Marathon Life

Thursday, August 18, 2011

I Spoke Too Soon

Nope. I thought that the nightmare of a patio/door repair was done. Well, it is not. It took us a while to do another water test after they came back to properly seal up under the door so water would not come in from the patio. The week after the failed water test, the door subcontractor's workers came back and sealed up underneath the door threshold and also made adjustments to the bottom of the door.

So finally we got around to do another test on Fri, Aug 5. I was fearful that water was still going to come through. My fears become a reality unfortunately. The contractor was not present for the water test, but I ended up taking a video of it which you can see above. We simply used a garden hose and a nozzle with a shower spray setting. I simulated as best as I could a rain storm. I distinctly recall water hitting those doors very hard last winter/spring. So I put it to a level I thought was appropriate. Within minutes water was coming through the middle of the two doors. I immediately called the contractor and also the door contractor he hired (the subcontractor). It turns out the window guy is the one who has to deal with this.

Finally, after constant back and forth with the unit owner, he came today to look at it. He said he has to make some kind of adjustment to it next Monday. I am terrified that water is going to come through again and flood into my ceilings/walls. All those repairs may be wasted, about $9,000 worth. We WILL NOT pay for any damage caused by water coming through those doors!

The contractor is trying to tell us we are doing the water test wrong and that we can't just spray directly into the door. I explained through email that I did not do that. I went side to side as if it were a windy rain storm. He will not be accountable for his error. What other excuse is he going to give us once it rains and water comes through again? How can he possibly blame us for this? I want to PREVENT this from happening by simulating a storm. If he wants to wait until it rains for real to see that his "fix it job" didn't work, then I guess that is all we can do at this point.

We will be doing a THIRD water test after he fixes he. Neither the owner nor me could be there today. He apparently told my neighbor that there is nothing wrong with the door, but he will be back to add something to the bottom of it. Whatever. I am SO DONE with this guy. Regardless of the outcome, I will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the State Contractors Licensing Board.  I may just do it now.

IT'S ON!
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posted by Anthony at 10:19 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Favourite San Diego Things: Hillcrest Farmer's Market

Thai food at the market
I am starting a new series of posts discussing some of my favourite things to do in San Diego to try to get myself more into blogging about stuff OTHER than my condo owning frustrations and repairs. I will also spell EXACTLY like Canadians using "ou" and "re" as much as possible. I just like that way the words look on the page. They are distinctive. Call me a fool or whatever you want. I will not change! I am HONOURED to do this for all the Canadian-wannabes out there!


So this week we will talk about the Hillcrest Farmer's Market, which happens every single Sunday from 9am to 2pm. It's a huge one that takes up the Hillcrest DMV's parking lot and parts of Normal Street in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood. It is about 1.75 miles from my condo. I used to live under a km away but I moved to the other side of the University Heights neighbourhood here in San Diego.

This vendor always has a vast selection of humus and tapenade
It's part of my routine to go here every single Sunday that I am in town. I will usually drive 1 miles and park on Cleveland Street and walk over. Sometimes I do walk there, but it takes like 25 min, so for time efficiency I drive the 3 minutes. I always walk around the fruit side first. There are many produce vendors and most of them offer free samples. One in particular offers many samples of oranges, plums, pluots, cherries, raisins and if that's not enough, avacados as well. It's great that you can sample everything before buying it. Pluots are currently in season and are very good. I love the ones that are more tart than sweet.

What else? Well they have great food vendors too. You can get a great selection of humus (see photo above) from this one vendor. They have about 10 different humus flavors including curry, basil. jalapeno, beet and even peanut butter. My favs are beet and curry, peanut butter coming in a close third. There is also a great Thai booth where you can get silver dollar sized coconut mini-pancakes for a very cheap price - 5 for $1. It's great. They also make about 5-6 traditional Thai dishes right on the spot. Another place called Flavors of East Africa has amazing food. It is Kenyan food, but tastes somewhat like Indian, but not as spicy. They have tasty samosas, which are fried or baked triangular shaped savory pastries. You can get them with or without ground beef or chicken inside and also includes spiced onions, peas, carrots, lentils (vegetarian option).

One of the fruit vendors and the many samples
The real deals are in the last 15 minutes of the farmer's market. One particular fruit vendor on the northeast side always has a half off sale starting at 1:45pm. All fruit is half off from $3/lb to $1.50. I usually get the pluots and nectarines during these sales. Their fruit is organic and very sweet.

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posted by Anthony at 11:57 PM 0 comments

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