On Sunday, it was a relatively quiet day. I was woken up around 8:30AM by my nephew poking at me while saying, "Uncle! Wake Up!", into my ear. Seeing as it was a late night, an early morning was not ordered at all. Cute kid just turned two on Saturday; yes, we all feel for his parents. However, it is now a milestone time for the lad, so he best learn the easy lessons quick before the hard ones come a-rolling cross his behind.
So, now I was up. Got some breaky, watched some tube, did some work, and prepared to leave (late) for Markham. We called up and said we were running late, obviously, but we had to make two quick stops. The first stop was to XS Cargo which can only be described as a very poorly designed Bargain Harold's for electronics and other household items. We went there to look for an answering machine for my mother (more on that later) but came up short, settling for a Compaq laptop combo consisting of an LED light on USB, an optical 3-button mouse on USB, a retractable phone cord and, the reason I wanted it, a USB numeric keypad.
The second stop was a quick in and out over at FactoryDirect.ca. The Kennedy Road store is a real dive compared to the Dufferin Street one, but they tend to have stock when I need it so I took the chance the newly minted 4GB USB keys they advertised would be available. It was, and I now own one. Suhweet. So, now we headed off north.
We went to visit some newly reappropriated friends. They had moved down to Chicago, Illinois a couple of years ago when the wife was offered a new position there. Things were going well as she traveled, he took care of their son and renovated the sweet bungalow in the great neighbourhood while doing odd jobs around the place. I say odd jobs but really, he is absolutely amazing at the home renovations and wood work that he is capable of. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out in many ways. Her job went sour when the man who hired her was let go (they tend to clean out anything to do with former executives) and there was a very nasty breakup. The real estate market took a tank faster in the US than in Canada so they took a bath on their property. And they did not return to Canada the way they had planned and dreamt about; opening a quiet little inn on some property they bought (which will now need to be sold). On top of this, there were significant deaths in the family and she herself is now ill while taking care of their new baby. Life is challenging but slowly returning to normal.
So, now they are back in Canada; up in Markham instead of North York. They bought a nice split-level fixer-upper and have started the renovations in earnest with carpets being ripped out and floating floors being installed and wallpaper stripping and painting being done within the few hours of arriving back in town. The place actually has a fair bit of room (but a lot of stairs to navigate for her) but it is too early to feel like home just yet; that will take a little longer. Their first child has started school and remarked to his mother when she was kissing him goodbye, "Mommmmm, not in front of my friends!"; he's six years old.
Anyhow, we were visiting but I was also there in an IT capacity to get her system working correctly so she can communicate with the world again via email. We helped get her wired up, get the wireless router installed, the phone moved, the system updated and the anti-virus software installed. I then removed that gawd-awful piece of crap software that Rogers installed on her system; what a freaking waste of time and resources that thing is. I also fixed the idiotic bullshit setup the lazy-ass tech did; he connected the cable modem with a USB cable instead of attaching a network cable like any self-respecting IT person would do. Oh yeah, he works for Rogers so he missed that boat a while ago. Anyhow, everything was going along swimmingly until I tried to upgrade her version of Office. It required a CD I did not have with me and we were not finding in the next millennia in the unpacking of the house. So, I will either have to go there or try to do it remotely, since I installed Logmein so I can help her remotely as needed.
It was good to see them again and we will check in to help them readjust back to the Canadian way of life.
Ciao.
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