Windows Network Diagnostics

This evening I was editing a video to be uploaded, watching a YouTube video to pass the time, when my internet connection inexplicably died.

"But wait!" I hear you cry (maybe). "What about Windows Network Diagnostics?"

Yes, my browser suggested that I try Windows Network Diagnostics, and like a fool, I did.

I'd love to hear from anyone who actually had Windows Network Diagnostics fix their internet connection for them.  As far as I can see, what it does is showing you progress bars optimistically filling up, and in the meantime it tells you that it's doing various technical and positive sounding things, like "resetting IP configuration" and "flushing DNS".  It also makes you wait long enough so that you think it's actually tried to do something, and then finally it says "Troubleshooting was unable to automatically fix all of the issues found"., the result being that you think it's done its best to fix the problem, but the problem is beyond even the technical expertise housed within the Windows Network Diagnostics tool.

At any rate, I've no idea what my problem was, but restarting the computer fixed it.

Anyway, the main news today - I am absolutely delighted to be in for the public vote of the UK Blog Awards 2017!  What this means is that I need as many people as possible (yes, that includes you reading this) to vote for me, if you have 30 seconds, a name, and an email address, your vote could be the one that gets my blog up into the top 8 which will then be looked at by judges.  So it'd wonderful if you'd head over to http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2017/entries/blog-thog and put a vote in for me.  I'm shortlisted for 2 categories, Lifestyle and Digital & Technology, you can vote for both categories in one go from the link above, I would really appreciate each and every reader taking a minute to vote for me.  Thank you :)

Finally, I've got not one but two new videos out on my YouTube channel - one is me telling a couple of stories from when I went to Dublin a few years back, and encountered a Chinese health practitioner, and the other is from my recent Robin Hood's Bay roadtrip, and shows me and my dad's epic mini pool tournament, so if you want to relax watching two grown men tackle a tiny pool table, that's for you.

Strolling along the shore of the Internet

Tonight (as I type this it's about 3.30am) I've been strolling along the shore of the Internet.  I know the common cliche would be to "surf the net", but I don't think I've been that focussed.

I've been uploading a video onto YouTube, and encoding a second video to be uploaded after the one first is finished.  For some reason these videos are monstrously huge (3Gb for a 15 minute video) so it is taking some time to get them online - hence the reason why I'm up to late (and also that my other half has agreed to get up with the little one so I'm enjoying the opportunity to be a night owl for once!)

In the meantime I've been checking out peoples blogs, and it's been really interesting.  You never know what you're going to come across when you visit a new blog.  Is it going to be about a particular subject?  Or is it going to be a general everyday life blog?  Are you going to find it interesting or not?  Maybe they might hold some views that you don't agree with - not that I'm looking for an opportunity to troll or flame anyone, but I find it interesting to compare views.  If I come across a blog that I really don't agree with, well there is always another one to try instead.

It could be argued, is what I've been doing an efficient use of my time?  In this age where you can type whatever you want into Google and get it in a split-second, should I be spending time looking at blogs that might not interest me, or might even offend me?

Yes.

It's important to experience other things, other views, to stop and smell the roses.  I've learned and seen things tonight that if I hadn't done this, I might never have experienced.

Moving on, I am continuing to do Vlogtober despite missing out the 7th of October, so go over to my YouTube channel and discover the thoughts I have whilst in bed!

The joy of dealing with customer services

If you ever have to deal with a large organisation, you will be familiar with customer services.

This is the professionally trained people there to handle your queries.

And they are great.  Don't get me wrong, I think customer service is massively important, and a very difficult job - having to deal with annoyed and possibly unusual-thinking people all day long (check out http://notalwaysright.com/ for examples of these), often not for a huge amount of recompense.

But here's what happened to me the other day.

I had to cancel not one, but two services, from two different companies.  One was our Internet service, and one was the internet sim in my tablet.  Reasons for these are:

• Internet service - we have internet set up with an alternative provider, so we may as well cancel the old provider so we're not paying two firms for internet.
• Internet sim - I set up a contract to get 3G internet access for my tablet when I first got it.  However, the reality is that the tablet spends 99% of its time at home, connected to my wi-fi, particularly since I got my smartphone, I have very little reason to take it out anywhere.

So firstly, I rang up to cancel our home internet. I rang Kingston Telecommunications, and the call was perfect.  Over and done with in three minutes, so issue with them at all, and they were very friendly and helpful throughout.

Secondly, I rang three to cancel the internet sim for my tablet.  Now I should say that all the way throughout the call the advisor I spoke to remained (for the most part - we'll come on to that) pleasant.  But this is how it went.

1. I rang three.  I worked my through several different automated menus, trying to work out which option I should choose (e.g. do I want to cancel "Option 1: my iPad" or "Option 2: my Mobile Broadband?"  It's a tablet but not an iPad? Which one should I choose?
2. In the end got through to an advisor.
3. Explained that I wanted to cancel my sim due to lack of use and that my tablet basically lived on my home wifi.
4. She said that she would reduce my package cost from £16 a month to £8 a month.
5. Said no thanks.
6. She then said that she would reduce my package cost £5 a month.
7. Still not interested, but thank you.
8. She then questioned me on what electronic devices I have at home.  I felt this was a little probing, but I don't have anything particular to hide - at home I have a desktop PC, my tablet, and my smartphone.
9. She then asked "But how will you access the internet when you are away from home?!?" in a sort of amazed tone that clearly I would wither away and die if I didn't have immediate Internet access at all times.
10. I explained that I had my smartphone.
11. She then said "But isn't it easier to use a tablet, if you're having to write notes or letters or emails?"
12. I went on to say that my smartphone is actually faster than my tablet, so I'd probably use my smartphone anyway.
13. She grabbed hold of the opportunity here! "Ah well, then what I could do for you is offer you the new Galaxy Note 8.0, which has these features..." and went on to tell me all the features that the tablet has.
14. I asked "and how much will that be?"
15. She said "Just seven pounds a month more than you're currently paying"
16. Okay, so £23 a month.  This isn't actually a bad deal, it would be £29 a month if I bought this normally from 3, but I am trying here to reduce my monthly outgoings.  I thanked her for the offer, but explained that I still wanted to cancel.

Now, at this point I did something apparently wrong.

I complimented her on her sales technique.  I said that she was very good at her job, and made a very tempting offer, but that I still wanted to cancel.

She seemed to take offense that I had suggested that she was attempting to sell me something, and explained that she was just doing her best to point out the options that I had available to me, because I hadn't fully used my various allowances with the current contract.  It did slightly feel that though she was attempting to make me feel guilty for suggesting that she was attempting to sell me something when all she wanted to do was help me.

Now this winds me up.  If you work for a commercial organisation, be it a phone company, or a supermarket, or insurance firm, whatever, even if you are not on the front line (and I would definitely say customer services staff are on the front line), you must, at the very least, be aware of the fortunes of that company. And if you can help that company make money, in turn, you help yourself.  Because a company that does not have a regular flow of income is not going to be able to pay you to work there.

So let's be honest.  If you're trying to keep a customer, or make a sale, that's okay!  That's part of your job if you work for a commercial organisation.  Don't pretend that you're turning up to work there out of the goodness of your heart.

At this point I asserted my decision to cancel the contract, confirming that I didn't even want to just pay £5 a month to keep it as a backup, and we got the call over with relatively quickly.

For all that this call only took thirteen minutes, it seemed like an age.

I should assert that this was just my personal experience, I am sure that there are many happy three customers, their prices are generally competitive and for no reason should you take the above as a reason not to give them money in return for stuff.  But when you have a customer that wants to cancel their service, whatever it is, sure, try to make them a better deal to keep them there.  But if they really want to go, let them.  Don't make them feel bad for not wanting to give you money any more.

No news is... more and more common these days

You know, in the olden days, there wasn't any Internet?

You had to wait for news.  You watched the news programme on TV (BBC in our household, we didn't mix with those heathens on ITV.  And don't even think about mentioning Channel 4.  Although I do like Krishnan Guru-Murthy)

Personal news came by the telephone, people coming round to the house, or in the post.  You waited for the post to see if you had anything.  Nowadays all the post ever has in it is bills, junk mail, or parcels from Amazon.  It is true that in the old days it was generally mostly bills and junk mail, but there was the hope of an actual letter from someone in the mix.

But as technology had advanced, we wait less and less.  We can log onto the Internet and find out the latest news.  Our phones beep and vibrate to warn you that you've got a new email, with the sideline of the message being READ IT NOW even if you're busy, perhaps in a meeting or having dinner or attending a christening or something.

So we don't get to be surprised by news any more.  That's a shame.

Speaking of news, however, are you aware that the Perseid Meteor Showers will be coming along in under a month?

The Space Striders blog says that after midnight on August 11th and 12th should be good opportunities to see the meteor showing.  I've always had an interest in Astronomy - even toyed with it as a hobby for a while - and I've always wanted to see a decent meteor shower but never actually done it.  Perhaps this might be the year!

Also, tomorrow is the closing date for the Costa Short Story competition.  I've just submitted my story - a sort of psychological science fiction... I really want to use the word thriller but I really don't think it is. Anyway it's been fun to write a story and I was surprised how quickly I could pull it together, bearing in mind I only started it on Monday!  For more info about the competition head to http://www.costabookawards.com/short-stories

Birthday wishes...

I've been writing my birthday list!

For my birthday and for Christmas, I produce a birthday list for my other half to use and share with friends and family - I'd never done this before we got together, but she had difficulty finding things for me as presents, so what I do is search the internet for stuff that I'd like, give her a list, and she can pick from the things, safe in the knowledge that I'll like them.

But it's really hard to do, because the thing is, there isn't really that much I desperately need or want.

Sure, I'd love a new car/house/phone/computer/tablet/jacket/desk mug, but the issue I have is that I have all of these things, and they all work.

Yes, the car is an aging a red Vauxhall Agila aka Postman Pat van, yes I can complain about the various other things, but I have a problem with getting things when I still have something serviceable.

Take a mug, for example.  We have a cupboard full of mugs, most fairly plain, one beloved Foamy the Squirrel mug (if you must, go check out http://www.illwillpress.com/ but don't say I didn't warn you), and at work I have a "I love my daddy" mug allegedly from my son, although his lack of employment (being 3) indicates that his mother was probably involved in financing the purchase.  Nevertheless, I don't feel able to replace it with a geekier mug (Cup of R2D2 anyone?).

And the vast majority of the blokey stuff you can buy just seems overpriced.  Would I like a sweater that looks like a galaxy? (as in lots of stars, not a chocolate bar) Yes, of course I would, but I wouldn't want to pay over £40 for it, and neither would I want people I know to pay that much for a present for me anyway.  Besides unless it was in a larger size it wouldn't fit... (sob)

So, I basically have a list with a load of books on it, a lot of Warhammer 40K and a load of other ones.  I'm looking to move more into getting electronic books rather than real books, to save on house space.  I've just read my first e-book, one of Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries, and although it's slightly annoying when the book reader app freezes up for a few seconds while it loads the page for you to read, overall it performs very well and I'm certainly up for reading more in this format.

Oh, before I forget - go to Google, search 241543903, and look at the images. Bizarre? Yes. Internet? Of course!

Warning! Contains words!

I was removing the wrapping from a couple of pizzas today (not both for me, only one is for me, yes it is the meat feast one, yes I do have wasabi sauce to put on it)

Wasabi Sauce - makes everything... hotter

Anyway, I digress.  I happened to read the labels on the pizzas just in case there was cooking instructions (yes, I can cook a pizza without instructions, but if there ever are cooking instructions I like to read them), and I noticed the following text:

WARNING: CONTAINS ALLERGENS

Now, I personally think some of the other warnings found are overkill.  When milk bottles warn that they contain milk, or bags of peanuts may contain nuts, I think it's pretty silly.  I can understand why the company made the decision to put it on, but even so.

But this is surely just lazy!

"Contains Allergens". So basically, because pretty much anything could be an allergen to someone, they're saying that you might be allergic to something in this food.

Not very helpful!  It's a sign to me of a poor consideration of health & safety.

Health & safety, which is blamed for all kinds of silly decisions, is not a bad thing.  The problem is when people fail to keep it in proportion.

Sometimes risks can't be removed altogether, and you have to accept a level of risk.  You can't absolutely remove the risk of being in a car accident, but do you have a massive label on the front of your car when you buy it saying "Warning - using this car may result in death or serious injury"?!?

No, you accept the risk.

Rant over!

For those interested in a bit of geeky history, why not pop over to http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html where you can find some of the first web pages made.  I found it very interesting to check out what the Internet looked like at such an early stage.

Why is a toothpick cool?

Coolness is a strange beast.

Someone with a toothpick hanging out the corner of their mouth has a certain "coolness" about them.  But surely this is a bad idea!  All you need is a shock or a coughing fit and you'd risk lacerating the inside of your mouth with a sharpened wooden miniature javelin?

And why a toothpick? Why not a spoon?  Or a pizza cutter?

From time to time I come across people who are naturally cool. Their hair falls into cascading waves, their smile turns their intended target to jelly and they inevitably work as a DJ or Motorbike Tester. Thinking about it, I’ve never met a Motorbike Tester – surely Motorbike companies must have them? They can’t just stick two wheels on a big engine, sell it to the first random person that walks past and look to see if it works?

Meh.

So, what's worth checking out today?  Well, there's rather a cool infographic (picture with information on it here - it shows how the Internet has changed over the last ten years.  I particularly like the picture of the old Yahoo! site - it reminds me of when I first used the Internet!

I'm getting very tempted to restart my World of Warcraft subscription but I'm just worried about the time it could eat up - for those who haven't played it, World of Warcraft is a very addictive game where you join a fantasy world, along with thousands of other gamers (altogether there is something like 12 million subscribers to the game) to complete quests, kill monsters, and pick up loot.  It is very good indeed and I've played it on and off these last five years.

Anyway, it's a bit of a short post tonight because I'm going to have a play at doing some computer games reviews to go on YouTube - all being well I'll post a link to some tomorrow!

Cheers, Thog