A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

I never make a big purchases without due diligence. I always do lots of homework and never succumb to spur of the moment buying. For example, I've known that I want to move to a high-definition camcorder for quite a few months now. I have that keen sense of timing knowing when to pay a little more for state of the art without breaking the bank. If a consumer buys too early, as well as spending too much money, one ends up with electronics goods that are quickly outdated. As well, I generally have a maximum amount which I'm willing to pay for a particular object. It is somewhat related to the amount of joy I think I'll derive from it.



I think the time is right for getting a moderately expensive new camcorder. I know that I want to go with one that only uses flash memory. It must be true 1080P though. I am fairly sure the Panasonic HDC-SD9 is my choice. The images above were from actual screen captures today. These are the same device as found on the websites of BestBuy US and BestBuy Canada. Why do Canadians always seem to get soaked?

Labels: complaints, Hardware

I'm sorry but last night I didn't turn out the lights for Earth Hour. I realize there are those who rightly commented that it was mostly a stunt to make people conscious of our effects on the planet. One thing is, in BC, the majority of the power we use is hydroelectricity, one of the most energy-friendly sources of power there is. I don't like the fact so many people will think they've now done their thing by an insignificant act and will go about living an unsustainable lifestyle.

Maybe this will help me prove my point. We stopped up at a Save-On-Foods at Edmonds, Burnaby this morning. We generally shop at a Canadian Superstore, so I was again impressed by the more upscale shopping experience. The prepared and specialty foods near the entrance are impressive. The area boasts the variety of products available at a food fair or farmer's market. Okay, so lets get back to thinking about our environmental footprint. I marvelled at the unsurpassed selection of European cheeses. The refrigeration required for the fourty linear feet of commercial cooler displays was enormous. This, plus the energy required to transport the Dutch or French cheese to this market, would be phenomenal.

People should consider the physics of life. It's ironic that more than a few of the folks are proud of turning off their living room compact fluorescent for one hour. Yet today, many caused the earth much more damage with that little piece of French brie in the plastic grocery bag which was thrown in the empty backseat of a gigantic SUV.

Labels: complaints

I run some of Microsoft's Home Productivity software. I was really hooked on their Digital Image products but they pulled the rug out from under me and have completely dropped that product line. I cannot quite understand why it's not profitable to keep publishing newer versions. I learned to love the software's interface and still find it extremely intuitive for most of my needs. This fall I ran out to get Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and have tried to make the transition. More often than not, however, I simply open up the now defunct Microsoft program.

Apparently the same is happening with the localized version of MS Money. I am still using the 2006 copy and as it's a tax write-off would surely upgrade if given the opportunity. Unfortunately, the only offering in Canada is for a base option that cannot open files created in previous versions.

Rather than the normal rants against Microsoft for what they're doing, I'd like to go on record for being disappointed by what they're not doing. Namely, I'd like updates to my favourite, old MS Home software.

Labels: complaints, money, software

Name something which people love to hate. It's fairly easy to complain about institutional food be it in a hospital or school cafeteria. It's also common to be dissatisfied with the speed, or lack thereof, demonstrated by many government bureaucracies. Yet, in today's rant, I'd like to bitch about my local telephone company.

I was, in fact, so worked up I filled in a complaint form at the Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission website. In addition, they forwarded another online form to the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services. By all means, if you're affected similarly, please give the CRTC and the CCTS your opinions too! Here's what I hurriedly typed into an online box:

I just received my Telus bill for standard phone service. I was shocked by the $2.95 LD Network Access Charge. I do not subscribe to any long-distance plan. I did not make any long distance charges during the month, so should not be subjected to the imposed, extra fee. If I did make use of Telus long distance, then I would happily pay. I should not, however, be charged this fee for months when no long distance calls are made. Telus appears to be charging for services not actually provided.

If there are general increases they should be added to standard residential rates and not tacked on as a mandatory payment of an 'extra' nature.

The lack of sufficient notification is also a very annoying factor. I received no written notice from Telus that this fee increase would occur.

Labels: complaints, telephone

There are times when I hate having to be at a specific place for an appointment. Tonight's the Annual General Meeting of my apartment complex. It is the night where we go exercise some democracy about how our buildings are run. I don't look forward to gatherings such as this, though. It starts in about 45 minutes.

Labels: complaints, government

Some things take a while and getting around to send off a letter of complaint to Eurolines was one such example.  We finally dashed one yesterday to the Brussels headquarters of the company.

You may expect to see lots of quick and easy blog postings during the next ten days.  I will be working without a day off until the 23rd.  This means you may see more cutting and pasting on my eJournal and images for a while.

---

Euroline Services
Customer Complaints
Dobbelenberg, Metrologielaan 6
1130, Brussels, BELGUIM

Dear sir/madam:

We travelled on a Euroline 15-day pass in September and October of this year. Please find the enclosed copies.

We’re writing to complain about several situations during our journeys. The information should probably be made known to potential customers.

1) In Bratislava, it was completely impossible to make a reservation on Saturday, September 22^nd at around 10:00 in the morning. Two counter ladies did not speak any English and got angry and rude. We needed to return to the station on another day and fortunately found one person who helped us. There was a charge of 150 SK each for making the reservation.

2) When leaving Bratislava we also were charge 30 SK each to handle the baggage.

3) Upon arriving at the Vienna office we wanted to make reservations for the ongoing trip. We were each changed 4 Euros, although we easily pointed out that the ticket stated there would be no charges for such a service. She said she had no option and suggested we write to you for a rebate.

4) When leaving from Vienna, the Polish bus driver also wanted 5 Euros for very small bags.

Of course we were under the impression that your valid passes were all we needed to travel on your network. Please rebate the extra expenses we were forced to make. We will be posting this on travel web sites and, therefore expect quick resolution.

---

Labels: complaints, Eurotrip 2007, transit

I see us sending a larger and larger amount of money each year to Chinese factories so they can pollute the environment by creating silly, plastic ornaments for today's non-holiday. Over the last 25 years, those kids who used to dress up and run around the neighbourhood now actually go to their professional places of employment in costume.

I tried to make known my thoughts about Halloween last year and they haven't changed.

Just because we're free to behave however we wish, doesn't mean that it makes any sense whatsoever. Also, just because it's possible to waste time and money, doesn't mean we have to. I can think of more useful and responsible ways of spending both of them.

Labels: complaints, opinions

I can hardly believe that I've spent from sunrise til sunset playing with computer equipment. The day just dashed by. I can almost see why some regular people hate fiddling with a PC. I feel, however, that it was a rather delightful thing to do on a horribly rainy day. Additionally, the reason I bought the new equipment is that I'm not working this week. See, I'm smart and knew it'd take an effort to move over all my life from my previous living room desktop.

I ordered the new box on Friday and picked it up yesterday. Were it not for a rather serious problem, I'd have been up and running much sooner. I wasted a lot of time yesterday. I should restate the problem here, so that Googlebots will catch some of the text and prevent someone else from going half crazy.

I got an Asus P5K motherboard. I also got a fresh copy of Vista loaded onto the computer's new drive. I got through the 35 important updates from Microsoft Update and got many other peripherals sorted out. When I re-ran Update it showed a new driver for the on board LAN card among others. I let it rip. Then, Vista would not load. It snagged on the opening screen with the little 'loading line' indicating indicating no progress. I deftly went to the ASUS site and downloaded the newest drivers from the Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller. I tried and tried by couldn't get the driver loaded without it seemingly hanging the system again. I was at my wit's end and about ready to run to purchase a network adapter card that would fit in a free slot. At last, I decided to check on the Internet.

It seems the driver on Windows Update somehow messed things up. Rebooting the machine didn't clear the board enough to allow for the installation of the correct drivers.

You know what the fix included? I simply had to unplug the computer from the outlet for 30 seconds! I've been playing with Intel PC's since the mid-80's and this is isn't the first time that completely turning off the computer has fixed things, I guess. Damn.

I'm running fine now with a four core processors humming on the Q6600 chip! Time to use some 64-bit applications ...

Labels: complaints, Hardware, software

I wrestled with some new computer equipment this afternoon. Wouldn't you know, I'm writing this on the old setup ... so there won't be much here today. If I can get a suitable Vista driver for the on-board, Asus P5K network adapter, I'll be a little closer to writing blog entries with the new black box with an Intel Quad Core. That will be no sooner than tomorrow. I'll be rebooting in my sleep tonight, I bet.

Labels: complaints, Hardware

I had fallen in love with my little mp3 player during the last seven weeks. I became completely engrossed in podcasts. The player was small and perfect. It was a 4GB model and held everything that I'd want to take along even on a trip. It changed my life.

On Saturday it died. It has no indication of life. There's no screen. When I plug it into my computer it doesn't connect. Pressing the reset button is futile. I know there must be something wrong with its battery.

With little actual hope, I drove over to BestBuy in Queensborough because I bought it there. If the device had ceased to function within thirty days, they'd have switched it with a new one no questions asked. Unfortunately the damned little varmint held on for seven weeks. This means I have to try to deal with the Creative directly. I wrote an initial email to North American customer support.

Detailed Problem Description:
My Zen worked well for six weeks. Charging was never a problem. I updated to the latest firmware right after buying it. Yesterday, it suddenly died. There is no activity nor none after leaving it plugged into my USB overnight.

Pablo wrote back and thought my problem dealt with my firmware upgrade. I don't foresee a quick solution here ...

Labels: complaints, Creative Zen

This is not so much an entry as a passing observation, today.

I live on the tenth floor in an apartment building. When getting into the elevator on my floor, I most always travel to either the lobby or P6 where my truck is parked. Inevitably, I get in the lift and select the wrong one. When I want to go to the lobby I often overshoot and end up having to press the button to return to the ground floor. Yet, when needing to get to the vehicle, I frequently press 'L' and must make an extra stop. The door take its own precious time to open completely and close for no one.

Pure chance alone should give me equal odds of getting it right but the statistics are against me. Rather than get myself straightened out, I have a question for the Otis people:

Why can't elevator buttons toggle on/off?

Labels: complaints

If you've ever looked at blog entries here, you know that I'm not a complainer. A continuous rant that disguises itself as a blog is the ultimate in a waste of time. Blogs that gripe are actually worse than meeting people who are complainers as there's no means of changing the blogged subject.

All that being said, sometimes I wonder if some engineers actually ever use the products that they help design. My cheap, little Audiovox cell phone actually feels quite good. The shape, although the same as offered by most other manufacturers, is almost sexy to hold. As well, most of the menus are fairly easy to discern and navigate.

Recently though, I've sent far more text messages than usual. My father's stroke was a month ago, so my sister and I have been texting a lot. We're in different time zones and a quick text message will generally suffice. Today's comment involves the placement of the symbols.



Questions are fairly common when text messaging. So, why does it take five moves to get to over the question mark on this screen?

Labels: complaints, technology

In yesterday's entry, I was waxing poetic about the beauty of snow. Now, a mere 24 hours later, I've changed my tune. Frozen precipitation is falling again. I rushed home from BCIT after my class as the roads were getting slippery. We aren't prepared for this here and there isn't adequate equipment to take care of the winter roads.

I realize how after ten years I've become a real Vancouverite. The white stuff now annoys me and I am longing for a nice, warm winter rainstorm. Everything has been thrown for a loop because of the unusual weather. If we have to reschedule more classes because of future road conditions, I will scream.

Labels: BCIT, complaints, weather

Okay, TV has sort of replaced my interest in computers lately.

When I bought the Toshiba screen this month, I made sure that it could display in native HD resolution. It can show true 1080p. I wonder how many people, who were seeking a wide screen, have ended up with ED-TV (Extended Definition) just because it was cheaper and they didn't know what they were buying.

I was also willing to pay a third again as much for an HDMI up-converting DVD player from Toshiba just so the names would match. I figured it'd be great to have one less remote on the coffee table too. The Toshiba SD4990 was a piece of junk. I hadn't seen any bad reviews on the Internet but I got a bit nervous when unpacking. There was a huge orange paper that suggested if one encountered difficulties, not to return the unit to the place of purchase. There was a special Toshiba 800 number in a 48-point font. The unit simply wouldn't play any of my DVD+R or DVD-R discs. Within twelve hours, eight of which were night, the player was returned to Best Buy.

The cheap Prima store-brand was $50 less expensive, so I got the refund posted to my credit card. The PV935 seems to play anything I can throw at it in 1080i. The one hitch is that the Prima remote and the new television use some of the same frequencies. Simply pressing play on the DVD player will send the TV into antenna input mode. Having to get up and aim the remote just a few centimeters from the player seems to negate the usefulness of owning a remote!

Nothing's easy, is it?

Labels: complaints, review, television

I've developed some pretty poor Windows habits over the years.

For example, although I use the browser all the time, I frequently find myself closing that application and then opening it again a few minutes later. If viewed from a distance, this opening and closing would appear almost an obsessive behaviour. It may be an ingrained neurosis that pre-dates my use of Windows itself. Don't get me wrong, I can multi-task. In fact, I sort of love it when work demands that I copy, paste and check between six or seven different windows. Some people get that zen, I assume, from skiing down a mountain or driving a sports car very fast.



Some other bad habits are a result of the application's design. I've been doing pre-release IE7 for months and months. Yet, tabs have been nothing more than a curiosity. I would find a half dozen instances of Internet Explorer running on the task bar. That was because MS hadn't discovered tabs from their competitors. Yet, as I said, I've been running the newest version for months under beta, and I didn't change my way of working.

Now, I'm making a conscious effort to do things differently. I've set up the browser to load up my five most common sites when it starts. I will take care to work just within these tabs. I shall also ensure that I keep the program open constantly.

What bad habits are you going to eliminate today?

Labels: complaints, Windows

Okay, I'm dating myself but I can remember TVs in real walnut cabinets, some with shuttered doors. Oh come on, even the Brady's had one in their paneled playroom. Don't you remember? It used to sit on the shag carpeting. What was that all about? Was it like saying, "I own furniture but I won't admit to watching television?"

Regardless, one could expect the trusty old RCA or Zenith to last twenty odd years. If something did go wrong there were always local repairmen. These were weird, little guys who lived in houses stuffed with wire and vacuum tubes. The smell of solder filled the air. If they'd been born later they might've become computer geeks.

There wasn't much coming down the pipeline. TV technology was static. So, in those days a trained monkey could've bought a new TV set. It was simply a matter of choosing a size and brand.

Today, one needs a degree in electronics and a few months of study time to figure out which screen to buy. Let's say you've ruled out all types of projection systems. Alright, do you want flat-screen Plasma or LCD? You've decided that LCD is the way to go. Now what resolution? Is 1366 x 768P enough? Should you wait for true 1050P? How quickly will the prices tumble?

It's not really like I have an option of choosing when to jump in. I'm already very sick of looking at the spare 19-inch tube from the bedroom. The old, dead Hitachi is still against the wall in the corner. We've not gotten around to tossing it yet.

Where's that monkey?

Labels: complaints, monkeys, television

Okay, I will admit it; I carry around a bit of cultural baggage. Although I've lived in places with differing expectations about time, I returned to North America with those from my youth intact. There is honestly very little that bothers me more than missing an appointment. I organize my entire existence so I'm not late for anything. An appointment is an agreement between parties. I fulfill my end of the bargain by arriving a few minutes early and I expect to find someone else who's ready. I can be a bit anal about all this.

Although, I pride myself on my easy-going attitude, I don't have much patience when it comes to having to wait. In fact, I will be looking for a new dentist now. Let me tell you why.

Yesterday, I rushed home from work. I found myself with very little time but managed to jump into the shower, throw on a clean shirt and make it to my dental appointment with about two minutes to spare. I was just going in for basic hygiene. I was welcomed immediately but then ushered to an empty room. I sat in the chair staring at the ceiling TV for much too long. Still nobody came.

As soon as my cell phone showed that I'd been there 30 minutes, I got up and went to receptionist. "It's rude to keep me waiting after I rushed to make sure to be here on time and this isn't the first time it has happened." I continued by saying, "I understand how a schedule can slip but this proves to me you have a scheduling problem. I do not wish to re-schedule this appointment and will not be doing so in the future." I left.

I get dental coverage from work and this means we are worth a great deal to the practice. Still, to me, customer happiness is paramount and there is no monopoly on dental services. Consequently, I'll be moving elsewhere.

Labels: complaints, dentist

I am so organized that it's frightening. My body must've known that I wasn't going to teach this week; therefore, it scheduled a little down time. I've been lounging around since Tuesday afternoon feeling rather unhealthy. Cuddled under a blanket on the couch with a gas fire roaring isn't really the way I expected to spend my time. Yet, I suppose I'm lucky. It sure wouldn't have been fun trying to go to class. I'm sure I'll be as fit as a fiddle by next Monday.

I haven't had much gumption. Even sitting at the computer is a struggle. I did have time, though, to get back on orkut.



I first talked about social networking websites about two years ago, but for some reason I never actively pursued that curiosity. I like the concept. You have to be invited by a friend to join meaning that you have at least one connection to the community. In fact by connecting to an existing member all of their connections become part of your network. There are only a few degrees of separation between me any of the 21 million members connected through three contacts. It's like the adult equivalent of starting a tree-house club.

Unfortunately the sum total of interest among my real-world friends, is somewhere between zero and nil. In fact, I don't fit into the demographic well either. The average orkut user is between 18 and 25, single, and from Brazil.

Labels: complaints, Internet

I'm happy to be able to blog today. I'm doing it on my Gateway notebook as my home computer is sitting beside the doorway.

Yesterday, I mentioned that the power would be off in our building for maintenance. I turned off my computer just as I should. I cannot remember the last time I shut it completely off. Occasionally, I reboot but it's been months since the hard disks have spun down.

After six hours all the home gadgets came back to life. We had to run around and reset the alarm clock, microwave, and other appliances. I pressed the switch on the computer ... and nothing happened. Since I had once had a power supply give up the ghost, I assumed I knew the problem.

It was only 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so I walked down to a computer store that's a few blocks away. The owner tested the power supply and said it was dead. So, I pulled out the bank card, withdrew $55 and walked home with a new one. I screwed the screws and plugged in plugs. Then, I reached for the switch. Still ... nothing happened.

Although that shop stayed open till 7:00 pm, I decided to just leave it until today. I'll carry the whole computer back to the guy and see what he says. I do like having a two CPU house.

Labels: complaints, computers, Hardware

It just couldn't have happened to me already! I was contemplating what to blog about and my choice's been reduced to a single topic. I was sick yesterday. I was sick enough to walk up to the doctor's office.

No matter how deeply I want to avoid turning into one of those people who complain about every ache and pain, the only topic I can discuss is being ill. No one should be writing about such things during the height of summer. No one should be snuggled under a quilt with a fever when it's close to 28 degrees Centigrade outside.

Monday evening I felt a little bloated and uncomfortable. Later that night, I woke up because of the intense pain I felt under my right arm and breast. (Is that a word for men?) Yesterday, it seemed to be going away so, I ignored the discomfort. Yet Tuesday night I had trouble finding a position where I could fall asleep.



I made an appointment to see my doctor yesterday. I just turned 46 years old the other week and if this what getting old feels like, then, I'd rather not. Dr. DeCouto said that I most probably have inflammation due to a virus. He prescribed a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory. Immediately after one pill, I started feeling better.

Thankfully, I'm working weekends only so this does not interfere with my teaching schedule.

Labels: complaints, New Westminster

... from my friends. Here's ANOTHER message which I sent to blogger.com support:

The following list of tickets, show a continuing problem that I'm having with blogger.com. [#221714] was investigated but no solution was found or offered. Subsequent requests for help have gone completely unanswered.

I really feel as though you are letting me down. The only way I have published since the beginning of the summer, is to publish to another host and then manually ftp to my computer and then up to my domain name.

The details are included in the messages stated below, but I can restate if someone WILL ACTUALLY HELP ME.

I understand that customer service must have massive requests for help. Yet, if I'm any indication, then you're doing a horrible job at it.

== Dennis Hurd
www.DennisSylvesterHurd.com/blog/


[#253112] Publishing not progressing. Jul 24
[#246705] No Support from Blogger Jul 12
[#241629] Still refusing to publish to a domain Jul 4
[#221714] Failing to Publish - "Pipe problem" Jun 29
[#223269] Stopped Publishing to Site 4 Days Ago. May 28
[#222761] Blog Not Publishing May 27
[#222463] Broken Pipe May 26

Labels: complaints

I consider myself an educated shopper. Well before purchasing any big ticket item, I do research and make a selection. I generally know the going prices and I'm absolutely positive of the maximum price I will accept. In other words, I'm not the type of person that retail salespeople like to see coming in their doors.

One common item is nearly impossible to adequately research though. Buying a new bed can be a major expenditure but it's not a cut and dry purchase experience.

First, manufacturers do not specify the exact information about the models offered. Unlike many products, there's not an easily identifiable tag with an exact model and year code. So it's next to impossible to comparison shop between stores selling the same brand. Second, although one may see an occasional, cutaway drawing, it's really hard to know what's inside a mattress. It's even more difficult to know how the materials relate to comfort or how long they will last. A twenty-second rest on the demonstration model really doesn't allow true comparison. For example, is the $800 bed really going to be that much better than a $450 one? Lastly, most stores try to hide the actual price by offering free delivery or boasting a liberal return policy. This makes it very difficult to know how much one's paying for the bed and how much of the price involves the built-in overhead and extras.

I guess all of this really doesn't matter as the card's already been swiped and delivery is scheduled for next week. The bed being replaced was cheap and is now nine years old. I will sleep better tonight just knowing a new Serta Pillowtop is on the way.

Labels: complaints, opinions

Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2005 05:20:11 -0700
From: Dennis Sylvester Hurd (Google Mail)
To: rick_kams@bcrtc.bc..ca
Subject: NOISE LEVELS from SKYTRAIN ANNOUNCEMENTS at COLUMBIA STATION
Cc: kcoueffin@city.new-westminster.bc.ca, custrel@translink.bc.ca, editorial@royalcityrecord.com, mike_richard@bcrtc.bc.ca, amelita_quizon@bcrtc.bc.ca

The last letter below was sent last fall. I have copied an entire history of complaints about the Skytrain system announcement VOLUME LEVELS. You will discover that this situation dates back to 2003.

I am writing this at 5:20 because I was rudely awoken this morning by an announcement at 5:00 am. Last weekend was an especially trying time as I was unable to get to sleep until after 2:00 am on Saturday morning. This was the same day that I started teaching day-long classes at BCIT beginning at eight. I know announcements will be necessary ... but there has to be control over the sound levels.

I demand that studies take place in order to get the announcements to acceptable decibel levels. If the Skytrain station were a neighbor, then municipal noise regulations would be preventing the headache that you are causing. I'd like to to be personally acknowledged as to the plans to prevent this constant interruption to my life.

==Dennis Hurd
#1001 420 Carnarvon Street
New Westminster, BC V3L 5P1
tel: 604.524-6197

==========

Dear Quizon Amelita,

As you will note on the previous correspondence, it has been about five months since I last wrote about excessive announcement noise from the Columbia Station Skytrain Station. However, I would like for you to keep a constant eye on the situation.

Last night between 12:45 and 1:45 am, I was again awoken from a sound sleep. Please bear in mind that I live on the tenth floor of the building behind the station. Announcements were made in both a female and male voice at the arrival of each train.

It goes without saying that I know the system will encounter times when announcements need to be made. Yet, they should not prevent sleep for neighbours of the stations. TURN THE VOLUME TO ACCEPTABLE LEVELS, PLEASE.

I will provide and early thank you for your understanding and action on this matter.

== Dennis Hurd


----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Sylvester Hurd
To: QUIZON AMELITA ; Keith
Coueffin ; custrel@translink.bc.ca
Cc: KAMS RICK; editorial@royalcityrecord.com; RICHARD MIKE
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: Oct. 30 AM SkyTrain Announcements Too Loud

Dear madam,

I'd like to thank you very much for the prompt response to my email message. Unfortunately, I must have been unclear in the original as you were unable to address my major concern.

You told me the reason for the service interruption. I was well aware the reason. I wasn't able to avoid hearing the announcements repeated this morning while trying to get back to sleep. You continued by telling me that you needed to communicate with customers and I can certainly accept that without condition. I am sure the on a system as advanced as the SkyTrain that technical issues will occasionally develop and announcements will need to be made.

What I was trying to address was the extreme volume in which the message was broadcast. The subject line in my original message read, "AM SkyTrain Announcements Too Loud". I live on the 10th floor and my windows were tightly shut. I was sound asleep but the announcements forced me and my partner to awake.

That type of 'inconvenience' should have a solution and, unfortunately, you did not address that concern at all.

== Dennis Hurd

----- Original Message -----

From: QUIZON AMELITA
To: Keith Coueffin ; Dennis Sylvester Hurd ; custrel@translink.bc.ca
Cc: KAMS RICK ; editorial@royalcityrecord.com; RICHARD MIKE
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 11:50 AM
Subject: RE: Oct. 30 AM SkyTrain Announcements Too Loud

Dear Mr. Hurd:

The announcements that occurred this morning were required due a system failure to a major safety system which prevented our ability to begin revenue service at our normal time.

We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced this morning, but such cases we are required to communicate with our customers thus the announcements you heard. Be assured that every effort is made to minimize any inconveniences to our passengers and surrounding neighbours, but on occasions such as this it may not be possible.

Once again, we do apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for allowing us to address your concerns.

BCRTC: 2003-01493 TransLink: 25337

Amelita Quizon
Customer Service & Operations Support
SkyTrain-BC Rapid Transit Company Ltd.
6800 14th Avenue
Burnaby, BC V3N 4S7
Tel. (604) 520-3641
email: amelita_quizon@bcrtc.bc.ca


-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Coueffin [mailto:kcoueffin@city.new-westminster.bc.ca]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 9:57 AM
To: Dennis Sylvester Hurd; custrel@translink.bc.ca
Cc: KAMS RICK; editorial@royalcityrecord.com; RICHARD MIKE; QUIZON AMELITA
Subject: RE: Oct. 30 AM SkyTrain Announcements Too Loud

Mr Kams
(Rick),

Will you be able to investigate the concerns noted by Mr.Hurd?

kc Keith Coueffin
Assistant Director of Strategic Services
Phone 604-527-4645


-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Sylvester Hurd [mailto:DennisSylvesterHurd@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 9:29 AM
To: custrel@translink.bc.ca
Cc: rick_kams@bcrtc.bc.ca; Keith Coueffin; editorial@royalcityrecord.com; mike_richard@bcrtc.bc.ca; amelita_quizon@bcrtc.bc.ca
Subject: Oct. 30 AM
SkyTrain Announcements Too Loud

To: Translink, BCRTC
cc: FYI - K. Coueffin, New Westminster City Hall
Royal City Record -- Please consider for editorial page or as a topic assignment for an article.

==================================

A female voice advising a 'service disruption' blasted from the Columbia Street Skytrain station at 5:05 this morning and was repeated for about 10 minutes.

This was several hours before I had to be awake. Our building is directly in back of the station. Although most won't have time nor drive to complain, I am sure that all residents in the south-facing apartments were awoken. The volume of these announcements was inappropriately loud. Columbia station surely doesn't seem like a good neighbour this morning!

Unfortunately this is not a one-time occurrence. Over the years, even the city of New Westminster has been involved in requests for sound-level monitoring. It was six months ago, I wrote to complain about excessive speaker volume and the accompanying 'beep'.

We moved here well aware of the convenience and well as drawbacks of living so close to the station. Since that time, the Millennium Line has vastly increased the number of trains, announcements, and people through the Columbia Station.

The station's exposed roof opening is not very large. I would like to propose that Translink begin to study the cost of the installation of a glass-pyramid covering for it.

==Dennis Hurd

Labels: complaints, transit

I send apologies to friends who don't like reading about my views of technology.

First, God created Yahoo, (In reality, it was David Filo and Jerry Yang.) In the mid-1990's that site was a directory of web links compiled by hand. By 1997, I had moved to Alta Vista. Relatively soon after that, I stopped typing searches there and went to Google not because of its clean interface or 'coolness', I moved because it was simply better at providing a world of useful links. Google was able to comb through and index more of the Internet than any competitor. When we're looking for something, access to as much as possible is what matters most.

Unfortunately, when one's the king of the hill there's no place to go but downhill. Google's supremacy spawned an entire industry which tried to 'optimize' a site to rank well there. Google has had to respond by creating algorithms that weed out spam and underhanded methods to manipulate their results. Dealing with these concerns has eliminated their once, undisputed lead in searches. Now the company is simply too nervous and secretive to let people know they are throwing out a lot of babies with the bath water. This is too bad.

Here's some slightly-modified, recent correspondence:

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ORIGINAL MESSAGE

To: Google Support
From: Dennis
Subject: pages in domain search but not indexed.
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 14:24:09 -0000

I know you are busy with important details. I have tried to look around the net to find a reason for the following but have been unsuccessful.

I have a blog that presently contains around 90 weekly pages of information. At one time googlebots used to stop by daily and all pages were indexed. My blog section has a PR of 5.

Now, I find only about 10% of my site's pages can be found with snippets in a search of my domain. The majority appear there without title or text. Do you know what factors can lead to this?

Google Search: site:www.dennissylvesterhurd.com

Language: en
WebUserLocale: en
IssueType: other_webmaster

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GOOGLE'S RESPONSE #1

Thank you for your note. The Google index contains two types of pages: fully indexed and partially indexed pages. Some of your pages are currently partially indexed. Because our robots were unable to completely review its content during our last crawl, your site appears without a cached copy or detailed title. Instead, it's listed by its URL.

We understand the frustration this situation may cause you. We're always working to increase the number of fully indexed pages in our index. You may be able to improve this page's visibility in our search results by ensuring that a number of high-quality sites link to it. While we can't guarantee that pages in our search results will always be fully indexed, "crawler-friendly" pages have a greater chance of being fully indexed. Guidelines for creating a "crawler-friendly" site are available at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

Regards,
The Google Team

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MY NEXT MESSAGE

What a wonderfully quick response! I'm happy to hear back so quickly and completely. Further questions:

Your Paragraph 1 - (a) Am I correct in that the 'partially indexed' pages are not actually scanned and therefore information on them will not be returned on Google searches?

Your Paragraph 2 - Most traffic on my site goes to my blog, therefore most links go to www.DennisSylvesterHurd.com/blog/ . That index page has always been listed. Although with a PR of 5 it now only receives visits a few times per month. The 'partially indexed' pages are the archives. (b) Can 'partially indexed' pages stay that way forever?

(c) Could it be googlebots don't want to hit them because all the pages start with initial text and they're trying to avoid duplicates?

I'd love to hear your ideas on questions (a) (b) and (c) at your leisure.

==Dennis

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GOOGLE'S RESPONSE #2

Hi Dennis,

Thank you for your reply. As you may know, we don't personally review individual sites, nor do we comment on webmaster techniques or the details of our search technology beyond what appears on our site.

We've dedicated an entire section of our site to answering the most common questions from those who maintain and/or promote websites. You'll find all of our publicly available information posted at http://www.google.com/webmasters/index.html

Besides this section of our site, we've created a newsgroup discussion forum for passionate Google users. At http://groups.google.com in the http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general group, many webmasters and Google users share their questions and expertise.

We recommend performing an advanced search on this group if you feel your question is particularly challenging and you've been unable to find an answer on our site. To do so, go to http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en and enter your search terms in one of the "Find messages" fields at the top of the page. Type "google.public.support.general" in the "Newsgroup" search field, and click "Google Search." If you don't find an answer to your question, you can always post your question to the group to see if other newsgroup users have helpful advice. Please be aware that this content isn't posted by Google, and we cannot verify its accuracy.

Regards,
The Google Team

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THE END

Thank you for copying this bit of standardized text from a template.

I guess what I was trying to politely say is something is broken at Google. Your "mightier than thou' attitude may not last forever. I see your company fast trying to use cash to expand into areas outside of search.

This is a good for two reason, I can immediately think of:

1) Yahoo and MSN completely index my site without forcing me to resort to any additional strategies. Eventually the average web user is going to figure out you're not the only game in town.

2) I remember when Alta Vista was king of the hill. We will love you dearly until the next best thing comes along.

Have a nice day.

Dennis

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Labels: complaints, Google, software

To: info@us.millwardbrown.com
CC: info@adstandards.com, ccbbb@canadiancouncilbbb.ca, consumer.information@ic.gc.ca
Date: Apr 6, 2005 6:54 PM
Subject: Telephone Research (Automated Dialing)

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I am writing to comment on a marketing-research phone call received during dinner last night.

When I requested to be 'removed' from the listing, I was told that my number had been randomly generated by computer so there was no way to ensure that I would not be bothered again.

The following information was provided by the calling representative:

Company: Mullward Brown
Address: 21 Randolph Ave, 2nd Floor
Toronto, M6P 4G4
Supervisor: Noah Wagner
Phone: 1-800-627-9166

I'm asking is whether the information is correct. Does Mullard Brown use automated telephone calls to initiate marketing research? I feel that this is both annoyingly troublesome and morally wrong.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding your practices.

-- Dennis Hurd



The response was handled quickly and professionally this morning.

From: Rivera, Bob (MBNAP dcm)
To: Dennis Hurd
Date: Apr 7, 2005 9:48 AM
Subject: FW: Telephone Research (Automated Dialing Questions)

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Mr. Dennis Hurd,

I'm writing to apologize for any inconvenience our call created. We
understand and respect your decision not to participate in our survey.

I would like to outline our calling process, which unfortunately our
Interviewer did not appropriately define. While we use an autodialer that
physically generates the call, our sample management program in coordination
with our Interviewers disposition the calls outcome (completed survey,
callback, refuse to participate, etc) and allows us to make any adjustments
to a particular telephone record.

I contacted the manager of the Randolph call center to insure your telephone
record is a "refuse to participate" disposition, which will move the record
to a "non call" queue and not allow that record to be called.

Although Millward Brown does not have an internal database for "do not call"
requests, we submit such requests to our sample suppliers who maintain "do
not call" databases. Rest assured we will submit your telephone number
604.524.6197 to our telephone sample providers to place you on their "do not
call" database.

Again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience our call created.

Sincerely,

Bob Rivera
Director of Consumer Opinion
Millward Brown
630-955-8984

====================================================
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individual or organization to whom it is addressed. Any opinions or
advice presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Millward Brown Group of Companies. If you are
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Labels: complaints

Posted by: Dennis S Hurd / 9:50 AM 0 comments

. . . of Columbia and Sixth, at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, for the fourth sunless day in a row, the rain continued to pour down. It washed over all objects within sight, including this awning.



Last Sunday, our cold snap -- snapped and the deluge began. It was a nice change for the first two days. In fact, I had sort of missed the rain. That was 150mm (nearly 6 inches) ago. That was before flooding, landslides, and highway washouts.

As far as I'm concerned, it can stop anytime. Although there appears to be a lull, it may not be for long. A pineapple express weather system is perfectly aligned to bring us precipitation originating from down Waikiki-way for another week!

Labels: complaints, weather

Initially, I really liked the idea of Hotmail. Back in the days when Microsoft was pushing the concept of a passport, I joined. Prior to that, I had had to switch ISPs a number of times and went through the hassle of changing my address. How wonderful, I thought, to have a permanent, universal mailbox. The fact it was accessible through Outlook Express or online added to the usefulness. It was also easy to set up multiple accounts for different purposes but have them available through one Outlook session.

Times as well as preferences change. I tried to visit the Hotmail site to check and read mail but discovered that because it'd been more than a month, all my contacts and messages were gone. I work on an alumni website for my high school. You can be sure that mail dealing with that project are now forwarded to VirtualSunapeeReunion@gmail.com.

Labels: complaints

I went to find old-fashioned, low, canvas sneakers. You know the type of summer shoes that predate Nike and Addidas. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any at Wal-mart. I was a bit worried that perhaps nobody was making 'em anymore ...

As a kid, I fondly recall getting a new pair at the beginning of each summer. They were comfortable, light, and because of little grommeted holes, cool in warm weather. For these reasons, I reckon they'll be ideal when doing lots of walking in Sri Lanka over the next several months.

I did spot some on the Internet and they come in a multitude of fashionable colours but they're being touted as 'old-school' shoes. My birthday was last month and I consider myself young. Yet, it has now dawned on me, that I'm having trouble finding my choice, retro footwear!

Click here ---> Chuck Taylor All Star Low Tops

Labels: complaints, Walmart

To: New West. Business Improvement Association

I am writing to advise you of a scam. The RAMADA PLAZA RESORTS vacation and cruise forms were available on Columbia Street during the Show and Shine in New Westminster on the weekend of July 10/11. The unmarked tickets appeared to be sanctioned by you.

I just got off the phone with a Ms. Kelly Hudson (from Ottawa), after being advised that I was a winner of a Ft. Lauderdale vacation and cruise. However, I was very skeptical when she advised that I would need to provide a credit card information before they would be able to send my the tickets.

Of course, this is a scam but I must admit the thrill of thinking one has won something can cloud one's judgment. After grilling her a bit, I figured out the scoop and kindly declined the win! A quick look on the Internet proved I made the right decision.

I wanted you to know that they were operating and are potentially hurting the reputation of the your annual event.

Labels: complaints

I thought I'd do a quick run-through with the vacuum cleaner. I finished the bedroom and pushed the machine into the livingroom.

Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner exploded! The plastic covering broke and the bag burst. As I fumbled to turn it off, a 2-inch hole spewed the contents of the bag to one side of the living room. The bag was more than half full. Wouldn't you know; it was aimed directly at the computer desk and TV. Things were a mess.

I couldn't very well clean up the minor disaster without a vacuum cleaner. The plastic covering had two broken tabs and there were no new bags in the house. So, I got in the truck, drove a mile to London Drugs, and picked up a new Bissell upright. Although the Dirt Devil model was cheaper it was also the brand that had just caused my current headache. To hell with that! It took the better part of the afternoon getting rid of the grit that had blown everywhere.

Do you know anybody that wants to buy an old, used vacuum cleaner? I guarantee the motor still works well.

Labels: complaints

As this blog has recently gotten a number of Google hits for those researching www.zip.ca, I've decided to add some of my recent correspondence with the online, DVD-rental company.

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We signed up for the free trial on Zip.ca last week.

We were able to view Zip.ca DVD's on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday of this week. They were promptly sent back the following mornings. It appears as if we may be able to watch three next week too. Unfortunately this number does not match our current viewing habits.

Your claim of 1 to 3 day delivery time is slightly misleading. It will always be a two-day turn around for people living near your facilities; yet on the other hand, it will always take at least a week for us because we live in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

What this essentially means is that people living around Ottawa get a theoretical chance to watch three times more movies than is possible for us. To put it another way, we would have to register for an additional two accounts in order to receive the same service as some other Zip members. Although, currently all customers pay $24.95 per month to be a member of Zip.ca, because of geography we'd have to pay almost $75 to receive equal service levels.

The phrase, "Unlimited DVD Rentals for $24.95 per month", as seen on your website, does seem to be a bit of a hyperbole.

I am not sure how this could be rectified and I know your business is just in its infancy. I am not sure how or if flexible pricing could work. It might be possible to vary the number of "checked out" discs depending on the geographic location of the customer. However, I am most interested in learning if you have any long-term plans to set-up multiple shipping points in Canada?

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Dennis; Thank you for your email.

We do have plans and ideas to set up different shipping locations in Canada but these plans will not be acted upon anytime soon. As for delivery times, I can see how Canada Post's shipping can frusterate some. However, we have had customers in B.C. get shipments in 3 business days, on the odd occasion we have even gotten a few people receive them in 2 business days. This is what the free trial is for though, to see how Canda Post and our service plays out with you and the area you live in. If your second shipment also took six business days (or whatever the exact time was) then it is likely that the service won't work out for you as best it could. In the end, you'd be saving $5 from rentals via a video store and probably isnt worth the wait. As I said though, see how long the second shipment takes and average out the times.

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email us at service@zip.ca.

Sincerely, zip.ca

Labels: complaints, zip.ca

Last Friday, I talked about a free trial offered by the online DVD rental service of www.zip.ca. Their system seems to work. On the web, I can choose to have several dozen movies lined up in queue. A few arrived, have been viewed, and sent back to Ottawa. So the subsequent ones on the list will be shipped as soon as my returns arrive back in the capital. There's even a customer service and response system built right into the site:

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Customer (Dennis Hurd) 03/02/2004 11:44 PM
Braydon, thank you for your very prompt response.

I do appreciate that we'd be able to watch 12 movies per month. You do have to remember that Zip is also in competition with satellite movie networks, such as www.moviecentral.ca which provide literally several dozens of movie choices per month.

I still expect zip to be a value but you do have to remember to compare and align your service as competing with a broader range than just video stores.

== Dennis

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Response (Braydon W.) 03/01/2004 01:29 PM

Dennis;

Thank you for your email!

We are currently thinking about coming out with a premium service where people could hold more than 3 dvd's at a time for a larger monthly fee. On average, it takes 1-3 business days for the dvd's to come and go from point A to B. If it took 4 days on average for 3 dvd's to come to you and 4 days for them to go off, you would have between 11 and 12 dvd's per month. Considering that rental stores generally charge around $5 per rental, you'd be looking into the high $50 low $60 per month rental rates from them. So as it is, there is significant savings and movie viewing.

Again though, we will be looking into premium services for our customers.

I hope that this answers your questions. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to email us at service@zip.ca.

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Customer (Dennis Hurd) 02/28/2004 06:41 PM

Hi, although I am very excited about the potential of using zip and replacing my Movie Channel subscription thru ExpressVu. Right at the present time, I'm just on the trial for zip.

Living out west, I'm wondering if the 3 or 4 day turn around will prevent us from maximizing our use of zip.

I'd like to suggest that you consider offering customers a variety of plan as to how many CD's may be 'out' at once.

You might even consider pricing that lets the customer select for their needs and their geographic region.

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Labels: complaints, zip.ca

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procrastination: to put off intentionally and habitually.

The midterm exams were sitting on the kitchen table for all of Friday and Saturday. Now that it is Sunday afternoon, I've finally got down to correcting them.

Labels: complaints

Yesterday when home, tried to switch on the computer and ... nothing happened. It had run 24/7 for two and a half weeks. I had to cart the beast to my computer shop and the technician replaced the power supply for free.

When I got home the elevators were not working. I'd never seen that in 5 years of living in this building! I carried the case up 10+2 floors and was sweaty enough to take a shower as soon as I got in!

Labels: complaints, Hardware

I always arrange life so that I have a very light teaching schedule. For example, I won't go back to teach a class until November. People occasionally ask what I do with my extra time. Umm ... I guess I think. If one has the opportunity to think then there's no such thing as extra time. This leads me to a personal view I've got to share.

Cell phones are great technology but I often see people who can't seem to find the off switch. On the SkyTrain or bus, they waste precious minutes of their lives involved in meaningless conversations. They spend half an hour asking where the other person is and about other verbal debris. These people are sitting beside me but are 'virtually' in some unknown space. I wish they could shut off the phone, look out the window and just think a little!

Labels: complaints, transit