Awhile ago I read about the miracle that is the Fresh2 lightbulb - a compact fluorescent bulb that emits odour-eliminating particles when in use.  I dismissed it as interesting but unproven.  I looked into it again recently though, since our mammoth cats seem to produce even more mammoth smells in the litter box downstairs.  This time around there were more reviews from geeks like me who were saying “wow, this thing really works”.  Succumbing mostly to my curiosity I went online and ordered a pair of the lightbulbs to use near the litterbox.  The most interesting part of the story now becomes the ongoing logistics problems that the company seems to have in getting these bulbs to me.  I’ll outline the process below:

1. I received my fresh2 bulbs in the mail, and promptly installed one in the basement by the litter box, and another in the laundry room near the cat food.  To be honest I haven’t noticed much change in odour, but at least they are good energy-efficient lightbulbs.  Curiosity satisfied, and if they take the stink down a notch then that’s gravy.  They were not, as I kind of figured, an amazing invention that blew my mind.
2. I got a voicemail about a week later asking me to call them back.  Apparently the bulbs they shipped out were returned to them and they want to check with me to ensure the address was correct.  That sounds odd, because they were here installed and doing their thing.  I ignored the message.
3. Another couple of weeks passed, and Fedex shows up with a package that I wasn’t expecting.  The box has an odd “shattered glass” sound to it as the driver passed it over to Jodie.  It would be really cool if someone sent me Dan Akroyd’s big bag ‘o glass for christmas (from a SNL skit that was pretty funny), so I ripped it open.  A puff of white dust greeted me as I opened the box, noting the sticker that reminds you that mercury is dangerous and needs to be disposed of carefully.  How nice, the people at Fresh2 sent me two smashed lightbulbs!  I called them to let them know about the error.  Since it was now a Fedex insurance issue, they insisted on sending me a new shipment and I didn’t reject it.
4. Another couple of weeks pass, and Jodie accepts a rather large package from Fedex.  The box measures probably 18″ x 10″ x 12″ and is as light as a feather.  Sender is Fresh2, so I know that this is my replacement lightbulbs.  I crack open the box, and start rooting around in the mountain of packing peanuts for the prize inside.  I pull out one lightbulb, and go fishing for the second.  After making a huge mess of packing peanuts on the office floor, it becomes clear that they forgot to ship the second bulb!

Jodie thinks I should give them a call to let them know about the new screwup, but I’ve decided to let it rest.  I ordered 2 bulbs, now have 3 in my possession, and this company has wasted enough money on me already.  Let them believe that everything is fine because I’m not about to buy any more products from them anyways.  I’m impressed that they tried so hard to please me, but equally impressed at how well their good intentions got completely destroyed by incompetence in the shipping channel. 

One of my old Open Text buddies has informed me that the chili-cheese burrito has been dropped from the menu of Waterloo-area Taco Bell restaurants.  Mike and I were perhaps the last of the local chilito fans, always tacking one on to our lunch combo for good measure.  Within our small circle (technically with two points I guess it’s a line segment not a circle) there was not only an appreciation for the venerable concoction, but a set of guidelines that went along with the lore:

1. Never open a chilito and look inside.  Never.
2. A chilito is to be dipped in hot sauce.
3. Even though it is probable that one of the bandaids fell off of the scary cashier-lady’s fingers into the burrito-steamer, it is not to be discussed while consuming the chilito.
4. It’s best to drive an extra ten minutes to the Kitchener Taco Bell to avoid having to discuss #3 (she works at the Waterloo location, has for what I assume must be the last 85 years).

We are not the only ones who are chilto fans, indeed there is an entire website dedicated to its tracking and pursuing its eventual return to all North American stores.

Some interesting chilito facts:

• In 1986, Taco Bell acquired the Faux-Mex restaurant chain known as Zantigo, known for their Chilito, a chili-cheese burrito. The chilito was added to the Taco Bell menu, then later quietly dropped after comedian Paul Rodriguez pointed out the negative connotations of the word chilito (a slang for penis) in Mexican Spanish dialect.
• A chilito contains 383 calories, not bad for about a buck!
• Until recently, it was on the menu in Ontario taco bell restaurants as the “Chili Cheese Burrito”, I haven’t actually seen “chilito” used since I was a kid but still call it that to this day.

Landing in an airplane always freaks me right out. I had this conversation with my brother Tim awhile ago and we both have the same fear. I think it stems from being tall.
When the airplane lines up for its landing, I always tighten up my lap belt. With the plane bobbing left and right approaching the runway I visualize the plane catching an odd angle and skidding away, or flipping over. Barely fitting into an airplane seat already, if anything did happen I would probably get injured by the seat in front of me where my knees smack into the metal frame, or the headrest that is always right at the base of my neck within perfect snapping distance.
It’s a completely irrational fear I know, but I expect to be tightening my buckle and sitting up straight for many landings to come. It’s just one of those weird phobias for me.
Anyone know the phobia name for that? I’m not afraid of flying, just the 60 seconds before the wheels hit the ground.

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For some reason I thought I’d post the methods to my madness with eBay shipping, to help others who casually sell on eBay.  When I first started selling, I would list with a message like “To ensure fair shipping costs, contact me for specific shipping options to your location”.  I did this because as a buyer I always felt like I was getting hosed on exorbident shipping and handling fees, and to this day I contend that there are way too many people making a tidy profit from these fees and it drives me nuts.  I didn’t want to be one of those sellers.  What I found when listing items this way was the following:

1. I had a hard time keeping up with requests for shipping quotes, and it really took alot of effort typing all of that info into the various shipper’s websites.
2. Most requests didn’t end up as sales
3. Paperwork for shipping internationally via UPS was a huge PITA
4. Requiring quotes for shipping disadvantaged people who want to bid on the last day or at the last minute

I’ve now switched to flat-rate shipping using Canada Post, and always make sure that there is delivery confirmation and insurance to ensure it gets there safely and limits my risk.  As a seller the customs paperwork with the post office is a breeze, and I find that the combination of Canada Post / USPS is the most relaxed for fees, duties, and taxes for shipping across the border which helps out the buyers.  By contrast, shipping across the border with UPS seems to always leave someone holding the bag for exorbidant brokerage fees which is just wrong and inconvenient.

At the beginning of every auction, I get shipping quotes from the Canada Post website using the actual size and weight of the package.  I use Victoria, BC and Beverly Hills, CA as the destinations which tends to give a pretty accurate worst-case scenario for both Canada and the US.  Whatever that shipping fee is in Canadian dollars, I then simply mark that as the shipping cost on eBay but put it up in US Dollars (assuming that the exchange rate difference will pay for materials like bubble wrap, tape, etc).

Then when it comes to shipping day, I try to be as honest as possible and treat the shipping charge as my budget.  This means that if you live closer to me than expected, I’ll upgrade the shipping method for you and get it there a bit faster (parcel versus Xpresspost).  And on the rare occasion that it costs me more than expected to ship, I’ll simply eat the cost.  At the end of the day, this method gets me pretty close to break even across all of my auctions, makes life easier for me and the buyer, and I think is a pretty fair way to do shipping on eBay.

I’m not a professional seller by any means, I use eBay like a big global garage sale to get rid of my excess “stuff”.  Of course getting some “walking around” money is always nice but it’s not about simply maximizing profit for me.  Hopefully good karma on the selling side of things will get me good karma as a buyer as well.

I got hooked on my single-serve coffee maker, especially since I work from home and need a good cup of coffee every once in awhile.  Unfortunately coffee pods are getting more and more difficult to find here in Canada as most of the retailers have pulled them off the shelves.  The old standby for us was the Folgers HomeCafe pods, which have since been discontinued in Canada.  I called P&G (who makes Folgers and is coincidentally a previous employer of mine) to check on the status and yes they are gone for good in Canada due to limited demand.  They’re sending me out a customer service pack including a few extra pods and I’m sure some other niceties (P&G customer service is excellent that way).  But as far as getting their pods in the future, I’m SOL.
So then I called Melitta, who sells the OneToOne pods that we had sometimes used even though they were slightly more expensive.  They have not discontinued the product in Canada, but most of the major retailers have stopped carrying them so they’re effectively only available by calling Melitta customer service which is a pain.
So my search for an alternative supplier began, and I came across a coffee distributer in the GTA that sells reasonably-priced and good quality coffee pods.  The name of the distributer is Play Fair Coffee and they operate a store in Brampton as well as an eBay store that will ship anywhere in Canada.  I got myself a mixed pack of the Distinctively Yours pods and have so far fallen in love with the Serengetti coffee.  They also sell Higgins & Burke pods for about a buck more per box, but I think I’ll stick with the Distinctively Yours brand for now.  Once I finish the sample pack I’ll choose my favorite and order a 100-pack which is reasonable priced at $26 online and a bit less if you pick it up at the store in Brampton.

It looks like Bob Rae’s bid to become leader of the federal Liberal party is picking up steam, with additional candidates dropping out to throw their support behind him.  I would consider myself to be more interested and aware of politics than the average person and I personally think that Bob Rae is a great choice for leader and a great person.  But I don’t think that the rest of the province of Ontario will agree.
Bob Rae was the premier of Ontario in the early nineties and had to deal with some pretty major financial challenges through a very bad recession period.  The government introduced a series of controversial policies to reduce spending, including what I remember as several unpaid days off for provincial employees.  These became known as “Rae Days” and as a highschool student I experienced these as seemingly random days off from school throughout the year.  I think that most people will associate Bob Rae not only with the socialist-leaning NDP political party but also with some pretty miserable times here in the most populous province in the country.
I’ve come to see Rae as a very smart man with great ideas and a true passion for Canada.  I’ve heard him speak on the radio, seen some great interviews with him over the years, and most recently as the chancellor of my alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University.  He is a man who I want to be heavily involved in the governing of my country.
That said, I don’t honestly believe that he can win a popular election given the history here in Ontario and as such I think it would be a bad move for the Liberal party to elect him as their leader.

Very cool for them to be moving in this direction, I think it might produce some interesting results.  The XNA Game Studio Express will allow regular deveopers and hobbyists write games that can be compiled to run on the 360.  Annual cost is $99.

Let me make my prediction now… this is the vehicle by which the XBox 360 wil lbe eventually hacked.

Here’s another unique gem that I discovered on digg, called the Lightning Doodle Project.  Have you ever lit up a sparkler at night and drawn circles in the air?  Every year around July 1, I remember doing that as a kid and had a great time (okay, I still do it).  Imagine if you recorded that and made a short animated film out of the results.  Click here to see the video.

Sean Alexander pointed out a very interesting Microsoft Labs project whereby many similar photos can be put together to form a 3D model of an area, and browse into details of an area by using a composite of the photos.  As Sean points out, this sort of research could be applied very nicely by a photo-sharing site like Flickr.
They have a demo video up that shows St Peter’s Basilica at the vatican through the eyes of hundreds of similar photos.