Well, thanks to the blog over at tipnut.com, they’ve posted a way that I could get rid of them.

 I won’t re-type the entire article as they’ve got the instructions over there as well as some alternatives to their methods for people that reported it didn’t work – but here’s the steps they took (make sure you read all of them):

1. The first thing I did was wash the table top and dry it well.
2. I took a clean, white cotton towel that wasn’t too thick and placed it over the scorch marks.
3. Taking an old iron set to high dry heat, I placed it on top of the towel, directly over the stain. I let it sit for close to a minute, checked, and nothing happened. The stain was still there.
4. I kept reapplying the hot iron with no results, but once I turned the steam on–that’s when the magic happened. The white marks literally disappeared from the table. I couldn’t believe it and it defied logic to me–wouldn’t the steam cause more damage? All I know is that it worked. I was quick to wipe away any moisture and water on the table after each stain was removed.
5. Added: A fe of the comments below mentioned finishing things off by wiping in a bit of olive oil after lifting the marks with the iron trick.

I’m sooo going to try this when I have some spare time. Those damn things are annoying on my table!

Tipnut.com is an excellent site for everything from tips on home decorating to motorhome repair or anything else.. bookmark it

TipNut.com

Halifax, NS
St. John’s, NL
Bay Roberts, NL
Moncton, NB
Portland, ME
Boston, MA
Montreal, PQ

Crazy huh? Well I certainly think so and do I have a lot of travel stories to tell you! (Some good.. most, not so good )

So I do apologize to people that actually read this that there have been non new updates in awhile – between the travel, my photography, and not having any access but usually table top displays (my iPad or iPhone) to write on, I was just never able to find time to sit and write.

Sooo.. that said – I will post about my experience with Porter next

I’m also going to post a few photos in the coming posts of my adventures in the various parts of the world, this first one was in Mad Rock, NL and well.. it doesn’t have any representation of my trip there as I had an EXCELLENT time – but it certainly did catch my eye

Lesson 1 :

A priest offered a Nun a lift in the parish truck.
She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a little leg.
The priest nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg…
The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’
The priest removed his hand. But, when changing gears, he let his hand slide
up her leg again. The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’
The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’
Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It
said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’

Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great
opportunity.

Lesson 2 :

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch
when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you
just one wish.’
‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk.. ‘I want to be in the Bahamas ,
driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’ Poof! She’s gone.
‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing
on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas,
and the love of my life.’ Poof! He’s gone.
‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, ‘I want
those two back in the office after lunch.’

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 3

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do
nothing?’ The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a
sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 4

A turkey was chatting with a bull. ‘I would love to be able to get to the
top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.’
‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull. It’s
full of nutrients.’
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough
strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree..
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch..
Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of
the tree.
He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there…

Lesson 5

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze
and fell to the ground into a large field.
While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize
how warm he was.
The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing
cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung,
and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

So.. it appears that Spring has finally arrived weather-wise and as much as I love the warmer weather, it depresses me somewhat to realize that I have to do a SHITLOAD of cleaning in and around the house. My lawn is as long as I can ever remember, there are winter clothes all of the place, a complete room of old urban clothes and stuff we don’t use and have to get rid of, the hockey gear needs to be packed away (but not too deep as some summer hockey may be in the works), and the golf clubs put out somewhere. Jeez do I ever need a garage.

Anyhow would like to post some cool links which I came across.. enjoy!

• Chow.com teaches us how to make our own veggie chips.. YUM!!
• This is very useful, apartmenttherapy.com is giving us the lowdown on buying plants that don’t die easily.. (Liz??)
• And how about this instructable on how to make your own homemade soft soap?

Some good reading there for sure..

You see, there are a number of online florists which simply are a frontend to all the little florists all over the cities and towns. For example, if you order flowers from www.flowers.ca, well.. there’s a good chance that Hearts & Flowers is going to get the call to do them up. Same goes with FTD.com, you don’t see many FTD florists around do you? No, but you do see Paul’s flowers – which is an FTD affiliate.

So all in all – the online shopper is a trusting lot here. We are going through a totally separate business online and paying them – whom in turn, are paying the local florist. Now.. does anyone else see where there may be an issue with this?

Truth be told, I’ve always had great luck with the times I’ve sent flowers online, but you know – now that I think about it, would I really have heard otherwise if they weren’t “up to snuff”? Not likely, and the reason? Because they were gifts! And people don’t complain about flowers (much)! So hypothetically speaking, a local florist whom is getting paid from FTD, not the customer – could make extra money by giving lack-luster or omitting flowers which were already paid for by a 3rd party!

This is what happened to recently to my my Sister in-law on her birthday. Liz (the thoughtful little devil) had sent her birthday flowers using FTD and the process was beautifully smooth and simple. Figured it was all taken care of..

Well, while Sara was elated with the thoughtfulness of the flowers – we found out pretty quickly that the flowers were on their last legs by the looks of them. Certainly not the pretty ones that she had picked out online!!

Liz, furious.. called up FTD and they told her that they would take care of it (being very good about it by the way). This is where it gets interesting..

The Flower Garden

Sara (our birthday girl), receives a phone call from the manager of the “Flower Garden” in Halifax whom FTD dealt with for the flowers. Now before I even go any further.. the manager called up the person whom was sent the flowers.. my question is why?? Why not deal with the actual person that PAID for the flowers? I suppose if they wanted to find out what was wrong, but in this case.. well check this out..a letter from the birthday girl.. to Liz.

“..she asked about the flowers and I told her that they didn’t look good. She got snotty and told me they had just got the shipment in yesterday and she got offended and said she was the one that arranged the bouquet. I told her that was fine but I would be mad if I had paid for those , I would not be impressed. She told me if I wanted, I could bring them back to her and if she thought they weren’t good enough, then she would replace them.  I told her they were delivered to me, that I wouldn’t be bringing anything to her.  She kept laughing at me. At one point I even asked her why she was laughing at me. She just kept saying she made the flowers and they were delivered yesterday. I told her that was fine but I wasn’t the only one her that thought they didn’t look healthy.  Anyway, I told her I was not going to bring them to her and she laughed again so I told her fine.  I would speak to you as you were the one paying and she said she would rather deal with you.  “…

Nice eh? Here we tried to brighten someone’s day by having flowers delivered, and the birthday girl ends up being harassed by a flower shop owner!! Ohhh I wish I had some web conferencing software and was able to chime in MY response.

FTD’s Response

Liz then spoke to FTD, and actually forwarded them the email above.. FTD, I have to give it to them, they were being very good about everything. They told Liz that they would have new, upgraded flowers delivered to Sara – unfortunately by then it wasn’t going to happen same day.. but you know, that was ok by this point.

And that’s exactly what happened.. Sara received a bigger, better, bundle of flowers and had a second day of birthday gifts.. well, sort of.

BTW.. thankfully Sara isn’t the type of person to let one snotty little flower-shop owner ruin her birthday.. and that’s what we love about her.

More About This Problem

So like I say, I’m not the first one to hear about this problem of having florists deliver lack-luster products when already paid for. Check out the following link from the consumerist which first drew my attention to the whole thing:

Valentines Day Garden of Discontent – consumerist.com

Obviously make your own decisions.. but maybe that trip to the florist may be a better idea than trusting them with you money without seeing the end result.

It is not known who replied, but there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick.
I hope you will play with her.. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it.. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, ‘To Meredith’ in an unfamiliar hand.. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, ‘When a Pet Dies..’ Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven.

Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.
Abbey isn’t sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don’t need our bodies in heaven, I don’t have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.

Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I’m easy to find, I am wherever there is love.

Love,
God

Of course, the email goes on and says to forward it to whomever, blah blah blah.. but I don’t do that… but for this one, I decided I’d make a blog post out of it instead

Was in Halifax for most of the weekend and had a great time visiting my brothers family.. unfortunately everyone was a little under the weather – both me, Liz, and my little nephew Gabe. That didn’t stop us from having a good time though – Saturday night, while the girls had a ‘jewelry party of some sort’, the boys went out for some beer, pool, and some padron cigars. Ok I’m lying about the last part – but it was a great time none-the-less.. Then a little nephew time, some Costco.. and we were on our way home.

Enjoy this weeks links of interest!

Homemade Beer-Dipped Chocolate Covered Marshmallows – found at thekitchn.com (need I say more?)
Why I Paid $5,400/hour to drive a Ferrari and Lamborghini – not me.. but wow, what a dream come true. (found at wheredoesallmymoneygo.com)
Shopping – Paderno 30cm Eco Pan for $32.99 (from $139.99) – Amazon.ca

First….. price.

Second.. updates

Third.. the new ipad 2

Fourth.. price

Fifth.. my iPhone

PRICE

Well this was so important I mentioned it twice in my list. When I bought the iPad the first time, it cost me over $650 to purchase it. I hadn’t saved up, it was just a typically Len-type-spur-of-the-moment purchase. Kind of like those green cleaning supplies in my closet.. Anyhow, so that was a big reason why I took it back. At the time I felt that I couldn’t justify the price for the amount that I was using it. Fast forward to two days ago, the iPad 2 launches (or at least it’s revealed) and that pretty much automatically reduces the price of the first generation. The price I ended up paying for my iPad (the exact same one I purchased for over $650) – was $369. Yes, it is a refurbished one from Apple. I’ve always had great luck with refurbished units and truthfully, from what I’ve heard these units could be getting rid of stock and brand new. They also carry the exact same warranty as a new one. Ok so I saved almost $300 since last September. Slick

Updates

When I first got my iPad, it was only a month or so after I had received my iPhone 4. I was having a great time on my iPhone4 and all its latest and greatest updates they kept pumping out. Once I started playing around with my iPad.. I noticed that it didn’t have the features that my iPhone did.. what gives? It was running 3.2 or something version of iOS instead of the latest iOS 4 which wouldn’t mean a lot to me.. if I wasn’t playing around with the newer version on my iPhone all the time… and then going to the iPad and missing all those features! Dammit! Anyhow, they’ve updated a lot of the software now and there are a LOT more apps out for it – so I’m looking forward to a new experience with the device.

The New iPad 2

I was waiting for the new arrival of the iPad 2 for quite some time. I was curious about the specs of it, the look, what changes were in there, what wasn’t. Personally, I like the changes that they’ve made (dual core processor is the ‘main’ thing) – but are they enough for me to shell out another $300 for? Right now, I’d have to say the answer is no. And the best part about the iPad2, is that it’s made the price of the original iPad that much cheaper! Woo!!

My iPhone

Like I eluded to earlier – during my first dance with the iPad, I had just purchased the iPhone and was playing with it – a lot more than I was playing with my iPad around home. Now that I’ve had my iPhone for a good period of time – I’m used to it, and although I LOVE it – I’m ready to take on a new piece of tech gear.

So yeah.. next Wednesday I’ll be picking up my iPad.. already paid for with saved up money. In fact, I was saving up for the iPad2, so with the extra money, I think I’ll put it towards my vacation.. sweet! Win/Win!

it, I just got bored looking at the old one and honestly I like the readability of this theme.

What do you think? Any new features you’d like to see on here? Or just more posts in general. 

I have to admit that I’ve been slacking off in the new posts department – maybe that’s part of the reason for the new theme as well.. gives me a fresh-ish type of feel to new posts.

Anyhow hope you like it.. here are some interesting articles I’ve read this past week

• TheKitchn.com  – 10 awesome uses for the Toaster Oven!
• Healthytheory.com – 8 reasons to drink more water (I know I have to start doing this)
• iPad 2 coming on March 2nd! – This is what I’ve been waiting for.. hopefully the feature set is there!
• About.com gave me a list of great low-carb snacks which I have to admit I’ve tried celery and peanut butter.. quite good! Keep me away from having to use any adderall weight loss supplements and just do it the natural way!

There’s an old phrase that “it takes years to win a customer and only seconds to lose one”…well, in my case, it took two hours for Canadian Tire to lose me as a customer.

I will admit that before I tell you my brief story, that I normally try to buy from Canadian companies…unless the deal is so much more obvious at a larger chain that it cannot be avoided. I think Canadian Tire offers a unique supply of hockey equipment, tools (whether it be vintage hardware or the latest and greatest power machinery), automobile parts, and so much more. I chose to purchase a set of two winter tires for the holiday season, and in this case Canadian Tire had both the supply and competitive prices.

Long story short, an appointment was needed when I swung by which was five hours later at 2:30 PM. The keen guy that I am, I arrived early at 2:20 PM and dropped my keys off. I asked the burly cashier for a timeline, and he suggested it would take between 45 – 60 minutes, so come back at 3:30 PM.

Fast forward to 3:30 PM, and when I walked in I was stoked to see my car in the outside parking lot…however that feeling quickly diminished when I saw it was where I left it. That’s right…the car was unmoved.

Now the one thing we can never get back is time, so now I’m pissed…and of course now every waiting minute seems like it takes five minutes. I asked the cashier in a “Seinfeld-esque” manner why they bother make appointments, and he quipped in an unapologetic manner that “my car is next”.

Here’s where it gets interesting…my car does get on the hoist at 4:05 PM…and 15 minutes later I am checking out and receiving $1 in Canadian Tire money. That’s right, it only took 15 minutes, not 45 – 60. Driving home I felt bad that I overreacted and really the extra hour was not the end of the world…until I get home to find one of my hubcaps flew off on the drive home.

Stay clear of Canadian Tire, the quick service resulted in me purchasing a replacement hubcap that cost me about as much as one of the tires. For more sad stories, visit www.canadiantiresucks.net.