Thursday, May 8. 2008
On War and Peace
After about nine months of reading, I have finally finished the book "War and Peace". To be fair, I have also read three other titles during that time period. To give further perspective to the immensity of the book, it took me 11 days to read my latest Clive Cussler book.
I should also tell you that this has not been my first attempt at reading this book. Last time, I was only able to make it about one hundred pages in. I was prompted to attempt the book again after hearing about a gentleman that had a list of things he wanted to accomplish before he died. He said that reading War and Peace was one of the most rewarding because it requires a long-term commitment, whereas bungee jumping takes a few seconds.
The thing with W&P is that it takes a lot of work at the start because you meet so many characters at all of the parties that are going on. Once you get past the first part though, people start dying off and the plot becomes more and more focused. The number of battles and the level of detail is impressive but not monotonous, the flow of the book overall is great. Far and away my favourite part of the book was the commentary by Mr. Tolstoy on the ability and biases of Historians when examining the happenings of the period that W&P is set in. On top of this fresh perspective on Historical events, I really like the way that he pictured the general morale of the Russian and French armies as being the true driving force behind events, not the actions or desires of individuals such as Napoleon or Alexander or their war councils.
To be completely honest with you, I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book. It felt like there was too much winding down after the grand finale. After nine months, I expected the unexpected but the book actually finishes in a pretty predictable manner. Be that as it may, between the slow start and the slow end were hundreds of pages of excellent reading. Long story short, if you haven't made a list of the one hundred things you want to do before you die, make one now. And put reading War and Peace near the top of the list.
I should also tell you that this has not been my first attempt at reading this book. Last time, I was only able to make it about one hundred pages in. I was prompted to attempt the book again after hearing about a gentleman that had a list of things he wanted to accomplish before he died. He said that reading War and Peace was one of the most rewarding because it requires a long-term commitment, whereas bungee jumping takes a few seconds.
The thing with W&P is that it takes a lot of work at the start because you meet so many characters at all of the parties that are going on. Once you get past the first part though, people start dying off and the plot becomes more and more focused. The number of battles and the level of detail is impressive but not monotonous, the flow of the book overall is great. Far and away my favourite part of the book was the commentary by Mr. Tolstoy on the ability and biases of Historians when examining the happenings of the period that W&P is set in. On top of this fresh perspective on Historical events, I really like the way that he pictured the general morale of the Russian and French armies as being the true driving force behind events, not the actions or desires of individuals such as Napoleon or Alexander or their war councils.
To be completely honest with you, I was a little disappointed in the ending of the book. It felt like there was too much winding down after the grand finale. After nine months, I expected the unexpected but the book actually finishes in a pretty predictable manner. Be that as it may, between the slow start and the slow end were hundreds of pages of excellent reading. Long story short, if you haven't made a list of the one hundred things you want to do before you die, make one now. And put reading War and Peace near the top of the list.
Tuesday, April 8. 2008
The Vibe has died
Okay, so I had this 2003 Pontiac Vibe. Nice car, all wheel drive, all of the options except leather. It had 115k on it and the engine just dies for no good reason. I have taken it to get regular maintenance like oil changes and stuff from the dealership ever since we bought it. When I took the thing in, it had a slight tick when it was cold. It was also due for oil change and tire rotation as well as it's semi-bi-multi year inspection. The mechanics at Gus Browne's (GB) here in Oshawa couldn't figure out where the sounds were coming from so it was reported to me that there would need to be some investigation done so as to determine the seriousness of the situation. I agreed to have them take it apart as I really needed to know what I was going to do in a hurry since the Vibe was our only vehicle.
Long story short, the found that the bearings had spun on the crank shaft (a serious problem) and offered the following three solutions:
1) Order a brand new engine from GM: $12,000. The engine would have to be shipped from the plant to GM and then to Gus Browne's - possibly weeks to get the car back on the road
2) Rebuild the bottom end of the engine: $8,000. A tick to me is in the top end of the engine (valves or lifters) and if the bottom end rebuild didn't fix it, GB would not do anything to help me out despite the fact that it was their advice that I would be taking in doing the lower rebuild. This part was also on consignment so who knows how long it would take to come in anyway.
3) Get a used engine from a wreckers: $5,700 +tax. WTF!?!?! Worse, when I asked the guy if there was any sort of warranty on the work, he said that there was going to be a 60 day warranty on the engine itself from the wreckers and ... that's it. If they mechanics left a clamp loose and the engine seized on the way home from the shop, they wouldn't do anything to help me out.
Turns out if they had tried to wash their hands of the situation that I could have brought out a copy of the Consumer Protection Act which has an entire section on Motor Vehicle Repairs. Part VI, Section 63, Subsections 1-8 to be exact. But more on that later...
Long story short, the found that the bearings had spun on the crank shaft (a serious problem) and offered the following three solutions:
1) Order a brand new engine from GM: $12,000. The engine would have to be shipped from the plant to GM and then to Gus Browne's - possibly weeks to get the car back on the road
2) Rebuild the bottom end of the engine: $8,000. A tick to me is in the top end of the engine (valves or lifters) and if the bottom end rebuild didn't fix it, GB would not do anything to help me out despite the fact that it was their advice that I would be taking in doing the lower rebuild. This part was also on consignment so who knows how long it would take to come in anyway.
3) Get a used engine from a wreckers: $5,700 +tax. WTF!?!?! Worse, when I asked the guy if there was any sort of warranty on the work, he said that there was going to be a 60 day warranty on the engine itself from the wreckers and ... that's it. If they mechanics left a clamp loose and the engine seized on the way home from the shop, they wouldn't do anything to help me out.
Turns out if they had tried to wash their hands of the situation that I could have brought out a copy of the Consumer Protection Act which has an entire section on Motor Vehicle Repairs. Part VI, Section 63, Subsections 1-8 to be exact. But more on that later...
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