WorldWideWaterCooler

So we’re sitting at an internet cafe in London, because so far, the city kindof hates me.

We asked the friendly concierge(s) at our Oxford hotel and the Oxford-London bus guy where to get off to get the tube to Paddington station. They sent us about 8 tube stations too far away, when the bus actually stops in a few places that are WAY closer. Thanks.

So we make it to the tube. With 3 suitcases, two of which are very large and heavy. No lift (at least not that we could find). One suitcase paid the price of its extendo-roller handle halfway down the stairs. Of course, of the three suitcases, it’s the one we borrowed from someone else.

Then the tube breaks. For twenty minutes.

So we finally make it to our hotel. We figured things would obviously be different now that we’re not staying on the company dime, but holy hell. The neighbourhood is nice. The hotel is clean - but it really is a complete shitbox. With no internet - hence the cafe.

We’re also in cash-panic mode. Despite settling the skimming thing, and having it confirmed (twice) that I would be using my debit card to take out cash in the UK between Feb. 23 and March 5, my card’s been cut off. We had to resort to a cash advance from my Visa, because we just had no more cash, and don’t really want to have to do that again. Especially since we put a whole lot of cash into my bank account, specifically for taking out during the trip.

So that lands us at the internet cafe, checking my vonage account for whether the bank tried to call me (they did) and if I had any voicemail messages. I do, so now it’s back to the hotel to rack up some lovely international calls to try and sort this mess out.

Also, it’s raining. Uncharacteristically Hard. And my umbrella gave its life valiantly in a windstorm in Henley.

On the plus side, there is an H&M here, and the ethnic food is fabulous! I just wish the British would figure out how to make a damn sandwich properly.

Here’s one for the geeks.

Know what would be really cool? If I could select an option on search engines that would automatically sort results based on geographic relevance.

For instance: I need some information on community and career resources in Prince George. If I select that little box, a tool runs to grab my IP and gives me results for the city of Prince George, BC instead of Prince George County, MD. Heck, let me save a profile with my address and postal code, or any other geographic location indicators so I get results that are far more relevant.

Google: know that “default address” I selected for your pretty maps utility? How’s about you use it to filter my search results as well. Maybe only if I ask you to - but I’d like to be able to ask you to.

This should be possible.

Anyone know anyone who might want to do something about this?

When you consolidate two households into one, there are inevitably a few things you end up with duplicates of. Microwaves are a big one - and impossible to get rid of (seriously, does anyone want a free microwave?) since most people seem to have one. Another is services - I cancelled my internet service and renter’s insurance with little issue. And yesterday the boy called to cancel his vonage phone, since I already have one, along with a two month referral credit.

And here is where we find out that there is a communication service out there that GETS IT and actually rewards LOYALTY instead of just new customer signups!

When Neil phoned to cancel his Vonage phone, and gave the reason that we already have one (and mine has some free time coming to me), the good people at Vonage really rolled out the red carpet!

Instead of cancelling Neil’s service, they upgraded him from the 500 minutes/month plan to the unlimited plan, and gave him four free months of service. Then, as if that weren’t enough, they asked him for MY Vonage number, and did the same thing to my account! That means I’ve currently got 6 months of service credit on my account right now. And more North America-wide long distance service than I can shake a stick (or even many sticks) at.

Compare that to the current policies of companies such as Telus, Telus Mobility or Shaw. In the 8 or so years I was a customer with all of them, new customers have been offered:

Never have I been able to access any of these “new” signup bonuses. My loyalty was rewarded exactly ONCE by Telus Mobility - they sent me a wired jabra hands-free headset. A $20 piece of uselessness for being a customer for FIVE years. I’d have really preferred the $20.

With Vonage, they not only “saved” a nearly cancelled account by crediting Neil for four months, they also rewarded our initial and planned loyalty on my account as well.

And now they get a highly favourable blog post, and more recommendations to any friends that I haven’t harrassed yet to sign up for their service.

If you wanna try it out, come on over to my place and bask in the glory of the unlimited long-distance.

And can I interest you in a microwave while you’re here?

While I think it would be pretty great to get a free multimedia phone, I’ve been firmly pushed into the same camp as Darren and Boris on their hatred of the Matchstick annoyance factor.

I was contacted very early on with the Matchstick promotion. I received a comment on my “about” page way back on May 24th and shortly thereafter spoke with Matchstick Jeff on the phone. Because my cell phone service is with Telus Mobility (and will be until my contract runs out next September, or until someone buys me out of it), I don’t qualify for the Matchstick “free phone.” (just in case anyone was still unsure.) It only works on the Rogers network.

Since word got out into the local blogosphere in general, I’ve received countless emails from blogging friends and acquaintances. It seems that Yvonne at Matchstick is encouraging people to spam everyone they know, asking if they meet the following criteria:

Without asking me about my stats or my cellular service provider, the people who keep emailing me can only reliably vouch for 3 out of 5 of the criteria that Matchstick is looking for. Not only that, but 2 out of the 3 criteria my friends could vouch for are highly subjective. And yet the messages still keep flowing in.

The last straw came today when Yvonne herself emailed me, saying a friend had recommended me and do I meet the criteria they’re looking for to get a new phone? If Yvonne did her own research (and dare I say, her job), she’d know that I don’t meet the criteria and moreso that Jeff already contacted me.

I think the idea of word of mouth marketing is a great one, but spamming me, or encouraging spam to come my way is not the way to excite me about it. And to address some past comments from Travis regarding the spam factor - I don’t consider Jeff’s initial email spam. I do think that Yvonne is spamming, and encouraging spam. While my friends are just passing along information that they think might be relevant to me, It falls along the same lines of how a “good luck chain letter” or an email full of pics of “really cute kittens being cute!” might be relevant, but probably isn’t. And as I mentioned, Yvonne already sent me a repeat unsolicited solicitation.

Now I’m annoyed enough that both Nokia and Rogers will be receiving some emails from me regarding their affiliation with and the annoyance factor of Matchstick marketing. I’m sure that’s the last thing they wanted to achieve.

The road to hell is certainly paved with good intentions, and I’m starting to think that there’s also an accompanying bike path, paved with email forwards & spam - and the people at Matchstick are only contributing to its widening.

And one other thing: Matchstick is only looking for 40 local bloggers to give phones to. If it’s already taken six weeks and I’ve heard more about the annoyance factor of their methods than the product they’re trying to advertise, I wouldn’t call them terribly successful or good at what they do.

UPDATE: (July 6/06) I replied to Yvonne’s email, and cc’d it to the general Matchstick info address right after posting yesterday expressing my concern and distaste over the situation. I just received a call from Matchstick Jeff (less than 24 hours later) who called to offer his sincere apology for the flub of being contacted multiple times, and to let me know of the changes they’re making to deal with the inconvenience.

He said that from now on they’d be checking the URLs of their referrals (why Yvonne never did that in the first place I’ll never know - seems very inefficient to me), and while they’ll actively seek referrals, they won’t be asking anyone to pass the information along to (read: spam) their friends and acquaintances.

So, while I sitll say boo to Yvonne’s initial tactis, I say yay to Jeff and by extension to Matchstick. I’m ok with giving him and Matchstick the benefit of the doubt that his actions and promises are more representative of their intent than Yvonne’s were.

**If you’re just here looking for Palm –> Yahoo Calendar Syncing instructions - scroll down, they’re just past the jump**

I’m a bit of a freak for organization, and I’ve been managing my calendar for the past few years from a semi-ancient Sony Clie (Palm OS 4.0), and using the Palm Desktop on each of my three computers, since the Hotsync software doesn’t seem to be compatible with Outlook 2003, and I use Outlook Express (sans calendar) at work.

Obviously I’m sick of that solution, as it’s clunky, requires me to carry my Sync cable around to each computer, and Palm Desktop lacks any semblance of functionality outside of “this event occurs at this time, would you like a reminder or not?”

I figured I’d start using Google’s pretty calendar application instead. Or so I thought.

The people at Palm seem to be the only ones who use their particular format of calendaring (.dba) which doesn’t import into Outlook or GCal. I couldn’t find any sort of conversion tool to make it a .csv - Excel was worse than useless - and I figured I’d have to either use the Palm Desktop forever, or manually enter every appointment I have in the future and go through the year of events to re-enter every birthday, anniversary and other recurring entry I’ve ever made.

I just don’t have that kind of time. Who does?

Thankfully, after an hour or so of searching for solutions I discovered that the good people at Yahoo have partnered up with those at Intellisync (whose product version I have doesn’t work with Outlook 2003 or Google) so that those using the Palm OS can one-click sync their PDA’s to the online Yahoo calender!

Enter the chorus of angels from on high, etc., hallelujah and amen.

I can’t believe nobody else did this.

Unfortunately most people in my life are Googleholics, using gmail, gcal and gchat. While I’m sure I could export the yahoo.csv into gcal, I’d really REALLY love it if Google also stepped up and started offering support for syncing directly from my Palm PDA into their calendar.

In the meantime, I suppose you’ll find me on yahoo - peechie1980. See you there!
(more…)

Now that the boy’s done gone and moved himself to an apartment that’s dog-friendly, 3 blocks from the beach, and cuts my daily commute in half, I find I’m spending most nights over there instead of in my own neglected abode.

This is serious people. Not only do I have a toothbrush there, I moved my COFFEE MAKER in. That is a Big Step. And I’m only the teensiest bit neurotic about it (mostly because further progress involves moving more of my self and my stuff, which I loathe to the very core of my being).

Thankfully, the change of venue hasn’t been too painful. He’s got wireless internet and I’ve got my laptop, so I can still get to all of my email, etc. My home phone is set to simulring to my cell as well, so it’s like I’m not actually gone at all. Add to that the bonuses of his insuite laundry, the daily strolls along Kits Beach with the dog and the fact that he still brings me coffee in bed every morning, I’d really start to sound crazy to not be spending as much time there as I am.

So guess what I do miss. If you said my TiVo, you’d be right! For goodness’ sakes people, my man doesn’t even own a TV! (In all fairness, he did until someone broke into his old place and stole it, but that was MONTHS ago!) We honestly don’t spend that much downtime at home, and when we do we read books or watch movies on his laptop - but I find myself absolutely CRAVING television.

Thank god for TiVoToGo - I think it’s time to put some regularly scheduled trips back to the homestead into the ol’ calendar so I can pop in and download shows to bring with me. It’s not quite the same as channel-surfing and pausing live TV, but it’ll do for now.

And yes, I have thought of just moving my TV over to his place, but one thing at a time people! I did just move my coffee maker over there, and there are only so many steps toward shacking up I can handle at any one time.

First off, I’d like to say that despite the fact that my digital cable box officially barfed up its innards and quit last night, I have survived relatively unscathed.

At least I had Vonage to play with!

That’s right, I made the switch, and have abandoned my Telus landline phone. My decision was mostly financially motivated. I rarely use my home phone. However I like having two lines. That way the telemarketers have something to call, as does my family in an emergency when I’ve turned my cell off for a change.

Why?

I realize a pretty significant savings by switching. Just shy of $10/month. The Vonage basic plan (500 minutes/month and a whole slew of features) is $19.99 plus taxes, for a grand total of $22.79/month. My old telus basic, feature-free line is $27.66/month, plus fees, taxes, and any long distance calls I might make. Last month’s bill was $32.72.

Even factoring in the setup fee ($39.99 + tax) and shipping for the free VoIP router ($19.99 + tax) the change will have paid for itself in 7 months. Technically 4, because being referred by a friend (more on that below) garnered me 1 month free!

The fact that telus was kindof evil not too long ago and I’m giving them less money (since they are the incumbent and own all the phone lines in the province, Vonage pays reseller fees for them) is an added bonus.

Pros thus far

Cheaper than regular phone service. Duh. No contract either.

Keep your own number. There’s no charge for the line transfer from your existing carrier to Vonage.

Dead. Easy. Setup. If you already have a router (which most people I know do), it’s literally four steps:
1. Plug vonage router into port on existing router.
2. Plug in new router’s power cable.
3. Plug Phone cable into new router.
4. Start making calls.

If you’ve ordered online, your equiment has even been pre-activated, so there’s no online setup component either.

The sound/voice quality is excellent. There is a remarkable lack of background noise.

All the benefits of VoIP: A complete online dashboard detailing usage & storing voicemail audio files. Emails when voicemail arrives. North America-wide long distance. Free Vonage to Vonage calling. Actual phone portability. Bring your VoIP router with you anywhere on earth, plug it into an internet connection, and your existing number works. Purchase extra numbers (with any North American areacode) for about $8/month. If I end up moving across the country for school, this means I can keep my local Vancouver number, making it free for friends and family here to contact me, as well as a local to wherever I am number for people there. Plus all of the features such as Call ID, Call Waiting, Call Return, Call Forwarding, SimulRing, etc. that traditional phone companies nickel and dime users for.

Excellent customer referral program! A friend has Vonage and emails me the referral link to sign up with. After I’ve been with Vonage for 3 months, I get 1 month free, she gets 2 months free. Damn good deal for the early adopters who can refer 6 friends. That’s an entire year of free phone service!

Cons so far

My phone (a factory refurb 900mhz cordless that cost me about $12) sucks. It always has. VoIP exacerbates the problem, and I get a ticking noise in the background that comes and goes. People on the other end of the line don’t (from what they’ve said). I’ve talked on the phones of friends who have Vonage, and you’d never know the difference between VoIP and the land line. I plan on getting a new phone, and will post again on quality when that happens. Frankly, I’m not concerned.

There’s only one phone jack. Well, two, since there are two in the modem which can be split any number of times. However, they’re in the location of the modem only. There are a few ways to solve this: rewire your home (there are actually instructions on the Vonage site for this). Get wireless phone jacks, which only require a power outlet to plug a phone into. Get a multi-handset cordless phone system - again only requiring power outlets at phone locations. Of course unlike a hardwired, corded phone you’re SOL on phone talking if the power goes out. Again, I have a 900 sq. ft. apartment, and didn’t have more than one phone (cordless) anyway. These issues haven’t changed my personal phone experience.

It won’t work with phoneline wired apartment buzzers. I’ll have to plug in a dedicated buzzer telephone to let people in. Many newer buildings will allow you to program your buzzer to whatever phone number you use (cell, VoIP, landline) - mine’s not one of them.

911. Because VoIP services bypass the normal phone system, they’re also not wired into the 911 system. The onus is on the VoIP user to ensure address info is kept current, and that is passed on by Vonage to the 911 operator should you dial it. If you are unable to speak, assistance will automatically be sent to your address on file. However, Vonage (of course) takes no responsibility for a breakdown in communication between its information and your local 911 service. Knowing that all local cell carriers now have E911 fully implemented (if you can’t speak, they’ll triangulate to your cell and send help to it), and that I’m a pretty safe, healthy individual, I’m ok with that level of potential risk. If I had someone disabled, elderly, or terminally ill in my home, it might be an issue for me.

Switched

For me, while the list of cons is significant, their impact on me and my situation vs. the direct benefits I get from switching to Vonage made the choice easy.

If you wanna join me, and make the switch yourself, leave a comment or drop me a line, and I’ll send you the referral email. Remember, it means you get a free month of happy VoIPing too!

UPDATE: (21-03-06) I just purchased a set of GE 5.8MHz phones, and any sound quality issues I had have been eliminated.

I have a memorial service to go to next week and I’m in the process of finding a charitable organization to make a donation to, in lieu of (which will actually be in addition to, because that’s just what I do) flowers.

Thankfully, it’s been a while since I’ve had a memorial or funeral to attend, but apparently since the last time I did this, things have changed.

Do you know how impossible it is these days to find a charitable organization that advertises they have actual cards that I can pick up to pass along to the bereaved? Not bloody many, that’s for damn sure. Because I have yet to find one.

They all seem to advertise that they’ll “send a new! special! convenient! e-card!” A FUCKING E-CARD. Because nothing SCREAMS sympathy like A GODDAMN EMAIL.

I’m sorry, charitable organizations, but that is not going to cut it. I’m sure it costs you extra to print those fancy little cards you used to have, but I’d gladly pay an extra buck or two if it saves me from insulting someone with technology.

Because that’s what it is. Insulting. E-Greetings only have one role in the world of interpersonal communications. And that role is to say “I didn’t forget about you completely, but you are so low on my relationship totem pole that you are not worth the consideration of signing my name on an actual piece of paper and either delivering it to you, or wasting 50 cents on a stamp and putting it in the mailbox with enough foresight to ensure it gets to you on time.”

And that is NOT how I choose to honour someone’s life. If charities are that concerned with upfront costs, at least give me the option to print out a “donation in memorium” .pdf that I can fold up and place in a sympathy card that I’ve already got.

I just can’t believe that organizations who seem to be based so strongly in touchy-feelyness and compassion for their fellow animals, minerals and vegetables would be so shortsighted about the same qualities in their donors.

Finally, after years of consideration and public consultation, the CRTC has issued a decision that requires all Canadian wireless providers to have implemented the technology to support number portability by March 2007 (by releasing their numbers), and to support that technology by September 2007 (by accepting the newly released numbers).

I know I can say that it’s only the lack of number portability that’s kept me from switching wireless providers. While “new-sign-up” deals are sweet, they require I abandon my current number, and I’m just not willing to do that every two years. Through 5 years and 4 addresses, my wireless number has been the only thing that’s stayed constant for people to contact me. I also happen to like the number, and the fact that it’s a 604 instead of a 778 area code. I don’t know why… I just do.

Now I’m curious to see what kind of retention deals the mobile companies will put in place. At this point, all I get when I renew my contract is a few dollars off a new phone. Perhaps now that they can’t hold my number hostage they’ll work a bit harder to keep my business.

Today is a very important day. It marks the first evening I’ve spent at home in more than a week! Despite the fact that in mid-September I was assuring myself that finally October would be a time to relax it’s now November and uh.. where did October go? Oy.

At least I don’t have any delusions that November is going to be any less crazy than October has been. I’ve already got plans for four of the next five weekends. Two of those involve leaving town, though only one of them will be a relaxing getaway kind of leaving. With the holidays coming up, I can’t see my free time getting any more bountiful any time soon.

So again I say thank god for the TiVo! Except it’s having a few issues. The channel changing doesn’t seem to be set up properly. Every time I ask it to record something on Channel 9, it never quite makes it there, and ends up recording on whatever channel the TV was last on. It also records the Daily Show on channel 57, as well as two other things it calls the Daily Show which are actually something on the French channel (7) and a cartoon on the Knowledge Network (5). Very odd. I may run it through setup again to see if that helps. My current setup is using the Shaw Digital Cable box (Motorola DCT2000) with the IR channel changing (serial didn’t work when I tried it the first time). If you’ve had experience with this, comment or drop me a line.

I still haven’t quite gotten the hang of TV On Demand though. I find myself waiting until “commercial breaks” to do things, or watching commercials when I don’t have to. But it’s already changed the way I think about TV. I haven’t yet purchased the wireless network adapter (Christmas present anyone?) so I can use it with the TiVo online service, but I can imagine my experience will only improve from there.

All I need now is for Ray to pack up and move on (he’s still planning on a late-December departure) and I can watch TiVo in my underwear as loud as I want to, with no thought to anyone else coming home or being bothered.

And for those who are wondering (and I know you are, because some of you have asked!), no I don’t regularly lick the TiVo any more. I do, however, blow it kisses every now and again…

tivos are good for licking

Originally uploaded by hessiebell.

That’s right my babies..

IT’S MINE!

I’m just shy of freakin’ exhausted, and considering the time setup takes, I may not get it fully operational until after I return from a weekend away.

But my Pay Per View parties will now include custom instant replays, and pausing for bathroom breaks!

I may never leave the house again…

It appears my website broke itself. I promise I didn’t touch anything - I blame elves.

Hooray for the people at site5.com (my superfantastic host) for fixing it for me within about 15 minutes!

My admin page is still all borked, so if anyone wants to get together and fix it with me, I’d be eternally grateful! I should really get on learning myself some of this damn webby stuff.

In the meantime, happy rainy humpday!

All my dreams are coming true!

I see a trip to Best Buy in Bellingham in my immediate future.

Hear that dooce? Now all we need is Target….

A wee tidbit about me that some of you may not know: When I feel cranky, I shop. I’ve always had magpie eyes, and few things bring a glimmer of joy to my heart like something shiny and new. This is the part where, if I were a popular blogger, some troll would psychobabble me into a corner talking about how I’m a bad person because I fill voids with material things. Sometimes it’s better not being the popular kid.

But I digress…

I had a particularly bad dose of the nasties today when I woke up. They didn’t disappear with time or caffine, so after a few hours I popped out for coffee and to buy a particular pair of sunglasses I’d been lusting after for much of the summer. Of course, the sunglasses were not at the Sunglass Hut. And nothing else but that particular pair would do. So I left empty handed. My Visa thanks me.

Except maybe not…

Because now I’m thinking that those sunglasses were about $200, which is 2/3 of the cost of an iPod nano. Which makes me droooooooooool. And since winter’s coming, where I won’t really need the sunglasses as much - and the pair I do have is at least functional - maybe the nano is a wise investment? I mean really, saving myself that $200 by not buying sunglasses means the nano is a bargain at around $100 (after I buy accessories, pay taxes, etc…).

Except that $200 isn’t really money I’m “saving” - it’s money I should be saving, for things like fixing that thing that’s wrong with my car, or moving in the spring, or paying off the bill for the hockey tickets I just bought, or if I must buy some sort of gadget, replacing my aging and dying monitor is probably a better use of my dollars.

But the sweet siren song of the nano, she is strong… I am weak… help!

So I’m trying to figure out how to create a blog post with two pictures in it - and my coding skills are pretty much non-existent.

Anyone wanna email me with whatever will work in wordpress?

Thanks!