Tuesday was somewhat of a disappointment to me as a consumer.
1. Claro Argentina (my mobile phone operator)
I tried to send a text message to a friend on tuesday, only to get an error message. This happened several times. I had checked my account balance a few days before so I was positive I had credit. I had more than enough credit. Yet, when I checked my account again it said “credit expired”. Outrage! I plugged my phone to the charger, put the hands-free heasdet on and dialed customer service. About 25 minutes later I managed to get someone to talk to me.
“– I’m sorry, sir, your credit expired a week ago”
“– Um… what? It’s not been 90 days since I added credit. It’s not even been 60 days.”
“– Our policy changed last May. Credit now lasts 45 days for a refill card of that value.”
“– wtf… Ok, fine. I’m not happy with this but I guess it’s my fault for not checking the expiration date.”
(I still can’t bring myself to yell at a CSR, even though I’m always pissed off when I call)
So I got a new card and redeemed it. I noticed two things. Unlike previous experiences, my older credit was completely lost. And my new card expires in 30 days (since it’s a $30 card instead of the $50 I got last time). This pissed me off even more than losing my credit. This company is trying to scrap as much money from me as they possibly can! No, I’m not surprised by it. But I’m still pissed. And I even more pissed about the fact that I have no choice. Their competitors are excactly the same.
I don’t mind paying more for a good product or good service. That’s why I buy my phones unlocked and I have a pre-paid line. It costs more but I can spare myself from a lot of the bullshit involving having a cell phone. Anyone wants to join me into starting a no-bullshit mobile operator? “We’ll charge you more, but you won’t feel like we are raping you from behind”. Sigh, one can dream…
2. Apple
I’m in the market for a new laptop. I’m a Mac user, which means I don’t have much to choose from. And that’s ok, because even though Apple thinks that consumers only want small screens and professionals only want big screens, I still get the choice of a good pro-spec machine. It costs more, but I was considering going for a Macbook Pro with it’s larger, matte screen.
Well, till last tuesday.
There are new Macbooks. And I most likely won’t be buying one. Not because they’re a bit ugly in my opinion (that’s not gonna affect my decision, positively or negatively), but because Apple removed the matte screen option from its professional line. This in itself doesn’t affect me much; I don’t need *that* much color acuracy for my work (my desktop monitor is VGA, for pete’s sake). What affects me is that Apple seems to be abandoning the professional market and focusing on the consumer market.
WTF? They show a computer editing video with a huge reflection on the screen? Wouldn’t that make color and contrast correcting a pain in the ass? Apple used to believe that:
MacBook Pro offers an antiglare widescreen display that’s perfect for color-minded professionals. For a more immersive viewing experience, you can configure the MacBook Pro display with a glossy finish. This gives everything you see a richer, more saturated feel.
— archived version of the Macbook Pro page on Apple.com
while the copy on the new page seems aimed to the consumer market:
The moment you open your MacBook Pro you’re greeted by glorious, full screen brightness. But that’s only one gleaming quality of the glossy LED-backlit widescreen display. The picture is brilliant and sharp from corner to corner. And anything you view — including the ultrathin display itself — is a spectacular experience.
“No matte = no buy. I’m looking at Windows laptops now. I can’t trust my business to a company that clearly abandoned the professional market for the consumer market.”. That’s the feedback I gave to the company that makes a tool I like about why they may lose me as a customer. I don’t like Windows as much as OS X, but I’m starting to look at Dell Precisions and Lenovo Thinkpads.
10/11/08
Tea
Turns out that there are very few stores that can easily make me part with my money in an impulsive way. One of them is a tea shop.
15 minutes and almost 50 pesos after entering the store I was out the door carrying 150 grams of tea*. And that’s because all I had on me was those 50 pesos. But my god, the Chocolate Chai blend has an aroma you would not believe. Mmmm.
*As a reference, that much money will buy you over 500 teabags of a regular brand here. A teabag has about 2 grams of tea.
I’ve done this sometime in the past (a few blogs ago — yes, I ignored a couple of blogs before this one), but Cat tagged me so it means I have to do it again. I’ll try not to cheat and repeat what I used last time. Or maybe I’m too lazy to go look for it.
- I’m extremely easy going. I don’t snap often, even if things don’t go my way. And even when I do snap I’m not the kind to bitch and moan about it a lot. People whose only reaction to a problem is complaining annoy me to no end.
- Driving is one of my favorite things in the world. Yet I’ve never owned a car. And if I had to buy a vehicle right now I’d probably buy a small scooter or a moped.
- I used to love writing when I was a kid. I’d take the family’s old typewriter and create silly short stories (my mom may have a few saved, but no, you can’t see them!). I don’t remember when I stopped but I’m regretting it.
- Much like writing, I love music but I cannot generate it in any way. I’ve long ago given up on the idea of playing more than a couple of chords on an instrument, and I most definitely don’t have a voice for singing.
- I went to a bilingual elementary school: regular spanish classes in the morning and english in the afternoons. And twice a week we had an hour of french, but I hated it and never learnt much. However, I must have hated it less than my classmates because I got a prize for finishing among the top of the class. Now I signed up for a basic french course which may come in handy since I seem to end up in Québec at least once a year.
- I used to drink insane amounts of Coca-Cola. I’ve gone down to normal levels now, maybe once a week when I get together with friends. My new drink is tea. I have enough tea to last me for a few months, yet I keep buying more.
Now the rules say I have to tag 6 people. Let’s see… Rob, Lola and Jill, you guys haven’t blogged in a while, so get to it! EvilScienceChick, cuz I’m sure she has a lot of evil science random things to share. Laurent, because he’ll do it in french :). And Ahmed, because for a guy who’s online so much, there aren’t many random facts about him out there!
These are the rules:
- Link to the person who tagged you.
- Post the rules on the blog.
- Write six random things about yourself.
- Tag six people at the end of your post.
- Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog(or sending an e-mail).
- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
I just uploaded a new version of my online portfolio. About friggin time, I had a “coming soon” page for almost a year already.
Go take a look! SnowyDayDesign.com
Taking a train from NYC to Montréal. It’s a 9-10 hour ride, so you have to be creative to keep yourself entertained. The video isn’t much in itself, other for than the fact that it was shot, edited and scored on my Nokia N82 cell phone. Ahh, the possibilities are endless…
The song is Blah Blah Blah by Say Hi To Your Mom.
Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4) Flash Video (.flv)
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Yesterday I found a bunch of mix CDs I made before I even owned an mp3 player of any sorts. I played this particular one on a drive to downtown, it’s called #7 (yes, I numbered them - #1 I think was a mix tape) but it might as well be called “The early days of podcasting”. Tracklist:
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave
- Jonathan Coulton - Ikea
- The Honorary Title - Bridge & Tunnel
- Freddy - Apart
- The Porcelain Gods - One And a Half Years Ago
- Superbeing - Conversation Piece
- Hydrofoil - Stamina
- Plain White T’s - Take Me Away
- The Bloody Irish Boys - Drunk Tonight
- Greg Dulli - Cigarretes
- Statistics - Another Day
- Betablokka - Scared - The Difference Between
- Becoming Wheels - Pipedreams
- 13 & God - Men of Station
- The Domino Parade - My Sleeve
- Christa Couture - Day 04
A BBQ with friends, in a minute.
The song is Struttin’, by Tryad, under a Creative Commons license
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Doing dishes while listening to Croncast. You need to click on that link and go listen, it’s one of the funniest podcasts out there.
For some reason, I had this done a few weeks ago but I never got around to posting it. Some vlog I have, eh?
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While in chile, we met a really nice guy from New Zealand who was paragliding across south america with his fiancee. They were taking a friend for her first flight, and they asked us if we wanted to tag along.
The video is in 640×480, but the Blip.tv player resizes it to 320×240. Which is a good thing, as the larger one wouldn’t fit on this site. The feed has the full size video.
Song is Ana Said (heavy with hurt) by Rick Temporao
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