Category: Uncategorized

I came home this evening and opened the door to my apartment and heard beeping. It wasn’t the smoke detector but it was a beeping that I had never heard before. After a few seconds, I discovered it was coming from my Zojirushi hot water dispenser.

Normally, on a work day, the hot water dispenser is on a timer, dormant for about six hours at which time it reboils the water and keeps it hot, so I can drink it when I get home. Tonight, however, the water was not hot at all. The dispenser was beeping, a red light was flashing, and the display read “E4”. I understood that to be an error code of sorts.

I dug out the manual for the dispenser and it said that if I saw that error, I should contact Zojirushi for further instructions. There were no further troubleshooting tips or hints. That does not sound like it’s something I can fix at home. I tried Googling the error and no one else seemed to have figured out how to fix it.

I’ve had this hot water dispenser for just over six years now. I even wrote a post about it the week I got it. It’s served me well for six years now. Over the six years, the heating element is off for six hours while I’m at work and another six while I’m sleeping. Overall, it’s been heating and boiling water for me for three years. That’s a lot of time for the heating element to be working.

I wonder what’s wrong with it now. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. The beeping stopped and the display says it’s trying to reboil the water but it never gets hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I think it may be beyond the point of repair, at least for what I can do.

I’ll try to tinker with it some more this week but it may be time for another dispenser.

So for about a week now, I’ve been making a cup of decaf instant coffee in the evening and consuming it. I put in a bit of milk and sugar, and it’s not bad. It’s not awesome coffee but good enough that I look forward to it after dinner every night.

I realize the small amount of sugar and caffeine isn’t strictly the best for me but you gotta live and enjoy life sometimes.

Last evening I made myself a cup of decaf instant coffee after dinner, mixed in a bit of milk and some sugar. That bit of sugar was the last from a bag of 2kg of sugar I bought about 8 years ago. It’s taken me that long to go through 2kg of sugar. I’m quite pleased it took me that long because it means I don’t use a whole lot of sugar in my kitchen. In the eight years, I think most of that sugar has gone into items that I’ve cooked or baked. I rarely put sugar in my hot drinks. If I’m making a tea, I prefer honey.

Well, that’s your weird stat for the day, 2kg of sugar every eight years or so.

I surprisingly lost five or six pounds in the last month or so. I did this purely through diet as my level of exercise did not increase at all. I cut down on snacking considerably and reduced the amount of carbs I ate for dinner. I also did not eat much past 8pm.

While I was eating less, I began to worry that what I was eating didn’t have enough fruits and vegetables. As such, it was really important for me to have at least some of that in every meal. At work, I made sure I had a salad or vegetables for every lunch. I should have bought more fruits for home but I’m going to fix that going forward.

When I weighed myself, I was down to 161 pounds which is great for me. I’d like to increase my level of activity and continue to eat less but also healthier.

In a recent post, I detailed how my new debit card did not make it to my mailbox from CIBC. When I phoned the bank, they weren’t sure what happened but one possibility was that the card was sent in the mail and returned to the bank. How that was possible, no one really knows. I fixed that problem easily by going into a local bank branch and getting a new debit card directly.

Fast-forward to Sunday, when I realized one of my credit cards, with a different bank, was set to expire on Tuesday. I had not received a replacement card, which is usually sent out weeks in advance. This problem seemed eerily familiar to me. What is going on?!?!?!

I called the bank associated with my credit card and they told me something that was a bit worrisome. Apparently, they did send out the card in the mail but it was returned to them. Just like CIBC did, they also neglected to contact me to tell me the card was returned. Why are banks so stupid? Did they think I didn’t want the card anymore? Why would they not follow up and figure out if I had moved or something?

The bank rep said I had two options: wait two weeks for the card to be re-sent again through the mail or have the card couriered to a local branch for pick-up. I chose the latter option and will pick up the card tomorrow morning.

The remaining mystery is why two important pieces of financial/banking mail never arrived in my mailbox. It’s not like I stopped getting all mail. I’ve received correspondence from different institutions on a regular basis. The fact is, however, that at least two pieces of mail never got to me. Why? And why did other mail get to me fine? Is something sinister happening here or is just bad luck?

I need to stay vigilant about those two banking cards and I also need to make sure my mail isn’t being diverted somehow.

After a whole week off, I returned to work today. Even though I didn’t have much to do, I felt tired in the early afternoon. My energy waned a bit as I wasn’t used to getting up early. I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep last night as well.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad first day back but I’m looking forward to get more rest tonight.

It’s just the end of September but this Sunday evening was downright cold in my apartment. The temperature read 20 degrees Celsius in my bedroom but it sure felt a lot colder than that. More importantly, the humidity had dropped to 30%. It was double that on Friday and still 50% yesterday. My skin feels a bit drier now. I actually brought out the humidifier out tonight and turned it on. It’s probably the earliest I’ve taken that out since I bought it.

This week, the lows will get down to 6 degrees Celsius. That’s pretty chilly for a Vancouver fall. Yes, I know the forecast is for snow this week in Calgary but that’s totally different.

Well, I gotta go back to work tomorrow. I better bundle up.

I just bought shoes using an online store for the first time. Buying clothes or shoes online can be a terrible way of buying things since you can’t try on the items beforehand. In my case, I bought a pair of Converse shoes. I have several pairs of Converse at home, which made me somewhat confident that I know what size will fit me. Still, you never know as every different model might be slightly different.

I salute every brave person who buys a shirt or a pair of pants without trying them on first. Those people must know exactly what they’re doing.

In the video above, you can watch someone play the game I worked on. It’s over 45 minutes long, so you’ll get a good sense of the story mode.

I’m waking up “early” tomorrow because I’m having lunch with a friend. This outing requires me to be in Vancouver proper by 12:30pm. So far this week, I’m usually still in bed at that time. It’s great. I will make an exception tomorrow but that means I’m going to bed before 2am tonight. Early!