News, rants, verbal assaults from the past...
07-05 
All opinions expressed herein are those of the author.
DECEMBER 2002 MINUTES ARCHIVE
11:01pm Fri Dec 27, 2002 
Ohh!  Ahhh! (...Hey, can't see it!...)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...)
 

12:00pm Tue Dec 24, 2002 
Ho-ho-ho!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!
 

12:00pm Thu Dec 05, 2002 
Good bye to caps and limits...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.

Hello connectivity!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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