Kobo in Review

Posted on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 by

I like to read.  I don’t read a book a week, but maybe a book or two a month.

I recently purchased the Kobo Touch eReader at Indigo.  I bought the silver coloured one with a Kobo eReader leather sleeve made by Roots to protect it.  Unfortunately it seems to get just as dirty in the protective sleeve due to the leather colour transferring through the lining.  Now the textured back of my Kobo Touch is somewhat stained.

As far as functionality, I love the Kobo Touch.  My battery may not be lasting as long as advertised though.  My books are said to be about 400-500 pages and the Kobo needs charging at that time.  Overall I’m happy with my purchase.  One thing I like is you can borrow books from your library online and read them on Kobo Touch.

As for purchasing Kobo books online I find it okay and prices are competitive enough, but I do have one serious complaint.

Kobo refuses to budge on their “all sales are final” motto.  Okay I get it.  By law they don’t have to do anything for you if there is a dispute.  And you know what, they don’t.

My complaint is that Kobo changes the regular price of books on a whim and then won’t refund the difference to their valued customers.  For example:

I purchased, through Kobo,a novel by Richard Castle that has only just been released last month.  I bought it on September 22, 2011.  I paid $10.49 or there about (came to $11.85 with tax).  Just last week, on October 6, 2011 I found that the same novel has a new regular price of $9.29 plus tax.  This is not a “special” or a “sale”.  This is the new regular price on a book that was just released.  After contacting Kobo with my complaint they said:

We do apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately all sales are final on purchases, however when you log onto the web site, you can click on to My Account click” yes please” for special offers, discounts and promotions. In the future you will receive an email in advance informing you of our discounted prices. We do appreciate your loyalty and hope to continue having you as one of our valued customers.

Now I know they’re not obliged by law to provide a refund of the difference, but in all honesty any other company I deal with would have happily refunded the difference.  Again, this was a change in the regular price, not a sale that I would have been notified about.  I do subscribe to sales and promotions but I wasn’t told about this price change, nor would they ever tell me.  Shame on you Kobo.  You remind me of buying fuel for my car… never know when the price will change.

Update Nov. 14, 2011:  Kobo now is selling Heat Rises for $17.99!!!

 

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Hot Water Regulations in Ontario

Posted on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 by

As you may know we purchased a new build home in Barrhaven built by Mattamy Homes in Half Moon Bay.  We are happy with our home now that everything has been fixed properly.  Thanks Mattamy.

One thing I didn’t know at the time was the Government has a law that states:

…the maximum water temperature at a household faucet is 49 C.

How this regulating is done is the craziest thing I’ve seen in a while.  By Law you have to have a “anti-scald” mixing valve installed after your hot water tank before it gets to your kitchen or bathrooms.  What this does is inject cold water into your hot water line cooling it to 50 deg Celsius.  No matter how high you set your hot water tank, the water is cooled.  What does this mean?  It means you are heating your water higher than 50 deg Celsius and the government is cooling it for you.  This is a total waist of energy in my opinion.  I heat with gas so the gas I use to heat my water is wasted because the government is cooling my hot water with cold water before I can make use of this hot water.  The irony is I also have to pay for the added cold water to cool my hot water.

I didn’t understand why they do it this way.  Why not, if you must control our hot water, adjust the water tank so it can’t heat higher than 50 deg C?  Then we wouldn’t be wasting energy overheating our water.  The answer to that is that Water stored below 50 C increases the possibility that Legionella bacteria will thrive in the tank. In a study done for Hydro Quebec, an estimated 100 people annually were hospitalized for pneumonia-like symptoms caused by contaminated hot-water heaters.

I don’t like this idea of controlling my hot water needs in the first place.  I see too that I’m not alone.  See article here.  I then have to have my dishwasher heat the hot water more in order to clean my dishes.  I have to take showers with mostly hot water and we run out after three showers and there are four of us in the house.  Good thing we don’t have three children…

This is all about government controlling things they don’t need to control and it’s done way too much.  Next they’ll be telling Starbucks they can’t serve coffee hotter than 50 deg Celsius so people that are stupid won’t burn themselves.  (see McDonald’s Coffee Lawsuit).

Okay, so the government will defend itself by saying they are doing this to protect the public from scalding themselves in hot water.  Personally, I think that’s my job as a parent to keep my children safe.  If need be, I can adjust the hot water tank so the water coming out is safe for children.  But when my children are grown up I can set it higher.  Now I don’t have this choice.  It’s been taken away from me by the city.

If the government is so concerned about our safety, then why are repeat offenders for Drunk Driving still driving?  Seriously folks, if the government is so damned concerned they should put these repeat offenders in jail and revoke their driving license permanently.  See article on 11th conviction for drunk driving here.

Frankly I feel that there are copious number of things that can be done in the name of public safety that are far more important than policing my hot water tank.  Taking bad drivers and dangerous drivers off the road will save lives and most likely reduce my car insurance premiums too.

Think about it Ontario, are there better ways of keeping your citizens safe?

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Al Gore’s Green Nazi Movement Have Lost The Global Warming War!

Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2011 by

Marc Morano, who runs the climate website ClimateDepot.com for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, talks with Alex about Al Gore losing it and cursing out skeptics of the climate scam at the globalist Aspen Institute in Colorado earlier this month.

Chief Gore’ is not a happy man. He lost Tipper…he spent $300 million to convince us of a global warming Armageddon…But all he got was falling support’

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Custom Made Shirts – Neumodo vs Spier & MacKay

Posted on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 by

Over the past year or so I have complained about the fact that there are no good clothing stores left in Canada.  The reason I stated this is because all our stores now carry exclusively clothing made overseas in countries like China, India, Bangladesh, Korea and so on.  Most of them are poorly and cheaply made, they don’t fit, hang or wear well.  I used to and still do shop at Eddie Bauer for my clothing as they had good quality at higher prices but they fit, hung and wore better too.  When you calculate the number of wearings in the price it was more economical.  But today they have fallen into the same trap as all the rest.

So I’ve taken to ordering some shirts online that profess to be the end all of dress shirts (casual too) for men.

I tried first a shop that seemed too good to be true.  I found them on Groupon.  Neumodo personalized fashion store.  I purchase my Groupon (which by the way they failed to honour fully) and placed my order.  Well it wasn’t so simple.  First their website failed to accept my Groupon.  After many failed attempts over a month or so I ordered over the phone.  I did not ever receive my $20 coupon for my second purchase.

After waiting the prescribed three to four weeks I left a message on their online message thingy.  They didn’t respond.  I went to their Facebook page and left a note and they finally contacted me.  After 2 months my one shirt arrived.  I must admit, the quality is second to none.  But the service is non existent.  The packaging was a plastic bag.  Not something I would ship a $100 custom dress shirt in.  Shipping was free over $100, not 100, but over 100 so I added a monogram for $5.

I was told that they were sorry about the delay and had worked out all the kinks.  So I gave them a second chance.  I ordered 2 shirts this time on May 18, 2011.  I put the year in because it could be relevant when and if I actually do receive this order.  Today is July 5, 2011 and still nothing.  I’ve emailed and they replied saying it was now in Canada but due to the postal strike it would be delayed.  Well… the postal strike was over a week ago.  All my other online orders arrived within four days of the strike ending.

Now the next company I found again professed to have great quality shirts for men.  So I took another try, even though I still hadn’t received anything from Neumodo.

I placed an order with Spier & MacKay fine shirtmakers.  I ordered 2 shirts, both casual wear.  I received these three days after the postal strike was over in a box not a plastic bag.  Shipping was free too by the way even under $100. Oh and also FREE returns if you’re not happy.

The quality was splendid as well and the service made me feel somewhat special.  They actually contacted me and said that one of the shirts that I bought was on sale and the last one.  Unfortunately it had a flaw so they offered to let me change my order before shipping them.  I am very happy with this purchase and will most likely be placing another order in the future.

The winner by unanimous decision … Spier & MacKay for high quality and excellent service.  5 Stars.

UPDATE:

I received my shirts from Neumodo last week (July 11th or so).  They are nice shirts, but the hassle isn’t worth it and frankly being told three weeks and then waiting 8 weeks is just rude, not once but twice.

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Water Ban in Barrhaven = Rain Barrel Sales.

Posted on Sunday, May 29, 2011 by

Due to the outdoor water ban that is to run possibly to the end of July 2011, many folks have opted to get rain barrels to water the flowers, grass and maybe wash cars.

I bought a couple of rain barrels at Costco online.

Actually I bought 4 rain barrels as I am returning the first two due to several problems I find unacceptable.

The first barrels are woodgrain rain barrels with stands.  These barrels look nice, they are low profile (flat back) so they take up less space and fit flush against the house.  The also have a stand to raise up your rain barrel.  Sells for $179.99 at Costco.

The problems with this barrel are:

  • plastic tap (not the one shown either) that leaks no matter how much plumbers tape I put on it.
  • can not sit in direct sunlight or it bulges and pushes itself away from the wall crushing your siding and the stand collapses.  Made for shaded areas only.

So I purchased two more rain barrels.  These are the Urn style rain barrel with planter.  They seem more sturdy and the hose or spout is already attached so less chance it will leak.  It comes with the hose so you can direct water flow better.  The only thing I had to do was buy some cinder blocks and a patio tile to raise it up on.  This model sells for $99.99 at Costco ($20 less than the competitors)

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