News,
rants, verbal assaults from the past... |
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07-05
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All opinions expressed herein
are those of the author.
DECEMBER 2002 MINUTES ARCHIVE
Well
all I can say is Ho-Ho-Ho...
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I personally hope all your stockings
got stuffed. As for Christmas around the Abattoir,
I've come to learn that people love to live vicariously through others,
so I'll let you relax with the cup of hot coco (...spiked or not...)
while I spin... Isis
and myself are now engaged! *life flashes*
I know how her parents feel, so I didn't do the honourable thing and request
her Father's permission, rather, I wanted it to be a surprise to everyone.
No one had a clue I had decided to pop the question other than a couple
people (...you know who you are...) who were informed of my intension
while floating in a Dingy powered by a small electric motor, more on that
later. None of these persons were family members, because no one
person in my family can be trusted to keep a secret. The ring was
brought to my parents new place where we had our Christmas gathering and
dinner... By this point, Isis
and myself had already opened our Christmas presents from each other.
All said and done as far as presents and such where concerned, all 18 of
us headed down for Christmas chow! Prior to the huge feast before
us, I snipped a Christmas Cracker from the place setting and bolted to
a nearby bathroom where the scissors, tape and other surgical instruments
I carried with great discomfort emerged in a pre-planned and never before
attempted 'Cracker tracheotomy'... The ring was implanted beside
the sweatshop created gift in the Cracker, all of which was smuggled back
to the table none the wiser. Everyone sat to start on the soup, just
placed. Napkin first, then the Crackers... She snapped both
ends and with a non-threatening PoP!.. the ring popped out and plopped
into her soup. Not catching a glimpse of what it was, she dug for
a second uncomfortably, and pulled out a ring that looked almost too good
to be a Christmas Cracker toy from CostCo (...$19.95/doz... Nice stuph
inside, check 'em out...) I guess it took a couple seconds for
it to sink in (...and the soup to clear...) but she got the point
with nothing said and it was off around the table to hug anything that
didn't move faster than her. I think she said 'yes'.
So
that's the start of our new feature on the Abattoir,
call it the soap opera version: "What will happen to you after you Pop
The Question – The Male Perspective" Yes, live and constant updates
of TMP will be
embedded in the Minutes
for all to either learn from, laugh at, or wince... Did you know
that our wedding date was picked two days ago? *glances
at watch* That was about 8 hours after
she found a rock in her soup! I wish I could Gib that fast in Quake.
The Bride's Maid has already been shuffled, size of wedding decided, I'm
not sure what the food will be like, but I hope there's Beer. (...she's
going to either laugh, or kill me when she reads this...) Either
way, I love you Sweetheart, I'm glad you like my Mother's soup.
(...note
the clever use of flash in photo to hide the size of the cubic zirconium...
MeatMan smart, like train...)
Sorry
if I'm about to be "politically incorrect", but you couldn't possibly know
how much I'm sick of hearing "Happy Holidays" from everyone… Thus,
"Merry Christmas"! One more sleep till the fat man sings and with
the tree (…yes, a Christmas Tree, not a "Holiday Tree"…) all lit
up and good to go, we're geared-up for some Christmas cheer at the Abattoir!
We just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy
"holiday", no matter what faith you hold (…or don't hold as your case
may be…) Don't drink and drive!
That
being said and done, it's time we post the date for BTM37
(…who's theme's not been decided as yet…) We're going to take
a little Winter break from hosting and we hope too many don't go into withdraw
over this… BTM37
will be held on February 8th,
that leaves everyone loads of time to find out if they're working, can
get a drive, etc. Head to the Sign-Up
Page and get your name in!
More
inquiries about the Abattoir's
connectivity are coming in, many asking about the speed... For those
who don't have a SuperFTP Account,
you can grab a file or two from MBHD,
we've finished modifying all the links (...site was severely broken...)
and although it's not completely up-to-date, it's working! Check
it out.
We've
had several inquiries about New Years Eve as people are wondering if we're
doing our traditional hang-out at the Abattoir
deal, well… Sure!! As per usual, the Holiday season can be
taxing… Who needs all the hubbub trying to decide what to do on New
Years Eve, many make big, huge plans that either cost a small fortune,
or just end up falling through… Not at the Abattoir!
We don't make plans at all! We just get together, play some tunes,
play some games, drink some beer, then yell at 11:59:59pm till 12:00:01am.
Simple, cost efficient, fun. If you've not made plans, join us!
We'll even turn it into a mini-LAN-Party,
so drop us a note and let us know if you want to ring in the New Year at
the Abattoir,
bring your PC and we'll paint the walls with rockets.
Don't
forget, kiddies… You can track Santa's progress through the NORAD
Santa Tracking Site! Have a great Christmas everyone, we hope
your stocking gets stuffed!
Well,
it's time to let everyone know who we chose as the main connectivity supplier
of Abattoir.Net
and it's Servers… But first, MeatMan's tips on "Breaking-up
with your Cable ISP". Remember, no matter
how long you've been with them, when the service starts going downhill,
it's time to move on! You signed on with them because they were supposed
to be fast, unlimited and cost effective, now they're slow, capped to hell
and you're going to be charged more now (...if you go over your 'limit'
on their 'unlimited' service...) for the service and getting less for
your buck (…funny how people change once they think you're committed
to them…) Be stern and strong, they may cry a little, they may
start making promises you know they can't keep, they may even deny fact
when confronted but you're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Such was the case with Cgocable after the switch-over was done and the
call had to be made. "Thank-you for called Cgocable, how may I help
you?" she said… "I'm calling to cancel my Internet service with you."
I replied. "Oh dear! May I ask why you want to cancel?" she
said in a concerned manner, "Do you really want to know, or are you just
reading off a cue-card?" I retorted. The reasons were laid out in
a cold, point-for-point fashion, then the argument and denial started…
Knowing she wasn't going to charm me back, my call was shuttled off to
the Supervisor. She read off the same cue card, "Is there a particular
reason you wish to cancel?", "No…" I said, "…there's many reasons.
You're not unlimited anymore and the amount you'll be charging for bandwidth
overage is border-line extortion, besides that, after reading your EULA
I've determined that any activity on the Internet with your connection
other than surfing web pages is a violation of your EULA. Your service
has become useless to me by your own design so I'm upgrading to ADSL."
There was a couple seconds of silence, then she said "we do not charge
for overage, where did you hear that?". I said "You don't charge
now becuase you've not been able to inforce it, but you will be.", again
she said "We're not charging anything for overage." I then told her
I'm well aware of the difference between an "introductory interest rate"
on a credit card and what you'll be charged later after you've been "introduced".
"You're not charging now, but you will be, and more people than you think
know it, as such, you'll find more people canceling with you…" Suffice
to say, the conversation ended in a very "I told you so" manner.
I headed off to Cgocable to return my modem. While at the desk, a
gentleman was just picking up his modem after signing-up with them moments
before I got there. The woman at the Customer Service desk asks "Can
I help you?", "Yes… I'm here to return my cable modem and cancel
my Internet service with you.", "Oh dear! Is there a reason you're
canceling?" I turned my head and looked at the guy standing two feet
away from me with his shinny new modem under his arm, then glanced back
at her and spewed the whole story a third time. I don't think I left
a good impression on the dude standing there as he learned a lot more about
the box under his arm than Cgocable came up front with… He was still
there when I left.
Regardless
of all that, we've dumped cable like so much tofu as promised and moved
on, it was painless, Folks (…and it even felt good for some odd reason…).
So, who's our new provider? After doing a little looking around on
CanadianISP.com,
a site that allows you to choose your Province and area, then lists every
ISP that services your area, we started calling… I had in mind what
I wanted, and rather than pick a "package", I let each selected provider
know my demands and let them throw their price back at me. The most
expensive quote provided was over $200.00/mo, while the lower priced scale
offered MORE than the highest bidder did… It just goes to show you,
shop around, I got to a point where three providers were fighting over
me… It also goes to show you there's a lot of hungry providers out
there will to fight for your business, a nice change. It doesn't
take a lot of effort to check them all out and you'll end up getting a
deal that works best for you. We chose Net@ccess
in Hamilton for our connection, and so far, it's been nothing shy of an
incredible pleasure to deal with them! Get this, they even answer
the phone when you call! (…No, it's true!..) Here's
the goodies list, compare if you dare to what your "cable company" is offering
you:
Net@ccess
|
Cgocable
|
3488
Kb/sec down |
2000 Kb/sec
down |
800
Kb/sec up |
384 Kb/sec
up |
Allows
all Servers |
None! (see
the EULA) |
No caps
or limits whatsoever
(give and
take all you like) |
5Gig/up x
10Gig/down. $8 Gig
(combined
up/down thereafter) |
Customer
service answers the phone |
Customer service
will answer, eventually. |
Now
compare your cable bill
As
many of you regular BTM'ers
may know, Tim (AKRIA)
Marshall works for Net@ccess
and we would like to take the opportunity to thank him, along with Wendy
in Sales and everyone else at Net@ccess
for the totally painless, fast and flawless switchover they orchestrated,
I'm now connected rock-solid to a network that doesn't make me feel like
I'm sitting on a Taxi Meter every time I use my computer. The speed's
unreal and you'll get a taste of it at this weekend's BTM…
The Folks at Net@ccess
are ready to take your calls now and would be delighted to take care of
your connectivity needs (…operators are standing by…) so why not
check them out right now and discover the great flavour of consumer choice
that's out there… Tell them the Abattoir
sent you!
With
the BTM right
around corner, we've still got a couple spots open from cancellations,
so if you didn't think you could get in, think again! Come on out
and enjoy the December BTM!
Additional breakers have been added to LAN
Central to accommodate our MiniArcade's
additional load and kill-off that pesky "Blackout Alley" area. Time
to go check "the twist" and make sure everything's good to go!
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