15 November 2009
Conversations
15/11/09 12:54
This week I was at the Pacific Shores resort. installing a wireless (WiFi) network. The original plan was to put a transmitter in every room but we found that we only needed to put a transmitter in every fourth. The signal was strong enough to push through the walls of the others. This made the process go much faster, but it still took most of the week. What also helped was that there were few guests in the Resort, it being halfway between Summer and the Holidays. I went through 300, 400, and 500 block without running into anyone. (200 block was already done and 100 block is the lobby and offices which are hard wired.)
Late on Thursday I finally got to 600 Block. 600 Block was different. 600 Block was occupied. It was time for me to become "Jovial Chatty Tech Guy". Now, in each room I had to do two things. First I had to install a filter in the wall behind the phone jack. The internet signal is rather noisy so the filter eliminated any extra static on the line.The other thing I had to do was fabricate a bracket out of strapping and attach the WiFi transmitter to the bottom of the night stand in the bedroom and plug it in. The whole process usually took around 20 minutes.
In the first 600 block room, I rang the doorbell. No answer. I used the pass-card to open the door and announced myself. There was also no answer, so I went in. As I was setting up I noticed a few things. Bags were in the corner, car keys were on the counter, and a pair of shoes near the door. This was not unusual for an occupied room, people leave stuff all over. What was unusual was , the plate with a couple of half eaten pancakes on the table. Then I noticed that the bedroom door was closed and it all came together. It may only have been 6:00 but the guest, had eaten dinner and gone to bed. Holy Crap I said (silently to myself, I think). The last thing I wanted to do was terrify some little old lady on vacation. I cleared out as fast and as quietly as possible. I went back and finished that room the next day after the guest had checked out.
The next room was occupied by an older couple. They were from BC, a town just a few miles south of Nanaimo. I found out that they had bought their timeshare when Pacific Shores opened around eight years ago. However this was the first time they had ever stayed at the Resort. This sounds odd but what I've learned about timeshares is that you own a week at the resort but you can trade your share for time at other resorts. In this case they had always traded it for time elsewhere: They had gone to Disneyland. They had gone to Florida. They went on a couple of cruises. They did all sorts of things. This year however they decided to stay close to home and were impressed. They didn't know Pacific Shores was such a nice place.
The next room was occupied by a single gentleman. He was retired and I found out that he'd worked as an aircraft mechanic his whole life. He started in the Canadian military stationed in Newfoundland. He talked about how in the '60s his base had to get ready for a visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. They spent days cleaning everything and prepping three identical planes to carry the Royal family (one primary and two backups) . The plan was for the Royal couple to drive to the base and then fly to the next base down the coast. They worked for days cleaning and polishing,and making sure everything on the base and especially in regards to the planes was perfect. On the day of the visit, the Queen arrived, looked around for a minute and said "Oh it's such a beautiful day, let's drive instead", whereupon they hopped back in the car and disappeared down the road. He was still annoyed about that one.
After leaving the military he worked on light planes in the prairies. Beavers, Super Cubs, and assorted Cessana's on floats and then retired to BC. I told him about the Aeronca Sedan and the other planes we had while I grew up. Also how even though I wasn't working in aviation, I still used what I'd learned, the techniques and attention to detail and quality. It was a very nice chat. Finally though I was done and had confirmed that the WiFi was working properly. So I bid him goodnight and departed for the last room.
The last room was as different from the other two as could be. Like the others it was occupied, sort of. The door was answered by a sullen teenage girl with black hair, eye shadow, and lipstick and a 'I'm so sick of going on vacation with my parents' attitude seeping out of every pore. She let me in, mumbled something and disappeared into the back room. She was the only one in the room, the parents having presumably gone out to dinner or something. I completed the installation and cleared out as quickly as possible.
So it was a full week. I met a few people which was a nice change from most where I work at home and just talk to the cat.
In other news a Canadian cat caused an international incident. Here's a link to the BBC article but the gist of it is this. The Canadian Transportation minister had a cat. The important word being had. The cat, named Thatcher, passed away this week. The Minister sent a text message to his friends saying 'Thatcher is dead'. Unfortunately, being he is part of the government some of the receivers assumed that this was an official announcement that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had passed away. Much confusion ensued and the government was starting to write a press release of condolence and to make plans for Canadian Prime Minister Harper to attend the funeral. Only when this last office called Downing Street did they find out that, much to Harpers Office's embarrassment, that Margaret Thatcher was fine. Private services were held for the cat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8358544.stm
This is Marsha.
I had to add one last thing. Saturday we were watching NCIS. One of the stories at the beginning was how one of the characters had received a box of stuff from his college days. The point was that he was such a geek that he still treasured all of the old computers in the box. Doug however stopped rubbing my feet and excitedly identified the model of computers he pulled out. a Mac Classic, a PowerBook and knew the year and history of each. I married such a Geek.
You know you are in Canada when.
I was in a store on Friday and was wearing one of my University of MN Golden Gopher shirts. There was no sport name (football, basketball, etc) on the shirt. The first words out of the clerk's mouth was, Oh who do you know who plays hockey for the Gophers? Apparently there is no other reason to go to the U.
It was a very stormy day at the beach today.
Doug & Marsha
Late on Thursday I finally got to 600 Block. 600 Block was different. 600 Block was occupied. It was time for me to become "Jovial Chatty Tech Guy". Now, in each room I had to do two things. First I had to install a filter in the wall behind the phone jack. The internet signal is rather noisy so the filter eliminated any extra static on the line.The other thing I had to do was fabricate a bracket out of strapping and attach the WiFi transmitter to the bottom of the night stand in the bedroom and plug it in. The whole process usually took around 20 minutes.
In the first 600 block room, I rang the doorbell. No answer. I used the pass-card to open the door and announced myself. There was also no answer, so I went in. As I was setting up I noticed a few things. Bags were in the corner, car keys were on the counter, and a pair of shoes near the door. This was not unusual for an occupied room, people leave stuff all over. What was unusual was , the plate with a couple of half eaten pancakes on the table. Then I noticed that the bedroom door was closed and it all came together. It may only have been 6:00 but the guest, had eaten dinner and gone to bed. Holy Crap I said (silently to myself, I think). The last thing I wanted to do was terrify some little old lady on vacation. I cleared out as fast and as quietly as possible. I went back and finished that room the next day after the guest had checked out.
The next room was occupied by an older couple. They were from BC, a town just a few miles south of Nanaimo. I found out that they had bought their timeshare when Pacific Shores opened around eight years ago. However this was the first time they had ever stayed at the Resort. This sounds odd but what I've learned about timeshares is that you own a week at the resort but you can trade your share for time at other resorts. In this case they had always traded it for time elsewhere: They had gone to Disneyland. They had gone to Florida. They went on a couple of cruises. They did all sorts of things. This year however they decided to stay close to home and were impressed. They didn't know Pacific Shores was such a nice place.
The next room was occupied by a single gentleman. He was retired and I found out that he'd worked as an aircraft mechanic his whole life. He started in the Canadian military stationed in Newfoundland. He talked about how in the '60s his base had to get ready for a visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. They spent days cleaning everything and prepping three identical planes to carry the Royal family (one primary and two backups) . The plan was for the Royal couple to drive to the base and then fly to the next base down the coast. They worked for days cleaning and polishing,and making sure everything on the base and especially in regards to the planes was perfect. On the day of the visit, the Queen arrived, looked around for a minute and said "Oh it's such a beautiful day, let's drive instead", whereupon they hopped back in the car and disappeared down the road. He was still annoyed about that one.
After leaving the military he worked on light planes in the prairies. Beavers, Super Cubs, and assorted Cessana's on floats and then retired to BC. I told him about the Aeronca Sedan and the other planes we had while I grew up. Also how even though I wasn't working in aviation, I still used what I'd learned, the techniques and attention to detail and quality. It was a very nice chat. Finally though I was done and had confirmed that the WiFi was working properly. So I bid him goodnight and departed for the last room.
The last room was as different from the other two as could be. Like the others it was occupied, sort of. The door was answered by a sullen teenage girl with black hair, eye shadow, and lipstick and a 'I'm so sick of going on vacation with my parents' attitude seeping out of every pore. She let me in, mumbled something and disappeared into the back room. She was the only one in the room, the parents having presumably gone out to dinner or something. I completed the installation and cleared out as quickly as possible.
So it was a full week. I met a few people which was a nice change from most where I work at home and just talk to the cat.
In other news a Canadian cat caused an international incident. Here's a link to the BBC article but the gist of it is this. The Canadian Transportation minister had a cat. The important word being had. The cat, named Thatcher, passed away this week. The Minister sent a text message to his friends saying 'Thatcher is dead'. Unfortunately, being he is part of the government some of the receivers assumed that this was an official announcement that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had passed away. Much confusion ensued and the government was starting to write a press release of condolence and to make plans for Canadian Prime Minister Harper to attend the funeral. Only when this last office called Downing Street did they find out that, much to Harpers Office's embarrassment, that Margaret Thatcher was fine. Private services were held for the cat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8358544.stm
This is Marsha.
I had to add one last thing. Saturday we were watching NCIS. One of the stories at the beginning was how one of the characters had received a box of stuff from his college days. The point was that he was such a geek that he still treasured all of the old computers in the box. Doug however stopped rubbing my feet and excitedly identified the model of computers he pulled out. a Mac Classic, a PowerBook and knew the year and history of each. I married such a Geek.
You know you are in Canada when.
I was in a store on Friday and was wearing one of my University of MN Golden Gopher shirts. There was no sport name (football, basketball, etc) on the shirt. The first words out of the clerk's mouth was, Oh who do you know who plays hockey for the Gophers? Apparently there is no other reason to go to the U.
It was a very stormy day at the beach today.
Doug & Marsha