"Keep a Journal: How else are you going to get a good look at who you were?"

Monday, December 31, 2007

And now, a word from the voices in your head...

I recall an entry from Sept. of 2005 in which I discussed a dialog with the Still Small Voice.

Well, I've had another one of Those Days...

The Kids got a Wii for Xmas.

They broke the Wii earlier today.

This is some kind of record...they've only had the @#$%^&*!!! thing less than a week now...

So, after several stern words about the futility of indulging them and buying for them expensive tokens of rampant consumerism; only to have those trinkets destroyed by their boorish negligence...

Sorry, don't mean to go on about it.

We've set up the Wii atop Colin's dresser in the corner of his room. This is exactly where we had the gamecube (tm). It's getting rather crowded atop Colin's dresser now. I wanted to set the Wii up in the livingroom but Her Nibs decreed that it would interfere with her soap and talkshow watching if the kids were constantly at the TV playing the game console. Therefore the Wii was banished to the boy's bedroom. The kids aren't all that conscientious about keeping cables and boxes 'n things out of the way of...other things -- like say, Colin's dresser drawers.

SO: the Wii got pulled off Colin's dresser not once, not twice, but three different times today.

Third time was the charm...so to speak.

The console still operated and displayed, but it wouldn't read disks.

As the Dad Who Works Miracles, I had a bit of a dilemma...a true What Do I Do Now moment.

And the Still Small Voice answered once again:

SSV: You know, that unit probably fell on it's front panel, and since everything else still works, the impact probably knocked the laser assembly out of alignment.

Me: Yeah, so?

SSV: Well...what if you knocked it about on the other end...just a few firm taps.

Me: You have got to be kidding.

SSV: It's already broken, what have you got to lose?

Me: C'mon, that only works in SitComs, and my life is not a sitcom.

SSV: Murphy's Law of repair: If it doesn't work, shake it...if it breaks, it needed fixing anyway.

Me: sigh...all right.

So I *carefully* disconnected all the various cables and errata from the console and, holding the unit a couple of inches above a cleared space on Colin's dresser, gave it a firm 'thunk' - one, two, three times - on the back panel. Then hooked it all up again and plugged it back in.

It worked.

Unbelievable.

On the other hand, I could use a little SitCom 'magic' in my life.

More later. Yappy Hew Near, and Holly Happydays.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Holly Happydays!

The real story of the flood so far:

It's snowrained twice in the lower drainland in the last 10 days or so. Once again, water is seeping into the basement from the (probably damaged) southeast corner of the foundations. I am going to have to dig up the drain tile at that corner and try to figure out what the @#$%^&*!!! is going on down there.

Of course this time, the water made a beeline for the floor drain in the laundry area (about 20' away) and left the building. Why the water didn't head out through the foundation drainage is an excellent question. Either there is something still wrong with our foundation drainage at that point ($$$$$!!!), or there is something wrong with our neighbor's drainage to the east (upslope) of us. I sincerely hope the foundation isn't cracked and needing re-sealing or repair. I can do it...but I don't want to.

At least we are no longer flooding Manny's front lawn.

This latest development will almost certainly delay our restoration reno downstairs. My insurer has asked me to get a statement from our plumbing contractor. I may have to buy Claude a case of beer. His statement, plus the pictures I took, ought to provide pretty strong evidence that the city pooched.

There's a cable drum in my driveway.

'Twas left there a week ago by persons unknown...although I did hear inebriated voices and giggling about 4:30 am that morning. Also thought I heard my name mentioned. Was too groggy to go out and witness the hilarity for myself...I suppose someone at the city took exception to my calling them out to fix their mistake - after I paid 1700$ of my own money to show them just how big that mistake was.

"If we do it for you, we'd have to do it for everyone." Darren, I may have to make it my life's work to ensure that those words haunt you for the rest of your career...

Don't even get me started on the issue of negligence. The city could have said something to me back in August. Something like: "we couldn't find the outlet pipe for your foundation drain and it's possible that whatever arrangement you presently have for drainage will be adversely effected by the new storm line we just installed, and the fact that we also filled in the drainage ditch." Had they said that in August, I would gladly have paid the 500$ or so that it cost to have Milani locate that pipe and dig it up in my driveway. Since they didn't even mention it until after the first flood occurred around October 20th, and then only to point out the impossibility that the water coming up through our floor drain was coming from their new storm sewer line (which was impossible, as the two weren't even connected - and I completely missed the significance of that statement then), I think they ought to at least be on the hook for some of what I paid (uselessly)to fix a problem the nature of which they didn't actually explain to me until this month. How about it, Delta? Wanna pay the 1200$ I spent having drain tile and floor drain augered and the sump dug up and the driveway dug up and the piping scoped with a camera (twice)? I know my Insurance is going after the Corp of Delta for the costs of the cleanup(s) and restoration that would NOT have been necessary in the first place if SOMEBODY had said something back in AUGUST and we had been able to get the problem remedied THEN for a mere 500$!!!

But I'm not bitter, or anything...even though I still have to deal with possible damage to the foundation.

Sigh. This will be resolved. There is a light at the end of the tunnel...of course, given my luck lately; it's probably just an oncoming train.




Sunday, December 09, 2007

The Story of the Flood so far:

KWY wrote me a letter when he accidentally hit the wrong "send" button and I got some of his business Email and razzed him about it. His basement in his new place in Mountain View, Alberta has also had a flood recently.

So I wrote him back:

Hello again;

I'll see your flooded basement and raise you two more; plus a third next week if I can't get the City of Delta and the good people at Milani Plumbing & Drainage on the same page.

If you've been keeping up on my 'blog ( www.brianarcweblog.blogspot.com ), you've already read how we came home from vacation Oct. 20th to find most of the basement floor covered in water. We had the floor removed, and moved the contents to the west end of the basement. Record rainfall, and a faulty drain were blamed and life went on.

Then, of course I got a premonition in the wee hours of Dec. 3rd...

Floor drain was full of water...again.

Water was rising...again.

The water couldn't rise any further than two inches 'cause that's the height of the toilet flange in the downstairs bathroom...the sanitary line is still ok, but the foundation drainage was apparently still obstructed...

Ok...let's shorten this up a bit...

Milani came out on Tuesday and flushed the foundation tile, and incidentally found concrete blocking the connection to the storm drain. When we called the City to find out what was up, we were told that was because our drain was never actually connected...

Uwah?

The city's contractor went looking for the outlet pipe from our house...but didn't find it, and due to liability issues, they could not dig up the entire driveway to go looking for it. Nice of them to tell us, eh?

SO:

Milani is coming out tomorrow (tried for today) and will go looking for that outlet. IF their guy finds it, I can let the city know and they will - For FREE! - dig it up and connect it to the new storm drain. If he can't, I will pay several thou$and dollar$ to have a trench dug across my driveway from the nearest downspout port to where the storm drain IC is. I do hope they'll re-pave...

In the meantime, of course, we've moved all the contents (again!) to the garage workshop. We'll be getting the entire basement flooring, walls, bathroom and possibly even the downstairs steps re-done. I want to rent the suite out after it's refurbished...what Laurie wants I will leave for another letter.

Hoping to find you and yours well and prosperous;

Brian.

Ok...that brings us up to Monday. Milani did indeed find the drain sump, and the outlet pipe therefrom...it stops about 6 feet short of where the city was digging last summer, but it does head off in the direction the plans they have on file show. Unfortunately, milani's technician couldn't tell where the pipe exited. At the point where the camera stopped, the pipe is either collapsed, blocked with debris, or makes an abrupt turn. I think it turns 45 deg to the west and abuts on the hollow ash brick retaining wall; from there it used to drain into the drainage ditch...but of course, the ditch isn't there any more.

Rob, from the Corp of Delta, is on vacation next week, but he was good enough to introduce me to Darren...who is Superintendent with the works dept. Darren will be coming out Monday morning to have a look at the situation; if it meets his approval, he'll arrange for a crew to come out either Monday afternoon or Tuesday. I'm sure "wednesday at the latest" is in the back of his mind somewhere.

If he doesn't approve...I may just take a mattock to the @#$%^&*!!! driveway.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Quick post before bed...I am probably going to work tomorrow...at least, I hope so.

The starter on the car went.

No panic on this one. The failure was gradual, the symptoms were clear, and I bought a replacement starter two days ago. This morning I booked off work to deal with the flood and since I hadn't had a chance to re/re the starter yesterday, I took a couple hours while the guys from Yaletown Restorations were here setting up the pumps to pump the basement dry. Laurie also had an early start at her job today. She asked if I could get her to work; I said "maybe".

The starter had to have one more crank, didn't it? Just the same, it was a near thing; took about six tries. Once I got the car home again and carefully positioned it in the garage, I tried the starter again...no dice. The fault was in something called the "overrun clutch". The result being that the starter could only turn the engine 1-2 turns before the bendix gear disengaged and the starter would just sit there spinning. The symptoms were described exactly in my Haynes manual.

How unexpected.

I have whinged long and loud about the dubious utility of Haynes manuals before. This was completely different. The symptoms were clear, the procedure was straightforward, and although I spent half the time pacing back and forth between the garage and the shop (searching for the right-sized tool), I still managed to get the job done without a hitch.

This went so well I'm a little freaked out...

Our neighbor Shelly noticed Yaletown's van in our driveway and asked what sort of problems we'd been having. She herself has a flooded yard, as does our next-door neighbor, Manny. Two doors further down from Shelly, they had to move out because their entire basement was filled with Sewage! It would seem that the Corporation of Delta (and their Contractor) has much to answer for in what would appear to have been a botched sewer upgrade on our street.

Shelly might not be thinking "class action lawsuit"...but I am.
AWWWwwwwwwwww -- crap...

I got a brand new bed yesterday.

I am finally sleeping (separately from my wife - long story) up off the living room floor (air mattress) and off the (dog hair coated) couch.

But it takes some getting used to, you know?

I usually get up in the wee hours to pee (hello middle age!). I had a premonition.

You see, the Lower Drainland got about 30-40cm of snow this weekend. This evening, about 6PM, the snow turned to rain...and hasn't stopped yet. The last time it rained this hard was the week that we got back from Disneyland, so I toddled downstairs to see how the floor drain was doing...

It was full of water. The water appeared to be rising...very slowly.

At 3AM, about 20 minutes after I woke, I grabbed our Canon digital camera and recorded a 20 second clip of the drain just as the water was pushing past the rim...then I took a few still shots of the growing puddle around the drain.

According to the Delta Municipality...it is impossible for water to be coming up that floor drain from outside.

Gotcha now...or so I thought.

I rigged up the siphon spout in the laundry room wash sink, and watched the water level drop dramatically in the drain...then turned around to see:

WATER COMING IN FROM UNDER THE FOUNDATION SILL!!

Pretty much from all over the basement...

as of this writing (I'll be done about 6:30) there is about 1-2" of standing water in the basement...

The water can't go any higher than the toilet flange, as there is no longer a toilet sitting on it; unfortunately, I can't get the flange off...so that puts the height of the flood at about 2". This is enough water to soak all the footings on all the walls. I am now going to need to put our washer, dryer, hot water heater and freezer up on footings...'cause this is probably going to happen again.

Crap.