My Son's Residence For Sale Now

After over a decade living on Windsor Avenue in Windsor, Ontario, my son has made a decision to move. After all, doesn't one's new life begin at 40!

Exactly where he's going to go and what kind of a place he is going to move into are some things that he is looking into now. With the real estate market in Windsor and in a number of County towns, there are a good number of alternatives for him to consider. I'm sure that he will find another fantastic place to move to considering the great experience he had at his home for so many years.

I really do want him to sell his place before he buys a new home or decides to rent some space in Windsor or in one of the County towns.  It would be great to know exactly how much money he will have. The real estate market prices are going up in our area so it would be nice for him to have the extra dollars to help with his decision-making about where he's going to move.

Obviously, our family helped him find his home on Windsor Avenue which is now for sale.  It was another exercise for my wife Marsha and me and a new one for Michael. We looked around for a bit of time and in different areas of the City. This house just seemed to fit his needs and that is why it was purchased. Of course, it was necessary for changes to be made primarily with respect to the decorations of the various rooms and making some changes in the house. That was done relatively quickly and the house was just a great place for someone of Michael's age to buy and then look after. As far as I'm concerned anyway!

Once the decision was made to sell his home, we all decided that the sale should be made through a Real Estate firm rather than trying to sell it ourselves. Based on my experience with buying and selling homes previously, that seemed to be the smarter thing to do. Sure, we would have to pay a commission but our experiences in the past have always seemed to work out quite well for us.  The Real Estate agent who was involved in our latest sale of our last home and purchase of our new place in Tecumseh was a gentleman that we decided to retain to help out in getting a sale for Michael and also if we are looking for new place to buy for him.  We have a pretty good relationship with him and I am sure that he will do well for my son.

I was debating whether I should be giving you some great reasons why one ought to be purchasing my son's residence. I'm not going to do so however. It probably makes more sense not to do that but to leave it for my son's agent to do that with a potential purchaser. After all, I really don't know what people are interested in doing these days when they are looking to purchase a house and what I might suggest might not be all that helpful anyway. That is clearly something that the agent knows a lot more about.

What I'm going through now is something that was very exciting when I was doing it with my homes and also something that was very nerve shattering as well waiting for something to be done.  Imagine, seeing all of these new places to buy and then praying that we could sell our own place to get the cash necessary for us to buy the new one. Just consider that in some of the transactions that we did many years ago, it took us a fair bit of time to do so. However this time, for both the purchase of our new home and for sale of our old one, both transactions merely took a few days from start of the transaction, submission of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale and finally the acceptance of the deal. I just wonder if it will be the same for my son's transaction.

Here is the advertisement that I saw today that came out from my son's agent. Since it is going through the  Windsor Homes Network, other real estate agents are allowed to try to sell it as well with their own advertising and they would split a commission with our Agent for doing so.

Let's see what happens and when it takes place. Fingers crossed that this happens very quickly and that everyone would do very well from their own perspective when this is all finished.

My "New" Desktop Computer

Who has downloaded Windows 10 recently? I must admit that I have been rather curious to find out what the new system is like.  So since the weather has been rather hot and humid, I decided to spend a bit of time indoors recently and try my luck at downloading Microsoft Windows 10 software for my relatively old desktop computer. The price was right at $0. I know it's been available for a while now and the free download will expire towards the end of July, so looking at the calendar, it was about time that I took the plunge. 

To be direct about it all, I did not expect a big problem. My family has downloaded it on their computers already.  The only negative about it that I saw was how big the download was and I was not exactly certain how long that would be but expected it to take several hours or more.

Things started to get a little bit funny. I thought that I had already downloaded the large size of the software even though I had not yet tried to install it, but the website that I went to told me to download it again.  I wondered why this was done, but I decided to start the download all over again.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly as the software was being downloaded and after I think it was all downloaded, a number of other new tasks had to be done to finalize the updates.

Strangely, everything went perfectly until right to the end of all the tasks.  It just seemed to stop at 99% completion. That seemed very bizarre to me. Oh well, I was not particularly upset, although annoyed, because that had happened before in other downloads. So naturally, I had to start it all over again and wait the numerous hours for it to be successfully completed.

Of course, or else I would not be writing this article, that did not happen. It failed again in almost the exact same manner. 99% downloaded and then froze for no reason that I knew of. Accordingly, I started looking around various websites to see what others might be saying about this issue. A lot of people seemed to have the same problem that I had with the download freezing. After reading some trouble-shooting articles, a number of people were successful! Regretfully, none of the things that they did worked for me. I had decided instead to call Microsoft.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. There was a rather large issue that I found for my computer. Here's what HP said that was rather important because that is the brand that my computer was in its time-period of when it was built:

"Upgrade to Windows 10

HP has not tested your PC model for upgrade to Windows 10.

If your Windows 7 or 8 PC was manufactured before August 2013 or is running Windows XP or Windows Vista, HP cannot confirm it can be upgraded to Windows 10."

My computer was purchased in 2011/2012!

This was completely outrageous to me because I had never seen anything that suggested that a name brand computer with Windows 7 on it, as mine had, would have any kind of a problem at all especially a major one so that it could not be used to download Windows 10.

I called Microsoft to find out if this issue had been resolved.  The calls were taken in India by a group that Microsoft had set up to solve problems. Fortunately, no one had to pay long-distance calls to those people or else I am so sure that very few would and Microsoft would have major issues.

The first call was the strangest of all of the ones that I had subsequently. I spoke with the technician for several minutes about the problem and then the entire call was cut off with a busy signal. I no longer had anyone to speak with.

I tried again and while this time I was not cut off, again, nothing happened and I disconnected. Accordingly, and I was getting more angry, I tried for the 3rd time. This time I was able to speak with the technician who told me that my problem could not be solved, so that I should go out and buy a new computer if I wanted Windows 10. Again, I got extremely angry when I heard this because there was nothing that Microsoft suggested was a problem for any major computer system while this fellow told me that it was common knowledge that there were lots of issues for different computers, especially if they were older ones with Windows on them. That was the end our conversation.

I was not satisfied with this response, so I contacted HP to find out what they knew about downloading the new Windows 10 product on their computer. Without going into a long conversation about it, they told me that they would be quite willing to try to help me resolve the problem. The fee for them to do so was $100 or I could buy a contract for a one-year maintenance agreement with the cost of around $50 for the first month and then an additional charge of approximately $15-$20 per month. No way! This seemed like an easy money-grab that was not worth it for such an old computer like mine. 

Feeling frustrated yet still determined to find an answer, I called back Microsoft. Accordingly, I went back to speaking to another one of their Indian tech workers, but this time I asked to speak to a supervisor. Then another supervisor and another...and another. You'd think I was a glutton for punishment!

The last supervisor I spoke with was quite polite but really had nothing to offer me, as far as solutions go. He said that the HP system and software I was using was not workable at all, so that there was nothing they can do to help me. He explained to me that even though the Microsoft system had told everyone in general that this software was completely acceptable to them, it was not. Their message really did not deal with the computer itself but whether or not the software involved could be downloaded on some computer similar to mine. The gentleman admitted that there are many pieces of hardware built around my time that suffered from this issue. He really did not apologize for Microsoft not telling me that my computer could not download Windows 10 and that I had wasted so much time trying to do so.

In any event, we hung up and like the trooper I am, I tried one more time to download their software. Interestingly though, something new happened for my computer. It seemed now that all of the Windows 10 software had been downloaded without any problems. In fact, my computer was having the new software installed in it. It did not stop where it did before. Until, another 99% supposed freeze-up once again. It stopped at 99% of what it was supposed to do once again, but this time at a different section.

I was pretty much resolved that nothing could ever happen to improve this computer. I was just hoping that the computer had not now been totally messed up from how many times I had to re-download the software. I was very disappointed in the service from Microsoft and HP.

In my final attempt, I was watching the page which had arrived at the dreaded 99% mark. I sipped a glass of water and sighed, as I pretty much knew I would be back to square one. This time though...the screen said complete! Was I dreaming?? NO, it downloaded everything! Just a short wait after that, the rest of the updates were ready and Hallelujah, I am now happy to say that I have Windows 10 on my computer and it works well! 

Now please excuse me so that I can ask my personal assistant "Cortana" (Windows 10 new feature)  if she can help me search for a few recipes online!

Summer Is Coming

 

So, June 20 will be the first day of summer this year. Fantastic.

I remember hearing on one of the weather forecasts that this summer should be extremely warm with a lot more hot temperatures on more days this year than in other years. Who knows, it might be an after-effect of the warm weather that we had during the last winter. Sure, there were very cold days then but we also had a number of quite warm ones. 

All I know is that everything seems to me to be very confusing with respect to our 4 seasons. After all, didn't we really jump from winter right into summer? In other words, we just don't seem to be experiencing that much in spring anymore. 

What was interesting to me this year was how quickly my plants seem to be growing and how big. They did seem to blossom later than the flowers last year but that has not really caused any major problems. They seemed much larger than what they were before in my new home residence.  In fact, many of the plants in this area grew so large that the gardeners have had to cut them down a bit already and put them into a smaller size. They told me that they expect to do a lot more long flower-cutting gardening this year, every 2 weeks or so, than in the past. 

I am hardly a gardening expert. More importantly, as a condominium unit owner, I do not have the job really of looking after the lawns and flowerbeds around my unit. That is the task of the landscaping firm that we hire and whose bill we pay for as part of our condo expenditures. Nevertheless, I do speak with the gardeners so that I understand what they're going to be doing. Moreover, I've also asked them to take some actions with respect to the plants we have around here and thankfully, they listen to me and have carried out so far the gardening jobs that I have talked to them about. It has been nice gesture on their part. 

Our Condo swimming pool has now been opened up. I was with my son on the weekend to go to the pool. I thought that he was quite a brave person by going into the pool and enjoying it. In fact, he said that it was quite warm because they had heated it quite well. As for me, well, I'm just not ready yet to go into the pool. I will do it eventually because I think I am in a physical shape that will allow me to do it. I did not do it at all last year after finally getting better from my illness but I know that it is time that I try it out very soon.  Once I successfully do it, I'm certain that I will use the pool a lot especially if the weather is so good. 

My wife and I have started doing our walking routine as well. With winter ending, we started going out to walk as long as we could to get the exercise that we needed to make us both feel better. While all of this walking really is my function to make the better physically, my wife does it as well. She does it to look after me as I do my strolling exercises but she too does it to make her physically better also. 

However, our weather is so weird as I mentioned that my expectation that we can walk around for hours may have to change if the weather continues to get as warm as it has been and will be over the next few days. There is just no way that I am prepared to walk around in 90° temperatures. I do walk for a reasonably long time in the mornings when it is not all that warm. Unfortunately, by about 11 AM, I just had enough of strolling around because the temperature is making it too difficult for me to continue moving.  It means I will have to figure out what new exercising I can be doing in the home that will reduce my weight in the same way that so much walking did.  After all, last year, I spent almost 3 hours a day walking on many occasions i.e. one hour or more each in the morning, noon and early evening. 

Because of my new life experiencing, I really am forced to do a lot of things differently than before. It is quite a transformation that I have to get used to and hopefully I will be able to do so properly. The purpose of my increased amount of exercising obviously is to ensure that my physical condition keeps improving and I do not have another attack. 

It is interesting for me to do this because it is quite an experience when I do a "new" exercise, or rather enhance what this is that I am already doing. Oh sure, I know what I'm supposed to do but seriously, it takes time to work up to the new objective set out and then reach it, happily. Once the objective is reached, then all that happens is that the numbers set out increase as well so I have to keep improving my operations.  That is all supposed to help me out physically and so far it has. 

I think that most people are quite pleased that our temperature is doing so well. I must admit that I have not done much of a comparison between years but it just seems to me that our weather in our area has improved pretty dramatically over the last few years. In fact, it is getting even better. For how long though, who knows! 

Anyway, dear reader, it is time for me to stop writing and to get ready to have more contacts with my friends. The reality is that even though it is a bit more difficult, nevertheless, I expect that those of us exercising are not only doing that function better but also doing better on a lot more other activities that we have just learned about and started.

A Different Kind Of Computer Opinion Report



I have to admit that my style of writing is not exactly what other people do when giving an opinion about a product that they are looking at. They have their approaches which quite often are similar in how they review a product while I have mine. How does one explain that? Well, from my perspective, I am not the "expert" that they are when they do their reviews. While they provide you with an expert's analysis of the computer, my approach is more along the lines of a "common" person examining a new product and telling about its benefits and potential drawbacks.  This time the product is the Dell XPS 15 laptop computer.

I'll get into a discussion about the laptop computer shortly but I also want to inform you about an incident that occurred when I received my Dell XPS 15 laptop and how it was handled by the Dell team. 

My routine is always the same. I anticipate my new piece of technology to review from Dell and patiently wait for the delivery service to ship me the product. Once I receive it, I set aside some time to open up the box and start up the machine.  Most of the time, it is really easy and I am able to play around with all the different settings and see what I like and what I don't.  This time, it was different. After opening up the Dell laptop and getting ready to set it up, something peculiar happened.  There was a non-Dell software program that was provided for users to open up (not mandatory, but I was curious to see if this would be a faster boot up process or what would actually happen). For this new software, I had to put in a username and password along with other information including an email address. I did all of it without any trouble, or so it seemed. 

I clicked on the button to start everything up and started to play with the computer and check out all the features. After needing a short break, I came back to turn on the computer and I was shocked to find out that for some reason, my old username, password and all my other information was completed gone! Yes, deleted entirely from this Dell computer.  Just the new stuff I  had added for the software was there.  Stuff I could not remember what I added because I did not  need it at all and had just made it up as a one-timer for this new program!

How the heck did that happen? I realize computers are known to be intuitive to some extent, so I was assuming that all the information I inputted initially would be saved, like usual.  Nope, not this time.  The computer wouldn't start and didn't recognize any information that I attempted to type in. 

I decided that anything I was trying was pretty much useless and I needed to contact someone from Dell Support to assistance me with this problem. After all, this is why they are called “support” to help their customers get back on track. Unfortunately, this was one of those occasions where they could not provide it. I was not a customer per se, but a review blogger, and so they didn't have any information to guide me.  I was told to contact the person who sent me the computer for review, but guess what? It was the weekend, so she was not there until Monday. 

To be honest, I was under the assumption that I was going to have to return the laptop, because it seemed to be messed up. I have to admit as well that I certainly expected that Dell would be angry with me and might decide that I wasn't the right kind of person to review their products. After all, how could I do a proper analysis if I couldn't even get to the start screen! 

Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of my Dell friend when the weekend was over and told her of the misery that I was in. I did not expect a very positive reaction from her, but to my surprise, it was not a big deal. If I had to return the computer, so be it, I was told. More importantly though, my lovely friend said she would try to fix the problem, so that I could go on and do my analysis. 

Within a very short time, it was fixed! I guess when you know how to trouble-shoot specific issues, it is an easy process, but for me, this is an area that takes time to learn about. 

To me, that is the reason why one ought to consider strongly dealing with Dell because if there is a difficult situation, there is someone to help! 

Enough about disasters, let me just talk about the Dell XPS 15 laptop computer. I'm not going to tell you a lot about it, dear reader, because honestly, I've not had any significant difficulties with it. It just works that well as far as I'm concerned. However, I just want to deal with one matter. It really has to do with its size and the advantage that it has with its large monitor. 

As I am certain that you appreciate, there are lots of smaller sized laptop computers on the market. They do have a smaller size which means that their weight is less and so it is much easier to carry around. Of course, a smaller size laptop means that its screen is smaller too. That means that is a bit more difficult to use but it is one that is accepted by the purchaser. 

 

With the Dell XPS 15, here's the remarkable part of it. The size of this computer is actually reduced. Not by a lot, but it is smaller which means that its weight is lighter too I would expect compared with other standard form sized laptop screens. Here's the beauty part of it. While its size is smaller and its weight is lighter, the size of the screen is not! One gets the standardized size screen on a reduced size laptop. This computer's 15.6 inch display is closer in form to the size of a 14–inch laptop Dell claims That is a huge advantage for it as far as I'm concerned. Here's how Dell describes it: 

"Pushing innovation to the edge. The world’s smallest 15.6" (38.1cm) laptop." 

That to me is one of the exciting features that Dell is putting into some of its laptop computers these days. As Dell describes it, one gets a smaller size design but "XPS laptops have all performance you need, packed into smaller, thinner and more innovative designs." The computer is "the smallest 15-inch laptop on the plan." 

So, dear reader, you received a different kind of report dealing with the Dell XPS 15 laptop computer. In my opinion, it gives you two very strong reasons for you to consider purchasing the Dell XPS 15 laptop computer rather than going with another competitor.

Even More Stories

 

 Well, there have been a lot of stories published in the media over the last couple of weeks that interested me a lot. I try to let you know about them as quickly as I can but to be honest, I only have a few hours per day to do this kind of work now. It means obviously that it takes me longer to present these stories to you, dear reader. However, it is my job to get them to you eventually so you will see, at least from my perspective, what I think is important for us to know about these days.
 

Accordingly, here are a bunch of stories that I have seen over the past little while where I want to make some personal comments.  I do give you my own perspective quite often. By the way though, I will not necessarily give my position on every story because what I really want to do is to bring something to your attention to help you draw your own conclusion.
 

So, let's get started.

 

THANKS TO ANNE JARVIS

 

What a great column that she wrote in the Windsor Star on June 10, 2016 effectively telling us that we should not be concerned at all that Windsor's position in the best places to live rankings in the MoneySense story is #156.  
 

"Ignore Windsor’s ranking of 156 in MoneySense’s latest list of the best places to live. Here are some of the best and most admirable things about this city, stuff MoneySense doesn’t measure."  (Anne Jarvis, Windsor Star, June 10, 2016)
 

Pshaw.  I mean, after all, who should care that our financial position may be so horrible. We used to be #26 at one time a few years ago and that position has collapsed under a couple of our Mayors in a relatively short period of time.
 

Oh, you don't know the statistics. Well, here is something that you might want to consider about our position changing during a few short years under those 2 Mayors.  Click the pic twice to  enlarge it: 
 

 
WANT A CIGARETTE
 

I must admit that I'm not sure whether people smoke as much as they did before. I do assume that the volume numbers have dropped for the cigarette companies but I don't feel that the drop is really as big as it ought to be.
 

Here is an interesting perspective of what is going on. After looking at this, you may want to read the entire article for yourself:
 

"The theme for World No Tobacco Day on May 31, an annual initiative of WHO and the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), is plain packaging of tobacco products. Plain packaging prohibits the use of logos, colours, and promotional labelling on cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco and gives graphic health warnings more prominence. In the FCTC, the legally binding international treaty to curb tobacco use signed by 180 nations, a ban on branded cigarette packaging is considered a key demand reduction strategy. 

On May 31, WHO calls on countries to “get ready” for plain packaging, following the example of Australia, which introduced plain packs in 2012 and has since seen declines in smoking. France, Ireland, and the UK will imminently require plain packaging, and Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and other European countries are considering tougher packaging laws for tobacco. 

Plain packaging is a big step forward on the journey to reducing tobacco use and its associated health risks. But it has not been an easy road. The Government of Australia spent AUS$50 million fighting a court battle against tobacco giant Philip Morris, which argued that plain packs threatened the company's intellectual property. The French subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco is planning a similar lawsuit. Last month, however, the European Court of Justice said the new EU law on plain packaging and a forthcoming ban on menthol cigarettes were legal. And on May 19, a high court in London ruled against four major tobacco companies who argued the plain packaging move violated UK and European law. 

These recent victories against Big Tobacco are another triumph for public health. However, they also put into stark focus the massive gap between countries in delivering tobacco control."  (The Lancet Editorial, "A growing gulf in the terrain of tobacco control," May 28, 2016)
 

 The Editorial is quite interesting because it shows you how many countries do not have an effective program to reduce smoking.  Here's a good description of those countries:
 

"The least compliant countries are often the ones with the highest rates of tobacco use, which compounds growing disease and cost burdens of tobacco."
 

You might want to take a look at the full article to get more information on the subject.
 

OUR TEMPERATURE
 

I just take the position that our weather is completely weird. I cannot believe how hot and cold it gets in this area so quickly. It has been rather cold over the last few days here but the prediction is that the temperature will be in the 80s shortly. Then, I would expect temperatures to fall again.

 

Here is a prediction from a Weather Man for our summer:
 

"Hot, humid summer in store for Windsor-Essex, says Weather Network (Dalson Chen, Windsor Star May 25, 2016) 

 

Prepare for heat, folks. Windsor-Essex weather over the next three months will likely be warmer and more humid than usual, says a Weather Network meteorologist.
 

“We anticipate temperatures to be slightly above normal for the summer months,” said Dayna Veteese of The Weather Network on Wednesday."
 

Is this a surprise to you? How could it be considering our relatively mild winter.  The one thing that I noticed about spring this year is the growth of plants and flowers. It just seems as if in my area over the last couple weeks that the plants have grown unbelievably bigger and have expanded rapidly. 
 

Our gardener firm at the condo where I'm living spent a day cutting away a lot of this increased growth. It was a lot of work for so many of their employees considering how many were here to do the job. I was told to expect them coming here several times a month to keep control over plant growth.
  

ELECTRICITY COSTS
 

What will the Ontario Government's new electricity program do for the Province. Here's what some people thought might happen that would be quite disastrous for people who are so dependent on gas for heating and how the Government had to react to it immediately:
 

"Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday that Ontario won't ban the use of natural gas for home heating as part of its climate change action plan. 

The plan hasn't been released yet, but the Liberals had been coy about details ever since a published report based on a leaked draft copy said the province would phase out fossil fuels for home heating. 

But in her strongest statement yet on the issue, Wynne called the report "false," and said natural gas will "absolutely" be used to heat Ontario homes in the future. 

"The criticism that we have been getting is that we were going to be banning natural gas, and that is not something that we're doing," Wynne said after meeting Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in Edmonton. 

Natural gas is used to heat more than three-quarters of the homes in the province, and critics — as well as natural gas suppliers — warned that phasing it out would drive up energy costs for everyone. 

"Replacing building heat and electricity would require $200 billion in investment in generation and distribution just to effectively duplicate what we've already spent on infrastructure," Enbridge Gas CEO Al Monaco said in Calgary on Thursday. 

"That would more than double electricity rates in a province with very high electricity costs."  (The Canadian Press May 25, 2016)

What is interesting to me though is that the Premier gave very little information about what its new policy would do to the use of gas by people at home. The Government does not have to officially ban buying natural gas for heating. However, it can set up a new pricing system that makes it ridiculous to continue buying natural gas.

 

 

 

Lots More News Stories

 

Over the last few days, there have been a lot of articles that I found interesting. Let me report on just some of them so that you will understand what I mean. 

BORDER HASSLES 

Here's a very interesting story.  It really shows you how the relationship between Canada and the United States is falling apart at this time. It seems that this was not happening before but has changed so dramatically in recent years. Is it really any different from what most people are seeing on any trips now that they go on between our countries: 

"Along the U.S.-Canadian border, frayed ties and daily hassles 

Surveillance has grown stricter and more intrusive all along the 3,900-mile lower-U.S.-Canadian frontier since Sept. 11, 2001, creating a continent-wide gulf that many argue reflects a political parting of ways, as well — American conservatism vs. Canadian socialism, as defined by Canada’s universal health care, maternity leave, tough gun laws, and subsidized day care and higher education. 

But the burden borne by the Vermont-Quebec communities is unique. Residents linked by intermarriage, blood relations and, in many cases, dual citizenship are now separated by an invisible but hardening wall. Neighbourhoods that once shared schools, sports facilities, doctors and churches in a kind of free-flowing human commerce have retreated to their own sides of the border." (William Marsden, Washington Post, June 1, 2016)   

How is it changing? Here is one small example: 

"With each generation, memories of a closer cross-border community have faded. Sylvain Matte, 43, is an engineer and machine designer who lives up the street from the Boisverts on the Canadian side. 

He notes that he has had casual exchanges — barbecues and drinks around a bonfire — with his American neighbors, but nothing that approaches real friendship." 

It is so sad as far as I'm concerned for this to be happening now. However, unfortunate, it is. 

WEATHER BOOSTING LAKE LEVELS 

I remember when I first moved down to Windsor almost 30 years ago. I must admit that I was very interested in buying a house on the river. That would have made viewing the waters as a means to relax. However, I did not do it because I was afraid of living next to water if flooding might occur if there was lots of rain. However, for all of these years, everything generally has seemed safe. However, here's a story about land being submerged in water in Western Michigan. What concerns me is that it could happen here as well if the rain continues so strongly: 

"High lake levels submerge beaches in west Michigan 

Rick Curran, who lives on Old Mission Penisula with his wife, estimates he’s lost 35 feet to 45 feet of beach since last year... 

High water is chewing up frontage land all along the Great Lakes. It is a major concern to property owners and shoreline protection groups, and welcomed by some pleasure boaters... 

Lake Michigan has risen 4 feet since January 2013, when it hit a record low. The lake could be just 1 foot shy of the 1986 record high by the end of the summer... 

The major difference this year is the levels never declined in the fall, climate expert Tim Davis said. 

Rather, reduced evaporation, increased precipitation and a strong El Nino weather pattern boosted lake levels."  (John Barnes, Detroit News, June 2, 2016)   

DOES OUR NEW AUTO INSURANCE PROVIDE BETTER BENEFITS 

The terms of our Insurance Policies changed on June 1. 

Before you think we are getting better policies, here is an interesting thought that I saw about the new auto insurance policies that you may want to consider: 

"Next time your auto insurance policy comes up for renewal, check your price: you might find it lower than expected. But before celebrating, check your coverage: you may find that’s decreased, too. 

The Ontario government has revamped standard auto insurance policies, which comes into effect Wednesday. The move is part of the government’s plan to make premiums more affordable over the years. However, some experts say the lower premiums resulting from today’s changes will come at the price of substantially decreased coverage for policies. 

“What we’ve seen over the years is that premiums have come down a little bit, certainly not very much,” says Adam Wagman, President of the Ontario Trial Lawyer Assocation. “But benefits have been eroded to the point where Ontarians are going to suffer.” (Luke Alexander, MoneySense, June, 1, 2016)   

INTERESTING GADGETS FROM DELL 

My Friends at Dell Canada sent me a very interesting email about some interesting products that they are offering these days. I thought that I would let you know about some of them. 

It really is fascinating to me about how many electronic articles are out there to buy. I do wish I had the money to buy everything but clearly I don't. I assume that you too, dear reader, are in a position similar to mine so that we both have a few problems these days if we want to shop.  

So here's an idea, go to dell.ca, one of my favourite product suppliers, and consider buying some of their products that they offer for sale that may interest you and which you can afford. Here are just a few examples for your consideration: 

*OCULUS RIFT HEADSET + VR-READY DESKTOP DEAL*

 

When you order the right Oculus Rift online you’ll receive a coupon for $200 off one of the Oculus Ready Alienware or XPS desktops.  Check out the info for  it. 

 

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BLOG Number 100

 

I am surprisingly writing a lot more in the number of articles I have done so far than I ever expected before I could do in my condition.

100! 

That is the number given to me by Google about this story on its website that I am writing now.  I just do not believe that I have written so many articles in such a short period of time on so many different topics.  

Imagine what I will be writing with respect to my next 100 articles! 

I just saw this in the Windsor Star, right at the bottom of an article, about the Rotary Club Art show this weekend in Windsor: 

"More than 20,000 visitors attended over the weekend, said Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) president Michael Drake. The show is a major fundraiser for the club. 

“We had about 15,000 visitors on Saturday,” Drake said, adding the final numbers weren’t in yet for Sunday’s attendance. 

“It’s a very good year for us,” he said. “Last year the numbers for Saturday were slightly higher, probably because the weather was a little bit better, but it’s still a good number for our long-term trend.”  (Julie Kotsis, Windsor Star, June  6, 2016)  

 

Also the Low/Martin Mansion tour seems to have had an extraordinary turn-out. I was told that their event had to stay open an extra 3 hours because people kept coming by! 

Just one final note from a story I saw that deals with technology.   

It is truly remarkable for what was accomplished during WW II that seems to have been virtually unknown until now. It is really interesting to know what lies ahead as far as technological advances go. 

 

"Hitler's coding machine meets its nemesis

(AFP Charles Coultas June 4, 2016) 

© Provided by AFP A handout photograph released by the National Museum of Computing on May 29, 2016 shows the teleprinter part of a Lorenz cipher machine. The machine Hitler used to send coded messages to his generals met the supercomputer that revealed its secrets on Friday, watched on by veteran operatives whose painstaking work helped bring World War II to an end. 

Scientists at Bletchley Park in southern England, the WWII code breaking headquarters, fired up the valves, whirring wheels and spinning tors of the two machines to recreate how German military chiefs sent secret messages and how they were deciphered. 

Hitler's Lorenz machine boasted 1.6 million billion possible coding combinations thanks to a series of twelve rotors, a million times more complex than the more feted Enigma machine. 

Through luck and the ingenuity of engineer Tommy Flowers, scientists were able to deduce how the machine operated and then build a machine to work out the settings of Lorenz's rotors. 

"Colossus" is regarded as the world's first programmable, electronic digital computer, but received little attention as the project was kept secret for decades, depriving those responsible of due accolades."  

On this story's subject, if you would like a great movie to watch, "Imitation Game" would be a top recommendation. It is based on the story of Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during WW II. Fantastic acting by Benedict Cumberbatch and quite a gripping film from start to finish.

You can get info about it here:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/

 

My Big Website Starting Out

My "new website" I started.

 

While doing some research, I  just  happened to see this old website of  mine yesterday and it  really impacted  me given what has happened since.  It was my first "official" piece of writing about political issues.  It started off  in my own personal website at that time.

 

Over a decade ago. The beginning of a big Internet career for me.  I could not believe it all started so long ago.

 

Today, I still write a BLOG but my reason for writing and my style are so much different. It is much more personal about  my new life having survived so well the illness that so few know much about.

   

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 Sart

So this is blogging!

I thought it might be time for someone to do a bit of a commentary on what is going on in the City of Windsor, Ontario. Since Windsor is effectively a one-newspaper media outlet (the vast majority of the population gets its news from the Windsor Star) and since the Star has strict rules about Guest Columns and Letters to the Editor (and not that much space either), it seemed that a Blog on the Internet might be the way to get one's opinions expressed and spread to others.

So here we are. Let's start off by saying that Windsorites about 18 months ago seemed excited as the results of our civic election brought us a smart, young and energetic Mayor with a different way of looking at politics (He even committed to running for not more than 2 mayoral terms!) and a new Council with 4 new councillors, a 40% change-over. They were determined to be an active city Government whose function was to achieve results while providing open and transparent government.

Have they accomplished what they set out to do? That's what this Blog will be all about: a commentary on Windsor politics from my personal point of view!

Oh and by the way, notwithstanding my 30 minutes of fame on Cable 11's Face-To-Face interview show, I am still just a citizen of Windsor, an Ordinary Joe. Hence, the signature

posted by JoeBlog at 3:28 PM

The Low/Martin Mansion Extravaganza This Weekend

I really like what I have learned about the Low/Martin Mansion after visiting the facility a couple of times recently and thought that I would write another article to let you know about it. 

June 4th and 5th are coming up quickly. For Windsorites, and others living nearby, not only will people be able to visit the Art in the Park outdoor event run by the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) but just as importantly, they will be able to attend the Low/Martin Mansion event this weekend. 

 

Both events should be quite exciting to visit. Just remember though that there is an admission fee for  both places.  The Rotary Club's Festival will take place in Willistead Manor while the Low/Martin Mansion event is run at the house now owned by Vern Myslichuk, located nearby at 2021 Ontario Street. 

 

According to the data provided, the Rotary Club Festival this year has over 270 exhibitors who will be in attendance making their products available to the public. Interestingly, about 50 of them are newly attending. The Low/Martin event really is completely different since it is primarily run to allow visitors to attend inside the Mansion to see how it has been completely rebuilt since its purchase a few years ago. Effectively, the Low/Martin Mansion has become a work of art itself.

 

I'm sure that the public will be given quite a bit of information about the Rotary Club event in advance and, if fortunate, might even be provided with some information about the Low/Martin Mansion. Obviously, my article will be discussing quite a bit about the Mansion because I had read about it some years ago but was unable to attend its opening. This year I was fortunate in being allowed to visit the Mansion ahead of time to take a look around. In doing so, I was thrilled by what I saw and hope that it will convince you, dear reader, to take a visit of the Low/Martin Mansion. 

 

There are a number of articles that one can read about the history of the Mansion. Just do a search on Google to find information that would be of interest to you. What Vern is doing with the Low/Martin Mansion is also quite unique. Not only will it be a home for him but with some information that I have seen, people will be able to rent a good part of the Mansion for a wedding photography session or even an event or a group tour and meeting. Just take a look at this ad for the use of the Low/Martin Mansion for weddings. 

I have visited the Mansion several times and have been quite impressed about what was done inside. To be honest, it really does not appear as if the property was "fixed up" at all. Everything just seems to be the natural construction in the home from the time when it was built. It is just such a huge advantage for the work undertaken by Vern after he purchased the property. 

 

What I thought that I would do is show you some of the photographs that I took on my visits to the Mansion. What I'm hoping is that you, dear reader, will find the setting of the Mansion fascinating and will head out to take a look at it when it is open for visits this weekend. 

 

Here are some photos of the property itself from the outside taken at several different angles:



 

I found the outside of the unit quite lovely. The property that the Mansion is on itself is huge in comparison with many of the neighbouring properties. Interestingly, there is also another building behind the Mansion that seems rather large itself but which has not yet been worked on in a very significant manner. Take a look at this photo to see what I mean by that:

 

 

Of course, the real advantage in what will happen is your ability if you are on the program this weekend is to go inside the Low/Martin Mansion to be able to have a detailed vision of what has been done in the Mansion since Vern purchased it. Apparently, it was in pretty sad shape at the time and did require a massive amount of work.  In effect, what was done was virtually taking down the finishing and rebuilding it. It was that difficult a process for Vern that he had to do. I'm certain that this work took much longer than expected and cost a lot more money than was anticipated originally. 

I am not going to show you internal pictures of all of the rooms of the Mansion because I want you to go there and look at them for yourself. However, I will post a few from several of the areas just to give you an idea of how fantastic the updating of the Mansion now appears:

Of course, I expect this gentleman to be at the Mansion this weekend.  Say "Hello" to Vern if you see him there and tell him you were attracted to his Mansion by what you saw on here.  You might even want to discuss with Vern, a complete makeover for your home or office. After all, he is an expert in the business of cabinetry and renovations. 

 

That is all I am going to show you now, dear reader.  I hope my blog and photos have convinced you to take some time out of your schedule this weekend and visit the Low/Martin Mansion for a great experience!