No biting the personnel

Although the list has been around for a few years, I stumbled on it once more last night. Close the door, read it and laugh; weeping is optional. I miss Shakespeare. I’ll have to find the list of upcoming productions around here.

Maybe it has been around for a while but it is only today, as I was listening to Wait Wait…, that I heard of NRP’s podcast directory. A few clicks later, I had enough hours of that wonderful radio show
 downloaded to save my sanity as I spent my afternoon preparing my 2005 tax paperwork. You’ll also find KUOW’s weekday first and second hour as well as the book reviews.

A few weeks ago, I came back home to the “The password is invalid. Please enter…” message box. Either someone tried to login to my laptop or the keyboard misbehaved during the day. Since then, I’ve discovered that [$&(*FHAF&*($%] is not a valid user account and that a string of 55 characters does not, magically, grant you access to my account.

Unfortunately, I need the computer to be ON during the day. Sadly, even with almost no CPU activity, the AMD Turion processor in the laptop generates enough heat that the fan is always running, the room cozy and the keyboard toasty. Correct… I can’t close the lid and have the laptop running at the same time. The laptop is just too hot for the screen.

All of this would be ok if this portable stove wasn’t so beckoning to small heat seeking mammals. Is “kiddy pillow” a supported scenario for laptops? Does Acer hire cats to test its keyboards?

Sigh… Look at him!!! Look at those eyes… Not an ounce of remorse or of shame.

I’m giddy; this rocks.

On January 25th I placed an order on Amazon with one of their resellers for ~$100 of running gear. I never have time for my runs during the day, I can only run early in the morning. Mornings which are cold in Seattle making running in shorts less enjoyable. Thus, I ordered running tights; the price was right. The next day, I received an email from the reseller: sorry, your item is out of stock; btw, here’s a discount on your next purchase with us.

Uh… that sucks… Isn’t inventory control a solved problem by now? Oh well… I’ll order something else later. It was only three days later that the thought fluttered across my mind. It lingered long enough for me to confirm. When you order on Amazon from a reseller, Amazon handles the billing. They immediately charge your credit card. The charge of $99.90 hadn’t been reversed. Reversing, I learned, is a reseller duty. Since they don’t have the goods, it’s their responsibility to cancel the sale. The instructions from Amazon were clear: step one, contact the seller. And so I did.

You can guess what happened: reseller promptly replies, apologizes for the screw up, promises to reverse the charge within 24hrs and reminds me to use my discount with them for my purchase. By the way, the discount is only valid for a few weeks. Don’t delay. Smells like a bait and switch.

Last night at midnight I filed a reimbursement claim - step two - under Amazon’s A-to-z guarantee. It took 5 minutes. This morning, my bank account shows that the charge has been removed. Score one more for online shopping.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Crack-Up”

On our drive around the island, we stopped at a farm that raises Alpacas. I remembered it from a few years ago. They now have a lot more heads than before. They also had a llama. You can’t miss the farm. If you’re driving clockwise around the island, it’ll be a little while after the English camp. In any case, they have a store. They sell various items from Alpaca wool: beautiful sweaters, dresses and Teddy bears. The price tag says ~80 USD. The other tag says “Made in Peru”. Peru? Yeah, Peru. Peru as in “not made from the wool of the Alpacas on the farm”. Peru as in “imported from South-America Peru”. Hmmm… Ebay!!! Yup, great reminder that if it’s both imported and not custom, you too can probably find it. Average price for identical Alpaca Teddy bear? 20 USD.

To most, Montréal winters means extreme colds that burst water pipes and snow storms that dump so much snow you can’t see your car the next day. We tend to forget that, even in the middle of winter, the temperature fluctuactes wildly. As a result, falling snow can easily turn into freezing rain. Cyberpresse.ca has impressive pictures of the ice storm that hit Montréal today. I especially liked these two:

Long week. I’m still dragging some tasks from the holidays. For example, I’ve started sorting our vacation pictures. Here is a really nice one of the dining set from Christmas Eve dinner.

          I learned today that Amazon’s post holiday party is on Jan 28 and the theme is “Viva Las Vegas!”. In addition to fake gambling, dancing, and karaoke to keep the guests busy, Amazon is once again paving the way by providing “Amazon Wedding Chapel™” where couples may be wed Las Vegas style by an official who is registered to legally perform wedding ceremonies in Washington State. Being an equal opportunity employer, Amazon extends this benefit for both marriage ceremonies and domestic partnership. The winning couple will win airfare for two and hotel accommodations for three nights at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Amazon is of course careful to avoid any fraud by requesting that domestic partners must supply proof of their existing domestic partnership using such documents as their certificate of Domestic Partnership registration; for marriage ceremonies, couples must supply a copy of their marriage license for which a legal ceremony has not yet been performed.

          The question now is how accurately people can predict how many couples will take the bait and get married Amazon style. I could use some statsticians to help me out. The results? We will find out on Jan 28.