Some time ago I bought a Timex from a local jeweler, but I soon became annoyed with it. I found it hard to reset the time, especially when the day of the month had to be reset on non-31 day months. I had had a previous Timex that was a bit easier to use, but it wore out.
I started lusting after an Apple watch because I thought, like my other devices, the calendar would be reset automagically at the end of the month and that it would always be synched with some time standard.
But $250 for just that feature seemed a bit steep. I wouldn’t use the exercise features, and I have an iPhone for listening to podcasts as I exercise. It would be nice to say, “Hey Siri, when is the bus coming.” The big drawback for me was that the Apple Watch had to be recharged every 18 hours in a special stand. Best Buy did have an ad for the Misfit Vapor that was about $200, and Misfit’s website had smart watches for less. But still…
I decided that I would visit our local Target store to look for some of the less “exciting” watches I bought years ago. I remember them having a watch counter with dozens and dozens of styles.
Well, the watch counter with its helpful, knowledgeable clerk is gone and has been replaced by a set of shelves in a narrow aisle. I saw some of the Seiko models that I had years ago. I think these were in the range of $50. But then I saw a familiar Casio among the Seiko watches. It was only $19.99. It had all the easy to use buttons to change the time, day, and month. As I stepped away from the shelf, I saw the next shelf to the right was filled with Casios. Many thanks of the person who left the Casio with the Seikos.
Once I got the Casio home, I found its most serious drawback: instructions that are very hard for seniors to read. I remedied this by visiting the Casio site and downloading the direction to a PDF file. I expanded the file to a comfortable viewing size and started in on the electronic playground. The only foreseeable problem is the band wearing out and a replacement being hard to find.
I also found out that it has a replaceable battery with a seven-year life. Also I can change the over-the-counter battery myself with a jeweler’s screwdriver, which I have. That certainly beats charging every night.
Showing posts with label Best Buy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best Buy. Show all posts
Monday, March 05, 2018
Thursday, December 15, 2016
TrackR comment to Best Buy
My wife lost her key to our RAV4 and after many inquiries has not found it yet. Getting a new key is rather pricey.
To avoid a repeat I decided to buy some tracking devices. Based on some reviews, I chose TrackR over Tile.
The results so far have been mixed. My main question is why do so many manufacturers make their product hard to use. There is a large amount of literature about human interface design.
After having one round-about success with one TrackR and a bust with a second, I wrote the following review on the Best Buy website. I also left some comments on the TrackR website but have yet to hear back from them.
My comment is also posted at http://www.bestbuy.com/site/trackr-bravo-tracking-device-set-silver/5404500.p?skuId=5404500&cmp=RMX&reviewid=115333799&campaignid=rvwapp20161714#tabbed-customerreviews
I found the iPhone App somewhat unresponsive and confusing to use. For example, it was several minutes before the app would respond the first time I opened it. Then buttons didn't seem to work until I had maneuvered over the screens a bit.
The main screen is not intuitive. It is divided into three overlapping parts: A summary of four items, a display with a map for where the the device is located (or the iPhone), and a summary of devices. The selection of the overlapping parts is a stack fo three lines to go between the first and second part and three vertical dots to go between the second and third parts. Why not double arrows?
The second TrackR I installed worked OK, but it would not respond after it left the house and returned. Bluetooth settings don't recognize it inches away.
Also, the iPhone settings give tkr as the name of all TrackR devices installed.
Back to the workbench to get this straightened out, hopefully in a day or two,
To avoid a repeat I decided to buy some tracking devices. Based on some reviews, I chose TrackR over Tile.
The results so far have been mixed. My main question is why do so many manufacturers make their product hard to use. There is a large amount of literature about human interface design.
After having one round-about success with one TrackR and a bust with a second, I wrote the following review on the Best Buy website. I also left some comments on the TrackR website but have yet to hear back from them.
My comment is also posted at http://www.bestbuy.com/site/trackr-bravo-tracking-device-set-silver/5404500.p?skuId=5404500&cmp=RMX&reviewid=115333799&campaignid=rvwapp20161714#tabbed-customerreviews
I found the iPhone App somewhat unresponsive and confusing to use. For example, it was several minutes before the app would respond the first time I opened it. Then buttons didn't seem to work until I had maneuvered over the screens a bit.
The main screen is not intuitive. It is divided into three overlapping parts: A summary of four items, a display with a map for where the the device is located (or the iPhone), and a summary of devices. The selection of the overlapping parts is a stack fo three lines to go between the first and second part and three vertical dots to go between the second and third parts. Why not double arrows?
The second TrackR I installed worked OK, but it would not respond after it left the house and returned. Bluetooth settings don't recognize it inches away.
Also, the iPhone settings give tkr as the name of all TrackR devices installed.
Back to the workbench to get this straightened out, hopefully in a day or two,
Friday, May 06, 2016
Helping the help desk
When my old Epson Workforce printer became erratic, I bought a new one from Best Buy (my four-year warranty on the old one paid for most of it). The Workforce 3640 is similar i many ways, but quite different in others.
The old one would print business cards without a problem. The new one often chewed them up and jammed. Today each try jammed.
I looked at the Epson website to see if there was a recommended paper or other solution. I found nothing.
I asked Best Buy’s Geek Squad (online chat) if there was any recommended paper. I was told to check with a store.
I did another search and found that there is a rear feed. This is meant for single feed of paper or envelopes. See https://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?UseCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=232592&prodoid=6309.
It took a bit of doing to have the job started and the feed the paper, but I got the hang of it. When I did a second sheet just now it was a piece of cake.
I went back to the Geek Squad chat and left a heads up for them. The agent replied “awesome”.
It sometimes amazes me how I find a solution that the “experts” didn’t think of. Of course, I’ve been solving (and creating) computer problems for 57 years. It doesn’t mean I could earn big bucks, but I think it gives me a bigger incentive to find a solution somehow.
The old one would print business cards without a problem. The new one often chewed them up and jammed. Today each try jammed.
I looked at the Epson website to see if there was a recommended paper or other solution. I found nothing.
I asked Best Buy’s Geek Squad (online chat) if there was any recommended paper. I was told to check with a store.
I did another search and found that there is a rear feed. This is meant for single feed of paper or envelopes. See https://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?UseCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=232592&prodoid=6309.
It took a bit of doing to have the job started and the feed the paper, but I got the hang of it. When I did a second sheet just now it was a piece of cake.
I went back to the Geek Squad chat and left a heads up for them. The agent replied “awesome”.
It sometimes amazes me how I find a solution that the “experts” didn’t think of. Of course, I’ve been solving (and creating) computer problems for 57 years. It doesn’t mean I could earn big bucks, but I think it gives me a bigger incentive to find a solution somehow.
Friday, March 04, 2016
A lot has happened since you last read this column!
Have you gotten tired of Facebook or Classmates sending you email like this?
I dropped Facebook long ago because what generally happened was a half-sister posted yet another picture of her yard. I ignore Classmates because the great news is that someone who I didn’t know posted something or other.
Well, you may or may not be interested in the “lot” that happened to me last week. If not, go on to something else, If you are curious, I hope to reward you with a few chuckles.
At least twice last week, I woke up with some stupendous ideas for this column, mostly about politics and billionaires. I should have gotten up and written them down, but I preferred trying to go back to sleep. I would remember these great ideas in the morning. Of course, they faded with the rising sun.
Well, a few annoyances happened and they are hard to forget.
My printer started producing broken letters. I twice tried the nozzle cleaning procedure, but the test papers came out even worse. I even replaced the one ink cartridge that was low.
The warranty was about six weeks shy of running out. Oh, well, for a few dollars, it’s hardly worth making a claim.
I looked up a few printers on Best Buy, and of course my model was no longer sold. And of course, none of the current printers used the ink jet cartridges of my model. I selected a model that was similar in functions, took my old printer to be recycled, and at the last minute took the receipt for the old printer.
When I got to Best Buy, I took in the tray that accepted envelopes. I hoped I could use it in the new printer so that I didn’t have to change the paper in a tray.
I looked over the model I had selected and it looked like a good replacement. As I really knew, the old tray wouldn’t fit. I asked a clerk a few questions including how to recycle the old printer. He said to bring it in a cart.
I went to check out, paid for my new printer and some ink cartridges. I couldn’t find my Rewards card but the cashier looked it up. I took my purchases out to the car and brought in my old printer for recycling. I gave the clerk at customer service the old printer and my story. When I gave him the receipt for the old printer, he said that I had a replacement warranty! I could have paid for the new printer with the old printer.
I still couldn’t find my Rewards card, and so he gave me an in-store card for future purchases. I had no idea what I would be using it for in the near future, but as you will read, I soon found a use for some of the credit.
I took the printer home and started to set it up according to the instructions. Things went smoothly except for setting up wi-fi on my modem and on my computers.
Then I tried printing some business cards. The printer broke the card stock apart and jammed. Check instructions. Open back panel. Pull out pieces of card stock, broken along the perforations and crumbled. Also pull out pieces from the front. Put back panel back, but it won’t fit. Just which way does this thing go in? I think it took me ten minutes to do it right.
Print a sheet of business cards and leave for a meeting, finally. This was Thursday.
On Friday, we headed to the Twin Cities. As I often do on trips of an hour or more, I use my iPhone and a low-power FM gadget to play podcasts through the car radio. Except the gadget didn’t work! The power light was on, but the radio frequency lights wouldn’t come on. Nothing I tried would change the situation.
So, we spent two hours barely hearing “To the Best of Our Knowledge” (ttbook.org). I had the iPhone between the seats and we could barely hear the speaker above the road noise. At least we learned more about the operations of Coca Cola than we had known before.
When we got to the Twin Cities, we headed first to the Roseville Best Buy store.
We couldn’t find the same make of FM gadget, but we did find one that was considerably less expensive and automatically found the most open station.
I paid for it with my rewards card and the in-store credit card. I still couldn’t find my rewards card, but I could use the email message on my phone about the rewards credit I received for the printer purchase.
We next stopped at a grocery store. While my wife shopped, I installed the FM gadget. It gave me 88.1 as the frequency and I could hear the podcast scratchily. I reread and reread the instructions, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get a clear signal.
Because the reception changed as we changed direction, we figured that we were getting interference from the humongous antennas in Shoreview.
Before we left the Twin Cities, we tried again in a Caribou parking lot. We reread the directions and tried again. We were able to listen to a podcast with a minimum of static. We were still within sight of the Shoreview towers.
Oh, I also found my Best Buy Rewards card. It was in my wallet all along. It is silver-gray, not blue and yellow!
We have three lessons here that we constantly forget. One, read the directions first and understand them. Two, when looking for something in your wallet, make sure you see the face of every card. Will I forget the next time? Does the sun rise every morning? Three, I found one of the lost middle-of-the-night notes. It was in a folder I didn’t check. Sorry, it’s more about billionaires.
I dropped Facebook long ago because what generally happened was a half-sister posted yet another picture of her yard. I ignore Classmates because the great news is that someone who I didn’t know posted something or other.
Well, you may or may not be interested in the “lot” that happened to me last week. If not, go on to something else, If you are curious, I hope to reward you with a few chuckles.
At least twice last week, I woke up with some stupendous ideas for this column, mostly about politics and billionaires. I should have gotten up and written them down, but I preferred trying to go back to sleep. I would remember these great ideas in the morning. Of course, they faded with the rising sun.
Well, a few annoyances happened and they are hard to forget.
My printer started producing broken letters. I twice tried the nozzle cleaning procedure, but the test papers came out even worse. I even replaced the one ink cartridge that was low.
The warranty was about six weeks shy of running out. Oh, well, for a few dollars, it’s hardly worth making a claim.
I looked up a few printers on Best Buy, and of course my model was no longer sold. And of course, none of the current printers used the ink jet cartridges of my model. I selected a model that was similar in functions, took my old printer to be recycled, and at the last minute took the receipt for the old printer.
When I got to Best Buy, I took in the tray that accepted envelopes. I hoped I could use it in the new printer so that I didn’t have to change the paper in a tray.
I looked over the model I had selected and it looked like a good replacement. As I really knew, the old tray wouldn’t fit. I asked a clerk a few questions including how to recycle the old printer. He said to bring it in a cart.
I went to check out, paid for my new printer and some ink cartridges. I couldn’t find my Rewards card but the cashier looked it up. I took my purchases out to the car and brought in my old printer for recycling. I gave the clerk at customer service the old printer and my story. When I gave him the receipt for the old printer, he said that I had a replacement warranty! I could have paid for the new printer with the old printer.
I still couldn’t find my Rewards card, and so he gave me an in-store card for future purchases. I had no idea what I would be using it for in the near future, but as you will read, I soon found a use for some of the credit.
I took the printer home and started to set it up according to the instructions. Things went smoothly except for setting up wi-fi on my modem and on my computers.
Then I tried printing some business cards. The printer broke the card stock apart and jammed. Check instructions. Open back panel. Pull out pieces of card stock, broken along the perforations and crumbled. Also pull out pieces from the front. Put back panel back, but it won’t fit. Just which way does this thing go in? I think it took me ten minutes to do it right.
Print a sheet of business cards and leave for a meeting, finally. This was Thursday.
On Friday, we headed to the Twin Cities. As I often do on trips of an hour or more, I use my iPhone and a low-power FM gadget to play podcasts through the car radio. Except the gadget didn’t work! The power light was on, but the radio frequency lights wouldn’t come on. Nothing I tried would change the situation.
So, we spent two hours barely hearing “To the Best of Our Knowledge” (ttbook.org). I had the iPhone between the seats and we could barely hear the speaker above the road noise. At least we learned more about the operations of Coca Cola than we had known before.
When we got to the Twin Cities, we headed first to the Roseville Best Buy store.
We couldn’t find the same make of FM gadget, but we did find one that was considerably less expensive and automatically found the most open station.
I paid for it with my rewards card and the in-store credit card. I still couldn’t find my rewards card, but I could use the email message on my phone about the rewards credit I received for the printer purchase.
We next stopped at a grocery store. While my wife shopped, I installed the FM gadget. It gave me 88.1 as the frequency and I could hear the podcast scratchily. I reread and reread the instructions, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t get a clear signal.
Because the reception changed as we changed direction, we figured that we were getting interference from the humongous antennas in Shoreview.
Before we left the Twin Cities, we tried again in a Caribou parking lot. We reread the directions and tried again. We were able to listen to a podcast with a minimum of static. We were still within sight of the Shoreview towers.
Oh, I also found my Best Buy Rewards card. It was in my wallet all along. It is silver-gray, not blue and yellow!
We have three lessons here that we constantly forget. One, read the directions first and understand them. Two, when looking for something in your wallet, make sure you see the face of every card. Will I forget the next time? Does the sun rise every morning? Three, I found one of the lost middle-of-the-night notes. It was in a folder I didn’t check. Sorry, it’s more about billionaires.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Disorganized organizations
There are too many bloviators who claim that government stands in the way of corporations, corporations who can nothing wrong.
There are too many alarmists who think that corporations are taking over the world and the 99% will be the worse for it.
As with all human endeavors, the truth lies in the squishy middle. Or is that the muddled middle?
My dozen regular readers are probably tired of these rants, but then there are all the drop-ins who stumble on this blog because I managed to put in keywords that gives an entry a high search ranking. Try "duluth minnesota billionaire".
This blog entry is a result of some frustrations that I've had recently.
Because I've been doing so much snow shoveling and snow blowing, my Christmas planning keeps getting pushed back.
I keep getting emails from the Pretty Good Goods catalog because I contribute to Minnesota Public Radio. OK, our family's tradition has been to give T-shirts or books. What interesting T-shirts can I find for some on my list?
But when I try using the Pretty Good Goods catalog, I'm told I don't have an account. What, my MPR ID and password aren't the same. So, I create an account and place an order. I received most of the items rather quickly, but one item has been "drop sent" whatever that means. My credit card has already been charged for that item. Pretty Good Goods has not responded to my query about this, but then I should give them slack because they are overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, I keep getting emails from Pretty Good Goods at the email address I want to drop. If I try to use the unsubscribe, I'm told that I don't have an account. How can I not have an account when I just ordered stuff? Please excuse me if I'm inaccurate on the details. Lots of this is becoming a blur.
Geek Squad, owned by Best Buy, sent me a notice that the warranty was running out on my wife's iPad. The notice offered an extension. Given all the hazards that were covered, I thought it was a good deal. I went to the Geek Squad page and requested the extension.
While I was at it, I changed my email address to that which we plan to use over an older one. That went through without problem.
And then I received one of the many-times-per-week emails from Best Buy at the old email address. I went to the site and tried to login and change my email address. I don't have an account at Best Buy! What? What about the Geek Squad account? What about the rewards program account?
After searching some old messages, I found that I had to go, not to bestbuy.com but to my.bestbuy.com!?!? The email address and password I had in my head worked. Hey, folks, you work for the same company, and customers use all of your websites. According to some, corporations are efficient, more efficient than government. Sorry, I have had government communications that have gone far better than this.
My iPhone was getting low on power and I tried to sync it on my Mac. "Sync could not complete" or some such. What the heck! This has never happened before. Well, not to me, but certainly many others. I found an answer in the Apple Community rather quickly. The first answers were rather complicated and didn't seem to fit my OS level. But then I found one about shutting off the iPhone, quitting iTunes, and then restarting both. Voila! It worked.
I have over fifty years of computer problem solving and can often find the right keywords to get a solution proposed by somebody else (or as in "Helpless help desks revisited" doing it myself).
And of course there are the dozens and dozens of problems that I just give up on.
It's sort of like my last straw of the day. Some bolts on my snow blower gave way on the speed setting mechanism. Rather than go to the equipment store to get the exact bolts, I went to a hardware store and got off-the-shelf bolts for 44 cents (and $20 for a ceramic knife for someone on my Christmas list). When I returned home, I tried replacing the bolts. Let's just say the positioning is awkward. Using my bare hands and wrenches (not a good idea when it's well before freezing), I was able to get two bolts in and secured. But the third was in a very awkward position such as I could not easily get the lock nut started on the bolt.
There is a time that discretion is the better part of valor. I gave up and went back to the house with a bent back after being bent over so long. Finishing the fix will have to wait until another day. I just hope I can get it done before the next snow dump!
There are too many alarmists who think that corporations are taking over the world and the 99% will be the worse for it.
As with all human endeavors, the truth lies in the squishy middle. Or is that the muddled middle?
My dozen regular readers are probably tired of these rants, but then there are all the drop-ins who stumble on this blog because I managed to put in keywords that gives an entry a high search ranking. Try "duluth minnesota billionaire".
This blog entry is a result of some frustrations that I've had recently.
Because I've been doing so much snow shoveling and snow blowing, my Christmas planning keeps getting pushed back.
I keep getting emails from the Pretty Good Goods catalog because I contribute to Minnesota Public Radio. OK, our family's tradition has been to give T-shirts or books. What interesting T-shirts can I find for some on my list?
But when I try using the Pretty Good Goods catalog, I'm told I don't have an account. What, my MPR ID and password aren't the same. So, I create an account and place an order. I received most of the items rather quickly, but one item has been "drop sent" whatever that means. My credit card has already been charged for that item. Pretty Good Goods has not responded to my query about this, but then I should give them slack because they are overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, I keep getting emails from Pretty Good Goods at the email address I want to drop. If I try to use the unsubscribe, I'm told that I don't have an account. How can I not have an account when I just ordered stuff? Please excuse me if I'm inaccurate on the details. Lots of this is becoming a blur.
Geek Squad, owned by Best Buy, sent me a notice that the warranty was running out on my wife's iPad. The notice offered an extension. Given all the hazards that were covered, I thought it was a good deal. I went to the Geek Squad page and requested the extension.
While I was at it, I changed my email address to that which we plan to use over an older one. That went through without problem.
And then I received one of the many-times-per-week emails from Best Buy at the old email address. I went to the site and tried to login and change my email address. I don't have an account at Best Buy! What? What about the Geek Squad account? What about the rewards program account?
After searching some old messages, I found that I had to go, not to bestbuy.com but to my.bestbuy.com!?!? The email address and password I had in my head worked. Hey, folks, you work for the same company, and customers use all of your websites. According to some, corporations are efficient, more efficient than government. Sorry, I have had government communications that have gone far better than this.
My iPhone was getting low on power and I tried to sync it on my Mac. "Sync could not complete" or some such. What the heck! This has never happened before. Well, not to me, but certainly many others. I found an answer in the Apple Community rather quickly. The first answers were rather complicated and didn't seem to fit my OS level. But then I found one about shutting off the iPhone, quitting iTunes, and then restarting both. Voila! It worked.
I have over fifty years of computer problem solving and can often find the right keywords to get a solution proposed by somebody else (or as in "Helpless help desks revisited" doing it myself).
And of course there are the dozens and dozens of problems that I just give up on.
It's sort of like my last straw of the day. Some bolts on my snow blower gave way on the speed setting mechanism. Rather than go to the equipment store to get the exact bolts, I went to a hardware store and got off-the-shelf bolts for 44 cents (and $20 for a ceramic knife for someone on my Christmas list). When I returned home, I tried replacing the bolts. Let's just say the positioning is awkward. Using my bare hands and wrenches (not a good idea when it's well before freezing), I was able to get two bolts in and secured. But the third was in a very awkward position such as I could not easily get the lock nut started on the bolt.
There is a time that discretion is the better part of valor. I gave up and went back to the house with a bent back after being bent over so long. Finishing the fix will have to wait until another day. I just hope I can get it done before the next snow dump!
Sunday, December 08, 2013
Computer glitches? What's new?
Many, especially Republicans, are complaining about the computer problems with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. What did they expect? Version x.0.1 to be ready on day one?
They should look at the software on their iPhones. Everyday I seem to receive an update to one of the apps that I downloaded. What is the main reason for the update – bug fixes!
Many think of Germans as being superefficient. Consider one of the reasons for the latest update for the Die Zeit newspaper app update: “Generelle Stabilitäts-Updates!” In other words, the previous version of the Die Zeit app crashed.
We often do our own screwing up. I received a letter from my bank that they had moved money from my savings account to my checking account. On my first try to access my account, the bank’s system was unavailable. When I finally got on, I found that there had been yet another transfer made. As I reviewed the online statement, I found that I had transferred money from checking to savings instead of the other way around. At least I have an account that makes sweeps rather than overdraft charges.
That grand and glorious new iOS 7 for the iPhone and iPad is now at version 7.0.4! Apple’s customer help forums are filled with questions on how to fix this problem or that problem, many of the questions unanswered.
I have been using Microsoft’s Outlook and Apple’s Address Book and iCal for years. Outlook for email and events, Address Book for other purposes such as envelopes, and iCal for events. Supposedly they should sync with very little effort.
Some time ago I found that I was getting more and more duplicated events and two items for every person in my address book. If I remember correctly, my daughter’s birthday was duplicated 800 times! After I cleaned that mess up, I stopped using Outlook’s calendar.
I also had duplicate names in my address books. As with the calendars there was a sync that went bad long ago with the Outlook and Apple address books. I gave up on syncing them and kept updates to each manually. This past week I cleaned up the Apple address book on my laptop with Contact Cleaner. It eliminated all the duplicates. The duplicates were eliminated on my iPhone but almost all the names disappeared from my iPad. There was only one entry for each of a dozen or so letters of the alphabet! Needless to say, I did not sync my address book to my iPhone.
Then my iPhone would not turn on! Off to the Apple Community. Rather quickly I found a customer comment that said to hold the power and home buttons at the same time. This is now happening on my iPad! Could it be iOS 7.0.4 for this and the disappearing contacts?
My bluetooth keyboard would not sync with my iPad. It had been working fine and made life much easier than typing on the screen. Off to the Apple Community. I had to “forget” the keyboard and then look for it again. Thank you, Apple Community.
On top of all these other problems, I spilled coffee on my laptop keyboard recently. I tried holding too many things at the same time. Now the shift key on one side wouldn’t work and neither option keys worked.
I took my laptop to Best Buy to find out if the Geek Squad could repair my keyboard with little time and no charge. I found out that I still had a service warranty that covered all hazards. The agent recommended that I take my laptop home and back up everything. He wasn’t sure if my laptop would be repaired or scrapped. I’m glad that I backed most of the stuff up because I could then use my wife’s iMac to do all the computer tasks I’m accustomed to, including writing this column.
On Friday the Geek Squad called me that my computer was back. Now we’re seeing some corporate efficiency. Instead of the “safe” promised one month, the Geek Squad did the repair within a week.
It often seems that if one has a problem, one hears of others with the same problem. Pamela Jaskoviak, a Swedish writer, spilled coffee on her MacBook Pro late at night working on a past due deadline. She did worse than I did; the computer quit and she had to have her hard drive copied to a new computer. If you understand Swedish, you can find her “Godmorgon, världen” monologue at http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=438
So many companies cannot be satisfied with their websites. They seem to regularly roll out “exciting” new sites, sometimes they provide some useful new features, sometimes they are no big deal, and sometimes they are major screw-ups. Recently Yahoo Finance did a major makeover of its website. To me, they removed some clutter and replaced it with other clutter. It took me awhile to figure out how to get quotes for a list of stocks, but once I did Yahoo Finance provided the request data in the format I was accustomed to.
Then, poof! It didn’t work at all. Every time I clicked the return button, it added a string of nonsense to what I had copied or typed in the quote box, and it told me it couldn’t find what I requested. Off to “the community” to seek answers. Hoo boy! The critics of ACA should see the long list of bitter complaints, and some of these complaints come from people who make their living with timely stock quotes!
All those complaining about the ACA rollout should remember two bits of folk wisdom:
Murphy’s law: If something can go wrong, it will.
To err is human; to really screw up it takes a computer.
Also posted on the Reader Weekly website at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2013/12/05/2582_party_of_one-7.
They should look at the software on their iPhones. Everyday I seem to receive an update to one of the apps that I downloaded. What is the main reason for the update – bug fixes!
Many think of Germans as being superefficient. Consider one of the reasons for the latest update for the Die Zeit newspaper app update: “Generelle Stabilitäts-Updates!” In other words, the previous version of the Die Zeit app crashed.
We often do our own screwing up. I received a letter from my bank that they had moved money from my savings account to my checking account. On my first try to access my account, the bank’s system was unavailable. When I finally got on, I found that there had been yet another transfer made. As I reviewed the online statement, I found that I had transferred money from checking to savings instead of the other way around. At least I have an account that makes sweeps rather than overdraft charges.
That grand and glorious new iOS 7 for the iPhone and iPad is now at version 7.0.4! Apple’s customer help forums are filled with questions on how to fix this problem or that problem, many of the questions unanswered.
I have been using Microsoft’s Outlook and Apple’s Address Book and iCal for years. Outlook for email and events, Address Book for other purposes such as envelopes, and iCal for events. Supposedly they should sync with very little effort.
Some time ago I found that I was getting more and more duplicated events and two items for every person in my address book. If I remember correctly, my daughter’s birthday was duplicated 800 times! After I cleaned that mess up, I stopped using Outlook’s calendar.
I also had duplicate names in my address books. As with the calendars there was a sync that went bad long ago with the Outlook and Apple address books. I gave up on syncing them and kept updates to each manually. This past week I cleaned up the Apple address book on my laptop with Contact Cleaner. It eliminated all the duplicates. The duplicates were eliminated on my iPhone but almost all the names disappeared from my iPad. There was only one entry for each of a dozen or so letters of the alphabet! Needless to say, I did not sync my address book to my iPhone.
Then my iPhone would not turn on! Off to the Apple Community. Rather quickly I found a customer comment that said to hold the power and home buttons at the same time. This is now happening on my iPad! Could it be iOS 7.0.4 for this and the disappearing contacts?
My bluetooth keyboard would not sync with my iPad. It had been working fine and made life much easier than typing on the screen. Off to the Apple Community. I had to “forget” the keyboard and then look for it again. Thank you, Apple Community.
On top of all these other problems, I spilled coffee on my laptop keyboard recently. I tried holding too many things at the same time. Now the shift key on one side wouldn’t work and neither option keys worked.
I took my laptop to Best Buy to find out if the Geek Squad could repair my keyboard with little time and no charge. I found out that I still had a service warranty that covered all hazards. The agent recommended that I take my laptop home and back up everything. He wasn’t sure if my laptop would be repaired or scrapped. I’m glad that I backed most of the stuff up because I could then use my wife’s iMac to do all the computer tasks I’m accustomed to, including writing this column.
On Friday the Geek Squad called me that my computer was back. Now we’re seeing some corporate efficiency. Instead of the “safe” promised one month, the Geek Squad did the repair within a week.
It often seems that if one has a problem, one hears of others with the same problem. Pamela Jaskoviak, a Swedish writer, spilled coffee on her MacBook Pro late at night working on a past due deadline. She did worse than I did; the computer quit and she had to have her hard drive copied to a new computer. If you understand Swedish, you can find her “Godmorgon, världen” monologue at http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=438
So many companies cannot be satisfied with their websites. They seem to regularly roll out “exciting” new sites, sometimes they provide some useful new features, sometimes they are no big deal, and sometimes they are major screw-ups. Recently Yahoo Finance did a major makeover of its website. To me, they removed some clutter and replaced it with other clutter. It took me awhile to figure out how to get quotes for a list of stocks, but once I did Yahoo Finance provided the request data in the format I was accustomed to.
Then, poof! It didn’t work at all. Every time I clicked the return button, it added a string of nonsense to what I had copied or typed in the quote box, and it told me it couldn’t find what I requested. Off to “the community” to seek answers. Hoo boy! The critics of ACA should see the long list of bitter complaints, and some of these complaints come from people who make their living with timely stock quotes!
All those complaining about the ACA rollout should remember two bits of folk wisdom:
Murphy’s law: If something can go wrong, it will.
To err is human; to really screw up it takes a computer.
Also posted on the Reader Weekly website at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2013/12/05/2582_party_of_one-7.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Good service news
Geek Squad sent me email the other day with a link to a status page for the repair of the laptop that I spilled coffee on. I saw that it was shipped on Saturday. Today I saw from the UPS tracking number that it had been delivered to a loading dock in Kentucky this morning at about 8:30. Later the status page said it had been received at 10:57
I think there may be a discrepancy between the UPS time and the Geek Squad time. The first is using local time and the latter is using customer's time.
Anyhow, as the afternoon progressed, the messages were needed a part at 1:42, part in stock at 1:43, and work completed at 3:16. I supposed I'll get a status tomorrow that it was shipped, and I will probably be able to pick it up Friday, maybe Saturday.
This incident has sold me on comprehensive coverage for more expensive items. I don't know what the repair would have cost me without the coverage. And as I get older and more clumsy, this kind of coverage seems like a very good idea.
I think there may be a discrepancy between the UPS time and the Geek Squad time. The first is using local time and the latter is using customer's time.
Anyhow, as the afternoon progressed, the messages were needed a part at 1:42, part in stock at 1:43, and work completed at 3:16. I supposed I'll get a status tomorrow that it was shipped, and I will probably be able to pick it up Friday, maybe Saturday.
This incident has sold me on comprehensive coverage for more expensive items. I don't know what the repair would have cost me without the coverage. And as I get older and more clumsy, this kind of coverage seems like a very good idea.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Efficiency is not dependent on organizational form
I emailed the following to the Reader Weekly 2013-10-10. They published it on 2013-10-17 as "People make mistakes! All the time. Everyday." It is also available at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2013/10/17/2270_party_of_one-1.
Some people are using the glitches in the Affordable Care Act exchanges as proof that government is inefficient. Duh, how often have you updated software on your devices with version x.0 and then within a week or two received a notice of the release of version x.0.1?
Government is run by people. Corporations are run by people. People make mistakes! All the time. Everyday. In every way. Government screws up. Corporations screw up.
For examples of corporate screw-ups and non-response to customer complaints, take a look at the customer “support” message boards. All the support comes from other customers who spent hours trying to figure out how a product really worked. If they are lucky, other users mark their responses as helpful and they get “points”, whatever those are worth.
I’ve seen some issues go on for two or more years.
Let me give you a short summary of some customer service issues I’ve had this year.
I think it was late spring when we had several days of windy, rainy weather. Our DSL service was erratic. It would be slow then normal then nothing at all. The DSL light on our modem would go out. I called CenturyLink and spoke with a tech in Idaho. She said that our service had been throttled back from the nominal 7Mbps to 3Mbps. She did some resetting and things were better.
The bad weather continued and our DSL service became erratic again. I made a call and sent some emails, but this time I was told that it was my modem and that I should buy a new modem. I checked online for the current CenturyLink modem, and guess what! One customer had left a message that he bought that new modem and was having the exact same problems as we were! Two months before my search!
I didn’t buy a modem and a few weeks later our modem was doing just fine. Our service now runs about 6Mbps. Could it be that CenturyLink had some line problems that customer support was not told about?
I bought a solar light for the outhouse at our cabin. It worked fine and then it would not turn on until it had been off for about an hour. I sent email to the customer support and received back a request for my address, phone number, date of purchase, and a scanned copy of the receipt. I said “Phooey” and figured out that I had drained the batteries by leaving the light on. Replacing the batteries improved the performance. It looks like the first line of customer support is only screeners who have no access to problems and solutions. Now this dumb customer left the light on again and it wouldn’t turn on again.
We replaced our cabin landline with a wireless home phone base. The answering machine now gave a time an hour later than the time of call. Consumer Cellular replied it was my answering machine. With a bit of web searching, I found out that the wireless home phone base is passing the wrong information and that a firmware upgrade fixes the problem. The upgrade is available only from the original manufacturer and only can be installed with Windows software. When I relayed this information back to Consumer Cellular, they replied they could not help me and implied it wasn’t even their responsibility! This from a company that is rated highly in customer service.
The keyboard and keypad on my laptop would not respond. I tried the various reset tricks from Apple support boards but none worked for long. I took my laptop back to Best Buy where I bought it, but everything worked fine for the Geek Squad. It worked fine for a while at home and then… “Dead” again. I figured out that it was Microsoft Outlook that I always have on that was the problem. The techs had closed all my apps before their tests. I reorganized Outlook's database and the keyboard has been working fine since. If only I could make the fingers hitting the keys work as well!
But we should also look on the bright side. Corporations have done a great job of making our cars more reliable and comfortable. If we take some reasonable precautions they start every time and get us where we want to go safely. We have all kinds of extras that weren’t on my first car, a 1940 Chevy. Turn signals, windshield washers, side view mirrors, power steering, power brakes, anti-skid, ABS, air-conditioning, and accurate speedometers.
Ah! Accurate speedometers! I had a 1969 Fiat that said I was going 70mph when I was actually going 63. I had a Ford Escort that said I was going 55mph when I was actually going 47 mph! The Ford dealer blamed it on the tires and wouldn’t do anything about it. I found it was a wide-spread problem; when I compensated for the error I passed many Ford Escorts driving well under the speed limit.
If the dealer was right about the problem, the tires would have to be about 15 percent smaller than “standard” to have that speed disparity. For a tire that was about two feet in diameter, that would work out to over an inch of tread wear. The grooves on a auto tire are not even that deep! What was it that Adam Smith said? “Those who live by profit deceive and oppress the public.”
In the favor of those who live by profit, our latest cars do much better on speedometer accuracy – 30 mph on the speedometer at 30 mph and 71 mph at 70 mph! Oh, and we have one domestic car and one foreign car.
Some people are using the glitches in the Affordable Care Act exchanges as proof that government is inefficient. Duh, how often have you updated software on your devices with version x.0 and then within a week or two received a notice of the release of version x.0.1?
Government is run by people. Corporations are run by people. People make mistakes! All the time. Everyday. In every way. Government screws up. Corporations screw up.
For examples of corporate screw-ups and non-response to customer complaints, take a look at the customer “support” message boards. All the support comes from other customers who spent hours trying to figure out how a product really worked. If they are lucky, other users mark their responses as helpful and they get “points”, whatever those are worth.
I’ve seen some issues go on for two or more years.
Let me give you a short summary of some customer service issues I’ve had this year.
I think it was late spring when we had several days of windy, rainy weather. Our DSL service was erratic. It would be slow then normal then nothing at all. The DSL light on our modem would go out. I called CenturyLink and spoke with a tech in Idaho. She said that our service had been throttled back from the nominal 7Mbps to 3Mbps. She did some resetting and things were better.
The bad weather continued and our DSL service became erratic again. I made a call and sent some emails, but this time I was told that it was my modem and that I should buy a new modem. I checked online for the current CenturyLink modem, and guess what! One customer had left a message that he bought that new modem and was having the exact same problems as we were! Two months before my search!
I didn’t buy a modem and a few weeks later our modem was doing just fine. Our service now runs about 6Mbps. Could it be that CenturyLink had some line problems that customer support was not told about?
I bought a solar light for the outhouse at our cabin. It worked fine and then it would not turn on until it had been off for about an hour. I sent email to the customer support and received back a request for my address, phone number, date of purchase, and a scanned copy of the receipt. I said “Phooey” and figured out that I had drained the batteries by leaving the light on. Replacing the batteries improved the performance. It looks like the first line of customer support is only screeners who have no access to problems and solutions. Now this dumb customer left the light on again and it wouldn’t turn on again.
We replaced our cabin landline with a wireless home phone base. The answering machine now gave a time an hour later than the time of call. Consumer Cellular replied it was my answering machine. With a bit of web searching, I found out that the wireless home phone base is passing the wrong information and that a firmware upgrade fixes the problem. The upgrade is available only from the original manufacturer and only can be installed with Windows software. When I relayed this information back to Consumer Cellular, they replied they could not help me and implied it wasn’t even their responsibility! This from a company that is rated highly in customer service.
The keyboard and keypad on my laptop would not respond. I tried the various reset tricks from Apple support boards but none worked for long. I took my laptop back to Best Buy where I bought it, but everything worked fine for the Geek Squad. It worked fine for a while at home and then… “Dead” again. I figured out that it was Microsoft Outlook that I always have on that was the problem. The techs had closed all my apps before their tests. I reorganized Outlook's database and the keyboard has been working fine since. If only I could make the fingers hitting the keys work as well!
But we should also look on the bright side. Corporations have done a great job of making our cars more reliable and comfortable. If we take some reasonable precautions they start every time and get us where we want to go safely. We have all kinds of extras that weren’t on my first car, a 1940 Chevy. Turn signals, windshield washers, side view mirrors, power steering, power brakes, anti-skid, ABS, air-conditioning, and accurate speedometers.
Ah! Accurate speedometers! I had a 1969 Fiat that said I was going 70mph when I was actually going 63. I had a Ford Escort that said I was going 55mph when I was actually going 47 mph! The Ford dealer blamed it on the tires and wouldn’t do anything about it. I found it was a wide-spread problem; when I compensated for the error I passed many Ford Escorts driving well under the speed limit.
If the dealer was right about the problem, the tires would have to be about 15 percent smaller than “standard” to have that speed disparity. For a tire that was about two feet in diameter, that would work out to over an inch of tread wear. The grooves on a auto tire are not even that deep! What was it that Adam Smith said? “Those who live by profit deceive and oppress the public.”
In the favor of those who live by profit, our latest cars do much better on speedometer accuracy – 30 mph on the speedometer at 30 mph and 71 mph at 70 mph! Oh, and we have one domestic car and one foreign car.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Helpless help desks revisited
Well, for the fourth time this year I've asked for help from a major corporation and for the fourth time I've given them a solution.
The first time was when our DSL from CenturyLink was squirrelly. It would go on and off. The first person I spoke with diddled with some settings from her computer and our speed was up again. The problem returned. On the next few calls, the help desk insisted that I should get a new modem. I did not because I was sure the problem was storm related and in CenturyLink's lines. We still have the old modem and we are getting around 6Mbps on our nominal 7Mbps service. See "Efficiency (or inefficiency) - generalizations do not apply". CenturyLink apparently repaired the lines that I insisted were the problem. Or we haven't had many really windy storms since then.
The second time was when the keyboard locked up on my MacBook Pro. It was still on warranty from Best Buy and so I took it to the Geek Squad. They kept if for a day or two and could find nothing wrong. It wasn't until I had it at home for a day or two that I discovered that it was Microsoft Outlook, which Geek Squad had closed, causing the problem. My database probably had gotten too big and Outlook had an error that was writing outside its area. I compacted the database and the problem went away. See "Computer withdrawal symptoms".
The third time was when the Westinghouse solar shed light would not turn on again after I turned it off. See "Simple questions don't get simple answers from corporate bureaucracies". The light is working fine after I put in newer batteries.
The fourth time was when I found out that our improper time on our cabin answering machine was because I needed a firmware update. None of the friendly folks at Consumer Cellular seemed to understand that the AT&T network was resetting the time. I found this out when I read the answering machine instructions and learned that telephone networks send the time with caller-ID information. When we used a land-line we didn't have caller-ID. Caller-ID is standard with cell phone service. I found that I needed a firmware update from a search of AT&Ts support forums. One user responded to another last month with the solution. I sent email back to Consumer Cellular about this. I wrote that I was tempted to send them an invoice for two hours of Level 2 support work.
I don't expect to have a response from Consumer Cellular until Monday. Meanwhile, I searched the AT&T website for instructions on getting the firmware update. Nada! First, it gave me over 3,000 hits where the first two pages didn't have anything relevant. I searched on the web for the model number and found that the original manufacturer has instructions for upgrading the firmware to the latest level, for those with a Windows computer! I did another peek at the AT&T site and found a page for the "Wireless Home Phone". It had no information at all on updating the firmware!
There are some economists (and many non-economists) who say that the only objective of a corporation should be to provide shareholder value. But to provide shareholder value doesn't a corporation need to provide customer value? At some point a captive customer base may burst their shackles and go elsewhere.
The first time was when our DSL from CenturyLink was squirrelly. It would go on and off. The first person I spoke with diddled with some settings from her computer and our speed was up again. The problem returned. On the next few calls, the help desk insisted that I should get a new modem. I did not because I was sure the problem was storm related and in CenturyLink's lines. We still have the old modem and we are getting around 6Mbps on our nominal 7Mbps service. See "Efficiency (or inefficiency) - generalizations do not apply". CenturyLink apparently repaired the lines that I insisted were the problem. Or we haven't had many really windy storms since then.
The second time was when the keyboard locked up on my MacBook Pro. It was still on warranty from Best Buy and so I took it to the Geek Squad. They kept if for a day or two and could find nothing wrong. It wasn't until I had it at home for a day or two that I discovered that it was Microsoft Outlook, which Geek Squad had closed, causing the problem. My database probably had gotten too big and Outlook had an error that was writing outside its area. I compacted the database and the problem went away. See "Computer withdrawal symptoms".
The third time was when the Westinghouse solar shed light would not turn on again after I turned it off. See "Simple questions don't get simple answers from corporate bureaucracies". The light is working fine after I put in newer batteries.
The fourth time was when I found out that our improper time on our cabin answering machine was because I needed a firmware update. None of the friendly folks at Consumer Cellular seemed to understand that the AT&T network was resetting the time. I found this out when I read the answering machine instructions and learned that telephone networks send the time with caller-ID information. When we used a land-line we didn't have caller-ID. Caller-ID is standard with cell phone service. I found that I needed a firmware update from a search of AT&Ts support forums. One user responded to another last month with the solution. I sent email back to Consumer Cellular about this. I wrote that I was tempted to send them an invoice for two hours of Level 2 support work.
I don't expect to have a response from Consumer Cellular until Monday. Meanwhile, I searched the AT&T website for instructions on getting the firmware update. Nada! First, it gave me over 3,000 hits where the first two pages didn't have anything relevant. I searched on the web for the model number and found that the original manufacturer has instructions for upgrading the firmware to the latest level, for those with a Windows computer! I did another peek at the AT&T site and found a page for the "Wireless Home Phone". It had no information at all on updating the firmware!
There are some economists (and many non-economists) who say that the only objective of a corporation should be to provide shareholder value. But to provide shareholder value doesn't a corporation need to provide customer value? At some point a captive customer base may burst their shackles and go elsewhere.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Computer withdrawal resolution continued
I sent the following as part of the Geek Squad customer survey:
Malcolm was very courteous and cheerful throughout his explanation of the tests made.
However, I think the Geek Squad didn't have an odd bit of information to explain the problem of my keyboard/trackpad being unresponsive. These worked fine yesterday evening after I brought my Mac Book Pro home. But this morning, it started going dead again. I wondered if Outlook, which was acting slow and squirrelly might be the problem. I quit Outlook, and maybe rebooted, and I haven't had a problem since. I also duplicated the Main Identity and reorganized it. Outlook now runs much faster and I'm still using the keyboard and trackpad without problem.
There always seems to be one crucial piece of information a customer doesn't supply. See http://www.cpinternet.com/~mdmagree/tech_shortage_1999-10-14.htm. Outlook was the missing program that none of us thought of. At least this problem didn't take months to solve, if indeed it is solved (crossed-fingers). Also, if I hadn't brought my laptop in to the Geek Squad, would I have thought of this solution???
Thanks, folks, for your help!
See also
Computer withdrawal symptoms
Good news about a large corporation
Computer withdrawal resolution
Malcolm was very courteous and cheerful throughout his explanation of the tests made.
However, I think the Geek Squad didn't have an odd bit of information to explain the problem of my keyboard/trackpad being unresponsive. These worked fine yesterday evening after I brought my Mac Book Pro home. But this morning, it started going dead again. I wondered if Outlook, which was acting slow and squirrelly might be the problem. I quit Outlook, and maybe rebooted, and I haven't had a problem since. I also duplicated the Main Identity and reorganized it. Outlook now runs much faster and I'm still using the keyboard and trackpad without problem.
There always seems to be one crucial piece of information a customer doesn't supply. See http://www.cpinternet.com/~mdmagree/tech_shortage_1999-10-14.htm. Outlook was the missing program that none of us thought of. At least this problem didn't take months to solve, if indeed it is solved (crossed-fingers). Also, if I hadn't brought my laptop in to the Geek Squad, would I have thought of this solution???
Thanks, folks, for your help!
See also
Computer withdrawal symptoms
Good news about a large corporation
Computer withdrawal resolution
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Computer withdrawal resolution
This is a follow-up to "Computer withdrawal symptoms" and "Good news about a large corporation".
I picked up my Mac Book Pro at Best Buy this morning. The repair comments from the Geek Squad were:
"Unit passed all hardware testing, including trackpad diagnostic. Unit did not display any issues with the trackpad or keyboard. Mission complete!"
So, wha' happened? Did I inadvertently make some preference reset? Did my Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad get too close to my laptop? That shouldn't be a problem because Bluetooth is turned off. Did I accidentally turn it on and somehow turn it off again?
Maybe the problem was cured by the laptop being off for an hour or so. Maybe it was cured when we ran it on battery at Best Buy. Maybe the twists and turns of carrying it jiggled something just right. Maybe my computer withdrawal anguish made the computer feel sorry for me.
As I wrote a few days ago "Magic really works!" Taking your computer to a technician makes the problem go away.
I picked up my Mac Book Pro at Best Buy this morning. The repair comments from the Geek Squad were:
"Unit passed all hardware testing, including trackpad diagnostic. Unit did not display any issues with the trackpad or keyboard. Mission complete!"
So, wha' happened? Did I inadvertently make some preference reset? Did my Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad get too close to my laptop? That shouldn't be a problem because Bluetooth is turned off. Did I accidentally turn it on and somehow turn it off again?
Maybe the problem was cured by the laptop being off for an hour or so. Maybe it was cured when we ran it on battery at Best Buy. Maybe the twists and turns of carrying it jiggled something just right. Maybe my computer withdrawal anguish made the computer feel sorry for me.
As I wrote a few days ago "Magic really works!" Taking your computer to a technician makes the problem go away.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Good news about a large corporation
Yesterday I wrote about my problems with the keyboard on my Mac Book Pro. See "Computer withdrawal symptoms", I didn't expect to see my computer again until tomorrow.
A few minutes ago I got around to checking my email. Best Buy had sent me an email that my computer was ready for pickup. The message was sent at 6:15. I looked at the message after store closing! I guess I'll hightail up there tomorrow after we run all our morning errands.
I have this strange feeling that the Geek Squad found nothing wrong. That my moving it from home to the store jiggled something into place. We shall see.
I have always had respect for The Geek Squad, ever since they started at Washington and Plymouth in Minneapolis a couple of decades ago. After they fixed one problem with my Apple whatever that handheld was called, I should have taken it back to retrieve data when it bit the dust sometime later. All those wonderful notes of wisdom that were lost:)
A few minutes ago I got around to checking my email. Best Buy had sent me an email that my computer was ready for pickup. The message was sent at 6:15. I looked at the message after store closing! I guess I'll hightail up there tomorrow after we run all our morning errands.
I have this strange feeling that the Geek Squad found nothing wrong. That my moving it from home to the store jiggled something into place. We shall see.
I have always had respect for The Geek Squad, ever since they started at Washington and Plymouth in Minneapolis a couple of decades ago. After they fixed one problem with my Apple whatever that handheld was called, I should have taken it back to retrieve data when it bit the dust sometime later. All those wonderful notes of wisdom that were lost:)
Monday, June 24, 2013
Computer withdrawal symptoms
Come on, Mel, how can you have computer withdrawal symptoms when you obviously are posting something to the web. You can't do that without a computer!
True! I am using a "computer" but it is not my very familiar laptop. I'm using my iPad to write this and I'll probably use it to post this.
But it is not the same as using a laptop with hundreds of applications and many gigabytes of storage. Plus, even with my Logitech compact keyboard, my fingers are challenged even more to hit the right keys at the same time.
This morning, my Mac Book Pro suddenly decided not to move the cursor. Nor accept any keystrokes on the keyboard. I could reboot it and get some reaction for awhile. I don't remember whether it was through my iPad or one of the few times the keyboard worked, but I found that one supposed fix was to mangle your fingers on reboot on the option, command, R, P, and turn on keys. This, according to some advice in one of the Apple Support Communities, would reset the PRAM (Programmable Random Access Memory) and put things right.
This worked for one or two times for about fifteen minutes. Then there was no way I could put things right. I could use the USB mouse from my wife's computer to have some access. But then she wouldn't be able to use her computer.
After awhile, my system kept looking for a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse. I wasn't using one, and I could find no way in System Preferences to change this "demand".
So, off I go to Geek Squad at Best Buy where I bought the laptop less than two years ago. I was unable to find my receipt, but Best Buy had the record and I had a three-year warranty.
When I get there, guess what? The touchpad worked, the keyboard worked, and everything seemed hunky-dory.
The Geek Squad guy was very helpful in the sense of courtesy and understanding. We agreed that it would be best to leave my laptop with them to more thoroughly check what may be going on. He said that would take a day or two, but they might have to send it to their repair center if there were more serious problems.
I feel like the local priest in "Babette's Feast" turning away suitors for his two daughters. They were his right hand and his left hand. I have the feeling that I've lost my "right hand".
P.S. Google on an iPad has made me feel like I've lost my "left hand". Google just would not respond properly to Safari on my iPad. When I went to my wife's iMac and used FireFox, I saw about six copies of this entry. I've deleted all but this copy, and now I'll see if I can open it up to my loyal reader.
For the rest of the story and its resolution see
"Good news about a large corporation", "Computer withdrawal resolution", and "Computer withdrawal resolution continued".
P.S. Google on an iPad has made me feel like I've lost my "left hand". Google just would not respond properly to Safari on my iPad. When I went to my wife's iMac and used FireFox, I saw about six copies of this entry. I've deleted all but this copy, and now I'll see if I can open it up to my loyal reader.
For the rest of the story and its resolution see
"Good news about a large corporation", "Computer withdrawal resolution", and "Computer withdrawal resolution continued".
Monday, June 17, 2013
Round robin service robbin' my time
I started this entry near the end of May as "Good Service from a Large Corporation" but never finished it or posted it. The original follows up to the ellipsis (…).
Last week our internet service kept going out. The "internet" light on our DSL modem would go out, and we couldn't send or receive any data. We would unplug the modem, wait about five minutes, and replug the modem. Within a couple of minutes, all the modem lights would be lit normally. This kept happening more and more frequently.
We attributed it to the wind and the rain that went on for about three days. But when the weather cleared the problem persisted, maybe with less frequency.
I sent email to our phone company, CenturyLink, with the suggestion that the storm may have been causing the problems. I received a sympathetic reply from Martina that there was no known problem in our area. My guess is that few people call up when they have problems that they think will go away. Martina also suggested that I call a service number or set-up an online chat.
I was reluctant to do so because, with so many companies, one just goes around in circles. Also we were heading to our cabin that has no DSL.
When we came back on Saturday evening, we still had the problem now and then. When I woke up in the night, I checked if the internet light was on. I reset the modem from my iPhone, it came on. Before I had gone back to bed, the light was off again. I reset the modem again and went back to bed. When I got up in the morning, the light was off again; I reset the modem. Repeat three times within an hour.
I'm not sure when the light finally stayed on, but I called my ISP, Hickory Tech, to hear if they had heard any problems. The support person who I talked to said there had not been any major problems reported. He thought, as I did, that the modem may be becoming faulty.
I fussed and fumed about going to the CenturyLink store in the local mall or to Best Buy. I would do that on Monday.
Meanwhile…
Well, on that following Monday I did nothing about buying a new modem. Over two weeks later the problem still persists but as I write this sentence the internet light is on.
I think the Monday was Memorial Day, and I knew Best Buy would be open.
On Tuesday after Memorial Day I did have an online chat with Melanie of Boise of CenturyLink. She did some tests and found that our service had been throttled back. She wrote "…all I did was go in and correct the provisioned [sic] speeds from 3M to 7M". I thanked her and told her she deserved a raise.
However, speed has dropped again. We also had a major power outage last night; see "Taking life for granted".
So, I'm back dithering about buying a new modem. The ActionTec website recommends the "C1000A for CenturyLink" or the "Q2000 for Century Link". I went to BestBuy page for the C1000A and looked at customer comments. Many said that it was simple to install but a few others described exactly the problems I have been having with my DSL modem bought in October 2005 (the date is on one of the line filters). These comments were made for purchases this year: 2013! I should shell out a hundred bucks just to have the same problems again?
If some people have no problems at all and some people have problems no matter when they bought their DSL modems, I would say one of two things is happening. Either the quality of the modems is inconsistent or the quality of the internet service provided by CenturyLink is inconsistent. Or maybe both.
I didn't feel any better about my quandary when I found out that CenturyLink was rated 14 of the worst 15 companies for customer service by Business Insider. And replacing telephone service with cable service isn't a good alternative. Charter is rated 3 in the worst customer service list!!!
See all my other rants about this problem in
Internet service – What free market?
Internet service but not customer service
Who is worth more, the CEO with rigid rules or the employee giving excellent service?
Free market and the Internet
I guess my only recourse is to have a chat with Melanie in Boise every so often to get my provisional speed bumped up again. She gave the best customer service on this issue of anyone else.
To end on a good note about customer service, see
Why do people pick on the Post Office?
Last week our internet service kept going out. The "internet" light on our DSL modem would go out, and we couldn't send or receive any data. We would unplug the modem, wait about five minutes, and replug the modem. Within a couple of minutes, all the modem lights would be lit normally. This kept happening more and more frequently.
We attributed it to the wind and the rain that went on for about three days. But when the weather cleared the problem persisted, maybe with less frequency.
I sent email to our phone company, CenturyLink, with the suggestion that the storm may have been causing the problems. I received a sympathetic reply from Martina that there was no known problem in our area. My guess is that few people call up when they have problems that they think will go away. Martina also suggested that I call a service number or set-up an online chat.
I was reluctant to do so because, with so many companies, one just goes around in circles. Also we were heading to our cabin that has no DSL.
When we came back on Saturday evening, we still had the problem now and then. When I woke up in the night, I checked if the internet light was on. I reset the modem from my iPhone, it came on. Before I had gone back to bed, the light was off again. I reset the modem again and went back to bed. When I got up in the morning, the light was off again; I reset the modem. Repeat three times within an hour.
I'm not sure when the light finally stayed on, but I called my ISP, Hickory Tech, to hear if they had heard any problems. The support person who I talked to said there had not been any major problems reported. He thought, as I did, that the modem may be becoming faulty.
I fussed and fumed about going to the CenturyLink store in the local mall or to Best Buy. I would do that on Monday.
Meanwhile…
Well, on that following Monday I did nothing about buying a new modem. Over two weeks later the problem still persists but as I write this sentence the internet light is on.
I think the Monday was Memorial Day, and I knew Best Buy would be open.
On Tuesday after Memorial Day I did have an online chat with Melanie of Boise of CenturyLink. She did some tests and found that our service had been throttled back. She wrote "…all I did was go in and correct the provisioned [sic] speeds from 3M to 7M". I thanked her and told her she deserved a raise.
However, speed has dropped again. We also had a major power outage last night; see "Taking life for granted".
So, I'm back dithering about buying a new modem. The ActionTec website recommends the "C1000A for CenturyLink" or the "Q2000 for Century Link". I went to BestBuy page for the C1000A and looked at customer comments. Many said that it was simple to install but a few others described exactly the problems I have been having with my DSL modem bought in October 2005 (the date is on one of the line filters). These comments were made for purchases this year: 2013! I should shell out a hundred bucks just to have the same problems again?
If some people have no problems at all and some people have problems no matter when they bought their DSL modems, I would say one of two things is happening. Either the quality of the modems is inconsistent or the quality of the internet service provided by CenturyLink is inconsistent. Or maybe both.
I didn't feel any better about my quandary when I found out that CenturyLink was rated 14 of the worst 15 companies for customer service by Business Insider. And replacing telephone service with cable service isn't a good alternative. Charter is rated 3 in the worst customer service list!!!
See all my other rants about this problem in
Internet service – What free market?
Internet service but not customer service
Who is worth more, the CEO with rigid rules or the employee giving excellent service?
Free market and the Internet
I guess my only recourse is to have a chat with Melanie in Boise every so often to get my provisional speed bumped up again. She gave the best customer service on this issue of anyone else.
To end on a good note about customer service, see
Why do people pick on the Post Office?
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Another inefficient corporation
When I bought my iPhone in September, I cancelled my Verizon Wireless account in favor of Virgin Mobile. I was told at the time by the Best Buy representative that I would have a cancellation fee of around $80 from Verizon.
When Verizon notified me in early October that I had an online statement, I thought I would pay that cancellation fee. Ha! Even though the statement showed an outstanding balance of $89.46, in the "Pay Bill" section, the amount was $0! The site wouldn't even let me pay the true balance online with my debit card. The site did say I would get a paper statement.
The due date was October 23, and so I had plenty of time to get the paper bill and write a check. And the paper bill did not come, and it did not come. Finally, about October 22, I looked up the phone number for "Contact Us". The woman that responded said that I could pay at such and such URL.
Surprise, at that URL I could pay, and I could pay with a debit card. I did and the payment has cleared my bank.
Yesterday, October 29, six days after the payment had been due, I received the paper bill. The paper bill states that I owe $89.46!
From my posts about Netflix, you know the Postal Service can provide next day service. If the sending post office is not within a day's drive of Duluth, Netflix states a DVD will be delivered within 3-5 days. If memory serves me right, the actual delivery is 2-3 days.
The Verizon bill was dated September 28. The only mail that takes over a week to arrive is mail that gets mis-delivered, stuck in a crevice somewhere, or is never sent promptly by the sender. I will go with the last. Is this a deceptive practice to hit me with a late payment fee or is this extreme inefficiency. I think the latter. Of course, if I were actually late with a regular payment, Verizon or many other vendors would promptly charge me with a late payment charge.
Thank you to Netflix, Best Buy, and many others for giving me counter-examples that show corporations can provide efficient customer service. It just goes to show that the management/ownership form of any organization doesn't predict its efficiency or effectiveness; the real guide is the kind of people in the organization – from top to bottom!
When Verizon notified me in early October that I had an online statement, I thought I would pay that cancellation fee. Ha! Even though the statement showed an outstanding balance of $89.46, in the "Pay Bill" section, the amount was $0! The site wouldn't even let me pay the true balance online with my debit card. The site did say I would get a paper statement.
The due date was October 23, and so I had plenty of time to get the paper bill and write a check. And the paper bill did not come, and it did not come. Finally, about October 22, I looked up the phone number for "Contact Us". The woman that responded said that I could pay at such and such URL.
Surprise, at that URL I could pay, and I could pay with a debit card. I did and the payment has cleared my bank.
Yesterday, October 29, six days after the payment had been due, I received the paper bill. The paper bill states that I owe $89.46!
From my posts about Netflix, you know the Postal Service can provide next day service. If the sending post office is not within a day's drive of Duluth, Netflix states a DVD will be delivered within 3-5 days. If memory serves me right, the actual delivery is 2-3 days.
The Verizon bill was dated September 28. The only mail that takes over a week to arrive is mail that gets mis-delivered, stuck in a crevice somewhere, or is never sent promptly by the sender. I will go with the last. Is this a deceptive practice to hit me with a late payment fee or is this extreme inefficiency. I think the latter. Of course, if I were actually late with a regular payment, Verizon or many other vendors would promptly charge me with a late payment charge.
Thank you to Netflix, Best Buy, and many others for giving me counter-examples that show corporations can provide efficient customer service. It just goes to show that the management/ownership form of any organization doesn't predict its efficiency or effectiveness; the real guide is the kind of people in the organization – from top to bottom!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Lying with the truth
Several times Republicans have stated that 250,000 small businesses closed last year, the implication being that President Obama's policies were responsible for each and every small business closing.
But why have these small businesses closed? Let me list the ways.
The owner died or retired.
The owner tried doing too much with too little resources.
The owner did not have enough potential customers.
The owner located in a low traffic area.
The owner did not have the personality to attract and keep customers.
The owner's business model was all wrong.
The owner's landlord would not renew the lease or changed the terms too drastically.
A large corporation moved in too close and drained the small business's customers.
A large corporation provided a service that outmoded the small business's service.
I have no idea what percentage of businesses closed for any of these reasons, but I see examples all the time that have no relation to Obama's policies.
Where are all the DVD stores? Netflix, RedBox, and streaming have taken many customers away.
Where have all the local pharmacies gone? Replaced by Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Walmart.
Where are all the camera stores? Replaced by Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.
I don't care which candidate or party makes some sweeping generalization, but I try to ask at least myself what is the bigger picture. Are things as bad, or as good, as this or that politician proclaim?
But why have these small businesses closed? Let me list the ways.
The owner died or retired.
The owner tried doing too much with too little resources.
The owner did not have enough potential customers.
The owner located in a low traffic area.
The owner did not have the personality to attract and keep customers.
The owner's business model was all wrong.
The owner's landlord would not renew the lease or changed the terms too drastically.
A large corporation moved in too close and drained the small business's customers.
A large corporation provided a service that outmoded the small business's service.
I have no idea what percentage of businesses closed for any of these reasons, but I see examples all the time that have no relation to Obama's policies.
Where are all the DVD stores? Netflix, RedBox, and streaming have taken many customers away.
Where have all the local pharmacies gone? Replaced by Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Walmart.
Where are all the camera stores? Replaced by Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.
I don't care which candidate or party makes some sweeping generalization, but I try to ask at least myself what is the bigger picture. Are things as bad, or as good, as this or that politician proclaim?
Friday, August 31, 2012
Some business people in Superior, Wisconsin don't believe in free markets
One of the conditions of a classical free market is the ability to enter and leave the market at any time.
Many are faulting a homeowner in Superior, Wisconsin for not selling to a supermarket chain that wants to build a new store. See "One homeowner holds up construction of new Superior Super One", Shelley Nelson, Duluth News Tribune, 2012-08-31.http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/241725/
Shouldn't the company have made sure that all the homeowners were willing to sell before buying any of the properties? Many say the homeowner is holding up progress and should accept the very generous offer above and beyond "fair market value". But are all values measured in dollars and cents?
The end result will most likely be that his house will be taken by imminent domain and at a price far less than the maximum he was offered. I know, I know, it's "eminent domain", but unless you are a large corporation with deep pockets, the result is imminent. Remember Best Buy versus Lindahl Oldsmobile in Richfield, Minnesota? Lindahl Olds and many homeowners were forced out.
Many are faulting a homeowner in Superior, Wisconsin for not selling to a supermarket chain that wants to build a new store. See "One homeowner holds up construction of new Superior Super One", Shelley Nelson, Duluth News Tribune, 2012-08-31.http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/241725/
Shouldn't the company have made sure that all the homeowners were willing to sell before buying any of the properties? Many say the homeowner is holding up progress and should accept the very generous offer above and beyond "fair market value". But are all values measured in dollars and cents?
The end result will most likely be that his house will be taken by imminent domain and at a price far less than the maximum he was offered. I know, I know, it's "eminent domain", but unless you are a large corporation with deep pockets, the result is imminent. Remember Best Buy versus Lindahl Oldsmobile in Richfield, Minnesota? Lindahl Olds and many homeowners were forced out.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Who is worth more, the CEO with rigid rules or the employee giving excellent service?
For background, see "What Customers Want, Companies That Bend the Rules", Elaine Pofeldt, Forbes, 2012-06-30
How often have you gone around and around with a "help" person following a script? How often have you gotten above and beyond help that solved your problem in minutes? I bet in both cases the CEOs got huge salaries that make us wish we had their pay for one year in a bank. I bet in the first case the person got a meager salary to keep "expenses" down. I bet in the second case the person was give some free rein in making sure the customer was satisfied.
A friend often wasn't getting my emails. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. I went to his house to see what his setting were. I could find nothing unusual.
I had taken my laptop and tried sending him email. His provider, CenturyLink, wouldn't let me. I tried the usual tricks of changing the settings in my mail program, Microsoft Outlook. Nothing worked.
I called my ISP, Hickory Tech (also CPInternet), and spoke with a knowledgeable person in Minnesota. He said that CenturyLink blocked access through other ISPs (or something like that). Almost every time I've called my ISP, I have received helpful service.
I called CenturyLink. The support person, probably half-way around the world, never understood the problem. She put me on hold several times to consult with "higher support". We just went around and around with me repeating the same thing over and over again. I finally told her that we were getting nowhere and I hung up.
Ironically, my friend is getting all my emails now. Did "higher support" diddle with something? We'll never know.
From something I read recently, CenturyLink's call center might be in the Phillipines, now competing on price with India. I'm rather certain that Hickory Tech's support is in Mankato, Minnesota. The latter are probably making more in a day than the former in a week or even a month.
Interestingly, if I want to use DSL, my only choice is CenturyLink. Back from the dialup days, I've been using a local ISP that was bought out by a Minnesota telecommunications company. I had a choice in selecting the ISP. I've heard that CenturyLink wants take that choice away.
The size of a company is not always a measure of customer service. Small companies might ignore customers and big companies might give excellent advice.
When my previous laptop went belly-up, three weeks after the AppleCare contract expired, I went to Best Buy to get a new one. The Geek Squad took out my old hard drive and sold me a USB case to put it in for use as an external hard drive.
Things went fine until I upgraded to a new OS level. Suddenly my computer wouldn't recognize the external hard drive, my wife's with an older OS would. I sent email to the manufacturer of the hard drive case and never received a reply. I went to Best Buy for another reason and asked about the hard drive. The Geek Squad employee, the same woman that did the diagnosis on my older computer, told me to check the preferences. I didn't find it in System Preferences, but I did find it in Finder Preferences – showing external drives in the sidebar was not checked.
Say what you will about Best Buy, but it made a smart move buying The Geek Squad and giving them some latitude in helping customers.
How often have you gone around and around with a "help" person following a script? How often have you gotten above and beyond help that solved your problem in minutes? I bet in both cases the CEOs got huge salaries that make us wish we had their pay for one year in a bank. I bet in the first case the person got a meager salary to keep "expenses" down. I bet in the second case the person was give some free rein in making sure the customer was satisfied.
A friend often wasn't getting my emails. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. I went to his house to see what his setting were. I could find nothing unusual.
I had taken my laptop and tried sending him email. His provider, CenturyLink, wouldn't let me. I tried the usual tricks of changing the settings in my mail program, Microsoft Outlook. Nothing worked.
I called my ISP, Hickory Tech (also CPInternet), and spoke with a knowledgeable person in Minnesota. He said that CenturyLink blocked access through other ISPs (or something like that). Almost every time I've called my ISP, I have received helpful service.
I called CenturyLink. The support person, probably half-way around the world, never understood the problem. She put me on hold several times to consult with "higher support". We just went around and around with me repeating the same thing over and over again. I finally told her that we were getting nowhere and I hung up.
Ironically, my friend is getting all my emails now. Did "higher support" diddle with something? We'll never know.
From something I read recently, CenturyLink's call center might be in the Phillipines, now competing on price with India. I'm rather certain that Hickory Tech's support is in Mankato, Minnesota. The latter are probably making more in a day than the former in a week or even a month.
Interestingly, if I want to use DSL, my only choice is CenturyLink. Back from the dialup days, I've been using a local ISP that was bought out by a Minnesota telecommunications company. I had a choice in selecting the ISP. I've heard that CenturyLink wants take that choice away.
The size of a company is not always a measure of customer service. Small companies might ignore customers and big companies might give excellent advice.
When my previous laptop went belly-up, three weeks after the AppleCare contract expired, I went to Best Buy to get a new one. The Geek Squad took out my old hard drive and sold me a USB case to put it in for use as an external hard drive.
Things went fine until I upgraded to a new OS level. Suddenly my computer wouldn't recognize the external hard drive, my wife's with an older OS would. I sent email to the manufacturer of the hard drive case and never received a reply. I went to Best Buy for another reason and asked about the hard drive. The Geek Squad employee, the same woman that did the diagnosis on my older computer, told me to check the preferences. I didn't find it in System Preferences, but I did find it in Finder Preferences – showing external drives in the sidebar was not checked.
Say what you will about Best Buy, but it made a smart move buying The Geek Squad and giving them some latitude in helping customers.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Another "free marketer" playing free with "full information"
Last summer I had to replace my computer and did so at BestBuy. In September I received an email that I had a $45 reward certificate that expired on 4/14/2012. Then before Christmas I received an email that my rewards would expire by a certain date. Today I received another email "Last chance: Use your reward certificate before 01/07/2012".
I think the message really means the specials that will be available for reward points will expire in January. But you wouldn't know that from the wording.
Whatever, this is not a true free market where the buyer and the seller have all the information they need to make a good decision. At least, I am free to not be in the market, if you ignore possible forfeiture of my "reward points".
I think the message really means the specials that will be available for reward points will expire in January. But you wouldn't know that from the wording.
Whatever, this is not a true free market where the buyer and the seller have all the information they need to make a good decision. At least, I am free to not be in the market, if you ignore possible forfeiture of my "reward points".
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Back on the air
I took my MacBook Pro to Geek Squad in Best Buy this morning. The good news? I got to talk to someone within five minutes. The bad news? Within ten minutes the technician determined it was the mother board. She said it would cost $500 - $1000 and they would have to send it out.
Now comes dither time. Pay that and have something else go wrong in a few months. Buy a new one and have a warranty for another three years. Also, could my data be moved to a new computer? Yes, for $100. Would they recycle the computer? Yes. What about the security of my data on the hard-drive. They could take it out and I could get a case to make it a stand-alone hard-drive.
OK, I sprang for a new computer and put it into the Geek Squad's tender hands. The tech thought I could have it by Friday afternoon. I whipped out my credit card, paid up, and left.
More dithering on planning the weekend. We wanted to be at the cabin tomorrow. Did I want to wait to Sunday to pick up my computer? Dither, dither!
Mid-afternoon I got a call that my computer was ready. Jump in car and pick it up.
Now I am a happy camper. I just noticed that this one is a lot quieter and a lot cooler. I wonder if the heat of the other one destroyed the mother board over time. Could be.
I have also gotten back some data or features that stopped working for some reason on the other. Like Spotlight couldn't find anything anymore on my hard drive. The index just disappeared and the OS made no attempt to rebuild it, and I could find no magic button to do so. This afternoon this computer rebuilt the index in an hour or so.
But the worst thing of all were the withdrawal symptoms. All the writing and reading I do online was not available to me. I just couldn't get to deep into the newspapers. But I did read a couple more chapters of a book I've been reading. See "A word to the wise on compromise".
I still have to figure out which piggy bank to break to pay for all this.
Now comes dither time. Pay that and have something else go wrong in a few months. Buy a new one and have a warranty for another three years. Also, could my data be moved to a new computer? Yes, for $100. Would they recycle the computer? Yes. What about the security of my data on the hard-drive. They could take it out and I could get a case to make it a stand-alone hard-drive.
OK, I sprang for a new computer and put it into the Geek Squad's tender hands. The tech thought I could have it by Friday afternoon. I whipped out my credit card, paid up, and left.
More dithering on planning the weekend. We wanted to be at the cabin tomorrow. Did I want to wait to Sunday to pick up my computer? Dither, dither!
Mid-afternoon I got a call that my computer was ready. Jump in car and pick it up.
Now I am a happy camper. I just noticed that this one is a lot quieter and a lot cooler. I wonder if the heat of the other one destroyed the mother board over time. Could be.
I have also gotten back some data or features that stopped working for some reason on the other. Like Spotlight couldn't find anything anymore on my hard drive. The index just disappeared and the OS made no attempt to rebuild it, and I could find no magic button to do so. This afternoon this computer rebuilt the index in an hour or so.
But the worst thing of all were the withdrawal symptoms. All the writing and reading I do online was not available to me. I just couldn't get to deep into the newspapers. But I did read a couple more chapters of a book I've been reading. See "A word to the wise on compromise".
I still have to figure out which piggy bank to break to pay for all this.
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