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Redneck nyotaimori
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Day: September 5, 2014
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That’s me
And also the silence.
Alarm systems are to Switzerland what double glazing is to the UK
I get home a few nights ago and Katy tells me that a security consultant came to see her – as part of seeing everyone in the building today – about installing a free alarm system. O.o Just that same day, the whole principle of TANSTAAFL came up at least 3 times while I was at work, so I was a bit dubious to start with. As Katy was telling more of the story, more and more red flags came up. The guy insinuated, without actually saying, that they’d been contacted by the Régie who administers the building about a rise in burglaries (THEY TRIPLED IN THE LAST YEAR!) and how the visit was without obligation, and they’d already been around to all of the neighbours, and the only thing they wanted was for us to put stickers on our mailbox, and how they only had a limited number of free systems to give away…. you get the picture. Katy had Ben (literally) hanging off of her, and the guy was talking in French, so she told the guy to come back one evening next week when I was in.
Cue me doing a bit of internet snooping, to find that most of the elements that came up in his pitch have been reported by others as part of pressure sales tactics, and that, from asking the Concierge, no official (or even officious) referral was given from the Régie. You might get a “free” system, but you had to sign up for a multi-year monitoring contact.
Even their website is rather dubious. Look at these 2 screencaps:
and contrast them with the Protectron website, which I used when I was living in Montreal:
Slight difference in tone.
Hell, even their facebook page only has 3 likes (compared to the 4000+ for Protectron).
I was pretty much convinced that this wasn’t for us, but the clincher came when I tried to cancel the appointment. Classic pressure-sales tactics. “But we’ve already talked to all of your neighbours”, “we only have a limited number of free systems”, “the crime rate has tripled” yada yada yada. I took me 4 tries to cancel the appointment, and at each time there was “but go see apartments 28 A,B,C,D and E!”, “if not this week, can we arrange a meeting for next week?”. In the end, I told him in no uncertain terms that I had his details, and I would talk with my multiple neighbours, and if I was interested I’d call him back and take my chances if all the “free” systems were given away.
A coworker who was sitting next to me almost pissed herself throughout the whole phone call.
Shaved pussy
Here’s the boy after his recent haircut.
The tao of Zappa
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.
If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.
If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.
A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
Definition of rock journalism: People who can’t write, doing interviews with people who can’t think, in order to prepare articles for people who can’t read.
A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like Pep rallies and plastic robots who tell you what to read.
It’s better to have something to remember than anything to regret.
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.
Take the Kama Sutra. How many people died from the Kama Sutra as opposed to the Bible? Who wins?
The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced.
There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful, that it’s going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it.
You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer.
Tobacco is my favorite vegetable.
Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned–I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture, or necrodestination.
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.
The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own