For all the artists and crafters out there, new contest from DeSerres!

A Splash of Spring Colour
Like us on Facebook and you could win! You can also enter if you don’t have Facebook.

Prize
Grand prize: DeSerres gift card worth $250
5 second prizes : DeSerres gift card worth $50

Closing date:
April 22, 2012 18:00

Eligibility:
Be a Canadian citizen and resident – Be aged eighteen (18) years or older at the time of the Sweepstakes

Official rules:
click to view the rules

Sponsored by:
DeSerres

Case-hardening is a method of giving surface strength to a specific material. Hardening can only take place under conditions where there is a carbon content in the steel. In the case of some wind turbines, the gear wheels are made of a special, low-carbon, chrome-nickel steel. After the teeth are machined, the gear wheels are packed into large boxes full of bone flour or some other form of high carbon-content powder. The boxes are placed in an oven and heated for about 24 hours to a red glowing temperature. During this baking process, some of the free carbon will be transferred from the surrounding carbon-rich powder in the boxes to the gear wheel teeth surfaces.

I thought that was interesting and funny.

I suppose I could’ve bought book cloth, but I was told book cloth was expensive. I decided to look up the price for this post. First link I could find: Hollanders Linen Bookcloth Natural costs $4.75 for 18 by 25 inches. I can purchase 17 inch by 3.25 yards of Heat ‘n’ Bond Lite at Walmart or Joann’s for about $10 and I have fabric available.

I had the materials for the hard covers. I used canvas board that I had laying around for many, many years from when I thought I wanted to make miniature paintings for fun. I wrapped them with an old map of Suzhou and I have myself a couple, interesting covers.

I just used Mod Podge craft glue instead of Elmer’s glue or PVA. It seems to work fine, right now. The spine has been glued for about two weeks now and it’s gone through a fair bit of testing. I’ve been using it without the hard cover until now because I had to get the fabric washed before I could iron on the adhesive and paper backing.

I’m thinking the 2013 agenda will have anniversaries printed, too. Larger format? Flimsier cover? I have a year to decide.

A couple years ago, I tried to put together a list of restaurants that offer vegan and vegetarian options for Summerlicious. It’s been a while since I revisited the ‘Licious menus and I noticed that the City of Toronto offers more informative restaurant listings.

 In 2012 Winterlicious celebrates 10 years as one of Toronto’s favourite culinary events. There are 10 restaurants participating this year who were part of the inaugural promotion in 2003. Congratulations to these 10 and all Toronto restaurants who have served more than 3.2 million meals over the past nine years and have worked to make Winterlcious and Summerlicious such successful programs.

 Those restaurants with a leaf icon offer a vegetarian option as part of their menu.

 These restaurants are serving menus with at least one dish in each course made with local Ontario produce, meat and food ingredients.

 Each restaurant and event venue was asked to identify whether their location is fully barrier-free and wheel chair accessible. Look for this icon throughout the site.

There are over 90 restaurants that offer vegetarian options this year. Happy hunting for a Winterlicious restaurant you like!

Wednesday night. No Dell box to send in my Alienware for hardware replacement. “John”, the technical support representative I spoke with last week about my Alienware M11x R2 hinge problem, said my box would arrive on Monday or Tuesday. I just got off the phone with Alienware technical support and they have no record of anything being dispatched in the system. Apparently, when you call in for technical support, they’re supposed to give you a dispatch number if they’re going to send you something. The representative telling me it’s going to arrive on Monday or Tuesday wasn’t enough. Who knew? How was I supposed to know to ask for a dispatch number if he gave me confirmation that it was going to happen? They have these calls recording, don’t they? They just hate me.

I put in the support request again. Now, it’s Wednesday and the box will arrive in “3 days”. I’ll get it on Monday. Walk to Purolator on Tuesday. Take “10 business days” to get back to Dell. Take “5 business days” to replace the LCD. Take an unknown amount of time to send it back to me. ”Award-winning” technical support, indeed. Bunny ears are cool.

Pro tip: Ask for a dispatch number when they say they’re going to send you something, otherwise they won’t give you one and you’ll have to call in again.

It’s only been 5 days since I called in to Alienware and posted my first article on this issue. Since then, the official article that I linked has changed. It no longer mentions that they will replace the hinges out of warranty, no longer gives the reference numbers to the support articles that you should reference when you call in, no longer says anything but “contact us”. Now, I feel as if every time they put me on hold, they’re conspiring and trying to get their story straight before they tell me something. My prediction is that they will replace the display, send it back, charge me and tell me that Dell was no longer offering the replacement for free because the article oh-so-conveniently was erased after I called in. I’ll tell you in 4+ weeks how it goes.

Google Cache to the rescue. Here is the original article:

Article Summary: Alienware M11x R1 & R2: LCD Broken Hinges

What is happening? Broken hinges on any Alienware M11x system for any R1 or R2 customer worldwide regardless of warranty status.

Solution This fix is not meant to be pre-emptive. Please only contact us if your hinge assembly is broken. Like we mentioned before, most R1 or R2 Alienware M11x customers never experience any problems. Down the road, if you do, we will support you. Our goal is to make the replacement as easy as possible for any of our global customers who may have been impacted. If you’re an M11x owner who’s experiencing problems with the hinge assembly, please contact Alienware Technical Support. Here’s how to do it:

Customers in the United States or Canada:

If you’re an M11x owner in the United States or Canada who has a problem with the hinge assembly, there are two options:

1. E-mail Dell Support at AWCC-Resolution_Experts@Dell.com; The e-mail address is provided for customers in the United States and Canada and it’s set up to manage this repair order only. When preparing the email, please add your Service Tag, Contact Telephone number and Best Time to Reach you.
2. Contact standard Dell Tech Support. Here’s how to do it:
• Please visit support.dell.com.
• Select “Support for Home Users”
• Go toward the bottom of the page, on the left hand side under Contact Us and select “Contact Technical Support”
• Finally, select your preferred method to contact Technical Support (choose either “E-mail” or “Telephone”).
• When you talk to Technical Support, you can reference the following documents that outline the issue and the fix:
1. Delta Knowledge ID: 401161
2. DSN PSQN Document ID: 376475

Customers outside the United States:

If you’re an M11x owner in outside the US or Canada who has a problem with the hinge assembly, please contact Dell TechSupport in your region:

• Please visit support.dell.com.
• Select your country from the top left drop down menu, then select Support for Home Users
• Go toward the bottom of the page, on the left hand side under Contact Us and select Contact Technical Support
• Finally, select your preferred method to contact Technical Support (options include: E-mail or Telephone).
• When you talk to Technical Support, you can reference the following documents that outline the issue and the fix:
1. Delta Knowledge ID: 401161
2. DSN PSQN Document ID: 376475

Other things to keep in mind:

1. Standard warranty types will apply, so you may be asked to mail your system if your original contract was the “return to depot” variety. Once you’ve contacted Dell, you should hear from someone within the next 5-7 business days to arrange the details of the repair.
2. Please note the email address and phone numbers I provided in the bullet points above are to support R1 and R2 customers who need hinge replacements. If you are looking for tech support not related to the M11x hinge issue, please contact Alienware Community Forums on Dell.com.

Feel free to ask any questions related to the Alienware M11x hinge repair process in the comments below. Thanks again for your patience.

Thank you for your inquiry,
The Alienware Support Team

Above is a picture of my Alienware M11x R2. You’re looking at the left LCD hinge. This is what happens when I open and close the display without bracing the hinge and holding it together. This has caused bits of broken plastic to get inside the display, so I have black dots all over the left side of my display. The bending has caused a crack to form on the front of the LCD display case just above the hinge. The illuminated keyboard is dimmer on the left side. The webcam’s gone green on me before because the wires were getting pinched. I don’t think this repair is being pre-emptive. I use this laptop for work and personal. I had to find a time to be without it for 4 to 6 weeks, but that time will never come. So I decided to send it in this month.

Update (2012-01-27): I decided to pre-emptively call Alienware on Friday–two days after my second time on the phone with Alienware–to make sure that the support request was in their system. I didn’t want to wait until the following Wednesday to find out something went wrong again and have to prolong the replacement. After 40 minutes on the phone with the rep, they found my support request and told me that the box is on its way. I received it that afternoon. Yay! The instructions said that I had to have a driver pick it up and I shouldn’t drop it off at Purolator, so I had to call in and book a time. I was going to be in Kingston all of Monday for a meeting so I had to push it to Tuesday for a morning pick-up so I could make my noon meeting. Purolator came by and picked up the box. I was expecting three weeks from this Tuesday because that’s how long they estimated it to be. But today is Friday, four days after the box left my porch and I have the fixed laptop on my desk. That took about 15 days from my first call to get it fixed. Much shorter than I was led to expect. *cheer* Back to business-as-usual. Except… whites are no longer whites on the LCD but dirty whites or yellowish. I use an external so it’s easy to compare. What do I do now? Another call to Alienware?

Related: Pastor Mark, The Resurgence

My first laptop’s video card gets fried three months in. My second laptop has a hinge problem that is their fault. Both problems are (or will be) replaced for free. But why can’t I have a laptop that only has problems caused by me?

I just put in my work order for my Alienware M11x R2 to get the broken hinge problem dealt with. The M11x R1 and M11x R2 both have a problem with “faulty” hinges. At one point, I read it was because Dell tightened the fasteners too much *shrugs*. Whatever it is, your hinge will crack over time. Dell will replace it for free, even if your warranty ran out. My box arrives on Monday. Walk to Purolator, latest by Tuesday. Wait for Dell to receive it in 2 weeks (“approximately 10 business days”). They’ll take “5 business days” to replace the display. And an unknown amount of time to ship it back to me.

Last September, Dell finally published an official article outlining the procedures for getting it replaced. Call 1-800-ALIENWARE for support when you start to see it happen to yours. They won’t replace it if it hasn’t started to crack yet.

Edit (2012-01-18): Since the post just 5 days ago, they have changed the official article. It used to say that they will replace it out of warranty and gives you the support knowledge ID to reference to when speaking with a representative. My prediction is that they will fix my laptop and charge me and tell me they never said they would do it out of warranty. I’ll tell you in 4+ weeks. 

Laptops give me headaches. My first laptop, a Toshiba, gave me buyer’s remorse even before it arrived. I actually had my eyes on an Asus Lamborghini, but that didn’t end up happening because I got suckered into the Toshiba-has-better-support-than-Asus ploy. Three months in, video card died one night while I was doing nothing of import, had to get it replaced. I can see why Toshiba needs support if things break down that quickly. I will commend them for having in-person service. That’s the convenience I miss with Alienware. Shipping times makes me sad.

The plastic case wasn’t doing it for me. I used it and ported it around daily. There were cracks on the screen case from pressure from the books in my backpack, even a notebook backpack wasn’t enough to keep my laptop safe from me; the wireless switch cover broke off exposing the LED and making it inconvenient to physically turn off Wi-Fi; and my infamous, left palm print on the palm rest from daily use, the silver coating on the case faded into my palm print. The pressure from books in my backpack also caused the plastic case to bend and bruise the screen.

While I was in China, the AC adapter died on me and I had to get it replaced because there was no way I was going to buy a laptop while I was over there. One night, the Shift keys decided they were going to retire and stop working–both of them, at the same time. My “W” key is permanent depressed and never returned to its idle position. It’s just a mess.

I had forgotten about all these problems. A couple nights ago, I pulled out my Toshiba and thought to reformat it so I could at least use it as a replacement while my Alienware was sent in to be fixed. But nooo, the recovery CD didn’t work and now the partition is dead and I have to deal with that later when I have more time. That was supposed to be my PVR when I had time to set it up. For shame, laptop!

I didn’t replace that laptop until it turned 6. Looking back at our time together, I did learn a lot from it. I have, undoubtedly, become more neurotic when purchasing a laptop but I like to call it attention-to-details. I learned what I prefer in a laptop that is supposed to last me years. It’s why I chose the Alienware M11x R2.

Size. My old laptop was a 15-inch, my new one an 11.6-inch. Lugging around a 15-inch notebook daily in university was okay, the commute isn’t that long. But lugging around a 15-inch notebook through customs and huge airports with two suitcases and two carry-ons really turned me off to it. Mind you, I was looking for a semi-portable, semi-desktop-replacement when I originally purchased it. I had no idea I would be journeying halfway around the world.

Chassis. Plastic versus magnesium alloy. I saw what plastic could handle, now it was time for something stiff that can protect the screen better.

Battery Life. I’m okay with a mediocre battery life. I hardly use my laptop on battery without my AC adapter in my purse and nearby electrical outlets mapped out in my head. Side note, the Alienware M11x R3 battery life knocks the R2 out of the park, coming in at just under 13 hours on power save and 143 minutes on high load.

Fast. Since I started customizing my own desktop computers, I was always looking to do things faster. I like to do a range of things on my computer–and usually all at the same time. Someone convinced me that 2 GB of RAM was enough for my Toshiba; I insisted I needed more. I needed more. Lesson learned for #2. For processing power and graphics capability, Alienware had the best option. Everything else at that size were mostly netbooks. Alienware was the logical choice.

When I bought the Alienware, I couldn’t justify getting an 128 GB SSD for the upgrade price. The hard drive on my old laptop never failed me but after I bought my Alienware, one of my external hard drives died; I attribute it to the external hard drive travelling to and from China with me. It has a lot of bumps and bruises from residing in my backpack and getting crammed into the overhead compartments of airplanes. Laptop #3–4.5 more years down the line–will have an SSD so I don’t have any moving parts to break from jostle and tousle on the hard drive. And by then, the price will have gone down. Win!

• is never out of date.
• can always be cashed at any Canadian bank branch, for free, even if you are not a customer.
• can only be refused to be cashed by a bank if the value is over $1,500.

Don’t forget your identification when you go in to cash your cheque.

If the bank won’t cash your cheque,

• Ask for a letter saying it will not cash your cheque. The bank must give you this letter. It must also tell you how to contact FCAC.
• Tell the bank you want to make a complaint. By law, all banks and federally regulated trust or loan companies must have a complaint-handling process.
• Call FCAC. They’re here to help.

You’ve gotta love finding forgotten money. It’s another form of saving money. A gift from above.

If you have questions or want to apply, please let me know and I will tried to answer your questions and/or connect you.