Unfortunately I couldn’t go to see the Liverpool match at the Rose and Crown this weekend. Despite wearing my Liverpool shirt things conspired against me.
For the last few weeks there’s either been something going on, or I’ve heard the result before the match was screened. So this weekend I carefully avoided the BBC news, my parents telling me the score and watching FSC. However, my phone rang about noon, it was work. They had a problem that needed my attention. Perhaps next weekend!
Category Archives: Grumpy
Freeze Warning
Today a freeze warning was issued over the bay area.
With temperatures dropping to 25F (-3C) during the night. Apparently this is big and worrying news in California.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a State of Emergency citing “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property … as a result of extreme low temperatures and freezing conditions”
Come on people, this isn’t very cold at all! Okay, so you have to put gloves on and can’t just walk around in a t-shirt. This is how the rest of us normally feel every winter.
Dealing with Amazon
This last week has been a little stressful. In part due to having so much to sort out from moving here but also from dealing with incompetent people. I’ve ordered the HDTV I wanted from Amazon (they were cheaper than everyone else) and took the free 5 days shipping. The courier chosen to deliver this expensive electronic item was Eagle, yeah I’d not heard of them either. So on day 7 (of a 5 day delivery) the item shows are expecting to be delivered that day. I wait in, nothing, so I call them. This is where the fun starts….”oh, sorry someone was supposed to call you to arrange an appointment, how about between 10 and 2 tomorrow”. Well okay, one day, who cares.
So on Thursday I wait at home for the TV. About 11:30 I get a call from Eagle. “We wanted to let you know not to wait in today as we are unable to deliver the item”. What? erm, 2 days running! So naturally I ask why this is the case. “We can’t find the TV”. “TV, how did u know it was a TV?”. From here things only got worse, Eagle lost it, Amazon weren’t informed, Eagle said they found it, Amazon told me to call Eagle, Eagle had lost it still. After about 2 hours on the phone Eagle admitted to Amazon that they had lost it and a new TV is being sent to me.
I hope the guy who has my TV is enjoying the full 1080p picture. aaggh!
So the woman from Eagle helpfully declares on the phone “It’s not our fault your TV was lost, you should direct your complaint at Amazon”. WTF? How can Amazon be blamed other than for the fact they use a courier company who’s incapable of moving some boxes around the country.
“Some progress”
In the words of Wilf from Gunner Palace, I’ve made “Some progress” this week. I now have a temporary California Drivers license, valid for 2 months while I take the “behind the wheel” test. So now on to getting a car loan, bring on the fun, wait… pain, wait… … … unhelpfulness, of dealing with American banks.
U-Haul, if you’re American
This weekend I had to collect a lot of furniture. Rather than pay the large delivery costs I decided to live the American dream and hire a U-Haul van. Simple, right? Book online, get a confirmation via SMS with a collection time and reference. Well, that was were the good experience ended.
Having made a reservation I don’t expect to stand in a queue for 20 minutes with all the people who’ve not taken the time to make a reservation. Then the guy claims that they would only rent to someone with a California drivers license or an International License. Nikki came to my rescue once again by being the one to drive the van on her California license. Continue reading
American Administrative System
Today was my first run in with American government offices as well as other institutions. The best place to start is probably with the visit to the Social Security Office. Everything in America is dependent on having a social security number (SSN), which is similar to a National Security number in England. A SSN is required to, be paid from work, get a driving license, open a bank account, get a loan, be credit checked, etc. Without one you simply don’t exist. So, I’m thinking this is going to be easy, i have a valid visa. Oh how wrong I could be. Not only is there a large form to fill out but after waiting for 30 minutes to see someone I was told,
“you’re not in the system yet, it could take 10 to 30 days for your status to be processed. Please come back when you’re in the system”.
Did I miss something?
Today the BBC are carrying a story about a boy without tickets or passports boarded a plane. This while the airports are on high security alert. Here’s what a BAA official had to say.
“We are aware that the boy was identified without documentation but we’re absolutely confident from the investigation so far that he was thoroughly searched and passed through the full security screening process.”
Now, lets just read that again, “full security screening process”? Are we now being told that the security process doesn’t include identifying the person. This will come as good news to England football fans who are banned from traveling to watch the teams away matches. Now as long as they don’t take liquid on the planes they’re okay 😉 The guy who gave that statement clearly assumes the public are stupid and will ignore the fact that two security points (security and gangway) failed to check his paper work.
Continue reading
Ferarri + Box
Now there’s one thing you wouldn’t use a Ferarri 575M for and that’s carrying boxes. Yesterday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed two old guys attempted to get a large box into the back of this 575.
They proceeded to remove small boxes from the large box. Those didn’t fit either, so they opened them and got smaller boxes out. Well those didn’t fit either. They were then gradually placed on the back seat, footwell and probably lap in an effort to fit them in. The 4×4 next to them is probably far more suited to the job. This had me laugh so hard as the whole fiasco unfolded for a good 5 minutes.
okay, so they have a Ferarri and I don’t but they are stoopid!
Are we stupid?
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries recently, in particular Megastractures on National Geographic. They seem to recap everything, time after time. When coming back from a commercial break there’s a good minute of recapping of what happened in the program so far. We were watching the program before you know, that means we were watching and listening. Megastractures seems to be particularly bad, they do this even during sections of the program.
Rain Storm
During the steaming hot weekend we’re been having in Manchester the sun decided to have a break. While the sun way away for a few hours, rain came along and did it’s best to spoil the party. Click on the photo below to see the full extent of the torrent that ran down my road.
Being lazy, I ordered a pizza. However, when I went to collect it, the pizza shop’s false ceiling had fallen in and they were in about 3 inches of water. As the shop is under a railway arch they obviously got the full weight of 3 tracks worth!
Come on rain, give it a break!
“Experiencing a very high volume of calls”
I’ve been on hold a lot recently and noticed a pattern. They call claim to be “experiencing a very high volume of calls”. Now, either I’m very unlucky or they’re lying. I suspect they really don’t employ enough people to handle the calls. Most people probably don’t phone enough to notice that the message is always there. Maybe next time I phone I’ll tell them I’m a little busy, could they wait another minute.
Scalding Water
There has been a recent trend for signs to appear above basins in toilets saying; “Very Hot Water”, “Scalding Water”, “Beware Scaling Water” and so on. Here’s an example from the Motor Heritage Museum.
I’ve had a look online and cannot find the “Water Hygiene Regulations” that it talks about. All that I do know is that my hands are frequently burnt by the water from taps in public toilets. This has lead me to use the cold taps whenever I see one of these signs for fear of being burnt. Guess the hygiene regulations aren’t working for me.
I wonder how long it will be before someone sues for getting burnt from the tap?!
Fancy Car, short 50 quid?
I’ve noticed a worry trend recently. There are lots of people driving around in expensive cars, Aston Martins, BMWs, Mercs, etc, who talk on their phones without headsets. I wonder if they are paying so much for the cars that they can’t afford a 50 quid bluetooth headset. Either that or they think that because they’re in a flash car they’re exempt. Worst still, these people are driving very badly and sometimes dangerously while on the phones. The police were supposed to be clamping down on this!
BBC going backwards
BBC have moved their breakfast programming to BBC2 while the Commonwealth Games are on. With a wonderful statement on their site
The main impact of the move to BBC Two is on viewers who usually use Digital Terrestrial (Freeview) or other digital satellite and cable services. Instead of our regular local news, travel and weather, you’ll get a review of the day’s newspapers.
So those lucky people who are have not paid for their freeview box, or other digital TV are OK. Now isn’t it the BBC who are telling us to move to Digital TV because its so much better. Yet they can’t even get the programming on there.
Of course, being the BBC they’ve explained all…
If you’re wondering why the change is so complicated, it’s mainly because of technical reasons that prevent the regional news from being broadcast on digital services
Since I don’t have an analogue feed anymore, I’m Freeview and SkyDigital then I’ll stick with getting my local news online.
Sky PremPlus
It really annoys me that even when you pay £7 to watch a PremPlus match on Sky they still show adverts. I’ve paid to watch this match yet I still have to sit through them getting commercial sponsorship. Perhaps they simply don’t get enough people to watch so have to throw in the adverts.