Work in Progress

So it’s the tail end of Week 9 of my renovations.  I guess the time really does go by quickly.  Overall, I’d say it’s gone rather smoothly.  No major issues with the people I’m dealing it.  And by major, I mean they’re not doing things wrong.  However I’m still unhappy about other issues.

Dealing with my contractor is rather easy going.  I’d say he’s on the more expensive side, but I do know that things will be done correctly.  Some things though weren’t done exactly the way I want.  Sometimes I argue my point and then he’ll do it the way I want it done, other times he’ll argue his point and I’ll just give up and let him do it his way.  The biggest issue as of late is probably the bath tub.

To replace my tub wasn’t too big a deal.  But he had to special order a tub that would fit the space which went over budget by around $250.  That’s a $500+ tub, way too much to really be spending on a simple tub.  But whatever, to get a tub that’d fit, I guess I had to pay up.  However, the tub he ordered turned out to have incorrect dimensions, so he had to hunt for another tub.  This new tub for whatever reason was delayed by quite a while.  So he ended up doing all the drywall and paint for the bathroom.  Today he called me up to tell me that he needs a second person to help him get the tub into its spot because if he were to do it himself, he’d end up damaging the drywall.

The thing that bothers me is that that’s not my problem.  He should have foreseen that issue and it should be up to him to find a buddy to help him out instead of asking me to find someone to help him.  He told me that if he were to hire someone, I’d have to pay for it.  Again, should not be my problem.  Prior to starting the project he said that if knock on work were to come up (I guess to an extent), but he didn’t consider it when providing the estimate, then he wouldn’t charge me.  I think this such situation is a perfect example of that.  I brought it up with him and he explained that it was only for work provided by himself and not if he has to hire a sub.  But he doesn’t need to hire a sub, he should find a buddy to help him out.

It bothers me a lot because I don’t really stand up for what I think is right.  I don’t really know how to do that effectively, nor do I want to piss anyone off.  So I kind of just grit my teeth and pay the money.  It’s costing me a lot too.  I had an accountant do my personal taxes, this guy was recommended to me by my parents’ friends.  I failed to do much research on how much an accountant charges and ended up paying the guy $600.  Re-fucking-diculous.  I knew it didn’t sound right, but I didn’t argue with him.  I really should have.

So aside from dwelling on this, I have no idea how to work up the courage to tell my contractor that I don’t think he’s right and make him deal with it without charging me extra.  I even got the guy a Keg gift card just for doing good work so far.  I regret that decision now since he lacks a little bit of common sense when it comes to ownership of a problem.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments » April 2009

Renovations OMG

I am three weeks into my renovation project, and as expected, I am stressing out about everything.  You can follow the progress on my Flickr account.

I hate looking at reviews for appliances…  It seems it’s all negative reviews and very few positive reviews making it difficult to know which brands/models are the most trustworthy.  I found a site called My 3 Cents and out of all the comments I’d read on there for different brands (Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Maytag, Bosch, Kitchenaid), I only saw ONE positive review.  It seems like all of these brands (granted that Whirlpool, Maytag and Kitchenaid are all the same, and then Frigidaire and Electrolux are the same) suffer from bad customer service and faulty machines.  This worries me since appliances are big bucks. 

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales No Comments » March 2009

Grumpy Old Men Confuse Me

Yesterday my boyfriend brought me to Patisserie Lebeau for brunch. It was packed in there. We put our order through and received one of our waffles then scrounged around for a seat. At the end of the little cafe, there was a wall table with a spare stool on one end of it. So I grabbed that temporarily while we waited for the second waffle. On the other side was an old man (I think in his 60s) sitting with a woman (I’m guessing his daughter maybe).

I had my dSLR out with me since it was decent day and I enjoy taking photos of food. So I went to snap a photo of the waffle. After I did, the old man said to me something along the lines of, “Why are you taking pictures of your food?” Which really took me by surprise, because in the past few years of taking pictures in restaurants, no one has ever asked me about it, and also, he actually sounded annoyed. So I answered kind of quietly and in a confused tone, “I guess I like photos of food.” He then proceeded to say to the woman, “That’s so inconsiderate! Taking photos of her food like that!”

I was totally confused and quite angry that he would call me inconsiderate. I could understand maybe if it was a nice, fancy restaurant that taking a photo with a giant dSLR might be a bit rude… But this was a small, casual cafe that was packed with people wandering around. I wasn’t bumping into anyone with the camera since we were off to the side. Nor was I taking photos of his food, I was taking photos of my own single waffle. If I was taking a photo of my boyfriend instead, would that still have offended him? And almost every restaurant I go to, I see other people taking photos of their food (although usually with a point and shoot) so I would think that people would be becoming accustomed to seeing it happen.

So for the life of me, I just couldn’t understand why he would call me inconsiderate for doing that. I really wanted to ask him and be confrontational about it, but I’m a fairly quiet person and I knew that arguing with him would’ve gone no where. However, I am still annoyed by the situation and I wish I could somehow forget it because it left a bad taste for me throughout the day.

/end rant.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales 3 Comments » February 2009

Food Reviews Moved!

So I don’t bore people who want to read about food with my random rants.  Go here:  http://30secondfoodreviews.blogspot.com/

If anyone knows how I can chang the widths of the Blogger layout, let me know… Haha.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: 30-Second Food Reviews No Comments » January 2009

Vancouver + Snow = Very Bad

It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I have plenty to rant about. 

Vancouver received the most snow it has seen in decades during the month of December.  So much snow, the city didn’t know what to do other than push it off to the side and hope for the best.  Bad conditions and bad drivers is obviously a bad combination.  I stayed indoors for most of my two weeks off of work.  But when I did venture outside, oh, the idiocy I saw.

Cars parking in the middle of lanes because snow wasn’t plowed properly.  Drivers not yielding to oncoming traffic so you’d have to squeak by slowly.  My boyfriend’s street became a single lane and I was caught on it once with a car coming towards me.  I had to back up almost the entire length of it with the guy right on my bumper to boot.  This leads me to the main rant of my boyfriend’s landladies and/or neighbours.

Now, obviously if you’ve shoveled your street to clear a spot to park your car, you wouldn’t want anyone to take it.  So you put a bucket to reserve your spot.  My boyfriend’s roommate’s girlfriend has been parking in the back driveway of the house, a spot where I’ve always avoided because the landladies have yelled at people visiting for parking there (like one of our friend’s father).  I guess she’s been able to park there ’cause she’s been able to make it up the alley despite the snow, while the landladies I guess haven’t been able to, so they’ve moved to parking on the street in front of their house.

The couple of times that I saw their car parked there, there was plenty of space for a second car, however they parked right in the centre of it all.  So the few times I’ve dropped by, I’ve parked around the corner in spots where I hadn’t really seen cars in very often.  No one’s complained.  However, tonight, I decided to try my luck and park in front of their house.  Though really I was in between two houses.

I drove down the street first to see how the spots were.  There was space for two cars.  However, there was a single bucket in that space.  It was perfectly in the centre, dividing the space into two perfect parking spots.  I drove to the end of the street and did a u-turn.  But at the intersection I noticed another car doing a u-turn as well.  I wasn’t sure whose car it was, but I think it was the landladies’ because while I was parking, they slowed down next to me and I assumed stared at me, but I didn’t bother looking at them.  I parked behind their bucket.  So there was a space large enough for a special bus (oh yeah, the landladies are TERRIBLE drivers).

I got into the house and talked to the boyfriend to get him to check for me if it’d be okay to park there.  And by check, I mean, scout the street and see if the next door neighbours would care.  He went out there and said that I left plenty of space, and that one of the neighbour’s cars was gone so they were probably out anyway.

Three hours later, I take my leave, and for the second time parking in that spot, someone’s left a note on my windshield.  The first time, it was from the neighbours.  Which was fine.  Except that it was one of the few times I also had used that spot becauase I try to park further up normally of course.  But this time, I couldn’t tell if it was from the neighbours or the landladies, though I’m leaning more towards the landladies.

It was written on a computer and it stated how the street is for residents only and that because of all the snow accumulated, I shouldn’t park there.  The landladies’ car had returned and was parked in front of the bucket, meanwhile two of the neighbours’ cars were gone and with buckets in place.  My boyfriend said that normally the neighbours put out their buckets, but the spot I was in only had the single bucket, which would indicate shoddy parking-spot-saving.

In the end, there’s nothing I can do obviously.  I wanted to leave a note for them (if I knew for sure that it was the landladies) pointing out the fact that enough snow had cleared to allow for more cars to park now, and that leaving a single bucket in space that a full-sized bus would fit in for their single car was stupid.  The City of Burnaby’s website also lacks information, so I can’t argue the residential-only parking side of the argument.  Though I’ve been parking on that street for the last seven years, so I think it’s quite okay.

I really wouldn’t care much if it was the neighbours, I really don’t want to inconvenience them.  But the landladies have it out for my boyfriend despite the fact that a lot of the “trouble” they think he’s done, his roommate has actually done.  So it’s just a matter of fairness.  I hope karma kicks in and when he moves out, they get shitty tenants.

Well, there you have it.  My first rant of the new year. 

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales No Comments » January 2009

I <3 Wedding Photos

After four months, I finally finished editing Eric and Yuki’s wedding photos.  I posted up my favourites onto my Flickr.  I still need to learn to work my flash properly too. 

http://flickr.com/photos/ilovelamp/sets/72157611541422706/

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Artsy Fartsy 1 Comment » December 2008

Blizzard Cinematics

Blizzard has come a long way, much like Pixar. They both focus on the story first and foremost in order to produce a great game or film. The suits leave them alone to do what they do best: Entertain.

Tonight, two directors from the Blizzard Cinematics team did a talk at our local Siggraph chapter. The talk overall didn’t provide any new information really. They run things much like an effects or feature animation studio would be run. So a lot of the presentation would be similar to what you’d find in the extras of a DVD, but probably slightly more in depth. In the end though, you’d come out in utter awe and respect. I had the same feeling after watching The Pixar Story (if you can find it, it’s definitely worth a watch).

I’m not super happy at work these days. Not because of the people I work with, they’re awesome. But because I’m bored with what I’m doing, I need a change. Even if it was just for one year, to refresh and improve my skills. Unfortunately, my stint on a new project was cut short with some re-shuffling. I’m not permanently off the project, just out on loan. However, I don’t feel that I even want to return to that project anymore. They just brought on another animator, which, although I know the reasons are because I’m a better candidate to help the team I was moved to, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. To be move off a team I was quite excited to be on, and then to see an outsider slowly move his way onto the team.

I wish I had the motivation that the people who work at studios like Pixar, Blizzard, Weta, and Blur all have. But wishing doesn’t get you anywhere.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Random Life Tales, Video Games No Comments » November 2008

Not Too Happy

I was just told I have to move back to my old project for probably six months. I think I’m going to ask for a raise…

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Worky Worky No Comments » October 2008

Halloween

For the last many years I’ve been wanting a really cool Halloween costume. However, whenever I finally think of one, it’s either too late, impossible to make, or no one will get it. I actually envy guys because I think pop culture provides a lot of recognizable characters that tend to be male. Two of the animators I work with once dressed as the cops from the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage video.

Again, this year I thought I was bone dry with ideas. But last Thursday I finally thought of a character, though maybe not so well-known, that would be pretty sweet to go as. I’m going to keep it secret for now though and post some work-in-progress photos instead until the actual day. The costume part itself I’m having a seamstress make for me because I lack sewing skills. The add-on to the costume I am creating with PVC pipes. Most of the work is actually being done by my dad ’cause he works in a metal shop, so he has access to a lot of tools while I don’t. But I’m coming up with the design.

Work-in-Progress Pictures

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: Artsy Fartsy, Random Life Tales 2 Comments » October 2008

30-Second Food Review: Serendipity 3 (NYC)

225 E 60th St, New York City (map)

Disappointed with Mesa Grill, I opted not to get dessert there and instead headed to Serendipity 3 which was mentioned to me by a friend, and also reviewed by Eat, Snap, & Repeat.

Food: We tried the Big Apple Pie and Frrozen Hot Chocolate. The apple pie came at room temperature which wasn’t ideal, but it was still pretty good, and not too heavy. Not the best apple pie though. As for the frozen hot chocolate, I enjoyed it a lot. I wish I could’ve finished the entire thing! I’d compare the texture of it to a Slurpee, Tim Horton’s Ice Cap, or bubble tea-styled milkshake, except a bit more creamier. I want to try to make one myself at home!
Service: Average for New York I would assume. No smiles, just service.
Ambiance Dimly-lit, filled with Tiffany lampshades, mirrors and similar-styled furniture. Kinda fun.

Posted by tastethehappy Posted in: 30-Second Food Reviews No Comments » September 2008

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