Rants and Raves


Close-up of Trex flaking 1
When it came time in 2006 to replace the deck at my log home in Eastern Washington, I wanted to go low maintenance. I already had plenty of maintenance tasks with the logs, the waterfront, the dock, and the teak furniture, so I decided to go with the most well-known and trusted […]

Follow My Trex Surface Flaking Class Action Claim


6
Warning: this blog post contains a link to explicit lyrics. Perhaps a similar warning should have been posted on the door of the Covington, WA Starbucks I visited on Friday, January 29, 2016. Even though I’m not a coffee drinker, I’m a fan of Starbucks’ food, their non-coffee drinks, and their […]

Rant: Explicit Lyrics Warning Label Needed at Starbucks?


Steve Elliot's destroyed Ruger 9mm pistol 8
Last week, a friend of mine shared a public Facebook post on my timeline and asked me what I thought of it. So, after thinking about the post for a few days, I’ve decided to reply to the post (thereby answering my friend’s question about what I think about it) […]

Steve’s #ONEMOREGUN reply to Steve’s #ONELESSGUN



Paul glues new dust covers on the repaired speakers. 1
Not long ago, we started to notice a distorted “buzzing” sound from our left and right front speakers in our family room, particularly when the TV was playing something with a lot of bass (like explosions, engine noise, or gunfire). I love our family room speakers. They’re made by an English […]

Rave: The LoudSpeaker Store (Kent, WA)


My GMC logo is black! 3
I keep a 2007 GMC Yukon Denali parked at the Utah house to drive when we’re there. It’s perfect for “Inter-mountain West weather.” It’s comfortable, holds plenty of passengers and cargo, has great four wheel drive, heated seats, and a has a handy windshield washer fluid heater system that can help […]

Rant & Rave: GMC Dealer Recalled a Little Too Much


There is no such thing as privacy 4
Another day, another story about nude photos of celebrities being hacked and posted online. I won’t mention the names of the celebrities in this most recent round, because it really doesn’t matter… and I really don’t want to accidentally show up in web searches of people looking for the photos. […]

What Hacked Nude Celebrity Photos Can Teach Us About Privacy ...



Linux Uptime 6
CentOS 7 was released recently, and so I fired up my build VM so I could attempt to build the OpenDKIM package for submission to EPEL. But the compile barfs on strlcat/strlcopy, because RHEL/CentOS doesn’t have libbsd available (yet?). The libbsd package was a requirement for the package to work […]

Rant: Why is there no libbsd for CentOS 7?


19
Earlier today, I received the following email from someone who is not named Bob, but that’s what I’ll call him to protect his privacy: Steve, Did you recently sell an F40? Or are in the process of selling one? I have one with your vin number being offered to me that I am […]

Fraud Alert: Mark Raider of Rogclassics in Ely, Nevada is ...


2
Fair is fair. When a company gets it wrong, I blog about it. When a company gets it right, I also blog about it. This week, a couple of companies got it right. The first company is Grohe, makers of high-end kitchen and bath products. They have the rare distinction […]

Rave: Grohe & Insinkerator Customer Service



2
It all started about a week ago. I got an alert email from a server, complaining about a RAID array. That’s nothing terribly out of the ordinary, as I have all of my systems set to alert me if something seems out of place. However, the problem in this case […]

Rant: Google Apps’ Gmail Can’t Protect Me from Misconfigured Mailers


3
Water was pooling under our “backup” fridge in my garage, and so I figured something must broken with its refrigeration. However, when I pulled the fridge away from the wall to check things out, I discovered that the source of the water wasn’t the fridge… it was the shower faucet […]

Rave: Turns out Moen’s Customer Service is Just as Good ...


Maggie's Bear Grylls Parang goes "CLANG!" 3
I hesitate to write this post. First, because I grew up in Portland, Oregon (home of Gerber), and have been a big fan of their knives since I owned my first one as a Boy Scout. Second, because a couple good friends of mine are actually friends of Bear Grylls […]

Rant: Navigating Gerber’s Bear Grylls Parang recall process is harder ...



Kirkland Signature Multi Vitamin 11
We’ve all been told “you are what you eat.” And while I don’t quite agree with exactly how that’s worded (I’ll explain later), I do agree that what we put into our bodies has a massive impact on how all the systems in our body perform and interact. The purpose […]

Fitness Supplements I’m Currently Using


InSinkErator SST Instant Hot Water Dispenser 42
Previously, I made a post about how to extend the life of your InSinkErator SST Instant hot water tank. Then, a few months later, one of my tanks died. It started leaking and dripping water under the sink, which is never good. Since there’s an 800 number listed on the front […]

Rave: Leaking InSinkErator SST Hot Water Heater Tank Replaced Out ...


Mangroomer Customer Service Rocks 1
What do flashlight manufacturer Maglite, bathroom fixture maker Kohler, and manscaping maven Mangroomer have in common? Awesome customer service, that’s what. All three companies have impressed me in the past week with top-notch customer service. Maglite Rave First, I noticed last week that one of my C-cell Maglite flashlights was […]

Rave: Maglite, Kohler, and Mangroomer Customer Service



Blueline PowerCost Monitor Facebook Post 5
Initially, I had intended this post to be one of my “rant” posts. In fact, I’d already written it in my head after a frustrating day of wrestling with a combination of badly-behaved piece of network hardware and unhelpful front-line tech support personnel. Regular followers of my blog are familiar […]

Rave: Blueline Innovations Customer Service


10
I’m writing this post on January 16, 2013 — the same day that President Obama released a document entitled Now Is The Time: The President’s plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence. The full text of the document is available here. This blog post isn’t […]

Guns, Assault Weapons, and the 2nd Amendment


Navigation Disc 1
I called the Cadillac toll-free customer service number earlier today, and a pleasant-sounding voice identifying himself as “Christopher” answered. I could tell from his accent and demeanor that he was Filipino (later in the call, when I told him that I’d been to the Philippines often on business, he confirmed that he […]

Rave: Cadillac Customer Service is Alive and Well



2
Here’s a copy of an email I just sent (on Feb 11, 2012) to the customer service email address and my salesperson at Bedroom Furniture Discounts, from whom my wife and I recently purchased new bedroom furniture. They were fantastic to work with on the sales side, but I think […]

Bedroom Furniture Discounts & Exel Direct’s “White Glove” Delivery Service


Locked House 17
This is somewhat of a different blog post for me, as I’m starting it before I even know what’s going to be in it. Maybe everything will go smoothly and this will be a boring story of how I made a couple phone calls and quickly and easily cancelled two […]

A Tale of Two Alarm Monitoring Cancellation Requests: Fire Protection ...


Home Depot Credit Card 14
I shop at the Home Depot. A lot. And, as I do with absolutely every purchase possible, I used to always pay with my American Express Centurion Card (Membership Rewards points + hassle-free purchase protection). And, every time, as I’m sure Home Depot’s company policies dictate, the cashier would ask “Would you […]

Why I’m Canceling my Home Depot Credit Card



Jiffy Lube Check-in Special 4
(The following is an email I just sent to the contact address on http://jiffylubeutah.com/) SUBJECT: Feedback for Jiffy Lube #2892 To Whom it May Concern: The purpose of this email is to inform you of my experience at one of your Utah Jiffy Lube locations on May 16, 2011. After picking my […]

I had a Jiffy Lube Coupon, but instead got “Stiffied.”


I’ve had a sick Xbox 360, flashing the dreaded Red Ring of Death (RRoD), sitting in my Utah office for almost a year now. I’d replaced it with an Xbox 360 Elite, and since I’m only in this office for a few days each month, I didn’t feel a rush […]

Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death Repaired