Nice week so far

Had a very pleasant week more or less. To sum up, the various pleasantries that have transpired are.

1. Get new earphones
2. Get Harry Potter e-book and audiobook
3. Replace faulty wireless router
4. Get new shoes
5. Get work done
6. Had some fun

More on the Shoes

I needed a new pair of shoes ever since Singapore. The day we were leaving was the day we were supposed to get the shoes, but there weren’t any decent colors available. What the hell is up with retailers choosing those really noisy colorful shoes? I mean sure, I support variety by all means, but at least make sure you have the basic stuff too – not everyone wants to look like a fashion victim.

The shoes were supposed to be a mandatory to-do item, as my mother commanded me to leave my old pair in the hotel so that I will be forced to replace them after we checked out.

Those shoes served me a good couple of years. And believe me when I tell you that they were waaaay overdue. Since BP’s 2002 US tour, I was already using them without their inner soles, obviously over time, more parts of the shows were ready to give. And the clincher is: it was a fake Greenhills pair of shoes, so you can imagine that it will give anytime.

Anyways, was able to get a pair today, Adidas Darogas, I know, the name sucks, but google the pair and you’ll see they’re pretty nice. I was already about to get a pair of Nike Frees, but as I was walking up to the store to get them, I saw a guy wearing the Darogas and just had to check them out… and the rest was history. They were priced the same so it didn’t really matter.

And I finally confirmed to myself the real pronunciation of Adidas. It’s not a-DI-das, but A-di-DAS This is because when I was watching the video screen, it mentioned the founder Mr. Adolph (Adi) Dassler. And I doubt there’s any other acceptable way to pronounce “Adi.” Hence, the Filipino pronunciation of “adidas” – which pertains to the feet of chickens, is wrong when used on Mr. Dassler’s shortened name.

I’ve always used the correct pronunciation, but just because I thought it sounded cooler. But at least now I can use it because I can defend it being right 🙂

Anyways, another revelation is I’m now a size 10! Damnit! I don’t want my feet getting bigger, they look like duck feet as they are.

More on the Router

Finally, the people at Microwarehouse replaced my Router after months (the defective router was with me the whole time so it wasn’t that bad)

Basically, the router was proven to be working, but defective. However, I couldn’t leave it with them for testing unless they provided me with a temporary unit to use for work, since I did have to work. This issue dragged along (for months) until they agreed to just replace it no questions asked. I think this whole issue started March, and yes, it has ended June.

On the day everything was resolved. I called in personally to check if the replacement unit was ready, and when I could pass for it. They said anytime that day, I did so immediately and had to wait 40 minutes! 40 minutes for something that already has been approved, and has already been called in to confirm.

A batchmate of mine who worked there told me that if it still took too long, she’d introduce me to the Product Manager of LinkSys to speed things up. Which I appreciated (and declined), but thinking back, it really was a depressing idea, because once again, it was proven that connections get things done instead of having simple good customer service.

I would understand that connections will apply into any society wether 3rd world or not, or any company wether honest or not. But my God, having an obviously defective unit replaced shouldn’t have taken 2 months and an unreasonable amount of correspondence. Either you give me a replacement unit ASAP, or call me when one is available (which ultimately was what happened), or give me a temporary service unit then call me back when the new one’s ready. There’s nothing unreasonable about any of those three “actions” regardless of company procedure… in fact it’s laughable that not even one of them is included in those “procedures,” it really shows their “dedication” to their customers.

I realize that MicroWarehouse is a distributor, and the router was in fact purchased from a retailer called MicroStation. But MicroStation was more than helpful to me, as my contact there did most of the legwork explaining the situation to MicroWarehouse, which ultimately made MicroWarehouse approve the “immediate” replacement (which ended up not being immediate at all). I’d be glad to give yet more details on this story to prove my point, but this is taking too much space as it is.

But don’t get me wrong, I may have been nearing the end of my patience, but it was resolved at the end – and that’s what matters. I just leave everything else to karma. The fact that this fiasco is over eclipses the hassle I had to go through… unless this new unit proves to be defective too.

On fun

Was with GP and Chrise to do some demo tapes for an upcoming concert. As usual, everything was a riot!