Category Archives: Ed

Iced Window

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We haven’t turned the heat on in the apartment yet this winter, other than for a few minutes to make sure it was working and remember which vents the heat comes out, but it has not dropped below 64 degrees in here (and only once that low, normally it has been hovering around 67). When we have gotten cold we have just put on a warmer shirt or used a light blanket while sitting on the couch. I am not sure how much, but I know this has saved us a good bit of money so far this year.

That being said, today I was sitting in bed reading a book when I heard what sounded like water dripping, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Then Princess jumped up into the window and started acting a little odd. I noticed she kept pulling her paw back and shaking it like it was wet, so I got up and went to take a look. What I saw was rather shocking:

That is Ice, and water from melting ice, on the inside of my bedroom window. Earlier in the day I had noticed frost on the inside of my kitched window, but this is actual ice build up on the lower portion of the window.  Last year in preperation for winter we had put plastic up over this window, and when we took it down in the spring I found mold on the windowsill and the paint pealing. I had no idea why this had happened, but I think I have finally figured it out.

I called the mangement office and made them aware of this situation and they told me to just chip the ice away. The woman I spoke to in the office (Kelly) said that the windows are old and tend to not be sealed all the way, she also stated that she has been trying to get corporate to replace the windows, but considering how corporat works this hasn’t been done yet.

I took the above pictures, along with a few others, as a sort of insurance plan to make sure that when the water damage on the window sill comes into question when i move it (whenever that is) I can say “Wait a minute, I pointed this out.”

Childhood Holiday Memory

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As Christmas gets nearer, and I find myself once again enjoying putting up decorations, I also find myself thinking of my younger days. This time of year my parents (mainly my Mother) would put up our Christmas tree and of course I (and my Brother Chris when he was home) would help hang the ornaments. While I don’t seem to have any vivid memories of hanging the ornaments them selves, as I sit here stairing at my Christmas tree one memory does keep coming to mind. When I was younger I used to love looking at our Christmas tree, but not in the normal stand back and glance fashion. I used to love to lay on my back with my head underneath the tree and look up into it from the inside. I don’t know why, but I used to love to do this and I remember that I would just stay there for seemed like hours, I even remember playing my Game Boy under there. Though I haven’t done this yet this year, and don’t think I will, it is a very vivid and pleasing memory from my child hood.

Mlive.com posts article about Thomson Reuters sign

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MLive.com has an article today about the sign changing on the 777 building, and can be read here: Thomson Reuters one of Washtenaw County’s largest employers.

Making our presence known

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The strong presence of Thomson Reuters is finally made known today as the iconic 777 that used to adorn the side of the building at 777 E. Eisenhower Pkwy is replaced with a Thomson Reuters logo. The building has long been a landmark in the Ann Arbor area as the large 7’s on the top of the building could be very easily seen in the serounding area. I guess people are going to have to start changing there landmark directions to “at the old 777 building…” In any event the third largest employer in the county is making its presence known.

Meeting with the Adjuster

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I met with Paul, my claim adjuster, this morning and he looked over my motorcycle. I have to say I was incredibly shocked. Apparently there is over $2000 worth of damage down the side of the motorcycle. Here is a list of what the adjuster has found and wrote up for replacement:

  • Brake master cylinder lever
    		•  $37.42
  • Handlebar
    		•  $131.60
  • Throttle grip assembly
    		•  $44.36
  • Right mirror
    		•  $48.05
  • Right front footboard
    		•  $67.20
  • Brake pedal
    		•  $26.29
  • Front Muffler
    		•  $576.95
  • Rear muffler
    		•  $576.95
  • Exhaust pipe cover, rear
    		•  $198.88
    ——————————————– ———–
  • Total Repairs:
    		•  $1707.70
  • Estimated Time: 2.7 Hours @ $72 p/h
    		•  $194.40
  • Estimated Tax @ 6%
    		•  $102.46
    ——————————————– ———–
    Total Cost of Claim: $2004.56


    Out of all that I will have to come up with $500, I guess that isn’t so bad considering the insurance will pick up the rest. All the work is slated for replacement parts and not just repair, so everything will be new. There is the possability that there might be some other damage that won’t be realized until the shop takes a look at the motorcycle, so these numbers may change. I will most likely need to borrow Chuck’s trailer so I can bring the bike to the shop at the begining of the season. Until then I will just need to wait.

    My Riding Season Ends

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    Rode the motorcycle over to Chuck’s tonight, because he is being so kind as to allow me to store it at his house this year. While there I had him take a look at, and confirm, an issue with it, as it turns out it appears that my handle bars may be bent. I am not sure how I will handle this yet, I will need to think about it. I guess I should explain… A few days back I got a call while I was at work from Melissa. She told me she had looked out the window and saw my motorcycle lying on its side, someone had knocked it over, most likely by backing into it. Some guys came along and were nice enough to pick it up for her/me and I checked it when I came home. Everything looked fine, but after riding it something felt odd. After having Chuck look at it tonight turns out I was right. I am pretty sure I have a $500 deductible on it, but I also think that to fix it will cost more than that. I guess I will have to see.

    Night Terrors

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    Tonight, for the first time I can remember, I went to a haunted house. Every year Wiard’s Orchard hosts Night Terrors, a collection of haunted houses and hayride. Tonight Melissa and I went and checked it out. It was pretty neat for the most part. Some of the attractions were pretty cool, and at least one was pretty stupid. The haunted Hay Ride was nice, and it made me realise that Wiard’s is a much bigger place than I realized. A lot of work was clearly put into all of these haunted attractions, and even though I do not scare or startle easy, it was still a lot of fun. I am not sure if I would do it again though, as it was a little on the pricey side. In any event it was a pretty fun night.

    Back from Philly, Again

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    Another DR test in Philly has come an end. This one was rather interesting for a number of reasons. First off we had never performed a DR for this particular TSM environment, so we had no documentation on how the environment should be recovered. Chuck and I pretty much had to modify some existing documents we had for our ADV environment on the fly. Things went much better than we anticipated, and even though we only had two hours to rebuild the environment, which we figured was about four hours to little, we still managed to make it pretty far into the recovery and learned a lot. Secondly, we only had two hours because we had some issues with the AIX MKSYSB tape not arriving from Ireland until Tuesday the 7th, when we needed it Monday the 6th. Due to this we actually got to take two hours on Tuesday and tour The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. It is currently undergoing restoration of the outside, but the inside was amazing. I took a lot of photos with my camera phone, and will get them up as soon as I can. I really would like to go back and do thhis tour again with my good camera and retake some pictures for a couple of reasons. One, they would be much better quality, and two I would actually be able to take more because it would focus and snap faster. I wish I had the time, connections, and opportunity to pursue joining the Masons as it is something I have thought about off and on for a long time now. Maybe sometime in the future.

    Another DR test done

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    I just got back from Philadelphia from another DR test for work. Spent three days out there this time and due to some changes made in our process I ended up having a bit of free time so Torrey, Chuck, and myself all walked down to the historic district and toured Independance Hall and saw the Liberty Bell as they had never been there before. We also stopped off and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, someplace I had never been. Having a little “free” time to walk around Philly was nice, but afterwards it was back to work and dealing with all of the problems that arose. In the end it was a long three days and we got a lot accomplished and learned that our new NIM server set up works (when we don”t have network issues at the hosted site anyway) and that I configured our hardware encryption devices correctly.  Not that I doubted that, after all I was out there in June testing just that. Now I just have to wait a few weeks before I go back for the next test.