My Wet Coast Life

It is New Year's eve and a chilly -5^oC outside. Just as cold as the service I am getting currently from Microsoft's Xbox Live customer service. Does Microsoft even value its inconvenienced customers? So far, it appears NO. Tomorrow will be 1 week since getting a Xbox Live Gold 12 month prepaid card on Christmas and not being able to use it. I called Xbox Live's customer support on Boxing Day and based on my issue with the card's code being invalid even though it showed on there side as unused and available for redemption, it required an investigation. WTF? Did they offer a temporary gold account or anything for this inconvenience while they investigated? No. Even when asked if anything can be done as temp solution, they only offered workarounds on their own system, which anyone could find on the net by googling... If I wanted to do that, why would I have called?

So based on my conversation with the specialist (at what, I don't know as surely he wasn't specialized in customer service or fixing anything right away), I had to wait up to 5 days for them to complete the investigation. 5 days and no guarantee of resultion? Plus I have to call back if YOU have not contacted me in those 5 days? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

So I bit my tongue trying to be civil over the holidays but annoyed that I have to wait. Luckily we got a bit of an unexpected snow dump the other day. Perfect time to put the harness on the dog, my son in his sled and go for a run. Not sure who had more fun, my son or my dog but both of them enjoyed it and made every other kid we went by envious. Maybe they can ask Santa next year for their own sled dog? Sadly the batteries were dead on my small camera so no footage but will get some next snow event. Based on my prediction, if I am right, should be February for next big dump. But we could always get a small one like the other day and that was enough for sledding action.

Yesterday, I checked my email and still no response from Microsoft and still no call either. I decided to go to a site and while typing the URL, the xbox.com URL showed up so I decided to check Xbox Live online to see if my account had changed or if there was a message or update. I logged in and alas, no gold account. So for shits and giggles, I decided to enter the code again. What harm can it do? They have not responded to me, I want to use Live Gold and I am not looking forward to having to hold again through the barrage of Kinect messages and terribad menu sound effects. It is a phone system, not a game. Why should I waste more of my time inquiring why their product which only they can fix is still not working. If my update call prompted the tech working on my incident to be zapped with a cattle prod to work faster, maybe I would consider the call but so far, they appear to be moving slower than a herd of turtles in peanut butter. Damn Skippy slow.

So I pull out the card that has cost me over an hour of my time entering over and over again. Hopefully this would be the last time, for at least 1 year until I go through this again. As I punch in the last digits and scan all the characters to make sure "they are exactly as they appear on the card", my son comes up to me and distracts me with one word, "Lego?". Assuming my code is going to tell me it is still invalid I say sure to my son's request. As I am about close the lid to the laptop, I decide to move my mouse down to the submit button and click it...

Processing...

Processing......

Processing..........hmmm, this is taking a bit longer than before to error, maybe, just maybe it is going to work?

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It is the day after Christmas and all the shoppers are out in force grabbing up deals. As for me, I got what I asked for and had a good Christmas day with family and friends.

Now one of the things I asked for this year was a Xbox Live Gold membership. The main reason for me was to be able to use Netflix in HD on my TV. Unlike Nintendo's Wii or Sony's Playstation 3 which allow you to access online gaming and Netflix for FREE, Microsoft needs to milk as much money out of the consumer as possible. This is one of my biggest issue with the Xbox 360 that grinds my gears, having to pay on top of a game's cost play online or use services like Netflix. If you want to either play online multiplayer or use Netflix, you need to spend $60/year for a Xbox Live Gold account to access that content. I can understand for online gaming as that covers server and bandwidth costs. But to be required to use already paid for services like Netflix is just absurd in my opinion. I am already paying Netflix, now Microsoft wants to charge me a toll to access it (but nothing to watch trailers and download demos on Mircosoft's Zune..hmmm).

I got Netflix a couple months ago when it came to Canada and just happened around the same time to setup my 360 for internet access (which Microsoft gave me a free 1 month trial for Gold). Using Netflix on the 360 was great until my Gold trial expired and I lost access to Netflix. I found out the hard way by not being able to access Netflix on the 360 but I could on the Wii. WTF? After checking Xbox.com and Netflix, there it was, Gold account required. Fine Microsoft,I will use my Wii as only loss is HD content and my current TV was only a 480p CRT. As a note, when I added Netflix to my 360, I was not aware you needed a Gold membership to access as was already accessing for free via our Wii and was currently in a 1 month Gold trial.

Now from a marketing point of view, why would someone want to buy a console, only to have to pay more to use features when the competing consoles do the same or very similar for free? Wouldn't it draw more users to buy a 360 knowing they could use Netflix for free and not require a Gold membership? Just seems baffling logic to me. Especially as more games are now released on both 360 and PS3 where before, certain games were available only to certain consoles. This was my main reason for buying a 360 over a PS3. Games I like to play tend to be 360 only and I was willing to lose a built in Blueray player and go with Microsoft's product to be able to play them.

My TV recently died and got replaced with a HD model. So for Christmas, I asked for a Gold membership so I can access Netflix in HD as the Wii can only output a 480p resolution. This was fine when the old TV only supported max 480p but now that I can do 1080p, I wanted Netflix in HD. My brother kindly got me a 12 month Gold subscription prepaid card for Christmas. Stoked to be able to watch Netflix in HD again, I logged into my 360 console to redeem the code like a little kid excited to test out the new toy. This kid was about to get what no one wants on Christmas, an issue with the gift with a side of terribad customer service...

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After a sleepless night on the wet coast with 80-100mm of rain falling on us overnight, and some areas getting even more, the wet coast's weather is in full effect. Sunny skies are not predicted until the 20th, sadly 12 days from now. This is definitely the season where you don't tan, you rust.

As the rain beats against the window, I really cannot complain that much compared to the poor folks in southern Ontario. I'll take rain over snow any day. Over the last couple days, they have been buried with snow with some areas reaching over 140+CM of snow! Environment Canada said some areas of London, Ontario saw up to 80 centimeters of snow on Monday. Another 20 to 30CM was projected to fall yesterday and another 10CM is expected today. To give you an idea of how much snow that is for that area, London only received a total of 108 centimeters of snow between December 2009 and March 2010. That's almost a year's worth of snow in a couple days! Keep in mind, places north of London got even more snow. Plus we are not technically even in winter yet and most likely this is a sample of what is to come.

Looking back to my weather prediction for the west coast that I posted at the beginning of October. It has been over 2 months since that post and with last nights heavy rain fall, I decided to see how my prediction is going so far if if I am on track or way off. If you didn't read or or need a refresher, the TL;DR, aka short and sweet of it, is:

"Based on what I have found, I would more or less sum it up to wetter than normal conditions with some snow around mid-December and again in February so my rain gear will get the workout and my snow gear will come out just enough to still feel loved. Snow tires, shovel and salt will still be needed but sump pumps and ensuring your gutters are clear may be of more importance."

So far, it has for the most part been correct. We have had a couple minor snowfalls on the coast (causing havoc here of course) and some not just cold, but damn skippy cold days for our area. Day time highs weren't getting above -5^oC and throw in the windchill, it was getting down to -15^oC or even colder range. Wouldn't be bad if it was dry cold like out East but wet coast cold weather tends to have moisture included, which goes through any clothes you are wearing, no matter how many layers. It sucks. My dog at least likes the snow but he also doesn't have to drive in it. Other than that, it has been a typical wet and overcast fall for the coast. Definitely a good time to consider taking some Vitamin D, aka the sunshine vitamin. Hmmm...I'm sensing a slight sidetrack off topic and why not? Maybe you can learn something? So let me ask you, why should we take Vitamin D supplements in the fall and winter? Well, I'm glad you asked (even if you didn't).

Vitamin D is produced naturally in the body through exposure to that big glowing orb in the sky's ultraviolet rays. Living North of 49⁰, we tend to get a lot less sun in the winter months. Some areas farther North barely get any sun (but make up for it with the Aurora Borealis). Recent studies have shown Vitamin D can strengthen your bones, thwart different forms of cancer, stave off multiple sclerosis and autoimmune disorders and fight infections. I think that deserves a winner, winner, chicken dinner. The Canadian Cancer Society said that based on current research, adults should consider increasing their daily dosage of vitamin D to 1,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D daily during the fall and winter months. And of course, in consultation with a health-care provider before you start taking it. Safety first people.

And now that we may have learned something, let's get back to my winter prediction. I decided to check the 14 day trend for Vancouver on TheWeatherNetwork.com's site and see if any of the fluffy white stuff is planned for the middle of December. Well, as of this post, we have snow predicted from the 16th through to the 19th. How much we will get, based on the below image, will depend on temperature. It looks like it will be hovering just around freezing mark so that could easily switch to rain or sleet for lower areas. But if it does drop, we could get a decent snowfall. We will just have to wait and see and make sure we are prepared for a couple possible days of snow right before Christmas. Now if the coast will get a white Christmas, we'll need to wait a couple more days before the long term predictions come in and even then, weather is known for changing to both better and worse conditions.

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It's Monday and the alarm clock shows 5:58AM. Brain has now woken up. Something is different though but I cannot quite put my finger on it. As I kick off this day making a pot of hot liquid wake up juice, my son walks into the kitchen. "Daddy, I'm hungry" he says. Go figure, his appetite is a mini version of mine and hungry every 30 minutes or so. As I gave him his breakfast, he asks me "Are you going to work today?" I paused for a second to think about it. The last weeks' events flash through my mind like a T.V. flashback, I realized I do have a job when for the last week I thought otherwise. It may not be a full time job working at a someone's company but instead for this job, I work for myself and have been working this self employed job for over a decade. I replied "Yup, heading there right now. Enjoy your breakfast" as I walked down the stairs to my computer with a new sense of meaning.

As I sat down in front of my computer, surrounded by the dull blue glow of LEDs, I hit play on WinAmp and the first song queued up was Dub FX's Made. How fitting. Even though the lyrics pertain more to a musical artist making it, they ring true for me in their own way and is fitting for this day.

"I ain't gonna spend my time wandering why i never made it / I’ve already made it / I ain't gonna spend my days thinking about why i never made it." (full lyrics to Made)

And his street performance of Made:

Dub FX is a talented street performer/musician from Australia. He performs with a sound board looping beats and effects using pedals combined with his voice. Similar to beat boxing but not the same, it is sometimes referred to as dubstep. I found out about Dub FX a couple months back when I saw his "Love Someone" street performance on YouTube. After that I was hooked on his style. His music has good flow, lyrics and beats and makes it frequently on my daily play list. You can check out the rest of his music on his site, www.dubfx.bandcamp.com

Now getting back to the task at hand, I find it funny that it took a 3 year old's innocent question to make me see the light (and it wasn't a train) and change my attitude. But yet again, he is a smart little cookie. As I went down the stairs, I could hear him quietly say "okay, but I wanted to play Lego with you instead". I guess he had an alternate motive to asking me if I was going to work but nevertheless it worked for me. Maybe he's gotten used to me being home for most of last week and assisting him at pursuing his Lego Master Builder designation and assumed this week was a continuation. Which technically it could be.

With this new found freedom and motivation, I still plan to seek full time employment but I also plan to kick my side endeavors into high gear. Currently, I have some extra time so why not put it to good use? Today I succeeded in moving that much closer to achieving that freedom with accepting the point of view I was for so long denying and publishing my website, DrewScottDesigns.com.

The fact I do not have a full time employer is no longer seen as detrimental to my mind and is dependent on point of view. I am employed full time and the employer is me. This means I can increase the side business I have been doing for years and further increase my client base. My son is old enough now that I am willing to devote more time to building that business. All last week, my friends showed me an unexpected amount of support and encouragement. One friend even posted a message along the lines that I am now liberated and "they may take your "employment" but they will never take your FREEDOM." Now it may sound a bit cheesy but yet again, this has helped me realize I am now free to do what I want and go in the direction I choose. I am my own boss.

Over the next coming weeks, I expect a lot of change and hopefully it will all be for the better. One door may have closed but many more just opened up at the same time. A video I saw over a month ago now comes into play even more for me now. Steven Johnson explains where good ideas come from. Watch it, it may be the motivation for you to go out and act on that hunch or idea you've had but been too fearful to act on. I know I am now acting on mine.

Tick, tick, tick...I open my eyes. As they come into focus, the alarm clock glows a LED numbers at me, 4:28AM. Tick, tick, tick....what the hell was ticking?? As my brain starts to boot up, possibilities of what it is are quickly eliminated until it clicks. I forgot to leave my Swatch Irony watch outside my room. Crap. This watch I have had since it was released in the early '90's and it has one of the loudest movements of any of my watches. You can hear it a room away if it is quiet. I usually leave it in our kitchen or bathroom due to the loud ticking's disruptive nature on sleep. In a quiet room, it can start driving you nuts with the tick, tick, tick to the point it feels like time itself is slowing down. On top of that, there is no real way to silence it. The problem with the watch is Swatch decided to encase the movement completely in stainless steel so the only servicing that can be done is to change the battery or polish the plastic-like crystal to smooth out any scratches. Waking up early to this ticking did not help my internal clock as it now clicked in my brain I was awake so I should get up. D'oh!

With nothing really exciting happening so far this weekend such as saving the universe from alien invaders or winning the lottery. I feel like some random topics with some useful and useless knowledge thrown in. This way you can say you've learned something new this weekend based on the mundane stuff that did happen so far to me indirectly educating you by reading this article. Hopefully you do learn something, no matter how trivial it may be. Also, because it is the weekend, I've also decided to combine the 2 days worth of posts into 1. Why would I do that? I was caught up making a Lego 4X4 house that can be driven around. It was awesome.

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