Chromilo Amin

We have purchased the Motorolla HD PVR box earlier this year so that we can record TV programs like CSI, Criminal Minds, NBA, or The Bachelor. However, there are times when a recording is missed and you must watch that past show to understand the next. This is what happened with the The Bachelor on Monday February 14th. I forgot to record it because of Valentine's Day preparations and I was in the dog-house. I immediately tried youtube dot com. They always have all the past TV programs streaming on their web servers. Unfortunately, I get a message on the screen saying that I am not allowed to watch it because I am from Canada. Apparently, the ABC TV network only allows viewing of this show from the US. I asked around on Twitter and Facebook. Friends suggest using hulu dot com. I tried that and I got the same message about being a 2nd-class individual. Another friend suggested using an anonymizer, i.e. by using a legitimate public US proxy server. Searched online, found a few server...

I was just getting off the skytrain on my way to line up for the bus when I saw this funny scene. This woman (looked like a hooker) knocked on the door of the closed doors of the King George Smoke Shop where owner was closing up. He motioned to her that he was closed at which point she kicks the glass door. Owner was startled and he rushed to shoo her away. He opens the door and they have a short exchange of expletives I wished I could hear. This is where it got exciting. She spits in his face. The owner was so mad. She turns around to run and he bolts after her. She had a heavy bag with her but she was so much faster. They whizzed through the bus lineup and he slowed down when it was clear he couldn't match her speed. I wonder if he would have beaten her to a pulp if he caught up with her? Shop owner walks back to his store shaking his head, disappointed at the low-lifes he has to deal with around here. I hope he doesn't close shop and move elsewhere as that would really make ...

Here is a review of a baseboard heater for use in your basement if you are in the market for one. I just thought I would write one up because of the hassle I had to go through with my initial choice for a heater. I bought the Honeywell HZ-515C baseboard heater at Canadian Tire for $59 back in August 2008. It was for the basement suite where our friends Gabriel and Natasha are. It worked well for medium to large rooms and was quiet which was a great selling feature. However, by April 2009, the unit had stopped working and I was forced to get it replaced. The replacement warranty was 3 years for these units and it was only 9 months of use. The replacement unit was fine until it stopped working again in March 2010. This was almost a full year of use but I wasn't impressed at this point. I went back to Canadian Tire and wasn't surprised to see that they no longer carry this model. Even if they did carry it, I would probably just pick a different model for the same amount which is w...

My sister called the other day asking me to accompany her to her previous landlord's home to collect her security deposit. It has been over 15 days and she has not received the cheque her landlord says was mailed weeks ago. My sister was already highlighting excerpts from tenant-landlord document she downloaded online which states she can set collection agencies once 15 days of non-payment have elapsed or report her to the City for breaking the agreement. I said I would go with her to help out. My sister had already left a voicemail telling her landlord she was coming that night. Apparently, her landlord was hard to get a hold of and last time she did talk to her landlord, she was told that the cheque was in the mail. We didn't wait long at the door and when she did answer, we had our chat. Her landlord said the the mail was probably on the way and she wanted to make sure cheque wasn't cashed. I stopped her immediately saying that if we have not received it in 2-3 days, it...

I was currently 8th in line to get my tires installed at Walmart when customer service said "we are only processing three more cars for the day". Everyone was furious for having to wait 30-45 minutes in line just to be turned away. I can't believe everyone procrastinates and waits for the first snowfall warning before getting winter or all season tires installed. I drove off to the closest garage in the area that would service tires - Canadian Tire. I stood in line and was 9th in the queue. I noticed one of the other customers from Walmart ahead of me and possibly others. When it was that customer's turn, the customer rep shook his head and said they have too much work. It was very promising for me either and sure enough, the next openning was 4 days from now at 4pm. I put my name down and left. I drove over to King George and knew there were a few garages in the area. I went to Country Tire and was luck they were still taking walk-ins. They charged $20/tire compared ...

Holloween this year was a lot better than last year I would say. It was Camille's first and she wore Kyle's chicken costume from last year. Kyle was dressed up as Zimba from Lion King. Manick, Wheng, Naneng, and Chrissa were with us to experience the fun and excitement our tightly knit neighborhood has to offer on Holloween. The house in the next block always had the greatest display of scary ghouls, music, video display, and fog. He had a ghost buster van parked in front of his house and played the Michael Jackson music repeatedly. Nice speakers. The fog machine was in full effect at his neighbor's house as well so that block was fully encased in mist. Really spooky. Here is a video of it for your delight. We walked around the neighborhood and captured on video other great ghastly displays but have not had time to post them yet. Kyle was on my shoulders the whole time as he was scared of all the masks and displays. He'll be b...

I'm trying to keep to a schedule of 1 blog a week but it is hard, especially with the type of multi-tasking society we have become. I have a young family and am focusing my energy on them instead of blogging or spending time on social media like twitter or facebook. I do have time during my daily commute to work to ponder on some topics for my blog but I think those are the only times I'm willing to invest on this. I have to ditch my smartphone however because it isn't helping with my priorities. Here is a great article by Tim Sanders on time management advice for blogging http://bit.ly/aweNDG . Great read. I do need to concentrate on what's important to me in order to do well and I'll do that after I send out this update :). Kyle and I are watching Barney before he goes to sleep.