This post is a review of a feminine hygiene product. As such, it contains descriptions of menstruation. If you don't want to read that sort of thing, skip this post.
I recently received a sample of Always Infinity, with instructions to use it on a heavy flow day. Today was my first heavy flow day since I got the sample, so I gave it a try.
The first thing I noticed is how much less noticeable it is when I'm wearing it. It's more flexible and conforms more naturally to the curve of my underwear. I'd never consider my usual Always Ultra Thin as particularly noticeable when I wear it or as not conforming to the curve of my underwear, but Infinity does it better enough that a couple of times I found myself checking to make sure I did in fact put a pad in.
I also noticed that the blood in the pad looks browner and dryer than the same blood would in an Always Ultra Thin. I can't tell why this is happening, but it might be an issue for people who need to monitor the quality of their menstruation for health reasons.
I don't have enough data to comment on absorbency. Based on the one pad I've been wearing today, it appears to be about the same, maybe slightly greater. But I don't have an especially heavy flow when I'm on the pill - a heavy flow day for me is preferably 2 pads but I can get away with one. I'd have to try it over several cycles to get a better sense of its absorbency, and really it would be more informative to get that information from someone with a 12 pad a day flow.
The verdict: more comfortable, no drawbacks unless you need to monitor the quality of your menstruation. The difference between Ultra Thin and Infinity isn't enough to make me put aside my remaining jumbo pack of Ultra Thin and switch right over to Infinity, but it's enough to make me consider going straight for the Infinity next time I need to buy a new pack.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Complaints about vitaminwater
Given the sudden dearth of Fruitopia in my environs, I decided to try the flavour of vitaminwater that looked like it was indicated for fighting a cold ("defense" it's called, complete with USian spelling.)
1. The flavour said raspberry-apple. It didn't taste like raspberry, or apple, or fake raspberry, or fake apple. It tasted like fake cranberry. If I wanted that, I'd get cranberry juice.
2. The nutrients featured prominently on the label were vitamin C and zinc. However, on reading the fine print, I noticed these were the last two of the medicinal ingredients, behind a bunch of B vitamins (which, while important nutrients, are not what I'm after when I'm fighting a virus).
3. It contains 90 mg of vitamin C and 3.75 mg of zinc. In contrast, my vitamin C supplements contain 500 mg, and my zinc lozenges contain 35 mg (plus 50 mg of vitamin C).
I suppose I should have read the label in detail before I bought it, but I'm used to things sold medicinally (and this is labelled medicinally, with medicinal and non-medicinal ingredients rather than a nutrition box) containing significant amounts of the nutrients they're meant to supplement. In any case, I resent actual foodstuff (i.e. fruit juice) being taken off the shelves in favour something that's less food-like, less nutritious, less effective, and less yummy. I don't mind fake food in and of itself, but I don't want it displacing real food!
1. The flavour said raspberry-apple. It didn't taste like raspberry, or apple, or fake raspberry, or fake apple. It tasted like fake cranberry. If I wanted that, I'd get cranberry juice.
2. The nutrients featured prominently on the label were vitamin C and zinc. However, on reading the fine print, I noticed these were the last two of the medicinal ingredients, behind a bunch of B vitamins (which, while important nutrients, are not what I'm after when I'm fighting a virus).
3. It contains 90 mg of vitamin C and 3.75 mg of zinc. In contrast, my vitamin C supplements contain 500 mg, and my zinc lozenges contain 35 mg (plus 50 mg of vitamin C).
I suppose I should have read the label in detail before I bought it, but I'm used to things sold medicinally (and this is labelled medicinally, with medicinal and non-medicinal ingredients rather than a nutrition box) containing significant amounts of the nutrients they're meant to supplement. In any case, I resent actual foodstuff (i.e. fruit juice) being taken off the shelves in favour something that's less food-like, less nutritious, less effective, and less yummy. I don't mind fake food in and of itself, but I don't want it displacing real food!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Why I've lost confidence in Dell
Every computer I've ever owned myself has been a Dell. Up until this past week, my experience with them has been consistent: I get 4ish good years of use, then have a hardware problem. The faulty hardware problem is promptly resolved via excellent warranty support, and I get another year or two out of the computer, after which I'm happy to replace it for something more up to date. Because of this longevity and excellent support, I've always blindly turned to Dell when buying my next computer, figuring it means I won't have to worry about my computer for five years.
Unfortunately, this confidence was shattered this past week.
The computer is a Dell XPS 15 bought brand new in December 2010. Last Saturday, I started having problems with Windows loading. Sometimes it would freeze on the Welcome screen, sometimes I'd get a black screen with a mouse cursor, sometimes the desktop would load but nothing I clicked on would do anything. After a System Restore failed without rebooting Windows, I called tech support.
I didn't have to wait on hold at all, just do the menu dance, and a very nice tech walked me through some troubleshooting. I appreciate his work because he started at a more advanced level than I'd been troubleshooting at rather than reiterating the basics, and was very patient through a troubleshooting process that took over an hour. We eventually determined there was a problem with my wifi adapter (I hadn't noticed because my primary internet connection uses an ethernet cable), so he uninstalled and reinstalled it, and my computer booted up beautifully. He then told me that I'd be receiving an automatic follow-up email, and if I had any further problems I should forward the email to the address indicated and they'd give me a priority call back. Brilliant idea! That would mean we don't have to troubleshoot from scratch if the problem reoccurs!
Unfortunately, the problem reoccured the next day (Sunday). And, on top of that, the computer couldn't find the wifi adapter that had just been reinstalled the day before. So I forwarded the email to the address indicated and got an automatic reply saying they aim to reply within six hours during their business hours (9-7 Central).
But they never called back.
I emailed again on Monday and Wednesday and tweeted @DellCares (who requested a DM with pertinent information and said they'd look into it), but I never got my callback.
Meanwhile, my computer was deteriorating. I was working in Safe Mode with networking, unable to access games or music or word processing. Boot-up was slower each time, the computer couldn't always detect its network card, bizarre things started happening (itunes opening when I plug in my ipod even though I specifically set it not to do that, then telling me it couldn't read the iphone even though it isn't an iphone; browsers giving me random encoding errors even on simple websites).
On Thursday, I gave up. I got an external hard drive, backed up all my stuff, and reinstalled everything from scratch using my recovery disk. It took three hours (back-up, reinstallation, and getting all my settings just so), but everything has been working properly since then (knock wood).
But this makes me lose confidence in Dell for two reasons:
1. Serious, mysterious problems that hinder useability even though my computer is only nine months old. I've never before in my lifelong relationship with Dell had to actually use the recovery disks. This makes me nervous. Whenever a boot-up takes a second or two longer than usual, I start worrying that it's a sign of a serious problem.
2. I didn't get a "priority" callback! I waited five days, requested it four times through two different mediums, and no one called me. I've always gone with Dell because I could trust their support, and now I can't? And this despite the fact that I invested in the biggest warranty possible? What will happen when I have a bigger hardware problem that can't be fixed with a full reinstall?
In the interest of fairness, I should say that I never called Dell back either. I had the option of calling them again and starting from scratch, and I opted not to, first because I still had internet access in safe mode and I decided I'd rather relax and go about my life than wait on hold/going through first-level support. I figured the phone would ring when there was someone ready and available to give me second-level support. I should also point out that, in response to my second complaint to them, @DellCares apologized and told me to contact them so they could escalate me if the problems reoccur after reinstallation.
But I've still lost confidence, mostly because they specifically told me that forwarding the email to the address specified would get me a priority callback, and it didn't. What other promised support might I not get in the future? What if it happens when I need to work? What it happens when I'm away from home and my full resources and dependent on wifi? (That is why I bought a laptop in the first place, even if I don't often end up taking it out of my apartment.) What if I were a less technically proficient customer and a full recovery wasn't easily feasible for me? And WTF even was the problem in the first place?
This loss of confidence spirals out and affects my interpretation of my whole relationship with the company. For example, during my tech support call, the technician told me about a product Dell solves that detects and repairs problems with your system. It was clearly part of his script to push this product, which I normally wouldn't have given any thought. But sitting there working in Safe Mode awaiting a callback that wasn't coming, I started wondering if they put something in the computers to deliberately make them malfunction so they can push this product.
Sometimes when people blog about problems with products or support, the company wants to make it right. The unfortunate thing in this case is that there's nothing Dell can do to make it right, apart from doing their jobs properly in the future. Getting my callback now would be useless since I got the computer working. Free stuff would be useless because there simply isn't anything I need from Dell. A store credit would be irrelevant because there wasn't money involved in this interaction, unless they wanted to give me a store credit that would last for five years and win back my trust in the meantime. (If I do have to buy a new computer in less than five years, it won't be from Dell).
All Dell can do to win back my confidence is have my computer work properly for the rest of its planned life, and give me support properly next time I need to call them, preferably without trying to sell me software at the same time. But, even so, I'll probably be doing at least some cursory comparison shopping next time.
Update: Dell initiated a follow-up call on Tuesday (9 days after I requested a call back) and we made contact on Wednesday after a round of telephone tag. They apologized for the delay, saying it was due to "technical reasons" (which doesn't instill confidence when I'm after a solution to a technical problem), listened to my whole story, and apologized for the mix-up, but there wasn't much else they could do for me because I'd already used the recovery disk.
Unfortunately, this confidence was shattered this past week.
The computer is a Dell XPS 15 bought brand new in December 2010. Last Saturday, I started having problems with Windows loading. Sometimes it would freeze on the Welcome screen, sometimes I'd get a black screen with a mouse cursor, sometimes the desktop would load but nothing I clicked on would do anything. After a System Restore failed without rebooting Windows, I called tech support.
I didn't have to wait on hold at all, just do the menu dance, and a very nice tech walked me through some troubleshooting. I appreciate his work because he started at a more advanced level than I'd been troubleshooting at rather than reiterating the basics, and was very patient through a troubleshooting process that took over an hour. We eventually determined there was a problem with my wifi adapter (I hadn't noticed because my primary internet connection uses an ethernet cable), so he uninstalled and reinstalled it, and my computer booted up beautifully. He then told me that I'd be receiving an automatic follow-up email, and if I had any further problems I should forward the email to the address indicated and they'd give me a priority call back. Brilliant idea! That would mean we don't have to troubleshoot from scratch if the problem reoccurs!
Unfortunately, the problem reoccured the next day (Sunday). And, on top of that, the computer couldn't find the wifi adapter that had just been reinstalled the day before. So I forwarded the email to the address indicated and got an automatic reply saying they aim to reply within six hours during their business hours (9-7 Central).
But they never called back.
I emailed again on Monday and Wednesday and tweeted @DellCares (who requested a DM with pertinent information and said they'd look into it), but I never got my callback.
Meanwhile, my computer was deteriorating. I was working in Safe Mode with networking, unable to access games or music or word processing. Boot-up was slower each time, the computer couldn't always detect its network card, bizarre things started happening (itunes opening when I plug in my ipod even though I specifically set it not to do that, then telling me it couldn't read the iphone even though it isn't an iphone; browsers giving me random encoding errors even on simple websites).
On Thursday, I gave up. I got an external hard drive, backed up all my stuff, and reinstalled everything from scratch using my recovery disk. It took three hours (back-up, reinstallation, and getting all my settings just so), but everything has been working properly since then (knock wood).
But this makes me lose confidence in Dell for two reasons:
1. Serious, mysterious problems that hinder useability even though my computer is only nine months old. I've never before in my lifelong relationship with Dell had to actually use the recovery disks. This makes me nervous. Whenever a boot-up takes a second or two longer than usual, I start worrying that it's a sign of a serious problem.
2. I didn't get a "priority" callback! I waited five days, requested it four times through two different mediums, and no one called me. I've always gone with Dell because I could trust their support, and now I can't? And this despite the fact that I invested in the biggest warranty possible? What will happen when I have a bigger hardware problem that can't be fixed with a full reinstall?
In the interest of fairness, I should say that I never called Dell back either. I had the option of calling them again and starting from scratch, and I opted not to, first because I still had internet access in safe mode and I decided I'd rather relax and go about my life than wait on hold/going through first-level support. I figured the phone would ring when there was someone ready and available to give me second-level support. I should also point out that, in response to my second complaint to them, @DellCares apologized and told me to contact them so they could escalate me if the problems reoccur after reinstallation.
But I've still lost confidence, mostly because they specifically told me that forwarding the email to the address specified would get me a priority callback, and it didn't. What other promised support might I not get in the future? What if it happens when I need to work? What it happens when I'm away from home and my full resources and dependent on wifi? (That is why I bought a laptop in the first place, even if I don't often end up taking it out of my apartment.) What if I were a less technically proficient customer and a full recovery wasn't easily feasible for me? And WTF even was the problem in the first place?
This loss of confidence spirals out and affects my interpretation of my whole relationship with the company. For example, during my tech support call, the technician told me about a product Dell solves that detects and repairs problems with your system. It was clearly part of his script to push this product, which I normally wouldn't have given any thought. But sitting there working in Safe Mode awaiting a callback that wasn't coming, I started wondering if they put something in the computers to deliberately make them malfunction so they can push this product.
Sometimes when people blog about problems with products or support, the company wants to make it right. The unfortunate thing in this case is that there's nothing Dell can do to make it right, apart from doing their jobs properly in the future. Getting my callback now would be useless since I got the computer working. Free stuff would be useless because there simply isn't anything I need from Dell. A store credit would be irrelevant because there wasn't money involved in this interaction, unless they wanted to give me a store credit that would last for five years and win back my trust in the meantime. (If I do have to buy a new computer in less than five years, it won't be from Dell).
All Dell can do to win back my confidence is have my computer work properly for the rest of its planned life, and give me support properly next time I need to call them, preferably without trying to sell me software at the same time. But, even so, I'll probably be doing at least some cursory comparison shopping next time.
Update: Dell initiated a follow-up call on Tuesday (9 days after I requested a call back) and we made contact on Wednesday after a round of telephone tag. They apologized for the delay, saying it was due to "technical reasons" (which doesn't instill confidence when I'm after a solution to a technical problem), listened to my whole story, and apologized for the mix-up, but there wasn't much else they could do for me because I'd already used the recovery disk.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Overstock.com has good international shipping
I recently ordered something from Overstock.com. I was a bit hesitant because they ship by DHL (with which I've had bad experiences in the past), but I ultimately decided to buy it anyway because of the price and because the possibility of delivery is more convenient than having to go out to a store and schlep it home.
The first pleasant surprise is that Overstock guarantees the shipping and duty price - no COD! - which means that I can ask my super to accept the package for me.
The second pleasant surprise was when I got a Canada Post delivery notice, went to the post office, and found out that it was my Overstock order.
It turns out they use a service called DHL Globalmail for their international shipping (to Canada at least). I don't know exactly how it works, but on my end the result is that I get all the benefits of Canada Post delivery - no COD and the package ends up at the post office a block from my home rather than at some remote depot.
I'm very happy about this, and because of the convenience of the delivery I won't hesitate to order from Overstock.com again in the future.
The first pleasant surprise is that Overstock guarantees the shipping and duty price - no COD! - which means that I can ask my super to accept the package for me.
The second pleasant surprise was when I got a Canada Post delivery notice, went to the post office, and found out that it was my Overstock order.
It turns out they use a service called DHL Globalmail for their international shipping (to Canada at least). I don't know exactly how it works, but on my end the result is that I get all the benefits of Canada Post delivery - no COD and the package ends up at the post office a block from my home rather than at some remote depot.
I'm very happy about this, and because of the convenience of the delivery I won't hesitate to order from Overstock.com again in the future.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Excellent customer service from Future Shop
I thought there was a technical problem with my video adapter (that might not have been true, but that's another blog post for after I've confirmed that my fix worked), so I took it back to Future Shop in the hope of exchanging it. I had the packaging and the receipt, but it had been opened and used. Fortunately, they allowed a quick, easy, no-fuss exchange. No interrogation, no collecting personal information, in and out in just a couple of minutes.
Second problem: when getting a replacement off the shelf, I accidentally grabbed the wrong item - I grabbed the thing next to what I needed, which looked similar but was completely useless. So I went back to the store and the same lady who'd helped me before let me swap it for the one I actually needed, again with no trouble whatsoever.
I appreciate the quick and easy exchange in the first place, but I also really appreciate them allowing the second exchange even though it was due entirely to my own stupidity. The second time I was walking around the store in the compromising position of having a packaged product in my purse with a receipt that didn't match it, and I didn't get any trouble for it whatsoever. It would have been within reasonable store policy to not take it back because it was opened and used, or to not let me swap the second one because it was entirely my own error, or to even get me in trouble for having the wrong adapter that didn't match my receipt in my purse. But instead they solved all my problems quickly and easily with no fuss. That makes me feel safe and makes me more inclined to shop there again.
Second problem: when getting a replacement off the shelf, I accidentally grabbed the wrong item - I grabbed the thing next to what I needed, which looked similar but was completely useless. So I went back to the store and the same lady who'd helped me before let me swap it for the one I actually needed, again with no trouble whatsoever.
I appreciate the quick and easy exchange in the first place, but I also really appreciate them allowing the second exchange even though it was due entirely to my own stupidity. The second time I was walking around the store in the compromising position of having a packaged product in my purse with a receipt that didn't match it, and I didn't get any trouble for it whatsoever. It would have been within reasonable store policy to not take it back because it was opened and used, or to not let me swap the second one because it was entirely my own error, or to even get me in trouble for having the wrong adapter that didn't match my receipt in my purse. But instead they solved all my problems quickly and easily with no fuss. That makes me feel safe and makes me more inclined to shop there again.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
How to get Rogers to realize that there's a network problem in your neighbourhood
My internet's been down for nearly three days with some complicated problem that's maybe three levels more complicated than I can understand. (They were pulling wires out of my walls and testing them, then had to get the supers to let them pull wires out of the building's walls, then had to escalate it one level above that.) The techs who helped me were awesome - communicative, respectful of my need to have my internet service work, accepted my troubleshooting and explained what they were doing when it got above the level I can understand, didn't make me uncomfortable even though I had a cumulative total of three strange men who were bigger than me in my apartment - and made the process as painless as possible. They were carrying extra modems with them, and were fully prepared to just replace my modem on the spot if that ended up being a problem! I'm not happy about 3 days without internet, but I'm very satisfied with the service I received.
But here I just want to share one thing the tech told me, because if everyone knows this it will make life easier for all of us: Rogers only knows there's an outage in a given area if a lot of people call them!
If only one or two people call, they have to start by treating it as an individualized problem, which means walking people through troubleshooting over the phone, and if that doesn't work sending techs to individual households to check the modems and the cabling. They can only start treating it as a macro problem if they get a large number of calls all from the same area or if, as in my case, the techs are dispatched to an individual household and spend an hour painstakingly confirming every single thing that could possibly be causing the problem within the household.
So it turns out our natural reaction - "Meh, I don't want to wait on hold for ages! I'm sure they already know about this, I'll just patiently do something else until they fix it." - are counterproductive, and we need to call in when we're experiencing a network problem.
But here I just want to share one thing the tech told me, because if everyone knows this it will make life easier for all of us: Rogers only knows there's an outage in a given area if a lot of people call them!
If only one or two people call, they have to start by treating it as an individualized problem, which means walking people through troubleshooting over the phone, and if that doesn't work sending techs to individual households to check the modems and the cabling. They can only start treating it as a macro problem if they get a large number of calls all from the same area or if, as in my case, the techs are dispatched to an individual household and spend an hour painstakingly confirming every single thing that could possibly be causing the problem within the household.
So it turns out our natural reaction - "Meh, I don't want to wait on hold for ages! I'm sure they already know about this, I'll just patiently do something else until they fix it." - are counterproductive, and we need to call in when we're experiencing a network problem.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A bizarre testimonial for Bounty paper towels
It's a rainy Sunday morning. I'm just out of the shower with my hair sopping wet. I sleepwalk into the kitchen to make coffee...only to discover I'm completely out of coffee filters! Frack! Now what? I don't want to go out in the rain, I don't want to blow-dry my hair, I just want a fricking cup of coffee!
So I start googling for makeshift coffee filters, and quickly discover the general consensus is that you can use paper towels. I have paper towels!
So I take two sheets of my Bounty Select-A-Size (equal to one regular paper towel, which is what the internet tells me I should use), put it in the basket, add ground coffee, and press go.
The machine starts brewing. There's a bit more steam than usual and it smells vaguely like paper towels, but it's producing something that looks like coffee.
The brew cycle finishes, and I pour the results into the mug. It looks like coffee, it smells like coffee, and it tastes like...hella weak-ass coffee! My paper towels absorbed enough of the coffee to dilute the entire cup!
Conclusion: Bounty paper towels are absorbent enough to dilute a cup of coffee. Useful for general household cleaning, suboptimal for use as a coffee filter.
So I start googling for makeshift coffee filters, and quickly discover the general consensus is that you can use paper towels. I have paper towels!
So I take two sheets of my Bounty Select-A-Size (equal to one regular paper towel, which is what the internet tells me I should use), put it in the basket, add ground coffee, and press go.
The machine starts brewing. There's a bit more steam than usual and it smells vaguely like paper towels, but it's producing something that looks like coffee.
The brew cycle finishes, and I pour the results into the mug. It looks like coffee, it smells like coffee, and it tastes like...hella weak-ass coffee! My paper towels absorbed enough of the coffee to dilute the entire cup!
Conclusion: Bounty paper towels are absorbent enough to dilute a cup of coffee. Useful for general household cleaning, suboptimal for use as a coffee filter.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Awesome customer service via Twitter!
1. In the library, I see a sign showing their renovation plans. On the sign is a post-it saying "Do not photograph." That's weird! I have no interest in photographing the sign, but it's odd that I wouldn't be allowed to photograph something prominently displayed in public space. So I ask the guy checking out my books why, but he didn't know. We had a bit of fun theorizing and laughed at the absurdity of the whole situation, and I left plotting a nefarious scheme to make a big show of photographing the thing just so someone would stop me.
Catching up on my tweets that day, I decided to tweet @TorontoPublicLibrary and ask them about the sign. It looked more like a promotional account than a question-answering account, but it's worth a try. After all, that's what Twitter is for! So I was pleasantly surprised to see that one Toronto Library person responded promptly and copied the tweet to another person who was able to answer my question!
It was a silly and inconsequential question, but they nevertheless took the time to answer it. Which, in a weird sort of way, is totally fulfilling the library's mandate.
2. I read an article that suggested that TFSAs don't work precisely how I thought they worked, and there might be financial penalties involved. I'm not super good at money stuff, but from where I'm sitting it looked like that sort of thing could be avoided with failsafes in the computer system. You know how if you enter the wrong number of digits in a "phone number" field on an electronic form, it simply won't let you proceed? They should be able to do the same thing with if you put too much money in your TFSA.
My TFSAs are with ING Direct, so I went to ING's website to see if they had a suggestion box. I couldn't find anything that quite looked appropriate, but I noticed they had a Twitter account. I clicked on that and it really looked more promotional than anything else, but I noticed they retweeted an account called @CEO-INGDIRECT. Meh, what the hell, that's what Twitter's for! So I tweeted him, and got an answer back within an hour - on a Saturday!
I chose ING in the first place because they seemed easy and straightforward. I could figure out how to do what I have to do, and didn't feel like there was a secret extra layer of stuff I don't understand lurking underneath. So I'm very gratified not only that they already have a mechanism to protect me from messing up my TFSA, but also that the CEO will take a moment out of his Saturday to reassure me that safe.
Catching up on my tweets that day, I decided to tweet @TorontoPublicLibrary and ask them about the sign. It looked more like a promotional account than a question-answering account, but it's worth a try. After all, that's what Twitter is for! So I was pleasantly surprised to see that one Toronto Library person responded promptly and copied the tweet to another person who was able to answer my question!
It was a silly and inconsequential question, but they nevertheless took the time to answer it. Which, in a weird sort of way, is totally fulfilling the library's mandate.
2. I read an article that suggested that TFSAs don't work precisely how I thought they worked, and there might be financial penalties involved. I'm not super good at money stuff, but from where I'm sitting it looked like that sort of thing could be avoided with failsafes in the computer system. You know how if you enter the wrong number of digits in a "phone number" field on an electronic form, it simply won't let you proceed? They should be able to do the same thing with if you put too much money in your TFSA.
My TFSAs are with ING Direct, so I went to ING's website to see if they had a suggestion box. I couldn't find anything that quite looked appropriate, but I noticed they had a Twitter account. I clicked on that and it really looked more promotional than anything else, but I noticed they retweeted an account called @CEO-INGDIRECT. Meh, what the hell, that's what Twitter's for! So I tweeted him, and got an answer back within an hour - on a Saturday!
I chose ING in the first place because they seemed easy and straightforward. I could figure out how to do what I have to do, and didn't feel like there was a secret extra layer of stuff I don't understand lurking underneath. So I'm very gratified not only that they already have a mechanism to protect me from messing up my TFSA, but also that the CEO will take a moment out of his Saturday to reassure me that safe.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Eddie braindump
I just got back from seeing Eddie Izzard again!! This isn't at all cohesive, but I want to write stuff down before I forget. I know at one point in the show I was doubled over with laughter struggling to breathe at some throwaway line, and I can't for the life of me remember what it was any more!!!! Plus at least two brand new blog posts were inspired by this show, and I can't remember them either.*
- The experience was far less intense for me because it wasn't the first time. Last time I was agog and in awe of the simple fact that he's real. This time that wasn't there. Similarly, some of the lines I didn't laugh out loud and viscerally at because I knew they were coming. I'm wondering if a significant portion of the audience had also been there at previous shows, because we didn't standing O his entrance this time. Which is unfortunate - I wanted to do it on principle - but maybe we weren't collectively feeling the sheer awe that he is real and right there because we had already been through that just a few weeks ago. Maybe this is a bad idea though, maybe we should have forced ourselves to react like it's new, because we certainly don't want Eddie to think he has to wait another seven years before he comes back so he'll get a proper welcome.
- The show is less scripted than I expected. The set pieces were there, loosely plotted, and the key beats were there, but everything in between was just Eddie being Eddie. I'd thought that more of it was scripted in a way to make it sound unscripted, but it seems it's mostly just Eddie. Which is fantastic, because that's what I'm here for - to spend time inside Eddie's brain.
- Eddie was wearing jeans that were so tight that they showed off his post-marathon leg muscles nearly as well as fishnets. Not jeggings, actual jeans. Regardless of how you feel about that as a fashion statement, you have to admire it as a design achievement! In addition to the expected collection of inappropriate thoughts, I want to have a girl talky conversation with Eddie about these jeans. Precisely how comfortable or uncomfortable are they? (They had some stretch to them, but looked like they had the potential to be uncomfortable.) How many did he have to try on to find that exact look? Were they altered? How often does he wash them? Can he sit in them? Does he really need that belt?
- With Eddie wearing makeup and heels this time (along with the same boy-mode costume, but this time with the astoundingly tight jeans), I noticed that his hairdo is masculine. I had never before in my life consciously realized that short hair styles can be gendered! I've always just parsed them as Other and irrelevant and moved on.
- I just noticed this time around that the giant squid is writing a TripAdvisor review with INK! Yeah, because you can totally send handwritten reviews to websites. (Why yes, that is the most egregious of all plot holes in that bit.)
- The seats in Massey Hall are SO uncomfortable! They make me want to sit with my legs rather wide apart, but I can't do that because the seats are close together and the strange older man beside me is rather large and wearing shorts, and I'm just not going to open my legs while wearing a shortish skirt and rub my bare leg against a strange man's bare leg. Most comfortable would have been to sit knee-crossed-over-ankle, but there simply wasn't room to do that (even if I was willing to be improper and invade personal space), so when I got home I had to spend some time in triangle poses. If it's this bad for me, imagine how bad it would be for people with stiff joints, or especially tall people! Dear Massey Hall, please fix this!
- I don't care what anyone says, there are few sights more beautiful than Eddie making himself laugh
- At one point, Eddie dares God to prove his existence by showing himself, and then offers him various bribes to do so (cash, smoothies, etc.) Today he also offered him 12 virgins, then 23 virgins, then 72 people with experience. My thought: are there 23 (or even 12) virgins in this room, like at all?
- I noticed today that whenever Eddie did his write-on-his-hand oops-not-funny thing, it was always in cases where I wasn't laughing, but I wasn't not laughing because it wasn't funny. I wasn't laughing because I was waiting with rapt anticipation and bated breath to hear what he'd say next. I wish there was some way to communicate "Yes, and...?" to the person on stage.
- (In retrospect, putting my purse between my knees might have helped with the uncomfortable seats.)
- The black-market merch guys were still out there (different guys, same set-up) so I guess that means they did make enough money last time. Either that, or they had a bunch of extra merch left over from the last run and this was their best chance to move some of it.
- At one point, Eddie was on a tangent about how the word sheep doesn't pluralize, and a bunch of all different people in the audience shouted out "MOOSE!" And I was thinking that too, I just didn't shout it out because it didn't seem the moment. But it was just so interesting that so many people were thinking exactly the same thing at that point. There are other words that don't pluralize, but we all thought of the same one, to the extent that probably 7 people felt the need to shout it out (and this at a point in the show where he wasn't asking us to shout things at him).
- The interesting thing about sitting close to the stage (Second row centre!!! Best seats I've ever had for anything in my life!) is how the audience feels different to me as an audience member. The audience as I was experiencing it was me and Poodle, the very enthusiastic group of die-hards in front of us, and the older couple next to me who kept repeating funny lines to each other. The reaction of the audience as a whole was travelling to Eddie in waves over our heads, not touching us at all.
- Overall, the show as a whole was looser and more relaxed than the previous one. I think a significant portion of the audience had seen it before, but even without the surprise it was still entirely entertaining. I would very happily do this once a month at the same price point for a very long time.
"I'm very good at pure logic. I have to be - I'm a transvestite!" - E. Izzard.
*Oh, I just remembered: the line was supposed to be "everyone take a frog and put it on your head" (plot point in Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt) but Eddie either accidentally or deliberately-repeating-a-previous-mistake-that-had-humour-value said "everyone take a frog and put it on one of your heads" or something like that, then took rather a circuitous route back in a way that alluded to Inspector Tiger. I'm obviously not communicating the humour here, but for some reason it just killed me.
- The experience was far less intense for me because it wasn't the first time. Last time I was agog and in awe of the simple fact that he's real. This time that wasn't there. Similarly, some of the lines I didn't laugh out loud and viscerally at because I knew they were coming. I'm wondering if a significant portion of the audience had also been there at previous shows, because we didn't standing O his entrance this time. Which is unfortunate - I wanted to do it on principle - but maybe we weren't collectively feeling the sheer awe that he is real and right there because we had already been through that just a few weeks ago. Maybe this is a bad idea though, maybe we should have forced ourselves to react like it's new, because we certainly don't want Eddie to think he has to wait another seven years before he comes back so he'll get a proper welcome.
- The show is less scripted than I expected. The set pieces were there, loosely plotted, and the key beats were there, but everything in between was just Eddie being Eddie. I'd thought that more of it was scripted in a way to make it sound unscripted, but it seems it's mostly just Eddie. Which is fantastic, because that's what I'm here for - to spend time inside Eddie's brain.
- Eddie was wearing jeans that were so tight that they showed off his post-marathon leg muscles nearly as well as fishnets. Not jeggings, actual jeans. Regardless of how you feel about that as a fashion statement, you have to admire it as a design achievement! In addition to the expected collection of inappropriate thoughts, I want to have a girl talky conversation with Eddie about these jeans. Precisely how comfortable or uncomfortable are they? (They had some stretch to them, but looked like they had the potential to be uncomfortable.) How many did he have to try on to find that exact look? Were they altered? How often does he wash them? Can he sit in them? Does he really need that belt?
- With Eddie wearing makeup and heels this time (along with the same boy-mode costume, but this time with the astoundingly tight jeans), I noticed that his hairdo is masculine. I had never before in my life consciously realized that short hair styles can be gendered! I've always just parsed them as Other and irrelevant and moved on.
- I just noticed this time around that the giant squid is writing a TripAdvisor review with INK! Yeah, because you can totally send handwritten reviews to websites. (Why yes, that is the most egregious of all plot holes in that bit.)
- The seats in Massey Hall are SO uncomfortable! They make me want to sit with my legs rather wide apart, but I can't do that because the seats are close together and the strange older man beside me is rather large and wearing shorts, and I'm just not going to open my legs while wearing a shortish skirt and rub my bare leg against a strange man's bare leg. Most comfortable would have been to sit knee-crossed-over-ankle, but there simply wasn't room to do that (even if I was willing to be improper and invade personal space), so when I got home I had to spend some time in triangle poses. If it's this bad for me, imagine how bad it would be for people with stiff joints, or especially tall people! Dear Massey Hall, please fix this!
- I don't care what anyone says, there are few sights more beautiful than Eddie making himself laugh
- At one point, Eddie dares God to prove his existence by showing himself, and then offers him various bribes to do so (cash, smoothies, etc.) Today he also offered him 12 virgins, then 23 virgins, then 72 people with experience. My thought: are there 23 (or even 12) virgins in this room, like at all?
- I noticed today that whenever Eddie did his write-on-his-hand oops-not-funny thing, it was always in cases where I wasn't laughing, but I wasn't not laughing because it wasn't funny. I wasn't laughing because I was waiting with rapt anticipation and bated breath to hear what he'd say next. I wish there was some way to communicate "Yes, and...?" to the person on stage.
- (In retrospect, putting my purse between my knees might have helped with the uncomfortable seats.)
- The black-market merch guys were still out there (different guys, same set-up) so I guess that means they did make enough money last time. Either that, or they had a bunch of extra merch left over from the last run and this was their best chance to move some of it.
- At one point, Eddie was on a tangent about how the word sheep doesn't pluralize, and a bunch of all different people in the audience shouted out "MOOSE!" And I was thinking that too, I just didn't shout it out because it didn't seem the moment. But it was just so interesting that so many people were thinking exactly the same thing at that point. There are other words that don't pluralize, but we all thought of the same one, to the extent that probably 7 people felt the need to shout it out (and this at a point in the show where he wasn't asking us to shout things at him).
- The interesting thing about sitting close to the stage (Second row centre!!! Best seats I've ever had for anything in my life!) is how the audience feels different to me as an audience member. The audience as I was experiencing it was me and Poodle, the very enthusiastic group of die-hards in front of us, and the older couple next to me who kept repeating funny lines to each other. The reaction of the audience as a whole was travelling to Eddie in waves over our heads, not touching us at all.
- Overall, the show as a whole was looser and more relaxed than the previous one. I think a significant portion of the audience had seen it before, but even without the surprise it was still entirely entertaining. I would very happily do this once a month at the same price point for a very long time.
"I'm very good at pure logic. I have to be - I'm a transvestite!" - E. Izzard.
*Oh, I just remembered: the line was supposed to be "everyone take a frog and put it on your head" (plot point in Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt) but Eddie either accidentally or deliberately-repeating-a-previous-mistake-that-had-humour-value said "everyone take a frog and put it on one of your heads" or something like that, then took rather a circuitous route back in a way that alluded to Inspector Tiger. I'm obviously not communicating the humour here, but for some reason it just killed me.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
So a dyslexic walks into a bra...
I saw Eddie Izzard! (Who wasn't wearing a bra, at least not that I could tell, but I didn't want to lose my chance to be the first person on the recorded internet to use that line in reference to Eddie Izzard.)
I complained a lot about the way this show was promoted. I didn't get an official announcement until several days after the presale had started (when I already had my tickets in hand!) and the promo code was never officially released, at all. But this did have the positive result that the place was a love-in! Everyone around us was fan enough to have been actively keeping an eye out for when Eddie was going to do a show in Toronto, and to guess or hunt for the promo code. When Eddie walked on stage we gave him a genuine, heartfelt, standing O, where we were quite sincerely saying thank you for coming to Toronto. More than that, it felt like we were all on the same side. Even waiting in line for the washroom at intermission, it felt like we were all on the same team. It was a good feeling, and not something I've experienced before.
I was also worried by the fact that I'd been spoiled. I didn't think Eddie would be bringing this show to Canada at all ever, so I sought out bootlegs and later bought the European DVD (with the very sexy SUBTITLES IN 17 LANGUAGES!) and therefore I knew what was coming. I have never laughed so much in my life as the first time I experienced Eddie's material fresh, and I was rather disappointed that I wouldn't get the joy of experiencing material fresh combined with the joy of experiencing it live. But I needn't have worried. Eddie gave us THREE HOURS, and I was laughing or smiling or floating happily the entire time. He started by asking us who Massey Hall was named after, to which several people said Vincent Massey. Then he asked who Vincent Massey was, and Poodle and I (and several other people, I'm sure) said Governor General. But since Poodle is far louder than I am, he focused in our direction and asked what a Governor General is, which Poodle explained. And I'm going to bask in reflected glory and say that WE explained. So that sent Eddie off on a tangent on the monarchy, most of which I'd heard him say before, but it was a natural organic tangent and therefore just felt like he was standing on the stage chatting with us.
And most of the show felt like that. There were the set pieces that I recognized, but most of the in between felt like he was just telling us what was currently in his brain, which is my very favourite part of the whole thing. I recognize his "make is sound like I'm making this up as I go along" verbal tics, but it did genuinely seem like he was making a lot of it up as he went along. He even made himself laugh a few times!
I laughed until I cried until my makeup was ruined (note to self: wear waterproof mascara and eyeliner next time!) and just grinned like an idiot the rest of the time, basking in waves of joy filling the room and the further joy of sharing this joy with the person with whom I most wanted to share it. Having been spoiled wasn't a problem. I didn't feel like "Meh, I've heard this before" - I felt like a co-conspirator.
In a moment of foolishness, I bought extremely excellent tickets for the second round of Toronto shows at the end of May. And after seeing this show, I'm very glad I did so.
***
Silly personal fannish stuff:
- I laughed for three hours straight. That's an awesome feeling, physiologically. It gives the calm and mental clarity that you normally get from the perfect balance of cardio and yoga and naturopath-recommended supplements, and I haven't had it since I saw Eddie's DVDs for the very first time. After the first act, I was just kind of floating along on this endorphin-like high where nothing mattered. We waited outside the stage door for an hour, and that didn't matter. I haven't eaten since 5 pm, and that doesn't matter. If this were a drug, I'd become an addict. If there were some way to guarantee that I would feel it every time, I would happily wake up at 4 in the morning every day to laugh for three straight hours before starting my day. It's 2:30 a.m. as I'm typing this, and I seriously think I could stay up all night and go straight through all tomorrow if I had to.
- This was actually the first serious fannish experience I've ever had in my life. I never had an opportunity to be fangirl in my teens like most people do (that's a topic for a possible future blog post), so this was the first time in my life I've ever seen That Thing I Love live and in person. As I said to Poodle as Eddie stepped out on stage for the first time, "He's real!!!" It's quite the emotional arc, and rather unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I now understand why Beatles fangirls cried. We waited around outside the stage door (thank you Poodle for instigating that!) and very briefly got him to sign our programs and spoke German at him (to disprove his earlier allegation that we don't understand German - he spoke some German onstage and we and a number of other people applauded, and Eddie said something to the effect of "Don't clap, I know you don't actually understand it.") and probably made fools of ourselves, all of which I understand intellectually was very kind and gracious on Eddie's part and wholeheartedly appreciate and will use as anecdotal evidence of what an awesome human being he is. But it also drove home the fact that I'm never going to get to have an actual conversation with him. Eddie has (entirely inadvertently on his part) been a role model to me for holy shit three years now, and as a result I've accumulated a number of things I'd be interested in discussing with him. Not just squeeing things at him or showing off look at me I speak German like I did today, but actual back-and-forth productive discussion, the kind where we build on each other's ideas and both come out smarter than we went in. I could get a good half-hour of fruitful bilateral discussion on the challenges of and strategies for adapting his current show for non-English audiences alone. And, in the midst of my fangasm and endorphin high, it kind of slapped me in the face that that's never going to happen. Not entirely sure what to do with that just yet.
- Heather Mallick, to whose book title I owe my discovery of Eddie Izzard, was sitting across the aisle from us! I was seriously considering going over and talking to her, to thank her for (inadvertently on her part, but life-changingly for me) introducing me to Eddie. But the opportunity never presented itself - it got too crowded at intermission and at the end of the show, and I would have annoyed and inconvenienced a whole lot of people just to do it. So, Ms. Mallick, if you ever happen to google upon this, thank you! Seriously. Eddie has inspired me and made me a better person in many areas of life, and it is thanks to you that I discovered him. Sincerely, the girl in the red shoes next to the guy who explained what a Governor General is.
I complained a lot about the way this show was promoted. I didn't get an official announcement until several days after the presale had started (when I already had my tickets in hand!) and the promo code was never officially released, at all. But this did have the positive result that the place was a love-in! Everyone around us was fan enough to have been actively keeping an eye out for when Eddie was going to do a show in Toronto, and to guess or hunt for the promo code. When Eddie walked on stage we gave him a genuine, heartfelt, standing O, where we were quite sincerely saying thank you for coming to Toronto. More than that, it felt like we were all on the same side. Even waiting in line for the washroom at intermission, it felt like we were all on the same team. It was a good feeling, and not something I've experienced before.
I was also worried by the fact that I'd been spoiled. I didn't think Eddie would be bringing this show to Canada at all ever, so I sought out bootlegs and later bought the European DVD (with the very sexy SUBTITLES IN 17 LANGUAGES!) and therefore I knew what was coming. I have never laughed so much in my life as the first time I experienced Eddie's material fresh, and I was rather disappointed that I wouldn't get the joy of experiencing material fresh combined with the joy of experiencing it live. But I needn't have worried. Eddie gave us THREE HOURS, and I was laughing or smiling or floating happily the entire time. He started by asking us who Massey Hall was named after, to which several people said Vincent Massey. Then he asked who Vincent Massey was, and Poodle and I (and several other people, I'm sure) said Governor General. But since Poodle is far louder than I am, he focused in our direction and asked what a Governor General is, which Poodle explained. And I'm going to bask in reflected glory and say that WE explained. So that sent Eddie off on a tangent on the monarchy, most of which I'd heard him say before, but it was a natural organic tangent and therefore just felt like he was standing on the stage chatting with us.
And most of the show felt like that. There were the set pieces that I recognized, but most of the in between felt like he was just telling us what was currently in his brain, which is my very favourite part of the whole thing. I recognize his "make is sound like I'm making this up as I go along" verbal tics, but it did genuinely seem like he was making a lot of it up as he went along. He even made himself laugh a few times!
I laughed until I cried until my makeup was ruined (note to self: wear waterproof mascara and eyeliner next time!) and just grinned like an idiot the rest of the time, basking in waves of joy filling the room and the further joy of sharing this joy with the person with whom I most wanted to share it. Having been spoiled wasn't a problem. I didn't feel like "Meh, I've heard this before" - I felt like a co-conspirator.
In a moment of foolishness, I bought extremely excellent tickets for the second round of Toronto shows at the end of May. And after seeing this show, I'm very glad I did so.
***
Silly personal fannish stuff:
- I laughed for three hours straight. That's an awesome feeling, physiologically. It gives the calm and mental clarity that you normally get from the perfect balance of cardio and yoga and naturopath-recommended supplements, and I haven't had it since I saw Eddie's DVDs for the very first time. After the first act, I was just kind of floating along on this endorphin-like high where nothing mattered. We waited outside the stage door for an hour, and that didn't matter. I haven't eaten since 5 pm, and that doesn't matter. If this were a drug, I'd become an addict. If there were some way to guarantee that I would feel it every time, I would happily wake up at 4 in the morning every day to laugh for three straight hours before starting my day. It's 2:30 a.m. as I'm typing this, and I seriously think I could stay up all night and go straight through all tomorrow if I had to.
- This was actually the first serious fannish experience I've ever had in my life. I never had an opportunity to be fangirl in my teens like most people do (that's a topic for a possible future blog post), so this was the first time in my life I've ever seen That Thing I Love live and in person. As I said to Poodle as Eddie stepped out on stage for the first time, "He's real!!!" It's quite the emotional arc, and rather unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I now understand why Beatles fangirls cried. We waited around outside the stage door (thank you Poodle for instigating that!) and very briefly got him to sign our programs and spoke German at him (to disprove his earlier allegation that we don't understand German - he spoke some German onstage and we and a number of other people applauded, and Eddie said something to the effect of "Don't clap, I know you don't actually understand it.") and probably made fools of ourselves, all of which I understand intellectually was very kind and gracious on Eddie's part and wholeheartedly appreciate and will use as anecdotal evidence of what an awesome human being he is. But it also drove home the fact that I'm never going to get to have an actual conversation with him. Eddie has (entirely inadvertently on his part) been a role model to me for holy shit three years now, and as a result I've accumulated a number of things I'd be interested in discussing with him. Not just squeeing things at him or showing off look at me I speak German like I did today, but actual back-and-forth productive discussion, the kind where we build on each other's ideas and both come out smarter than we went in. I could get a good half-hour of fruitful bilateral discussion on the challenges of and strategies for adapting his current show for non-English audiences alone. And, in the midst of my fangasm and endorphin high, it kind of slapped me in the face that that's never going to happen. Not entirely sure what to do with that just yet.
- Heather Mallick, to whose book title I owe my discovery of Eddie Izzard, was sitting across the aisle from us! I was seriously considering going over and talking to her, to thank her for (inadvertently on her part, but life-changingly for me) introducing me to Eddie. But the opportunity never presented itself - it got too crowded at intermission and at the end of the show, and I would have annoyed and inconvenienced a whole lot of people just to do it. So, Ms. Mallick, if you ever happen to google upon this, thank you! Seriously. Eddie has inspired me and made me a better person in many areas of life, and it is thanks to you that I discovered him. Sincerely, the girl in the red shoes next to the guy who explained what a Governor General is.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Outstanding customer service from Beddington's
A week ago last weekend, I bought a beautiful new duvet and duvet cover from Beddington's (Yonge & Eg location). I love them! The duvet is fluffy and warm and I feel secure like a swaddled baby wrapped in it, and the duvet cover feels good to the touch and is high thread count and matches my existing sheets perfectly.
Unfortunately, last weekend - only a week after I bought it - the zipper on the duvet cover broke. Part of the actual slidey thing broke off, so the teeth of the zipper would no longer stay inside the slidey thing. This had the unfortunate effect of rendering the entire duvet cover useless, because with the zipper open the duvet slides right out in the night and I wake up covered in basically a sheet with the duvet on the floor.
However, I am very happy to report that, despite the fact that this was a final sale item and linens are as a rule non-returnable (understandably - no one would want to buy used sheets!) Beddington's promptly, cheerfully and without drama allowed me to exchange my duvet cover for another one. Furthermore (and important to a shy and insecure person like me), I didn't need to be assertive or negotiate or anything. I just walked in, asked politely, and got the best possible outcome, being treated like my request was eminently reasonable and no imposition whatsoever the entire time.
It is very refreshing to see a retailer (especially one at a reasonable price point!) stand behind the quality and workmanship of their products. I originally went to Beddington's because they're geographically convenient, but they've just won themselves a loyal customer.
Unfortunately, last weekend - only a week after I bought it - the zipper on the duvet cover broke. Part of the actual slidey thing broke off, so the teeth of the zipper would no longer stay inside the slidey thing. This had the unfortunate effect of rendering the entire duvet cover useless, because with the zipper open the duvet slides right out in the night and I wake up covered in basically a sheet with the duvet on the floor.
However, I am very happy to report that, despite the fact that this was a final sale item and linens are as a rule non-returnable (understandably - no one would want to buy used sheets!) Beddington's promptly, cheerfully and without drama allowed me to exchange my duvet cover for another one. Furthermore (and important to a shy and insecure person like me), I didn't need to be assertive or negotiate or anything. I just walked in, asked politely, and got the best possible outcome, being treated like my request was eminently reasonable and no imposition whatsoever the entire time.
It is very refreshing to see a retailer (especially one at a reasonable price point!) stand behind the quality and workmanship of their products. I originally went to Beddington's because they're geographically convenient, but they've just won themselves a loyal customer.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Excellent customer service from Lenscrafters
Props to Lenscrafters, specifically their Fairview Mall location, for allowing me to easily and effortlessly return a pair of glasses (in keeping with their 30 day return policy) simply because I didn't like them.
I am fully aware that, as a competent adult, I should be able to tell whether or not I like the aesthetics of something when I'm first shopping for it, and returning a custom-made product is rather high maintenance. I know they can't resell my glasses, they lost money on the transaction, and someone might have even lost commission (which I do regret, but I really couldn't find anything else I liked in the store). And yet, despite all this, they still allowed me to return my glasses outright for a full refund without any drama or guilt, and without my needing to be assertive about it. There was an initial offer to help me find a pair I like better, but there was no further pressure once I told them I'd already found a pair I like better elsewhere.
I am very happy with the service I received, it makes me feel safe shopping at Lenscrafters, and I very much look forward to doing business with them again in the future.
I am fully aware that, as a competent adult, I should be able to tell whether or not I like the aesthetics of something when I'm first shopping for it, and returning a custom-made product is rather high maintenance. I know they can't resell my glasses, they lost money on the transaction, and someone might have even lost commission (which I do regret, but I really couldn't find anything else I liked in the store). And yet, despite all this, they still allowed me to return my glasses outright for a full refund without any drama or guilt, and without my needing to be assertive about it. There was an initial offer to help me find a pair I like better, but there was no further pressure once I told them I'd already found a pair I like better elsewhere.
I am very happy with the service I received, it makes me feel safe shopping at Lenscrafters, and I very much look forward to doing business with them again in the future.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Dear Amazon.ca: please ship by Canada Post, not UPS
I get into the elevator. I press the number for my floor. A UPS lady is standing in there for some reason, and when she notices the number I press asks me my apartment number. I tell her, and she hands me a signy thing and a package...from Amazon! "Weird that Amazon is shipping through UPS," I say as I sign the signy thing. "It's a new contract," she tells me.
Dear Amazon: Please go back to Canada Post!
Canada Post is easy and convenient. They just leave it in my mailbox. If it's too big or they need a signature, the post office is a block away. Effortless!
However, UPS can't leave stuff in my mailbox and requires a signature for every delivery. Like most people, I work during the day and am never home during UPS delivery times. Today I only just caught the lady as she was leaving, and that's because I didn't do errands after work like I normally do. So I end up having to go an hour out of my way, by bus, to the UPS depot on a remote stretch of Steeles. And on top of this already-disproportionate inconvenience, there's not much around the UPS depot (the street backs onto the back end of a field) and there aren't many eyes on the street, so I don't feel particularly safe waiting for the bus there after dark, which comes at about 4:30 pm this time of year. (This is where I'd have to wait for the bus. In comparison, when I have to wait for a bus in real life, it's usually in a place that looks more like this.)
Frankly, if they're going to ship by UPS it simply isn't worth it for me to buy from Amazon any more, which is tragic because Amazon has always been the easiest and my preferred way to buy anything that they sell. I sent them a note through their customer service thing, hoping it will get directed to the right people. (It's so hard to find an actual contact address on the Amazon.ca site!)
Update: I got an email back from Amazon saying, among other things, that they are passing my concerns on to the shipping department. If you share these concerns, I'd suggest you let Amazon know too. Wouldn't you rather have your purchases in your mailbox than at the UPS depot?
Dear Amazon: Please go back to Canada Post!
Canada Post is easy and convenient. They just leave it in my mailbox. If it's too big or they need a signature, the post office is a block away. Effortless!
However, UPS can't leave stuff in my mailbox and requires a signature for every delivery. Like most people, I work during the day and am never home during UPS delivery times. Today I only just caught the lady as she was leaving, and that's because I didn't do errands after work like I normally do. So I end up having to go an hour out of my way, by bus, to the UPS depot on a remote stretch of Steeles. And on top of this already-disproportionate inconvenience, there's not much around the UPS depot (the street backs onto the back end of a field) and there aren't many eyes on the street, so I don't feel particularly safe waiting for the bus there after dark, which comes at about 4:30 pm this time of year. (This is where I'd have to wait for the bus. In comparison, when I have to wait for a bus in real life, it's usually in a place that looks more like this.)
Frankly, if they're going to ship by UPS it simply isn't worth it for me to buy from Amazon any more, which is tragic because Amazon has always been the easiest and my preferred way to buy anything that they sell. I sent them a note through their customer service thing, hoping it will get directed to the right people. (It's so hard to find an actual contact address on the Amazon.ca site!)
Update: I got an email back from Amazon saying, among other things, that they are passing my concerns on to the shipping department. If you share these concerns, I'd suggest you let Amazon know too. Wouldn't you rather have your purchases in your mailbox than at the UPS depot?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Adventures in sleeptracking
I've been using the Sleeptracker for some time now, and does what it says it does. The problem, as with most things in life, is me. The Sleeptracker wakes me up when I'm very nearly awake, just rolling over to fall back asleep, the kind of situation where if there wasn't an alarm I wouldn't even register it as awake. The problem is the first thought that goes through my head is "Hey, no fair, I'm not done yet!" I'm in a nice happy place where I can just float around in my head, and the sleeptracker has interrupted it. And since it's right on my wrist, it's very easy to just turn it off and go back to sleep.
Now, I am less groggy when I can convince myself to get out of bed after waking up to the Sleeptracker than when I wake up to a standard alarm. And even if I roll back over and close my eyes, I'm generally closer to the surface and sometimes don't even fall back asleep, I just lie there for a bit floating around in my head. This does have value - if the Sleeptracker wakes me up at 5:42 and I don't get out of bed, I'll wake up better to my regular alarm at 6 - but it's far from panacea. I'm not jumping out of bed bright and cheerful to meet the day, and because I know that it isn't really time to wake up yet I do need a standard alarm as backup.
Also, a potential problem if you have really skinny wrists. I bought the men's version (because that's what was available on ebay), and it's just barely small enough for me, with no room to punch extra holes in the strap. The circumference of my wrist is 5 3/4". In other words, I am not particularly petite but do have disproportionately skinny wrists. Therefore, if you are petite and have disproportionately skinny wrists, or are not a full-grown adult, the men's version may be too big for you. I'm not certain to what extent this would affect functioning of the device. It's based on an accelerometer and does tell you to fasten it with the watch tight against your wrist, but I don't know to what extent a too-loose watch moves around. I also don't know how much smaller the women's version can get. But my point is, if your wrist circumference is less than 5 3/4", see if you can find out if the women's version goes smaller, and/or what happens if it isn't fastened tightly, before dropping a significant amount of money on this thing.
In summary, it does what it says it does but isn't a miracle, and do your research and ask questions if you have really skinny wrists.
Now, I am less groggy when I can convince myself to get out of bed after waking up to the Sleeptracker than when I wake up to a standard alarm. And even if I roll back over and close my eyes, I'm generally closer to the surface and sometimes don't even fall back asleep, I just lie there for a bit floating around in my head. This does have value - if the Sleeptracker wakes me up at 5:42 and I don't get out of bed, I'll wake up better to my regular alarm at 6 - but it's far from panacea. I'm not jumping out of bed bright and cheerful to meet the day, and because I know that it isn't really time to wake up yet I do need a standard alarm as backup.
Also, a potential problem if you have really skinny wrists. I bought the men's version (because that's what was available on ebay), and it's just barely small enough for me, with no room to punch extra holes in the strap. The circumference of my wrist is 5 3/4". In other words, I am not particularly petite but do have disproportionately skinny wrists. Therefore, if you are petite and have disproportionately skinny wrists, or are not a full-grown adult, the men's version may be too big for you. I'm not certain to what extent this would affect functioning of the device. It's based on an accelerometer and does tell you to fasten it with the watch tight against your wrist, but I don't know to what extent a too-loose watch moves around. I also don't know how much smaller the women's version can get. But my point is, if your wrist circumference is less than 5 3/4", see if you can find out if the women's version goes smaller, and/or what happens if it isn't fastened tightly, before dropping a significant amount of money on this thing.
In summary, it does what it says it does but isn't a miracle, and do your research and ask questions if you have really skinny wrists.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Props to Tide To Go
My Tide To Go pen instantly removed red wine spilled on my carpet - after it had been in my purse with the lid off for months and months and months!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Props to Centre Shoe Clinic at Yonge Eg Centre
I often get my shoes repaired because my gait wears them down unevenly and my shoe size is such that I won't necessarily be able to find a suitable replacement. However, usually I either know exactly what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix it, or the problem is visible and I can just point to it.
In this case my problem was more complicated - the shoes felt vaguely unstable, but I couldn't really articulate how or why, and I couldn't see any signs of a problem on the outside. So I took them down to Centre Shoe Clinic uncertain if they'd be able to help me or even tell what the problem was from my vague diagnosis.
Fortunately for me, they're good! They could tell what the problem was, explain it to me in a way I could understand, and even tell me how to help prevent it in the future. It required major surgery that involved taking the shoes completely apart and replacing some pieces inside the sole to restore the shoe's structural integrity, but when I got them back there was no externally visible sign that they had ever been taken apart.
It's very comforting to know there's that level of expertise right here in my neighbourhood.
In this case my problem was more complicated - the shoes felt vaguely unstable, but I couldn't really articulate how or why, and I couldn't see any signs of a problem on the outside. So I took them down to Centre Shoe Clinic uncertain if they'd be able to help me or even tell what the problem was from my vague diagnosis.
Fortunately for me, they're good! They could tell what the problem was, explain it to me in a way I could understand, and even tell me how to help prevent it in the future. It required major surgery that involved taking the shoes completely apart and replacing some pieces inside the sole to restore the shoe's structural integrity, but when I got them back there was no externally visible sign that they had ever been taken apart.
It's very comforting to know there's that level of expertise right here in my neighbourhood.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Props to amazon.ca
Despite the fact that I chose supersaver shipping, my copy of Sims 3 arrived today, i.e. the official release date.
On that note, I may be incommunicado for a while.
On that note, I may be incommunicado for a while.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Louise Marie Longhairs
Quite a while back I googled upon the fact that one of the few hairdressers specializing in long hair is right here in Toronto. Last time I visited a hairdresser (as a child) I came away looking like a boy. Since then I've been growing my hair extremely long to assert my femininity and eschewing all hairdressers. But, pushing 30, I was starting to think I might want better than just plain length with the split ends trimmed off by myself or my mother.
However, I was hesitant. Surely the website copy is hyperbole. Surely she has posted only positive testimonials and culled out all the negative ones (who knows how many there are?) And what's up with wanting to sell me all these pricey products? But I kept fixating on the idea, so I decided to give it a try. Worst case I'm out a bit of money and I'll stop fixating. So, last December, I went. The first time I'd been to a hairdresser in over two decades.
First thing that struck me is it's safe. No cooler-than-thou, no drama, you can talk frankly and realistically. Even the physical environment is safe. There's only one chair so you get her full attention, and it's set up so that passers-by can't see into the windows. (The idea of getting my hair done in full view of passers-by has always weirded me out). As we chatted, she accepted that my hair is in fact oily and straight. I've had so many people tell me "It isn't really oily, you just need to wash it less!" or "It isn't really straight, you just need to scrunch it!" that it's a relief to be taken at my word. She does want you to use her products (which do do what they say they do), but apart from that there's no pressure. As her site implies, she does recommend dietary/lifestyle changes, but she doesn't pressure. She informs me of stuff and if I'm not immediately into it, it's up to me to come to her if I change my mind. It's the Ani Difranco take what you can use and leave the rest approach.
So now you're thinking "Okay, but what did she do for your hair?"
I noticed results instantly, and I was able to duplicate them at home. Before I used her system, my hair would go hopelessly oily about 16 hours after I washed it. If I wanted to go to work in the morning then go out at night, I'd have to wash after work so my hair would look civilized at 11 pm. With LML's products, I wake up in the morning and it still looks civilized. It now takes 32 hours to go hopeless, so strictly speaking for the first time in my life I could get away with skipping a day. My hair was immediately less flat at the scalp, and it's been constantly improving as I continue to work on it. Length has increased noticeably, and I have brand new growth that is already two or three inches long.
The cut itself led my co-worker to ask me "Um...this is going to sound really weird...but did your hair just get longer or something?" I can now wear it down much more readily, and it moves quite interestingly (which is something I'd never given any thought to before). I feel generally sexier now, and more confident in my hair's ability to fulfill its various functions. In my professional life, it looks like it's on purpose rather than a result of benign neglect, and in my personal life it's better able to serve as a tool for seduction.
What I really appreciate about these products (and never would have ever expected) is if you do it wrong they still help your hair. It doesn't wreck anything, the results were just suboptimal. For weeks I was conditioning wrong but still noticing improvements in my hair. When I started conditioning right, it just started improving faster and more.
All these results aren't effortless. You have to put thought into your morning hair routine, you have to do some things differently with these products to the point where you're even retraining muscle memory (I can't tell you how many times I've done it wrong out of lifelong habit). It is work. But it does get the results it says it does.
This is an unconventional approach and not for everyone, but it is exactly what it says it is and does do the job to an extent I'd never before thought possible. I'd recommend looking a Louise Marie's website and seeing if it sounds like something you'd like. She wrote it herself, that is what it is. If it sounds good, go for it. If it doesn't sound like what you want, it's not for you.
However, I was hesitant. Surely the website copy is hyperbole. Surely she has posted only positive testimonials and culled out all the negative ones (who knows how many there are?) And what's up with wanting to sell me all these pricey products? But I kept fixating on the idea, so I decided to give it a try. Worst case I'm out a bit of money and I'll stop fixating. So, last December, I went. The first time I'd been to a hairdresser in over two decades.
First thing that struck me is it's safe. No cooler-than-thou, no drama, you can talk frankly and realistically. Even the physical environment is safe. There's only one chair so you get her full attention, and it's set up so that passers-by can't see into the windows. (The idea of getting my hair done in full view of passers-by has always weirded me out). As we chatted, she accepted that my hair is in fact oily and straight. I've had so many people tell me "It isn't really oily, you just need to wash it less!" or "It isn't really straight, you just need to scrunch it!" that it's a relief to be taken at my word. She does want you to use her products (which do do what they say they do), but apart from that there's no pressure. As her site implies, she does recommend dietary/lifestyle changes, but she doesn't pressure. She informs me of stuff and if I'm not immediately into it, it's up to me to come to her if I change my mind. It's the Ani Difranco take what you can use and leave the rest approach.
So now you're thinking "Okay, but what did she do for your hair?"
I noticed results instantly, and I was able to duplicate them at home. Before I used her system, my hair would go hopelessly oily about 16 hours after I washed it. If I wanted to go to work in the morning then go out at night, I'd have to wash after work so my hair would look civilized at 11 pm. With LML's products, I wake up in the morning and it still looks civilized. It now takes 32 hours to go hopeless, so strictly speaking for the first time in my life I could get away with skipping a day. My hair was immediately less flat at the scalp, and it's been constantly improving as I continue to work on it. Length has increased noticeably, and I have brand new growth that is already two or three inches long.
The cut itself led my co-worker to ask me "Um...this is going to sound really weird...but did your hair just get longer or something?" I can now wear it down much more readily, and it moves quite interestingly (which is something I'd never given any thought to before). I feel generally sexier now, and more confident in my hair's ability to fulfill its various functions. In my professional life, it looks like it's on purpose rather than a result of benign neglect, and in my personal life it's better able to serve as a tool for seduction.
What I really appreciate about these products (and never would have ever expected) is if you do it wrong they still help your hair. It doesn't wreck anything, the results were just suboptimal. For weeks I was conditioning wrong but still noticing improvements in my hair. When I started conditioning right, it just started improving faster and more.
All these results aren't effortless. You have to put thought into your morning hair routine, you have to do some things differently with these products to the point where you're even retraining muscle memory (I can't tell you how many times I've done it wrong out of lifelong habit). It is work. But it does get the results it says it does.
This is an unconventional approach and not for everyone, but it is exactly what it says it is and does do the job to an extent I'd never before thought possible. I'd recommend looking a Louise Marie's website and seeing if it sounds like something you'd like. She wrote it herself, that is what it is. If it sounds good, go for it. If it doesn't sound like what you want, it's not for you.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Rogers tech support: the good and the bad
The bad: there was a prolonged internet outage in my area yesterday.
The good: when I called Rogers tech support, I got an automated announcement informing me that there's an outage in my area and giving me an ETA for service to come back online. This quickly gave me the information I needed and saved me a lot of pressing buttons and waiting and troubleshooting.
The bad: service wasn't back online by the ETA given.
The bad: even though service wasn't back online, the automated announcement was gone.
The good: I only had to wait under 10 minutes to speak to an agent, and they gave me an estimated hold time going in.
The bad: the interrupting "we appreciate your call, please continue to hold" sort of message is way too frequent.
The good: the agent accepted my troubleshooting and my explanation that there was a previous outage, and confirmed that my area is still out.
The bad: the agent was unable to give me an ETA.
The good: the agent arranged for me to be called back when service was back online.
The bad: I was never called back.*
The possibly good, possibly bad, depending on your sleep schedule: perhaps the reason why I was never called back was because service came back online sometimes between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
The good: service was back online when I woke up this morning.
The bad: after being out for somewhere between 14 and 18 straight hours.
*Update: I just got the call back - eight hours after I noticed that it started working
The good: when I called Rogers tech support, I got an automated announcement informing me that there's an outage in my area and giving me an ETA for service to come back online. This quickly gave me the information I needed and saved me a lot of pressing buttons and waiting and troubleshooting.
The bad: service wasn't back online by the ETA given.
The bad: even though service wasn't back online, the automated announcement was gone.
The good: I only had to wait under 10 minutes to speak to an agent, and they gave me an estimated hold time going in.
The bad: the interrupting "we appreciate your call, please continue to hold" sort of message is way too frequent.
The good: the agent accepted my troubleshooting and my explanation that there was a previous outage, and confirmed that my area is still out.
The bad: the agent was unable to give me an ETA.
The good: the agent arranged for me to be called back when service was back online.
The bad: I was never called back.*
The possibly good, possibly bad, depending on your sleep schedule: perhaps the reason why I was never called back was because service came back online sometimes between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
The good: service was back online when I woke up this morning.
The bad: after being out for somewhere between 14 and 18 straight hours.
*Update: I just got the call back - eight hours after I noticed that it started working
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Dell comes through again
My first computer, bought in 1999, was a Dell. Just months before its warranty expired, my power supply died. Dell sent a technician to fix it at no cost and at my convenience, and it was as stress-free as could reasonably be expected considering it's a difficult-to-diagnose-by-phone problem.
My second computer, bought in 2004, is a Dell. Today, just months before its warranty expires, the monitor stopped working. I called tech support, no waiting on hold, they accepted my troubleshooting that correctly diagnosed it as a hardware problem. Procedure said they had to flash the BIOS and see if the problem came back, so they did so and then arranged to have someone call me back tomorrow and check if the problem came back. Total time on phone 30 minutes, total angst zero.
Unfortunately, it came back an hour later. So I called them back (had to wait on hold 15 minutes), they accepted my diagnosis again, and they arranged to ship me a new monitor. Total time on phone like 10 minutes, total angst zero.
While it takes a few business days to ship so it would have been a noticeable inconvenience but for Poodle's awesomeness (see below), that's the reality of logistics and the laws of physics so I find it perfectly acceptable. (Which, I realize, is very easy to say when I'm still sitting here using my computer thanks to Poodle's awesomeness.)
So that's two Dell computers, both of which kindly had their major problems before the warranty expired, both of which got fixed under warranty at no cost to me and no more inconvenience than strictly necessary. I think my third computer will be a Dell.
Also!
Mega-bonus thanks to Poodle who eliminated literally all the stress surrounding this situation!
Me: "My monitor stopped working and I might not be able to use my computer for a few days! My life is ruined!"
Poodle: "Here's a spare, I'll go out of my way to bring it to you as though it's no trouble whatsoever."
Shipping update: My conversation with the call centre that resulted in them shipping out the new monitor occurred on Wednesday, after 8 pm. My monitor arrived by Purolator on Friday.
My second computer, bought in 2004, is a Dell. Today, just months before its warranty expires, the monitor stopped working. I called tech support, no waiting on hold, they accepted my troubleshooting that correctly diagnosed it as a hardware problem. Procedure said they had to flash the BIOS and see if the problem came back, so they did so and then arranged to have someone call me back tomorrow and check if the problem came back. Total time on phone 30 minutes, total angst zero.
Unfortunately, it came back an hour later. So I called them back (had to wait on hold 15 minutes), they accepted my diagnosis again, and they arranged to ship me a new monitor. Total time on phone like 10 minutes, total angst zero.
While it takes a few business days to ship so it would have been a noticeable inconvenience but for Poodle's awesomeness (see below), that's the reality of logistics and the laws of physics so I find it perfectly acceptable. (Which, I realize, is very easy to say when I'm still sitting here using my computer thanks to Poodle's awesomeness.)
So that's two Dell computers, both of which kindly had their major problems before the warranty expired, both of which got fixed under warranty at no cost to me and no more inconvenience than strictly necessary. I think my third computer will be a Dell.
Also!
Mega-bonus thanks to Poodle who eliminated literally all the stress surrounding this situation!
Me: "My monitor stopped working and I might not be able to use my computer for a few days! My life is ruined!"
Poodle: "Here's a spare, I'll go out of my way to bring it to you as though it's no trouble whatsoever."
Shipping update: My conversation with the call centre that resulted in them shipping out the new monitor occurred on Wednesday, after 8 pm. My monitor arrived by Purolator on Friday.
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