2010-12-31
Happy New Year
2010-09-27
2010-09-04
2010-08-19
iPhone Follow-Up
If you read my rant from last Monday, you know about my frustrations with AT&T. I will give them their due, or is it Apple that did well? At any rate, my new phone made it to Bartlesville by Wednesday morning.
I didn’t even try to call the local store, I just sent an email to check on the phone after seeing the tracking notice that it had been delivered. Justin told me it was here! He (and everyone else at the local store) has been very helpful and told me just to let him know if I have questions. I took his picture with my camera, just to make sure that I could use it.
My entire contact list transferred to my new phone, but I have to clean up the duplicates and add some addresses. It does some really cool things. For example, if you click on an address, a map of the location will appear. I have loaded several albums to the iPod part of the phone.
I really like the thread function for text messaging. You can see a grouping of texts as you and a friend “talk.” But the on-screen letters are small and close together, so typing with my thumbs does not work well.
I have already loaded the iHog app, the ESPN free scoreboard app and I will be looking at the K-Force app recommended by Facebook friend Susan Abe. It is a way to do baseball scoring on the phone. I’m really curious to see how it works.
2010-08-16
When a Communications Company can’t Communicate
It has been a day of frustrations that really started on Sunday.
I have long lusted after an iPhone. I know, I am a gadget freak. I have always been enamored of such “toys.” My two year contract for my current cell phone expired on Saturday. I checked the AT&T on-line upgrade options. I am not allowed to buy on-line. You see, I have a post office box. AT&T claims that they will not ship to a P. O. Box “to prevent fraud.” Huh? But they also will not ship to an address other than the billing address on my credit card (as they should not.)
I have had my P. O. Box for over twelve years. I would rather have an item shipped there than to a street address. Things can be taken from a mail box much more easily than from a box in the post office. Goodness.
So I made a trip to my local AT&T store. The young man who waited on me was just delightful. He was helpful, answered all my questions and reassured me that a 16 gigabyte phone would more than meet my needs. Some of his answers were not what I hoped, but he was so nice that I didn’t mind. There were no iPhones in stock. They expected a shipment this morning and I probably should be at the store when it opened to assure that I could get one.
The only iPhones that they received this morning were special orders. So it was suggested that I check back with them just after noon to see if they received any more. I called as suggested. Or rather, I tried to call.
You see, AT&T stores have an automated answering system. Now I was calling a brick and mortar store just over the hill from here. Once I navigated the system, no one was available to answer the phone so I was given to option to return to the first menu or be directed to National Customer Service. Those were the only two options. In hindsight, I should have gone to National and asked them if the local store received any 16G iPhones this afternoon.
I tried for more than 20 minutes to connect to the local store with no success. I finally gave up and drove to the store. They were very nice and allowed me to vent a little. They had received a few phones, but they were all 32G phones. I’m spending more than I should for an iPhone in the first place. There is no way that I would spend an extra $100 for something that I really do not need. So I ordered what I want. (At some point, I actually thought about giving up and getting a Droid. But then I would be able to get the iHog app.)
After I got home, I decided to try to let AT&T know that their communications protocols were seriously flawed. First I tried to navigate their web site to report a problem. None of the choices fit my problem, so whatever I clicked sent me to a video on how to report a problem. Huh?
I decided to send an email. I logged into my Cell Phone account, clicked on Contact Us, and clicked on Send Email. The resulting page said that my session had timed out. It didn’t take me any longer to do that than it took you to read this paragraph.
By now I was seriously ticked off, so I decided to call. I did get to talk to a person after another system navigation. After subjecting the poor person to a bit of a rant (I really tried to be nice) I took the survey about my experience. There were a couple of times in the survey that none of the options suited my problem. At the end I was offered the opportunity to have a customer service rep call me. I said yes, or rather I punched the number for yes. It will be interesting to see if they do call and how long it takes them to do so.
I will give them credit for one thing. At no point in all of the menu navigation did they want me to speak to the automated system. Those things annoy me so much that I find I get louder and louder as I talk to them.
Whew, <rant over>.
2010-07-04
Is it the Credit Card?
Ah, the vagaries of using credit cards. Today as I returned home with the new puppy, I stopped for gas in Calera, Oklahoma. I pump gas for myself all the time. I scanned the card and the pump display instructed me to select the grade of gasoline. I pushed the “Regular” button. Nothing happened. I pressed it again. Still nothing. Finally the transaction timed out.
I tried to start the transaction over again. I got a message to “See cashier.” I was informed that I had to remove the nozzle from the pump before selecting the grade. Um, OK. I finally got mad and left.
About an hour later, I stopped for gas again. This time the message was “See attendant.” When I checked, I was told that my card was refused for being used “too frequently.” Luckily, I had plenty of cash and managed to get gas.
Then I tried to call the card’s “emergency number.” Huh! After going through a long routine which involved returning to the store to find someone to tell me what certain letters were on a regular push-button phone, entering the long credit card number and pressing a bunch of buttons, I finally spoke to a person. I needed to call customer service. That was a different phone number, but they could transfer me. When that new connection asked for the credit card number, etc. I blew a gasket.
By now I was paranoid. So when I had to go buy dog food, I didn’t even try the credit card.
Once I finally connected with the credit card company, I was told that there were no holds or denials on my card. If I wanted to be sure, I should use it.
The local grocery store approved it immediately.
Sue E comes to Oklahoma
Here is the story in pictures.
As soon as I got her outside, I let her walk around. I started looking for a toy and the first thing that I found was a soft baseball. She loved it.
She was pretty good on the way home. She had a fit for the first few miles. But eventually she settled down and was quiet as long as the van was moving. I stopped once to walk her (success!) and give her some cheese from my Egg McMuffin. (We started bait training early!) She didn’t want to come out of the crate when I stopped.
When I got home, she wasn’t sure about coming out of the crate:
But then she decided that she would try it:
BOB and Giggles were intrigued:
She wasn’t so sure about them, backing as far away as she could:
But that didn’t last long:
2010-07-03
Motel 6 at DFW
This was my ultra-efficient room at the Motel 6. On the far right you can just catch a glimpse of the TV mounted on the wall above the table. It reminded me of some apartments that I have seen on TV from Japan. I was standing at the door and the bathroom was on my left. The tub/shower and the sink were set on an angle so as to open up some floor space. It was a very efficient use of space.
2010-06-19
Puppy Update
Having posted this on Facebook, I suppose that it is time to note that the new puppy has been chosen. Seven Hill’s Woo’s She? v Elwing will be coming to Oklahoma in the next week or two. I have created a page for her on the web site. I have posted the eight week old pictures there.
Getting her from far Northern California to Oklahoma may turn into quite the effort. It appears that she may have to fly into Dallas on a Red-Eye.