After the weekend thoughts

We went for a family walk along some rural forest NCC paths to feed the chickadees. The parking lot was packed with the cars of others who had the same idea on such an awesome day. We, and others, had to park along the shoulder of the road. Not a big deal, but if people wouldn't leave 3/4s of a car width between their cars in the lot, more people could park there.

The next disappointment was finding bagged dog shit hanging from trees along the path. In total, we noticed three or four other bags of dog shit hanging from trees.

It's puzzling. Why do some dog owners even bother to pick up after their dogs, when all they're going to do is hang the plastic bag on a tree? What's the point? Yes, it's the law to pick up after your dog, but it doesn't get you off the hook if you're just going to leave it anyway. You inconsiderate ass-hats.

Anyway, as I mentioned, the weather was awesome today. Clear, sunny skies, cool enough that you needed a light coat, but wouldn't break into a sweat in the direct sun. We had a lot of fun feeding the chickadees and sharing some seeds with families who didn't bring anything for their kids to feed the birds. I'm pretty sure they'll be bringing some the next time they show up. Their kids seemed to have a lot of fun.

Relay for Life – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

After sleeping away most of Saturday, catching up on a sleep and fighting off whatever cold bug I caught between Friday night and Saturday morning, and now feel rested and pretty good.

The good

Our team goal was blown away this year!  “Lassiter Walks to Fight – Team WTF” raised $6,660, achieving the “Bronze” level status. That is incredible!

Great job team!

The experience, once again, was amazing. There seemed to be a lot more people on the track in the wee hours of the morning than I recall in previous years.

The bad

I didn’t reach the goal of $1,500 that I set this year. In fact, I didn’t even make it half way, leaving me below last year’s total. I raised $730; nothing to be ashamed of, just not what I would have liked. It happens, I guess.

Once again, a HUGE thanks to everyone who did donate toward my participation! I got to see some of the people that your donations help and they are indeed grateful.

The ugly

It was disappointing to hear that due to complaints in previous years from some residents in Orleans, they were going to shut down or turn down the DJ music at 11:00pm. The music plays throughout the night to help give people energy to keep walking.

This is a once-a-year charitable event for a good cause. A cause that will likely help you or a member of your family at some point in the future. It’s not some kind of profit-making carnival or concert. What’s wrong with some people?

Thankfully, the music did NOT turn off. I think they did turn it down a few notches though. Or perhaps they decided to continue until someone complained? I don’t know, but I’m glad it kept going.

Sure, it’s easy for me to say because I don’t live out there, but if I did live out there I still wouldn’t complain because I’d be participating.

If you’re one of those people who complain about it, why don’t you drop by next year at around 10:00pm for the Luminary ceremony and see if it changes your view. I think everyone should experience that at least once in their lives.

Big corporations DO care – go figure

I arrived home from work today to a surprise: a plastic-wrapped package sitting on my dining room table, from UPS.

It was my Xbox power supply.

So, it would appear that the manager I spoke with was right, it could arrive today – and it did.

So, yes, I did get all worked up over nothing. However… had a few things been done differently by Xbox support and the repair process, this blog post and the other two wouldn’t exist.

This is where things make a  change for the better.

Just over an hour ago, as I was typing an update saying that I got my power supply, the phone rang. My wife answered it and handed me the phone.

It was another surprise. A surprise that restores my faith in big corporations, like Microsoft and reassures me that there are indeed people out there fixing the wrongs rather than simply ignoring them.

The surprise was a man by the name of Anthony, who was calling from Microsoft. He had received a “heads up” about my problems, and my earlier blog post. I honestly don’t know how he was made aware of it, nor does it really matter. What matters is that he called to make an effort to fix my problem and make me a happy customer. If someone out there took it upon themselves to escalate the issue up the corporate ladder at Microsoft, thank you very much.

I won’t go into the small details of the call, but I will say that we had a great conversation. He apologized for the experience. He explained the hows and whys that lead to the problem.  He didn’t try to deny that there were areas that needed improvement. He didn’t make any excuses. He was well aware of XboxSupport on Twitter. :) He listened to my suggestions on how to improve the service.

He also told me that he was sending me a new power supply for my Xbox, to arrive tomorrow. That was before I had a chance to explain that I did in fact receive the original one today. They actually thought that it got lost in transit, so he took it upon himself to send me a new one. Now I will have a spare.

He also asked me if I had any trouble setting up the replacement Xbox. We talked a little about that, and he asked me for my email address so he could send me his personal contact info so I can let him know how it goes and if I have any problems.

There’s not much else to say, except that I am still somewhat shocked that I received a call, and so quickly. A lot of people, including myself, often bash Microsoft. My earlier blog posts are proof of that. All it took was one call to change my view of the company.  They are listening and doing something.

Kudos to Microsoft and kudos to Anthony.

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• It must really suck to work for Xbox support (scottpaterson.org)
• Canned responses (scottpaterson.org)

Canned responses

I sent the Xbox email support a message last night using their support submission form. I chose the “Other” option from the drop down list, thereby eliminating all of the more common issues they help with the hope that I’d get a human to read my message.

Because the form is limited to 1000 character, I suggested that they visit my blog where all of the details are posted, or forward my message to a manager or someone higher up as I had already dealt with support.

Seemed simple enough. Or so I thought.

This was in my email this morning:

Hello Scott,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft online support for XBOX. I am Kody and I will be assisting you today with this issue.

I understand that you are encountering problems with your Xbox 360 console.

As our dear customer we are committed on giving the best possible service. We know how unsatisfactory your situation is when your console is not performing correctly.

In order to check what is causing the problem and give you the correct steps to resolve the issue, please provide us further with more specific details such as:

• Exact error message or error code as seen on the screen (if there are any).
• Games (Original Xbox games or Xbox 360 games) that are affected.
• The number of red lights flashing on the Ring of Light (surrounds the power button light), if any.
• The color of the indicator light on the power supply unit while the console is turned on.
• Please include other details that can help identify the issue.

You may also include other details that can help identify the issue.  I look forward to hearing from you again and helping you resolve your problem.

If you need to reply to this e-mail, please reply 'with history' (include any previous e-mail) or reference to Service Request Number 1133432296 so we can expedite our service to you.

Thank you for visiting Xbox.com. We hope that we were able to assist you, and that your experience with our customer service was positive - something we constantly strive to improve. If you should have future questions on Xbox products or services, please be sure to revisit our Web site as we are continually adding information to enhance our service.

Best Regards, 

Kody
Microsoft XBOX Support Services
http://support.microsoft.com

That’s a canned response if I ever saw one. And based on the time I received it (6:19am) in comparison to when I sent it late last night, it’s not an automated canned message. A human, whether it really was a “Kody” or someone else, had to click a button to send it to me. Do I assume they simply didn’t read my message and just blasted through a bunch of “Other” flagged messages with the same canned response, or did someone actually read it, not give a damn, and then send the canned message in hopes that I’ll go away?

Is it any wonder why Tech Support gets a bad rap, often being compare to monkeys, when all they’re told to do is act like monkeys?

I was originally going to reply with a simple one-liner pointing to my original request, but the more I read this canned response, the more it bothered me. The temptation was too great, so this is what I sent:

Hello Kody,

Thank you for replying to my online support request for XBOX. I am Scott and I will be replying to you today with more details on this issue.

I understand that you are encountering problems with reading my original support request pertaining to my Xbox 360 console.

As the the dear customer you say I am, I am committed to giving you the best possible reply. I know how unsatisfying your job must be when upset customers, like myself, send long-winded support requests with very little detail.

In order be as clear as possible about what my problem is, I will again provide you with a link containing all of the information necessary so that you can provide me with the best possible service. I know, that you know, how unsatisfactory my situatuon is when my console is not functional.

Here, once again, is the link containing the information about my issue:

http://blog.scottpaterson.org/2010/06/it-must-really-suck-to-work-for-xbox.html

Thank you for visiting my blog containing all of the details you need. I hope that you are able to assist me, and that my experience with your customer service will be positive - something I'm sure you constantly strive to improve. If you should have future questions on my problem, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards, 

Scott
Microsoft XBOX Customer
http://blog.scottpaterson.org

Hey, if they can do it, so can I. :)

I’m still chuckling.

It must really suck to work for Xbox support

I don’t even know where to begin.

This might come out all jumbled because it was one of the most frustrating experiences with customer service I have ever experienced; and I have experienced them from both the customer side and the support provider side many times in my life (more so on the provider side)

As mentioned in previous blog entries, my Xbox Elite died and I sent it off to be repaired or replaced. It wasn’t a warranty repair, so I paid about $123 Cdn for the “service”.

Much to my surprise, once I finally sent it off, I received it back today. Amazing four business day turn-around. I was happy.

Until I opened the box.

There sat a nice, plastic-wrapped, refurbished Xbox Elite with a 30-day Xbox Live Gold card taped to it to add onto my existing account (for my troubles, I assume)… and no power supply brick.

Now, before anyone says “WTF? You sent the power supply too? You’re not supposed to send accessories!”, let me explain something.

In a brief chat with @XboxSupport on Twitter, I specifically asked if I should send the power supply with the Xbox console.

To which they replied…

I am well aware of the “no accessories” rule, but the reason I asked was because my Xbox did absolutely nothing when turned on. No power at all. By sending the power supply, I was hoping to ward off any bad experiences with a refurb Xbox and a faulty power supply.

So much for that idea.

So, I decided I would call up Xbox support and have a chat. Surely this can be resolved quickly, and to my satisfaction.

First off, their support line seemed to throw me into a loop. I guess it detected my phone number, saw I had a repair incident and decided I should need to know the status.

Ok, thanks, but I want to talk to someone.

For some reason, it kept telling me that for repairs, visit support.xbox.com online and submit the repair request and then just left me hanging to go back to the main menu. It may very well have been my own mistake, but I couldn’t seem to find an option to speak with a real human being.

I hung up and swore a few times.

I called back. I decided I would try Tech Support. If anything, I’m sure they could tell me who I should speak with.

I lucked out and got through to an option to speak with a person.

I really don’t recall his name, but the guy was polite and had a slight accent. It’s nothing personal, but I rarely listen to names. Bad habit. My mind is so preoccupied with what I want to say, that it goes in one ear and out the other.

So I explained what the problem was. After a few misunderstandings, he asked if he could place me on hold to look for my power supply. Yep, look for my power supply.

He came back, thanked me for holding, and proceeded to explain that it would be 9-12 days for it to be returned to me.

Umm… wait a minute… 9-12 days???

I asked him how this was possible. It took 4-5 days for my dead console to be shipped to them, be replaced, and shipped back to me… yet it’s going to take 9-12 days for them to return a power supply to me?

He actually interrupted me and began to explain that for “accidentally returned” accessories, this was the norm.

I then proceeded to clarify that this was not an “accidentally returned” accessory. (Never mind the fact that I don’t consider a crucial part for the operation of an Xbox, like a power supply, to be an accessory) I told him that had asked @XboxSupport if I should send the power supply with the console and I was told yes (or “yeah” as the case may be)

This is where we got stuck in a loop. The support rep stuck with the corporate policy of 9-12 … me explaining that this was not my mistake… him giving more apologies… me poking and prodding for some kind of compensation… more apologies… more corporate policy… and then me thanking him for his help, assuring him that I appreciated his help, and then asking to speak with a manager.

When I worked in support, I hated that. But it happens, and you comply with the customer’s request.

I got some resistance, as expected. It was explained to me that the manager would tell me the same thing. I thanked him and insisted. He asked if he could put me on hold while he found a manager. I thanked him.

{Insert annoying hold music here}

I don’t know how long I waited… 2 or 3 minutes perhaps?

He came back and explained that he was still looking for a manager. I thanked him. He thanked me again for holding.

{Insert same annoying hold song here}

More waiting.

He came back again and explained that he was still looking for a manager. I thanked him again. He thanked me again for holding.

Repeat that once or twice more. I actually thought that maybe they were hoping I’d just hang up.

Supper was ready. I was getting hungry.

Finally, he returned to say that a manager was found and told me his name. Again… bad with names. See above. He let me go and left me with the “manager” who asked me how he could help me.

He seemed a little uncertain of what to expect from me. Nervous perhaps. I know that feeling well. I asked him if he was aware of what the problem was, and so it began.

More of the same corporate policy, and apologies (a little more apologetic actually), and now it seems that it was going to be 5-10 days. In fact, my power supply might arrived tomorrow since it has already been 4-5 days since I sent it to them(???)

I explained that 5-10 days was unacceptable, especially considering that it only took 4-5 days for the entire exchange of dead Xbox for a refurbished Xbox. How could it possibly take 5-10 days to send me a simple power supply?

From what I gather, I’m lucky that it was an exchange, because that’s fast. Had it required a repair, I could be waiting 2-3 weeks and my power supply would arrive before my Xbox.

Again, it was implied that I made the error in sending them the “accessory”. Again, I corrected him.

And then something shocking happened. He asked me for more information about @XboxSupport on Twitter. He paused. He then began to explain that corporate policy forbids employees from using Twitter in any official capacity.

I told him that it is indeed official support. He repeated the policy. This went on back and forth for a few minutes. I said “So you’re telling me that there is no official Xbox support on Twitter?” He said he stood by his comments.

I had to laugh. And I did. Sorry, but it was funny.

I went on to explain that Xbox Live’s own “Major Nelson” recommends @XboxSupport on Twitter and that the Twitter account is even listed the Xbox.com support page. He asked me where. I frantically searched for the page. I had seen it earlier, but now I couldn’t find it.

In the meantime he assured me that he was well aware of the support available in their department. I told him that I believed him, but that he was obviously unaware of the support available outside of his department.

I then found the link. I read it out to him and he went there. There was silence. I asked him if he could see it.

He then tried to tell me that they don’t do hardware support. (I was later assured by @XboxSupport, during a rather humerous exchange when I told them they don’t exist, that they do indeed do hardware support) I also explained to him that I never went looking for help from @XboxSupport in the first place. They asked ME how they could help after I made a comment about waiting for a box. I then asked them about the power supply.

I told him that he should be upset that they are not made aware of their support offerings. I sure as hell would be. I’d be pissed if I just finished debating with a customer, and betting the farm that I was right, only to have them prove me wrong.

When then got stuck, once again, in the loop of apologies, corporate policy of 5-10 days, etc. I’ll give the guy credit, he sure was stubborn.

I had enough. I thanked him for his help and then asked to speak to someone higher up.

He kindly explained that there is nobody higher. Everyone higher doesn’t take calls. I then got a little sarcastic. I said “Surely they have a phone, and surely they speak to people on a daily basis!” I used to hate when customers did that to me. He said they don’t speak with customers.

I said “So they aren’t customer focused people… they don’t care about customer service?” I then went onto explain that when I was in support, there was always someone higher to speak with. If I, as a manager, couldn’t make a customer happy, there was my boss… or his boss… or the CEO. SOMEONE in the company had the power to turn an unhappy customer into a happy one. It was rare that someone would not go away happy and it was very rare that they had to go above me.

I told him flat out that I was looking for some form of compensation for what was not my error… anything… 30-days of Xbox Live Gold… anything.

He didn’t budge. They don’t have that power, unlike the refurb centre and their 30-day Xbox Live Gold cards.

I explained that’s why I would like to speak with someone higher.

Again with the “they don’t accept calls” stuff… more apologies… and so on.

I interrupted him and politely asked him when I would receive my power supply. 5-10 days was the response. I said “Fine, thanks for the help, and be sure to let your boss know that I will be calling them… or someone else there, because I am not finished” and then I hung up.

This actually seems much shorter than our conversations, believe it or not. There was far more repetition from him, and me.

I really do feel sorry for the guy, in a way. To be kept out of the loop like that… that’s embarrassing and a shining example of how not to run a support department (or any department for that matter).

But then again, he’s probably working for peanuts at an outsource centre. The corporate mother ship doesn’t really care about them. Do your job and nothing more. You can be replaced.

So now what? I don’t know. Yet. I’ll figure something out.

In the meantime, if you’re a Microsoft / Xbox employee and you have any power in you to make even a half-assed attempt at making me happy, feel free to give ‘er a go. You certainly can’t do any worse than your hand-cuffed, out-of-the-loop support people. I really feel sorry for them.

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• Big corporations DO care - go figure (scottpaterson.org)

No box for Xbox?

It’s been a day over a week since I logged the repair ticket on my Xbox Elite and still no sign of a box being mailed to me to ship it for repairs.

Out of curiosity, I sent a message to @XboxSupport on Twitter and asked how long it usually takes, at the same time as sending a friend an email asking how long it took for him to receive the box.

My friend replied: 2 days.

@XboxSupport replied: In most cases a box is not sent.

Well that certainly explains why I haven’t received one.

I told @XboxSupport that people I know have all received boxes, which is why I have been waiting. They replied: You will want to find a box to safely ship it in and use the shipping label provided. Umm… yeh, I kinda figured that.

I told them I would use the box it came in, and they said: You will want to use a box other than the 360 box and be sure to keep your hard drive and any other accessories.

The box it came in is suitable for buying it in, but not for shipping it in? Not too surprised.

Anyway, when I got home I found a good box that our DVD player came in, and modified the foam supports that it used to suit my Xbox. Samsung sure knows how to pack their hardware.

My Xbox is now packed, labeled as per the UPS instructions, and ready to be sent. We’ll swing by the UPS store on the way home tomorrow and send it on its way.

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• My Xbox Elite - R.I.P. (scottpaterson.org)

How I made someone’s day

I’ve complained about this before. Up until today, I’ve never had the opportunity to confront any of the offenders, other than give them the hairy eyeball.

At around 7:30 this morning I got my chance.

As I approached the median, to turn left across it and into the Esso/Tim Horton’s parking lot, a grey Dodge Neon crept out of the exit, crossing the lane, to make a left turn into the lane that I’m leaving. This is illegal between 7:00am and 9:00am.

I slowed down and stopped on the median, waiting for an opening to continue. She continued to creep across her lane to break the law.

I had no opening, and my chance of finding an opening was diminishing quickly. Why? Because stupid in the Dodge Neon was now blocking the traffic on that side, to make her illegal left turn.

This is the very reason why there are signs indicating NO LEFT TURNS between 7:00am and 9:00am, Monday to Friday. There are two on the median, and one at eye level at the end of the Tim Horton’s drive-thru. You can’t miss them. (This is the location as seen on Google Street View, before the two signs went up on the median; you can see the one sign at the exit from the Esso/Tim Horton’s.)

We were at a stalemate. I couldn’t cross because she was blocking the traffic, which was blocking me, and she couldn’t continue to break the law because I was blocking her.

She then made a really bad decision; she gestured with her hands and mouthed something at me like I was the one at fault. Her window was up, so I couldn’t hear anything she said.

My window was down. I yelled back and pointed at one of the two signs on the median, “Look at the sign! No left turns!”

She gestured again as if to say Pffft… who cares…

The traffic continued to build up. I yelled back, and pointed to her right, “Go that way!”

Seriously, it’s not that difficult. Turn right and then make a legal U-turn where the median breaks 5 seconds down the road.

She mouthed something that looked like “I can’t” and shook her head.

I yelled again, “GO THAT WAY!” I don’t know why I bothered; clearly her Dodge Neon was not capable of turning right. My bad?

Again, she said “I can’t.”

Traffic started to build up behind me. A few cars drove around her, leaving an opening for me, so I continued across.

As I passed her window, I took the opportunity to express my displeasure and yelled, “You’re breaking the fuckin’ law!”

I sincerely hope their day continues to be as bright and cheery as it began. :)

My Xbox Elite – R.I.P.

My 2½ year-old Xbox Elite died on Saturday morning. No, not the RRoD (Red Ring of Death) or the E74 error, both of which every Xbox owner dreads.

I simply wouldn’t power up.

On Friday night while I was playing Red Dead Redemption, I noticed what can only be described as “snowing in the wild west”. Yet, it wasn’t snow. I booted up Blur for a look-see and the symptoms were the same. I continued to play for a ½ hour or so before powering it down for the night.

I searched the web to find that this could be an early indicator of the E74 error, which is basically an overheating GPU.

On Saturday morning, I grabbed my can of compressed air and cleaned the rear grill of the Xbox, in an attempt to help keep it cool when I turned it on. It wasn’t extremely dusty, but it had more than I expected.

After I was done, I hooked it all back up and hit the power button.

Nothing. No lights. Nothing at all.

I checked all connections and still nothing.

As much as I feared the RRoD or E74, either of those would have been a good alternative since both are covered by a 3-year warranty. But dead meant I’d have to pay to get it repaired.

No, I wanted to play games this weekend. So, I went out to Future Shop and picked up one of the newer “Arcade” Xbox models. As basic as they come. For $200 plus tax, I got a new Xbox with a 1-year warranty and another controller. The alternative was be to pay ~$120 and wait 2-3 weeks to ship it to MS and have them ship a refurb back to me.

I decided that I will still get the old one repaired, to keep as a spare and put in the basement for the kid to play. Time will tell if this is a good idea or not.

I logged a ticket on MS’s Xbox site and they sent me an email with a UPS label to print out, and I’m currently waiting for the shipping box to arrive so I can send it to them.

That’s pretty much the whole point of this blog entry – to keep track and see exactly how long the entire process will take.

• Saturday, May 29 – logged the repair request in the afternoon (credit card was required)
• Sunday, May 30 – received an email from UPS containing links to: instructions, the UPS return label to print, and a receipt.

Stayed tuned for more. :)

Privacy? What privacy?

I'm not a web expert, nor am I the paranoid type... but should QuitFacebook.com, who has privacy concerns against Facebook, be tracking its visitors with cookies?

I found these in Firefox's cookies.

In case you're wondering what they do:

• __utmz tracks where a visitor came from (search engine, search keyword, link)
• __utma tracks each user's amount of visits, first, last visit.
• __utmb and __utmc are used to track when a visit starts and ends to some decent time resolution (c expires quickly). If you look at cookie state changes (e.g. using firecookie), you will see these change regularly.
• __utmv is used for user-custom variables in Analytics

http://helpful.knobs-dials.com/index.php/Utma,_utmb,_utmz_cookies

Why would they care where you come from? Or how often you visit their site? Hmmm...?

The Habs are not Canada’s Team… sorry

I am an Ottawa Senators fan.

I stopped watching all hockey when my beloved Ottawa Senators were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one of the playoffs. That’s my choice – why can’t some people respect that?

I don’t believe that once your team has been eliminated, you should now cheer on the remaining Canadian teams fortunate enough to remain in the playoffs. That’s not my thing.

We have one Habs fan on my team at work. For the great run that the Montreal Canadiens are having in their playoff run, the Habs fan is not a problem. I’m happy for him and his team. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with me not cheering on his team or watching the games.

Which makes this somewhat amusing, and confusing.

The problem I am having is with a couple of non-Habs fans who have jumped on the Habs bandwagon and feel that, being a Canadian Citizen, I should be cheering on the Habs because they are “the last Canadian team in the playoffs!”

They feel that, because I am not also on the Habs bandwagon, I am a “jealous Sens fan”, and anything I say that they feel might bring bad mojo to their adopted team, makes me evil.

Let’s be clear here. The Montreal Canadiens, or any “Canadian team” for that matter, is not “Canada’s Team”. The NHL is not the OIympics. The NHL is not the IIHF World Championship. Team Canada is not playing in the NHL playoffs.

The players on each “Canadian” team in the NHL aren’t even all Canadian Citizens. The only thing that makes a “Canadian” NHL team Canadian is their home city.  (We’ll ignore the fact that the Montreal Canadiens play for a city in a province that has tried to separate from Canada… that’s a whole other story) :)

“The cup needs to come back to Canada!”

Sure, that would be nice. But my cheering or not cheering for a team is not going to make a difference in whether or not the Stanley Cup comes back to Canada. That’s up to the mixed bag of nationalities playing for the Montreal Canadiens. Direct your energy into positive vibes toward the team, not as negativity toward me.

My decision to not cheer for the Montreal Canadiens does not make me a bad Canadian Citizen, nor does it make me a “jealous Sens fan” anymore than it makes you a “jealous {insert your team here} fan”.

Good luck to whichever team you cheer for, but please stop telling me that I have to cheer on a team that is not my chosen team.

My cheers are reserved for the Ottawa Senators.

GO SENS GO… maybe next year. :)

Confirm THIS!

This WTF Moment is brought to you by the Herongate Dental Clinic.

I have a dental appoint for tomorrow morning at 8:00am. Last week the phone rang and I answered it, which is rare for me as nobody ever calls me. It was an automated message from my dentist’s office reminding me that I have an appointment on Friday, March 26th at 8:00am and saying to “press 1 to confirm the appointment”.

I pressed 1 and hung up.

Yesterday I checked the messages on our answering machine. There was one from my dentist’s office, again reminding me that I have an appointment on Friday, March 26th at 8:00am, and adding that the appointment is not confirmed until I contact their office.

WTF?

I’m not going to call them. I’m going to go to my “press 1” confirmed appointment tomorrow morning for my check-up.

Future Shop pre-order fail

What is the benefit of pre-ordering something before its release?

In my mind, I think it is so you can be one of the first to get your hands on it when it becomes available.

Am I wrong?

Let’s assume that I am right.

So, why does Future Shop and Best Buy accept pre-orders for new video game releases and then NOT ship the damned things on their official release date, or at least the day after?

Last summer, I pre-ordered Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Xbox 360. The official release date came and went. My order was stuck in “in progress” limbo for almost a month before it shipped.

Along came Final Fantasy XIII. Screw Best Buy. I pre-ordered it from Future Shop a few days before the official release date to get $5 off the price (Yes, I realize that Best Buy owns Future Shop but I was hoping for a better experience this time… apparently I was wrong)

On its release date (Tuesday), I posted a question on the Future Shop fan page on Facebook:

Scott Paterson How soon do the online pre-orders ship? The last time I pre-ordered a game from "that other" store, it took a MONTH after the game's release before it shipped. The only reason I didn't cancel it was because it was on sale. I'm rrreally hopin' Future Shop is different.

I got a prompt reply:

Future Shop @Scott: It should be shipping on the day of release which should be today.

As of noon today, the order status on Future Shop’s web site still indicated “In progress” and “Out of stock”.

I posted three replies in the thread since Tuesday and there hasn’t been any response from the Future Shop rep in that group. My last message said that I would cancel the order at noon if it still hadn’t shipped.

Guess what I just did.

Uh oh… it’s the cops!

A little while ago, I wrote about all of the illegal left turns coming out of the Esso/Tim Horton’s at the corner of Ogilvie Rd and Montreal Rd.

A day or so after, I actually sent the Ottawa Police an email about the issue. It took them a while, but they did respond saying that it was forwarded to the department(s) in charge.

This afternoon I received an email from a constable asking for my name, address, phone number and birth date so he could follow-up on my “complaint”. I sent it to him.

He called me this evening.

He gave me a brief rundown of the history of the signage – how it started off as a single, waist-high sign at the Tim Horton’s drive-thru exit, and eventually became a larger sign, with an additional sign on the median. He acknowledged the fact that despite the multiple, clearly visible signs, many people are ignorant of them.

He said one day when they were enforcing the signage, they gave out over FIFTY tickets, and he had to call for assistance because while he was issuing a ticket, someone else would make the same illegal left turn.

Unreal. But based on what I see every morning, not too surprising.

He thanked me for the update that it’s still occurring and said that they would likely be out enforcing it again in the near future.

Like I said before, they could make some serious $$ in handing out fines.

Anyway, it was cool that they followed up. I wasn’t expecting it since I don’t really consider what i sent to be a “complaint”, but more of an “FYI”.

One of these days I’ll get some video footage of all the City of Ottawa trucks ignoring the sign and post it. :)

Beige? White? Hot pink?

At some point this afternoon, Facebook statuses started appearing with a single word. That word was a colour. Any colour.

I was puzzled. What’s with all the status colours?

I did a little searching and found the reason.

Women on Facebook were changing their status to the colour of bra they were wearing to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.

Cute. Fun. Many status comments were hilarious. Some guys had fun with it, posting the colour of their underwear. Or the fictitious bra they were wearing to hold their “moobs”.

Some other guys, like me, were puzzled. And some, when they found out what it was for, thought it was “useless”, or “retarded”. They said that it did nothing. It was no different than a chain letter.

I questioned this.

How could this be useless?

They asked what it was for. I knew, and I told them. By asking what it was for, they proved that it worked. It raised awareness.

The debate began.

I argued that it’s comparable to… wearing a pink ribbon. Or, wearing a poppy. Neither of those is a waste of time. They both serve a purpose. They raise awareness.

It was said that those two are different because they raise money for charities.

True, they do, but by us wearing them they also RAISE AWARENESS for those charities. What other purpose do they serve? A thank you? Sure. If you want to say that their sole purpose is to raise money, then wouldn’t it be a better idea to take the money spent on those little ribbons and use the money for the charity?

Perhaps. In fact, I could argue that a Facebook status is better than a ribbon, or a poppy because it costs nothing.

It is impossible for a charity to raise money without raising awareness first. If you know how, speak up. I’m sure they’d love to hear it.

By giving you something in return for your donation, and you wearing it, you are helping to raise awareness so more donations come in.

It’s silly to think that nobody has ever heard of breast cancer.   But awareness isn’t just about telling you something you’ve never heard of.  It’s about making you think about it, regardless of whether you’ve heard about it before.

I really makes me sad to think that some people think it was a dumb idea. A waste of time. That it served no purpose.

If one person made a donation as a result of those “useless” and “retarded” bra colour status, then wasn’t it worth the effort? Did it not raise awareness?

I proved that it worked. I made donation this evening to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

I now challenge you to do the same. Doing nothing is useless.

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

American Breast Cancer Foundation

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How the Ottawa Police made my day

About a year or two ago, the Esso station at the corner of Montreal Rd and Ogilvie Rd was torn down and rebuilt. In addition to the new pump islands and convenience store building, they got rid of the car wash and added a Tim Horton’s drive-thru that runs around back of the building.

It wasn’t long before someone realized that this was a problem, especially in the morning, when cars try to leave the property, turn left onto Ogilvie Rd toward Montreal Rd and block the traffic heading north on Ogilvie as they wait to merge into the southbound traffic lanes.

Signs went up indicating NO LEFT TURNS between 7am and 9am. It’s not allowed in the evening either, but I can’t remember the times for that… 4 and 6pm perhaps? Anyway, you can see the signs as you leave the drive-thru and the sign that sits on the median between the north and southbound lanes. If you can’t see them, you’re blind.

If you park at the Esso in the morning you’ll notice that at least 9/10 cars completely ignore the signs and turn left. I see it every morning. Even City of Ottawa trucks ignore the signs, and they’re the ones who put up signs! This has become a huge pet peeve of mine. Granted, they don’t always block traffic, but the signs is there for.

It takes about a minute to turn RIGHT from the Esso and make a quick U-turn at the first corner, and you’re where you want to be. I do that every morning. It’s no big deal.

This morning the Ottawa Police made my day.

As I pulled up to the traffic light after making my U-turn, I saw flashing lights on an unmarked cop car stopped behind a Honda sedan in the middle lane.

My first thought was, “Oh please tell me they got busted for making a left turn…”

I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the officer bent over talking to the driver, and pointing back at the sign on the median.

Finally, someone got nailed and hopefully they got fined as well. I’m tired of seeing lazy-ass drivers ignoring the signs.

To the officer who busted that lazy ass this morning: thank you. :)

To the Ottawa Police: if you want to make a killing on fines, park at the Petro Canada cross the street every morning from 7am to 9am.

(Note: Google Streetview only shows one small “No Left Turn” sign. More have been added since Google took the photos last Spring)

Can’t be my genes!

My 14 year-old son has more hair on his top lip than I had at 20. WTF?

Open message to all celebrity endorsed companies

I don’t buy your product because a celebrity says they use it.

I don’t buy your product because a celebrity is used in your advertising.

I won’t stop buying your product because a celebrity you used to endorse your product is no longer the squeaky clean person you thought they were.

I buy your product because I like it and as long as I continue to like it, I’ll continue to buy it.

-=-

Is a product A better than product B because celebrity A is in the TV commercial?

Is product A suddenly worse than product B because celebrity A has fallen from grace?

Of course not.

If I’m looking for… golf clubs, I might care that Tiger Woods uses a certain brand. That’s a topic that I’m sure he knows a lot about. Is that product suddenly crap because he made bad choices in his personal life?

If I’m looking for razor blades, I could care less that he uses a certain brand. If you want to sell me your brand, show me a guy who can grow a 5 o’clock shadow by 9am and how your product solves that problem.

If you’re using a celebrity to endorse a product that they probably know very little about, I am more inclined to think that you’re hiding something. Maybe your product can’t sell based on its own merits?

That’s how I think.

If more people thought the same way, you could save the millions that you’re spending on celebrity endorsements. Try using real people to sell your product, and maybe you could then make your product even more affordable. Not only that, if the celebrity ever does anything to tarnish their image, you won’t have to back-pedal out of the deal.

Tell me what your product does and why I should buy it. Convince me.

If I believe it, I’ll buy it, and try it. If I like it, I’ll continue to buy it.

I’m curious. Do you buy a certain brand because a celebrity endorses it? Please take a moment and answer the quick yes/no poll at the link.

Fun with Facebook Indexing

The latest Facebook status trend is amusing. People all over Facebook are posting this in their status:

Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it. To change this option, go to Settings --> Privacy Settings --> Search --> then UN-CLICK the box that says 'Allow indexing'. Facebook kept this one quiet.

Head on over to The Squid Zone for some good info and handy tips, if you’re the paranoid type.
Now for some fun.

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. At the top-right of your Facebook page, where it says Search, type in allow indexing and hit enter.
3. On the left, click on Posts by Everyone
4. Sit back and enjoy the continuous status updates. It’ll refresh on its own.

What makes this more amusing is that all of those status updates are from people you don't know. All people who have their shorts in a knot about keeping their information private or for “friends only”.

Oh the irony.

Come on people. Facebook is a social networking site. If you lock all of you information up, how the hell is anyone you know supposed to find you? If you’re not willing to be a little “social” and do some “networking”, why are you there?

UPDATE: I’m sure this wasn’t there before, but now when you follow those instructions to turn off indexing, you get the following pop-up message:

Worried about search engines? Your information is safe.
There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.

See? You’ve been indexed since 2007. :)

The “honour” print system

This has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in some time.

I read an article on CBC’s web site this afternoon and thought my wife would be interested in reading it on our drive home from work.

I’m pretty computer savvy and I know how to print stuff from my web browser, but most web sites will provide you with a “print” link so you can print something out, formatted for printing. It’s cleaner and doesn’t waste paper.

CBC’s web site is no exception.

I clicked the print link directly above the news article. The window that popped up nearly made me fall off my chair.

What’s this? I’m allowed to print 5 copies for “free” on my own printer. If I want to print 6 or more, I have to pay? Pay to print 6 or more copies on my own printer, using my own ink and paper?

If I choose “File > Print” in Firefox, there is nothing to stop me from printing as many copies as I want. How could they stop me from printing more than 5 copies using their method?

So, I clicked Go> beside the Free Print option.

The news article appeared, formatted for printing (without ads, thanks to AdBlock Plus). Along the top of the formatted web page was this banner:

Not surprising that there was nothing they could do to prevent me from printing 6 or more copies. They were trusting me to print 5 or less.

“ROFLMAO” was invented specifically for times like this.

I had to find out what would happen if I clicked the Instant Print option.

Seriously, CBC, are you that hard up for cash that you have to try to charge people to print a copy of your news article?

Do you really think your readers are dumb enough to willingly pay you for the “honour” of printing it using their own printer?

Thanks?

It’s the Canadian Thanksgiving today!

It’s time for family and friends to get together and give thanks for… blah, blah, blah, blah, blah… *yawn*

We give thanks for everything now. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but to do it once  a year really is dumb and unless we’re talking to the people we’re thanking, it’s rather pointless.

Thankful for friends. Thankful for being employed. Thankful for having a roof over our heads. Thankful for our health.

The list goes on.

Are we not thankful for these things any other day of the year? Sure we are. So, why do we feel the need to celebrate being thankful for these things one day of they year?

“It’s tradition!”

What a load of crap. Tradition is being thankful for the end of harvest.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you are thankful for friends? Are you thankful that they took pity on you and decided to be your friend? Huh? Give yourself some credit. Perhaps you’re just a likeable person? Thank yourself for that. Or maybe you should thank their parents for having sex.

Stop bitching about your job if you’re thankful for being employed. Thank your boss for not firing your whiny ass, or choosing you when they had to make a choice of who to let go during a layoff. If you don’t like your job enough to bitch about it, go find another one and be thankful that you have a choice.

While we’re at it, stop bitching that it’s a Monday. At least you woke up in the morning.

Thank a doctor for your health. Hell, thank your parents, or whoever raised you.

The point is, don’t wait for one day of the year to sit around a table, stuff your face, and tell other people why you’re thankful. You can sit around and stuff your face any time.

Tell the people who deserve the thanks and don’t wait for the second Monday in October to do it.

Thank YOU for reading.