to fix them. Ever.

One we already knew was a problem. The neighbor is a nice guy - but he is a cheap skate. The contractor rumor mill is that he books contractors to work, and then take a long time to pay or never pays. The other neighbor - looks to have made a temporary fix. Which is promising. I give him props for effort. With these winds, I doubt its going to stay. But at least he tried.

The best thing is the deck over my garage has formed a ginormous leak. I knew it was a problem. I figured it would leak.. but not like it is. But who would have expected rain like this either. Sideways wind and rain.

I feel like I need to check on the crap shack from time to time, but I'm actually a little afraid because the house is in an area with a lot of power lines.

So.. I'd say today is a little crazy. But - I still have power. For now.

The happiest plauge - ever!

Dear Readers, I'm going to become deathly ill - and I'm really happy about it.

What, what, what, you say? Mr S. and I are going to CES after all! Which means, I'm going to get the historic illness that plagues CES attendees.

We'd actually put the whole CES thing out of our minds. The marketing god who puts your name on the list, wasn't in the mood this year. We were tired anyway.

But then, something magical happened. On New Years eve - the mail came. Enclosed was a golden ticket. From CES! Well, it was really just a registration form.

Apparently, since we went last year, they were going to let us register this year. Screw you marketing gods! See how ungrateful I am? Since without the marketing guy - we wouldn't have been able to go either year.

But, me being all appreciative isn't why you read this blog. Right?

Oddly - it's costing us half of what it did last year. Even though the flights are totally last minute.

I already feel my inner tard trying to emerge - because I really want to see the car section more than a lot of the other technology. You remember this from last year. Right?

Updated: Not one of my readers pointed out what I tard I am at spelling the word plauge? You guys know I'm illiterate!