Fust, really?

I bought a vacuum cleaner and this was my response to their email:

"Dear Fust,

I have received the vacuum cleaner I bought from you, and was delivered the next day, not in the morning like it was said but in the afternoon and I could follow the delivery online. Since then I have received two emails, asking me to give a "Bewertung", a review on my purchase. I have used it once, and cannot with any good conscience give 1 star or 5 stars. If I give 1 star, you are gonna do what? Blame some poorly paid worker? And if I give 5 stars, and the machine stops working just after the warranty time is up, I'm gonna feel like a fool.

The one time I used my new appliance it worked fine, but if you get back to me in 10 years I will be able to give you a reasonable review. I look forward to that."

Their answer: "We regret that your shipment was not delivered as requested. The logistic processes are planned very precisely and of course we also hope for a delivery as punctual as possible, but unfortunately, for planning reasons, but also for natural reasons, there may be a delay.

The evaluation serves to improve us. So we ask you to be so honest and critical so that we can improve in the best possible way.

We are looking forward to your review and wish you a nice day."

Oh dear, is it a real person who has copy-pasted or a robot? Your guess is as good as mine.

New modem installed!

Had a sleep-in this morning but as soon as I switched on my beloved very old telephone (without internet connection) it rang. First I didn't hear anything since the coffee machine was doing its grinding noise, and I also had two cats swirling around my legs waiting impatiently for their breakfast. Yes, we have our routines.

First step was to connect the phone to electricity, since it has a battery time equal to...well...my patience with technology.

Second step was to realize it was the person from the internet provider who called and asked how it went with the new modem. Ha, I hadn't unpacked it and the old one was disconnected. Disaster! I need my morning coffee and a cig while reading up on news and stuff on the net. I'm afraid I was a bit rude to her.

So we agreed she would call back in 15 minutes. She called back in about 3 hours, hmmm. But in the meantime I connected the new modem all by myself, tap on shoulder. Both computers connected without much problem, but the tiny little new telephone didn't cooperate. Tiny telephone, and no thick fingers, but a password as long as my arm, switching between capital letters, numbers and whatsit. But after almost having thrown out the telephone from the window (not really, I'm too cheap for that) I managed to get it right.

Then she called back again from the provider, asking if I wanted to switch to glass fiber, that thing I didn't know about before but now had found and sent the number through. The thing is, that if things work, why change it? I was told that they needed to send some gadget, but free of charge, and then I would have to do the installation again. This is when I halted and after she checked how much bandwidth I have with the current new modem, we agreed on that it's fine and more than enough for my usage. I also apologized for my rudeness this morning.

The last thing that I needed to do was to send back the 5-year-old modem (I so wonder what they are gonna use it for?), so I packed it up together with all the cabling, adapters and what-have-you in the carton box in which they sent the new one in, complete with tape around in, address and something called a "RMA-No" (Return of Modem Ancient?) and went to the post office. I was surprised to learn it only cost 7 francs. I was expecting to see some of the rebate I negotiated vanish into thin air, but for a new modem and apparently better connection, I was happy to pay.

All is well that ends well.

Modem or router?

 Yesterday my internet provider called me, saying that my current service would no longer be available. Apparently I have 10 of something now, and in the future they will offer me 50 of the same something. I don't know why, since everything is working now, but hey, if they want to give me something better who am I to refuse?

But of course there was a catch. Three more francs per month. But being as I am, I asked very politely if it wasn't worth something (something for something?) that I have been a loyal customer for 13 years always paying my bills on time. After having conferred with her manager, I not only get two months free service (which amounts to almost three years with the same price) but also a free modem/router (am I supposed to know the difference?) if I return the old one.

At the ungodly time of 8.30 am this morning the modem/router was delivered. I was rudely woken up, had to go down to the entrance and sign for it, with my hair on end and in sleeping gear. Charming!

I was also asked if I have glass fiber installed. I do remember the street outside being dug up some five-six years ago for this purpose, but I had no clue if it was "installed" in my apartment. Having asked the other three in the house, they were all as clueless as me. It was only when I talked to one who previously lived in the house I realized that I do. We all do. Have glass fiber. It's some little gadget on the electricity switch board with a number on.

I love new technique, I use it daily, but I don't want to know why and how it works. It just should! So the next big challenge is to install the new modem/router when it's activated, which they said in a letter would be in five days. Stay tuned!

Ze Swiss railways

It's been a little while since I wrote last, I really don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I felt no need to write. Weird that.

But here I am again to tell you about ze Swiss railways. The other day I got a letter sent to all citizens in Zürich, talking about some railway maintenance taking place between Hardbrücke and Oerlikon between February and mid March. At night.

Yes, I realize there are people travelling on the trains between 22.00 and 5.30, but to tell all of Zürich about it? Wouldn't it be enough to post information at the train stations about it? Six Fridays and one Monday according to the letter.

Especially since the last sentence in the letter reads "Die Züge fahren trotz Bauarbeiten fahrplanmässig", meaning the trains go according to the timetable despite the construction work.

Hmm. Using my tax money to send a letter like this, not ok Zürich if you ask me.

The postman never rings

Yesterday my door rang and the wee neighbour came to deliver a letter for me that had been put in their mailbox, together with a note from the postman:

"Sorry, I put the letter for Annika in your mailbox". And a smiley. How sweet!

Have to remember to give him/her a few cookies on Christmas Eve.

I hate automatic downloads

I dunno what's going on with my computer. All of a sudden it decided that Internet explorer was no longer my default browser, and nothing worked.

I reset and reset and set as default, and set as default, and restarted and restarted and I made it work again, but who knows what will happen when I start it again.

And this at a time when I'll be watching more telly than ever. Bad friggin timing!

Analogue

Some months ago I received an information letter about going digital on telly. I put it aside since I never watch telly on the actual tv screen. I'm a computer person.

But today, sorting my papers I found it again and thought I'd try. No luck at all. The tv didn't even go on. So I changed batteries in the remote control. Still no luck. Until I realized that it wasn't plugged in :).

And when it did go on, there was only snow. Reminded me of my youth, when the screen was snowing when no programs were on. Kids, there was a time when there weren't tv 24-7. And coming to think of it, no computers, no pads, no pods, no electronic communication whatsoever. I feel a bit sorry for the young ones who will never understand.

Anyway, I don't think I will win a battle with the authorities not having to pay, so I will ask somebody interesting in fiddling with electronics to set it up to work.

Always red

I don't watch commercials often, that's when I go to make a coffee, pour another glass of wine, go to the bathroom or anything to avoid watching stupid ads.

But the other day I was stuck at the screen, and saw this commercial about menstruation pads. Always they were called. It was something about having pads at night, bigger than normal, making me think of diapers, but when fluid was poured out to show how well they absorbed, it was...tadada...blue!

These days I think even a three year-old knows that blood is red, whether you're royal or not.

How stupid are companies? If you wanna sell, do it with a sense of humour, not listening to so called focus groups or "experts".

I used to work for a company which had a genius idea (well, at least once) and created this ad. Background is that the company was American and based in Texas, making fun of themselves. The fact that the CEO at the time walked away after only four years with seventy mill dollars as a compensation for failing is another story.

Salted bill

Since Orange became Salt I have received one message and one reminder that they offer 100 francs off any phone I want to buy when renewing my contract in May.

Now, I don't need a new phone, my antique one is still working to my satisfaction, but I thought if I find a phone for under a 100 I can get it for free and have as a back-up.

Now listen to this. First I had to change my "price plan", since mine was no longer valid for some reason. But ok, I'm going from paying 20 francs a month to 15 including free phone calls to all Salt subscribers and free sms's. That is good.

However, if I wanted to "buy" a new phone using the 100 francs discount, I would have to continue to pay 20 francs a month, which means the "discount" would be eaten up in a blink. Do they actually believe people are that stupid? Plus the fact that they shouldn't advertise a discount that isn't. I consider writing to the new and "improved" Salt.ch to express my opinion. In a polite manner of course ;).

Not sent from my iphone

I have to laugh every time I get an email with a note underneath saying "sent from my iphone". I assume this is a commercial trick by the provider put in as default, and that most people either don't know how to remove it, or care to do it.

So from now on every time I get such a message I will reply "not sent from my iphone", and in doing that contributing to the free advertising.

Irl

This year in November I have been blogging for ten years, and I am proud to say I do it for myself, not for anybody else. Even if I didn't have any readers, I would still be going. 'Cause it's for me. That said, I love when I get comments, especially challenging ones, but even if I didn't, I would still be going strong.

I hate it when famous people, whose blogs I read, suddenly stop without a comment why. That's when I realized most people do it for money or fame.

That leads to me think about Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I'm on none of them. And I read in the newspapers about people being addicted. They cannot stop reading about other people's lives. How sad is not that?

I was on the bus yesterday, and had forgotten my book (yes I still read real books while travelling) and was watching people instead. Almost everybody was looking at their iphone or ipad or i-something I still haven't heard about.

Personally, I still prefer people in real life. They may not be perfect, like today when I was visiting some friends, and we disagreed on how to raise kids (haha, me the expert!), but they were real people. Irl. Not anybody online only.

Not everything was better before, but some things certainly were.

Connected

1st of September seems to be an important day in my life. Today it coincided with me changing network provider. As you probably know, these things are never easy.

So this morning everything was functioning as normal, I had actually forgotten that this was the day.

Before lunch I lost the connection, or actually didn't, since my computer automatically connects to the neighbours network when mine chooses to have a nap. However, it is not as strong so realized that it was time to unpack the new modem.

Didn't have time to sort out the eight cables and thingies in there, so just left it and decided to deal with it later.

After several tries in the afternoon where the modem started to blink and there was a sorta connection but not the wireless I needed, I decided to put a plea on the whiteboard in our house.

Funnily enough, after about half an hour all of a sudden it was green lights all over the place and I was properly online again! And this after not having an installation guide that made any sort of sense whatsoever. And I had to use one adapter from the old modem in order to get it to function. Ha! It wasn't me being so stupid after all.

Ah well, who needs an IT guru when one can do it oneself (pat on back)?

Gmail sucks

Some years ago I was forced to open a new email account, and I chose gmail supported by google, since I thought that was a platform that would be reliable. I was wrong.

Today I tried to log on to my own gmail account, and I admit, I haven't visited it for maybe 4-5 months, but still. It should be there.

First I was asked to provide another email account, then a number of questions (f... you google, you only wanna know lots about me to use for other purposes. Admit it, you have an ulterior motive). Like which month and date did I visit my account last time (excuse me for not having a paper calendar keeping track of that!), and what name did my first cat have (exactly! I've given you that information before, so you knew what to ask).

It ended up with "you have not given enough information" so I couldn't access the account. Well, google, gmail, whoever you are. You can keep it! You hear! I am no longer a customer of yours.

Internet trolls

Once in a while I comment on sites, not often but it happens. Last week I wrote a comment to a tv play-site to thank them for posting a program. It was a stand-up comedian show, and I found it very funny.

To my big surprise I got commented on. So you can comment on comments, and it becomes a thread. I think by the time the administrator closed the thread it was around 18 comments. I answered of course so some of them were mine, but it was mind-blowing to see how stupid people are.

The stand-up show was about racism and how close-minded people can be, and also how some people cannot laugh about themselves. Exactly what the comments showed.

I have read about stalkers and hate comments on blogs, twitter and facebook, but never really been exposed myself. I think I had one in all my years of blogging. But then again, I'm not famous and not sticking my head out in a public debate. Still, it was surprising.

I certainly don't envy the public people, especially not the women. They seem to be more exposed to hate than men. Or it could be the other way around. Men hate more than women.

Yes, that must be it. Apart from a very few exceptions, all wars were started by men. Testosterone, anyone?

Goners

About once a year I go through my email-list and my phone in order to decide whether I want to keep the contact information or not. The general rule is if I haven't heard from them for a year they are deleted. But that's a rule with some exceptions.

Long-term good friends always stay, even if we lost contact for a while. Some relatives are kept, even if I don't hear from them often, not all of them mind you. Some people I'm thinking I should contact to ask if they're still alive, but haven't yet, I keep.

But the others are goners. The people I met once or twice, and exchanged numbers with, gone. The people I used to know pretty well, but have lost contact with for one reason or another, gone. The people who have irritated me enough, or I just don't like anymore, gone.

So, if you don't hear from me, you know why ;).

Vtx is the new Orange

I dunno know. I'm skeptical. Got a phone call today from my internet provider. Many years ago I signed up with Orange, and recently they sold their internet connection part to Vtx. Which made sense since Vtx has provided the service as a supplier to Orange all these years.

Anyway, they called today and offered me double Mb's and ten francs off the bill on a monthly basis.

When I get offers like that, I have a hard time trusting them, but hey! Orange hasn't exactly been generous so why not? Ten francs saving a month is not to be frown upon.

But the connection has bloody well gotta work. Good thing I have the name, email and number to the sales guy.

Status quo rocks

I don't mean the band. I'm referring to computers. When everything works and the sun shines and there are no clouds in the sky. Until you download some new software and everything goes haywire.

Right now when logging on to this blog I'm getting a message:

"ERROR: Possible problem with your *.gwt.xml module file. The compile time user.agent value (gecko1_8) does not match the runtime user.agent value (ie9). Expect more errors."

Indeed. Expect more errors.

I regard myself as pretty educated, and can get along in most circles, both with so called blue-collar workers and with academics, but this? I have no friggin idea.

It started when I downloaded the camera thingie, and now the colours have changed on the blog, but I can still log on and can still blog. So no reason to be alarmed. Yet.

Camera installed

Finally! Ok, I only tried once before but today I managed to install my wireless surveillance camera. Now I only have two problems left to solve. One is how I save the pics on my computer, so that I can go back and check if something happens, and another is where to put it. Right now it's not nailed to a wall but just standing on a shelf where my furry ones hopefully not gonna get to.

So now I just need some help with putting it up, and my guru to get well again and tell me how to save the pics.

One step at a time.

Guru strucks again

Hurray, I'm back in business! Both Excel and Word are working again, thanks to remote assistance from guru. Turned out to be a minor problem, once "we" figured out what it was, easily fixed.

And I got some tips re surveillance for a very reasonable price. Worth checking out.

If I ever have a break-in attempt again, it would be priceless to have photos to send to the police.

Bye-bye Excel

The difficulty with getting access to Excel and Word goes on. One person picked up on my scream for help and gave me a usb-stick with a licensed product (something I already paid for but cannot use), but when trying to install it I realized that:

1. It was ze German version. Which I could live with, after all it was how I learned the difference between wann and wenn when doing some consultancy work with a German pc provided to me. Wann means when and wenn means if. If anybody can explain the logic to me, please do. Why I learned it? I was trying to do an if-sentence in Excel and couldn't understand why the program didn't accept it. Wenn.

and 2. The file was zipped and Winzip is no longer a free product. Anybody who thinks I'm gonna pay for Winzip raise their hands now. I thought so.

So I guess it's down to how long my current computer will last before I can use Excel and Word again, 'cause no way will I buy a new one before this one doesn't work anymore.