./janella.com

I have been here blogging on and off since 2001.

Lately, I’ve been in the off mode. Life has been busy for the last six years. Raising kids, changing jobs, and dealing with the general curveballs life throws. Times for carefree thought is rare. When an opportunity presents itself, it is almost always limited to what you can do on your iPhone. So posting an Instagram photo, sharing my status on Facebook, or reblogging on Tumblr is almost only what can be done.

There is an opportunity here.

I have often been depressed looking at this space, where my blog would reside, and seeing it going unused. I still go to my Tumblr. I go to my Instagram. My Facebook. I use the web of services and tools that pervade my daily life.

This page will now be the launching pad, the hub, the Grand Central Terminal of my interweb life. A small snippet of a post or a photo that leads to other photos will be placed here. To access the main content, simply click the link after the posting.

I had a similar conversation with Comcast when I was simply trying to find out how many Filipino stations they offered. DirecTV offers eleven Filipino stations. Comcast only offers five. I simply asked if they would be offering more, but the representative avoided the question and started talking about their other channels and how much better they are than DirecTV.

The one-sided conversation took off from there. The Comcast person started talking about pricing, channels, and other features that I was not interested in. When I pushed back he would ask, “Why?” “Why aren’t you interested in this great deal?” “Why do you need more Filipino channels?”  Perhaps because those channels are being watched by someone in my house?!?!?

It took some time with me becoming more agitated to be able to pry myself off the phone. I think I finally hung up on them as I simply said, “You are not listening to what I am wanting and asking about, so this conversation is over.”

I understand the person was trying to make a sale, and I was the one who called Comcast. But to turn around and try to thrust their services on me was very off-putting.

Listen to the below call. But be warned: you might get a little agitated after listening to it all.

This is a simple story of a bad customer experience turning into a worse one by the day.

My truck battery was on its last legs. I managed to get it charged so I drove it to the closest Sears Auto in Cupertino. I was able to be checked in fairly quickly about 11 am, and told my car would be done a little after noon - or within the hour.  This sounded great.

The mall in Cupertino isn’t that great, so I called Farrah who, with the kids, picked me up at Sears. We decided to have lunch at the local park and let the kids play. This provided a couple of hours of fun, more than enough time to get the battery changed in the truck. It was strange, though, no one called from Sears Auto during the time we were at the park. As we started driving back I began to wonder if they even started work on my truck.

It was a little after 1:30 when I got back to Sears Auto. I saw my truck in the same spot which concerned me a little. But then I thought, well all they need to do is pop the hood, disconnect the old battery and put in the new one. They shouldn’t need to move it far. In any event, I stood in line to talk to one of the customer representatives. I stood in line for about 30 minutes, a line only 3 people deep, before I got to talk to what apparently was the one working representative. This was strange because earlier in the day, just a few hours ago, there were at least three representatives working. The representative told me that they hadn’t gotten to my truck just yet but it should be done soon. He would make sure.

I was a bit peeved but was able to occupy my time with Farrah and the kids by going across the street to do some grocery shopping. This ate about an hour of time. I asked Farrah to drop me off and just head home with the kids, thinking the truck would be done. Boy was I wrong.

All I could do was vent through Twitter:

then

then

Unfortunately, according to Sears, I was sending my tweets to the wrong account. Instead of @Sears I should be sending tweets to @SearsAuto. Silly me. I thought that a service with the name Sears would be concerned about the bad customer experience several people were experiencing.

Hoping to get some resolution, I sent tweets to @SearsAuto. They responded the next day:

But they have been silent ever since.

I don’t believe I will be hearing from them. Even if  I did I suppose I would only get some half-hearted apology with no rational explanation for the problems experienced by the many people that day.

Thinking back on what could have been done differently by anyone at Sears Auto that day I could only come to this conclusion: they should have set expectations appropriately. If they couldn’t do the work in a timely manner, then they shouldn’t have promised it could be done. They should have stopped taking new work in. Continually building up the workload for a number of workers had only frustrated the customers.

I am guessing this trend will continue at Sears, uh I mean, Sears Auto. In any event, Sears, as a whole entity has lost me as a customer.

General admission. Standing room only. A combination I do not look forward to in a concert. But if the artist and venue are right, I will endure. And Farrah and I did endure this combination, at The Fillmore, to see Lorde.

I was lucky enough to snag two tickets back when they went on sale a few months ago, before  Royals was getting regular mainstream radio play. I don’t know if I’d be lucky to get tickets now seeing how big Lorde has become.  Funny thing was when they went on sale, they seemingly sold out immediately. But I persisted for a few minutes and was able to grab two tickets. 

We arrived a few minutes late to The Fillmore. Friday night traffic going up to San Francisco was ugly as usual. We caught a few songs from the opening act, Until the Ribbon Breaks. They sounded great on stage, so I immediately added a few tracks to a Spotify playlist. After their set people milled around, as usual, waiting for Lorde to take the stage.

The crowd started to fill up as Lorde’s set time was getting closer. The crowd was a good mix of ages, as The Fillmore can be depending on the performer. We were situated in a good spot, center and further back on the floor. Unfortunately, to Farrah’s left, a group of unruly 20-somethings decided to talk and bump around people through the whole performance. One couple just wanted to make out all night.  In front of us was an older couple, probably in their early to mid 50’s. Made me wonder how many concerts do they attend?

Getting back to Lorde -  she performed well for someone who hasn’t performed often on tour. She sounded well, though the bass was on the heavy side, making her voice sound muddled. From another review of the concert, it seems it was her idea to crank up the bass. She had energy, working the stage very easily. She talked between a few songs, using   Thank you, San Francisco, often, which elicited approval from the crowd.

Her set was short, about 12 songs or so, lasting a little over an hour. No encore performed with the lights coming up after her last song. I thought she could have done a few more songs, as her album came out that day in some places.

The annoyances of the general admission crowd are worth it sometimes, especially when seeing an up-and-coming artist. It is always nice to see an artist on the rise, seeing them before they get too big, in an intimate place like The Fillmore.

Other reviews of the show are at SF Gate and San Jose Mercury News and SF Station.

I feel I don’t have enough time during any given day. At least not enough to do what I want, when I want to do it. This is why my blogging efforts have fallen by the wayside.

Wife. Kids. Work. Eat. Commute. Sleep. These are the priorities in order. Wife. Kids. Work. Eat. Commute. Sleep.

Sleep is nice if it can be had. When it is possible, it doesn’t come in consecutive hours, not since the kids were born. I’ve learned to function with chunks of sleep here and there, sneaking in a few extra minutes on the commute to and from work.

Commuting and working are dedicated blocks of time. The commute is not fixed in its length. It can take up to 2 1/2 hours a day. And if there is an incident on Caltrain, add another 90 minutes to that time. I try not to take my work home with me, but my job is easily accessible through any device. This makes it easy to read and answer work issues.

That leaves the time spent with the wife and kids. They are the center of my world, the reason I do what I do. During the week I don’t have the opportunity to spend much time with them. An hour or two in the morning while getting ready to leave for the day. A few hours at night at dinner time than bedtime. At least we have the weekends together.

Eating is done between all of these times.

Setting aside time to write has been tough. I can steal a moment away here and there to jot down a thought I want to explore. Finding the time to think that thought through and writing it down can be difficult. But I believe I need that time, the time to use my brain and stretch my fingers. My writing may not be revelatory but it is mine. It is seething I wish to express, even if it is a trivial matter.

And so I’m making an effort to post more, to write more in this space. It may be a simple comment on a link or a long bitch fest about a day gone sideways. But it’ll be something I want to share. Whether you want to read it is up to you.

I hope you do.

228. 44.

Two numbers. Just numbers.

The first number is the highest it has been in my life. It has increased by leaps and bounds over the years. At the end of high school, it was 118. At the end of basic training, it topped out at 130. After a time overseas it climbed to 155. This was only a period of about six years! And now it is what it is.

I need to stop it from getting any larger.

The other number has been steadily climbing over the years. It’s a good thing, considering the alternative.

I know you’ve guessed right. The numbers are my current weight and age.

The weight thing has been a problem for a while, something I’ve grown into (insert laugh). It not only affects my ability to fit into clothes, but it is messing with my blood sugar. I took a glucose test today to see how bad it is. We’ll see what the results are.

I’m not surprised. I’m a bit concerned. I only have myself to blame. I need to get back into shape, and soon.

The company picnic was last week. We broke up into several teams for soccer, a sport I enjoyed very much in my younger days. I played hard for three games, huffing and puffing up-and-down the field. I almost scored a few times. I also blocked a few scoring attempts. All I have to show for my efforts is my screwed-up left knee and big toe on my right foot. Both are a bit strained from the sudden need to be extremely mobile, this a week-and-a-half after the picnic.

I’m not getting any younger. But next year, if I go to a picnic again, I would like to not be in such bad shape.

I’m writing about this just to write, to know where I am at and where I need to go.

228. 44. I can’t do anything about the last number. But I sure as hell have control of the first. I need to get my act together.

I just sold a somewhat old gadget to Gazelle.com. It is the first time I’ve tried selling back an old electronic device - that still had considerable value - to an online service. I’ve heard good words about Gazelle.com. I am hoping I won’t be disappointed.

It was easy enough to find the item I was selling to them on their website. They previously would take almost any electronic item, but they now have narrowed the selection down to mostly Apple products. Trying to find the configuration of my product was moderately smooth. I put in the condition I thought it was in, the additional components that came with it, and bam! popped up the price they were willing to pay me. It seemed reasonable (comparing it to Amazon.com’s trade-in service). So I pressed on.

I got an email shortly after, giving me instructions and a shipping label. About an hour after that email, I received another email from Gazelle saying my shipment option has been updated. Instead of me packing my item to ship back, I could go to a FedEx to have them pack it for me free of charge. Way cool!

I have to say my FedEx experience was a bit unnerving. I went to the shipping counter. They took my item to the back where I could not see the pack it. They then brought it back up to label in front of me.

I had to ask, “Was [the item I was selling] in this box”? After all, I didn’t see them place it in the box.

“Yes it is,” she replied. How could I continue to doubt her without sounding like a douche?

And then a co-worker of the girl who packed my item proceeded to put a label on the box. The wrong label! Luckily she caught her co-worker’s mistake. I eyed that the correct label was applied to the package. The item is now out of my hands. The waiting game starts.

One Week Later

I was able to track my package through a link from Gazelle’s website - which leads to FedEx of course. Once my package was received, Gazelle emailed me. Once they examined my item, they emailed me again saying, “Hey guess what? Your item is in better shape than you thought it was. We’re giving you more money!” Seriously? I chose my payout option to be an Amazon gift certificate which provides you with a 5% bump. Since my item was in much better condition than I thought it was, they simply increased the gift certificate amount.

It’s nice to know they were honest about the assessment. They could have easily gone with my assessment but did not. This “honesty” makes me want to use their service again - if I ever have anything else to sell.

Prometheus

The tagline for the movie is: They went looking for our beginning. What they found could be our end.

Synopsis: Ridley Scott does science fiction again. I remember watching Alien at the Old Mill 6 Theaters in Mountain View. My sister took me. I don’t recall if I knew what the movie was about before watching it. I think all I knew was that it took place in outer space. Star Wars took place in outer space, so this movie should be cool, right? Well, after the infamous chest buster scene, I knew this was a different film.

I heard this started out as a prequel to Alien but changed to a movie that takes place in the same universe as Alien. Whatever. The film is about going into space to find the answer to the origins of man. Oh, and there are scary aliens in space.

The Good: The general idea of the film, trying to discover the origins of man, is a fresh thought. If our creators left signs of where we came from, and perhaps how to find them, wouldn’t any reasonable person go looking for them if they had the opportunity?

Science and design win the day for me in this film. The technology has a sense of realism to it. I can believe they are on the ship Prometheus, and that this ship actually exists.

The aliens (there is more than one type) are interesting without being too foreign. They are familiar yet new. I am not sure how much CGI was done for the aliens, but to me, it didn’t look like much.

As far as memorable scenes, I must say I enjoyed the operation scene is on par with the chest buster scene of Alien.

The acting was well done. I especially liked Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba. Noomi Rapace is a great choice for the lead. The character she plays, Elizabeth Shaw, is a strong character in the same vein as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.

The Bad: Overall it was a predictable story. A keen film watcher can determine what is going to happen. You could t]see the hidden relationships between the characters. There are almost no surprises.

The exploration scenes were good, but I wish they were darker, and more tension-filled. They were too straightforward and light in comparison to Alien.

There are a few plot hole “huh” moments, like why does one person get affected this way while another is affected another way. The film leaves you with few answers and more questions. Will they be addressed in a sequel if there is one? Who knows.

Overall: The film is worth watching. I don’t think you should compare it to Alien. Take that movie out of the equation. You will probably enjoy this more if you do.

**My Rating: Matinée

I have been on a photo publishing streak lately. I have tried to be diligent to post new photos quickly, as well as going back to posting older photos.

Here are a few direct links to new albums:

At the Children’s Discovery Museum - Spending a few hours here with Mia. It is her first time visiting this museum.

Celebrating Kayla’s High School Graduation - Celebrating at the Crow’s Next

Mia and Her Car Seat - Mia graduates to facing forward status!

Photos from 1999 - I have managed to post all the digital photos I took in 1999. They are not a lot of photos, but I posted what I have.

If you need the password to the albums either email me or ping me on Facebook.

One of my favorite podcasts has unexpectedly moved podcast networks! It was previously on 5by5 but is now on the Mule Radio. I don’t know the reason for the change. But people are speculating here and there.

My guess? The 5by5 Network is growing. Gruber, the primary person on The Talk Show, probably couldn’t work around the scheduling constraints of the growing network. At least I hope it is that simple.

I’ll try to give the show a listen. But I’ll miss Dan and John talking on the same podcast.

Update 3: I woke up this morning, updated my Instacast and found a 5by5 special waiting for me to listen. Dan explains how it played out for him. Sounds like he was surprised about what happened. It was nice of him to at least put out a brief explanation.

Update 2: Seems the best coverage of this little drama can be found on the chandler blog. I wish a sense of finality could be brought to this subject. It appears from all the comments by those involved, or who are in the know that it is none of our business why it went down the way it did. Transparency doesn’t apply in this matter, I guess.

Update 1: According to a Quora post it seems to have come down to money. Of course, the comments are by a person listed as anonymous, so take it for what it’s worth.

I did manage to listen to the new Talk Show episode. It is not the same. I’ll give it a few more episodes. But I’m on the pessimistic side of it working out.