Rants and Raves

Close-up of Trex flaking — 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

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged Trex Trex Class Action Trex Class Action Lawsuit Trex deck Trex decking Trex flaking Trex replacement Trex warranty on April 25, 2016 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3078 days ago)

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?

This entry was posted in Rants and Raves and tagged Chris Brown customer service lyrics rant Sean Kingston Starbucks Wiz Khalifa on February 9, 2016 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3202 days ago)

Steve Elliot's destroyed Ruger 9mm pistol — 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

This entry was posted in Guns Rants and Raves and tagged destroyed gun Facebook onelessgun onemoregun Ruger Steve Elliott twitter on October 15, 2015 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3320 days ago)

Paul glues new dust covers on the repaired speakers. — 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)

This entry was posted in DIY Home Theater & Automation Rants and Raves and tagged Castle fix Kent loudspeakers rave Renton Repair Seattle Severn speakers on July 17, 2015 by Steve Jenkins

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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

This entry was posted in Cars Rants and Raves and tagged Denali GM GMC heated washer fluid recall windshield washer heater Yukon on May 4, 2015 by Steve Jenkins

There is no such thing as privacy — 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 ...

This entry was posted in Personal Rants and Raves Technology and tagged celebrity nudes Hack hackers iCloud nude photos photo privacy video on September 2, 2014 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3729 days ago)

Linux Uptime — 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?

This entry was posted in Linux Rants and Raves Technology and tagged CentOS CentOS 7 compile libbsd OpenDKIM package yum on July 18, 2014 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3774 days ago)

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 ...

This entry was posted in Cars Personal Rants and Raves and tagged Ely Ferrari fraud Mark Raider Nevada Rogclassics on July 14, 2014 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3775 days ago)

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

This entry was posted in DIY Rants and Raves and tagged customer service faucet Grohe InSinkErator insta-hot instant hot water kitchen rave replace warranty on February 17, 2014 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3927 days ago)

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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

This entry was posted in Linux Rants and Raves Technology and tagged blocked senders Google Apps SPF split domain routing spoof on November 30, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3799 days ago)

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 ...

This entry was posted in DIY Rants and Raves and tagged 1225 customer service Kohler leak Moen plumbing replacement on November 11, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3793 days ago)

Maggie's Bear Grylls Parang goes "CLANG!" — 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 ...

This entry was posted in Rants and Raves and tagged Bear Grylls Gerber parang pee recall sheath on September 17, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4077 days ago)

Kirkland Signature Multi Vitamin — 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

This entry was posted in Fitness Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged C4 Extreme chia seeds creatine Muscle Milk NO3 nutrition post-workout pre-workout protein shake supplement vitamins work out on June 18, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3240 days ago)

InSinkErator SST Instant Hot Water Dispenser — 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 ...

This entry was posted in Rants and Raves and tagged hot water tank InSinkErator leak leaking replace SST warranty on April 25, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3825 days ago)

Mangroomer Customer Service Rocks — 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

This entry was posted in Rants and Raves and tagged customer service Kohler Maglite Mangroomer rave on March 14, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4265 days ago)

Blueline PowerCost Monitor Facebook Post — 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

This entry was posted in Home Theater & Automation Rants and Raves Technology and tagged Blueline customer service Facebook MyEragy PeoplePower PowerCost Monitor rave tech support WiFi WiFi Gateway on February 16, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4274 days ago)

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

This entry was posted in Guns Personal Rants and Raves and tagged 2nd Amendment assault weapons assault weapons ban Bill of Rights Constitution gun ban James Madison Obama right to bear arms Second Amendment on January 16, 2013 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4322 days ago)

Navigation Disc — 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

This entry was posted in Cars Rants and Raves and tagged Cadillac customer service Escalade free disc nav disc nav disk navigation Philippines on November 29, 2012 by Steve Jenkins

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

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged AICO Bedroom Furniture Discounts Exel Exel Direct Michael Amini Furniture Villa Valencia on February 11, 2012 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4639 days ago)

Locked House — 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 ...

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged alarm alarm monitoring cancel Fire Protection Inc Fire Protection Inc Seattle FPI FPI Seattle monitoring Mountain West Security Mountain West Security Utah MWS on December 20, 2011 by Steve Jenkins (updated 3799 days ago)

Home Depot Credit Card — 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

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged cancel discount EcoSmart Home Depot Home Depot Credit Card on September 7, 2011 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4820 days ago)

Jiffy Lube Check-in Special — (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.”

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves and tagged coupon FourSquare Jiffy Lube Jiffy Lube coupon social media on May 16, 2011 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4854 days ago)

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

This entry was posted in Product Reviews Rants and Raves Technology and tagged 360 Dead Xbox E74 Flashing Lights Red Lights Red Ring of Death Repair Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox 360 Repair on February 11, 2011 by Steve Jenkins (updated 4731 days ago)

I’m about to violate one of the self-imposed rules of this blog and talk about some business principles for a minute, only because the business move I saw yesterday was so awesome I just had to share it.

Wendy’s New Year Coupons FTW!

This entry was posted in Rants and Raves on January 8, 2011 by Steve Jenkins (updated 5062 days ago)