084 - Self congratulatory

HTML baffles me. It makes me feel stoopid... Stoopid -- that's stupider than stupid. When I first started blogging it was an epiphany when I learned how to make a picture magically appear. Most of the time I just copy the example, but sometimes I actually get it and in those moments I feel pretty brilliant... or as they might say on Skins (I expertly interject after having watched one whole episode)... bloody brill. Some people elaborate, I noticed that characters on Skins had a tendency to abbreviate... a fondness for contractions. I digress (I do that a lot). One of the bloggers I follow was wondering how to turn her email into a link instead of making people copy and paste it into an email... or at least I think that's what she wanted, so I did a quick search and found out that it was pretty easy. Here's the link. They even explain why you put these letters and symbols around the words. Wowsa. I don't know what program pops up when you click on it, I assume whatever your default is. To be honest I didn't think this through before I started writing it...

Speaking of links (how's that for a segue), here are a couple of blogs I read yesterday that blew my mind:

First off is a post by Reasons to Forget. This poem is amazing. I admit that I'm not a huge fan of poetry. I write some from time to time... I love my friend Tia's poetry... and my cousin Jamie's poetry... but on the whole I find that it doesn't appeal to me. This poem, however, was perfection. Read it, you won't be sorry. (and she's 17! wow!)

Second was a hilarious post by Pioneer Woman about a ruffled blouse. Women can relate to it, but I think husbands and boyfriends can also relate. It deals with the age old question / trap: How do I look?

Sigh... I miss Paranormal State. I love that show. It freaks me out sometimes, but it's helped me overcome some of my fears. I think it's why I can watch horror movies again... because I'm becoming desensitized. We'll see how that goes when I'm actually faced with something scary...

Funny story... after the last hurricane, the power was out at my house for about two days. It came back on and life was good... my parent's didn't have power for five days, and some of my friends went without for two weeks (one of them was okay with it, she just switched to red wine... she's a trooper, lol). Life was mostly back to normal around here except for the downed fences, the blinking traffic lights and the injured birds. We got lucky. Cable was still out, but that was before the digital transition, so I could at least watch my local channels... which kept me feeling connected, but it was rather depressing, to say the least... I felt so bad for the people lost everything. Anyway, when Monday rolled around I thought to myself... this week has been so stressful and shitty that I just want to watch Paranormal State and relax. It would be such a small thing, but it would be wonderful to have a piece of normalcy back in my life (yeah... laugh at the irony of that being normal). And I lost hope, because it was 8:55 and the cable box was still unresponsive. Oh well... if I hadn't realized it before, I certainly knew by that point that there were much worse things than missing a tv show. Then I left the room to do something, and when I came back, the red record light was on... Cable got restored just in time for me to watch my favorite show... paranormal indeed... muahahahaha...

Earlier today I duked it out with yet another customer service representative... I find that I'm writing too many blogs about customer service lately... I'm really not a difficult person, I just expect customer service to actually be helpful and have some inkling about the product or service they support. It's like when I called to ask my insurance company if my slab was covered and they asked if I was inquiring about auto, home or life insurance... it kinda blew my mind... I literally didn't know what to say.

I couldn't believe how hard it was to get to get the answer to what I thought was going to be a simple question (and in fact, I never did get an answer). Whatever happened to customer service??? I know it used to exist, and every once in a while I get a spectacular representative... but most often I get this:

Kristy H (10:43:44 AM): I need to know if the battery charger for a Kodak Easy Share 813 runs on dual voltage. I'm going to Scotland and they run 240v.


(10:43:44 AM)[An agent will be with you shortly.]
(10:43:50 AM)[You are now chatting with Juan Z .]

Juan Z (10:44:14 AM): Welcome to the KODAK Store, my name is Juan Z. Please wait while I review your question

Kristy H (10:44:22 AM): ok

Juan Z (10:45:37 AM): What charger would that be?

Kristy H (10:46:02 AM): I don't know. My cousin is borrowing the camera from a friend and she said it's an Easy Share 813.

Juan Z (10:46:16 AM): ok, please wait.

Juan Z (10:49:33 AM): Unfortunately we do not have this information available, allow me to transfer you to technical support for assistance ok?

Kristy H (10:49:44 AM): ok

Juan Z (10:49:56 AM): Thank you for contacting the KODAK Store. Please wait.

(10:50:04 AM)[You have been transferred to queue: DCD Chat]
(10:50:25 AM)[You are now chatting with Bjorn V.]

Bjorn V. (10:50:30 AM): Welcome to Kodak, my name is Bjorn. Please wait while I review your question.

Kristy H (10:50:48 AM): ok

Bjorn V. (10:50:49 AM): Hi Kristy. I can see that you have some questions with your camera. Let me assist you with that.

Bjorn V. (10:50:50 AM): Before we proceed, can I have the serial number of your camera?

Kristy H (10:51:42 AM): It's not my camera. My cousin is borrowing it from a friend so that she can take photos of our trip. I don't have that information. All I know is that it's an Easy Share 813.

Bjorn V. (10:52:23 AM): I see.

Bjorn V. (10:52:28 AM): Are you with the camera?

Kristy H (10:52:50 AM): No. I'm in one state, the camera is in another. All I need to know is if the charger runs on dual voltage.

Bjorn V. (10:54:02 AM): I see. We will need to know the output voltage written on the charger. It will indicate there upto what voltage can it take.

Kristy H (10:56:33 AM): If I had the charger I could have answered that question without having to contact you guys. Since I DON'T have the charger, I need to find the answer so I can tell my cousin whether or not she needs a converter. It should be a fairly simple thing for you to look up and it would be a great help.

Bjorn V. (10:57:51 AM): I understand that. If you can provide me the name of the charger I can better assist you with your concern.

Kristy H (10:59:37 AM): I gave you the name of the camera. There should be a way for you, as a representative of Kodak, to cross reference the charger that came with the camera and answer my question.

Bjorn V. (11:01:02 AM): We do have different Kodak charger. Also, I'm not sure if the what is the battery that you are using with the camera. Chargers, and rechargeable batteries are purchased seperately.

*** Newest Message ***

Kristy H (11:01:46 AM): The type of battery is irrelevant, but I see that I'm not going to get my question answered. Thank you for your time.

I know, I know... now that a little time has passed and I reread it... I got a little bitchy there at the end, but I was astounded that I couldn't get my question answered, and frustrated that they basically kept asking me for the answer I contacted them to get. I mean, if I knew which charger it was I could probably find it on the internet and answer my own damn question. And if I could have found the damn 813 on their website like I tried to in the first place, I could have also answered my own damn question, it simply wasn't there (dammit). How many chargers can there be for that camera? Perhaps all of their chargers are dual voltage... perhaps none of them are. Do a little legwork people.

I have an Olympus and I'm happy with it, but do you think I'm going to consider Kodak if I decide to replace it? Nope. Because they don't know their product, and they aren't willing to find the answers.

Reminds me of a realtor I once spoke to...