Anti-Rant :: Amazon.com
Shortly before AX99, I found myself at Suncoast video with the
option to buy Tenchi in Tokyo Volume 5. However, I decided to
instead buy it at AX. After scouting out AX, I decided that I
would instead order it from Amazon.com once I got home.
And when I got home Monday, that is what I did. I went to the
Amazon search box found on my page
and typed in my search, and I was taken directly to the product
I desired. And once there, I double checked that it was the
right product, and clicked on their one click ordering button.
That was it, as fast as that.
The one click ordering button is set up for you if you so desire
after the first time you've ordered from Amazon. I personally
find it to be incredibly convenient. No repeated typing in
credit card numbers (Amazon stores them on a secure server),
no repeated typing in address, no possibility for typos,
nothing. Just click and it's ordered. What a brilliant idea!
Of course, I can go and specify an address to send to if that
is needed, but the one click is usually perfectly adequate.
And after a slow mail week, I got my tape that Saturday.
I had been planning my Saturday around watching this movie. I got
up that morning, read various articles online, and made sure I killed
enough time that I'd be sure the mail was there... And I timed it
just right, and the mail was arriving as I was going to get it.
I went inside, unpacked the tape, pushed it into the VCR, hit play
and plopped down on my couch to enjoy Tenchi In Tokyo Volume 5: A New Love.
I was really looking forward to it.
I really was not expecting the sound to be distorted and unlistenable,
which just happened to be what happened.
Granted, this was a subtitled movie, but the music and voices are
just as much a part of the show as the video and words.
So not to be put out, I tested the tape on my parents VCR. And
then on the family VCR. And then again on my VCR, and then I adjusted
the tracking, and checked different parts of the tape. And the tape
was defective. And this really didn't make me happy.
But I'm an intelligent guy, and I knew this wasn't Amazon's fault.
So I picked up my receipt, and read that I could return "any unopened
CD, DVD, VHS tape, or software." Now this caused my faith in Amazon.com to
falter.
I find your lack of faith... disturbing.
So I emailed orders@amazon.com, explaining the situation.
At this point, I should remind the reader that this was around 4pm on a
Saturday.
I got a reply to my email the next time I checked the mail, which was
all of five minutes later. The reply said that a replacement order
had already been placed, and that I wouldn't have to pay any more
shipping or handling, and that they would appreciate it if I sent
the defective unit back after I got the replacement, so they
could get a replacement from their supplier.
A couple of minutes after that, I got the email saying my order
had been placed. And about two hours later, I got the email
saying that my order had been shipped.
I got the replacement tape Tuesday, because they actually shipped
the replacement with better shipping than I originally paid for.
And I came to realize that Hey, maybe some stores out there do
care about their customers. I'm not sure I could recommend
Amazon enough for books or music or movies or you name it.
Amazon is cool.
Monthly Archive for July, 1999
Pi's birthday is sometime soon. August 3rd or something like that. Remembering a Birthday is something that I've never liked to bother with. I've never liked the thought of having, or more accurately, feeling obligated, to give someone a present just because they were born so many years ago on that day. Why? Why Why Why? It doesn't seem right that a present should be bound to an occasion, but rather, an occasion bound to a present. Don't get or expect a present because of the occasion, but instead, get presents when you get them, and remember the occasion because of it.
I'd be more likely to go in for the present thing if there was no obligation involved. If I were out shopping, saw something that someone would like or could use, and got it for them for whatever reason I have in my heart.
And Galatea's birthday is sometime later in August. August 24 or so, I think. She was upset that I'll miss her Birthday. Sorry, I start school on that day.
OA's Girlfriend left her silver cigarette case on my patio the last time she was here. It's just a thought that occurred to me. I don't feel like telling him or her. If they read this page, they'll know. She'll figure it out on her own eventually, but by then I may even be gone to Berkeley. I leave soon. A week and two days. August 8. The day after Tyler's Birthday Party.
No, not the book or the movie. The ABC Series which is about people. The first episode was on tonight. I found it thought provoking. I liked it well enough. I'll watch the other seven episodes.
And the fact that TMBG is performing pieces for the series isn't influencing me to watch it at all. Honest. I'm sure you believe me.
Anyway, tonight They performed Older, and it was very cool. Flans shouted "Time!" at the viewers. I enjoyed it. I have it on tape if you're interested. Check out the rest of the series, on ABC at 10pm on Thursday Nights. Nice thought provoking stuff, and Giants, to boot.
I wrote my review of Long Tall Weekend for the Sun and the Californian. It'll be in the Sun Wednesday. It'll be in the Californian when they get around to it. That brings the official count of articles I need to post from this summer up to 4, plus the articles from the pre-PCPCP days. It'll happen some day. Until maintenance of AWP is returned to live locally on another, not much will really happen with big content being added. But the content will soon return to my machine
Berkeley soon. Berkeley soon. Berkeley soon. And now Berkeley even sooner. I can't kill all the time until Berkeley that way, unfortunately. Before I return, I have a lot of stuff I'll be working on for Intelegenesis, even though tomorrow will be my last day spending a full day at the office.
I'm going to spend next week fully devoted to packing and hacking. I'll pack for awhile, then take a break to hack for Intelegenesis, then take a break to pack, and sleep somewhere in there, until I get tired, or until Sunday gets here, whichever comes first.
Pack. Hack. Pack. Hack. Pack. Hack. Pack. Hack.
Snack. Nap.
I'd love to sleep more. I'd love to have a ton of time to just sleep and sit around and read and do whatever. Not to have to bother with all that stuff that has to be done right this very second. But sleeping more can't happen. It won't happen. I lose out on my precious sleep.
I'm currently enrolled in a full 16 units for the fall. 4 of those units are for an Art History class, which I'm taking exclusively to fill the Art & Lit breadth requirement in LnS. Now, under normal circumstances, 16 units would be a perfectly doable schedule.
But if you throw my duties as an RCC in there on top of that, and the occasional coding I suspect I'll find myself doing for Intelegenesis this fall, 16 units will just be painful. Eh, who needs sleep anyway? But then Steve pointed something out to me.
I can fulfill my breadth requirements with classes taken on a Pass/No Pass basis. For now, I'm enrolled in Art History on a Letter Graded basis. If it looks like it will be easy, I'll stick with the graded version, and it could give my overall GPA a bit of a boost. But if it looks like it will be the extra brick on my back which will make it break, I'll take the class p/np, and the class will be a non-issue.
I suspect I'll have to be careful not to be too lenient about the class, though. It would really suck to NOT PASS a Pass/No Pass class.
And with the re-discovery of the Pass/No Pass thing, I'm now again considering taking a Japanese class, to see how it goes. With Japanese, unlike Spanish, I have a fair amount of motivation to learn the language. I'd been terrified of the thought of taking a language class at Berkeley, because I knew I'd get reamed by it. I'd try my hardest and probably manage at best a B, I think. But if I can't get reamed, then what's the problem?
So in the spring I'm considering taking Japanese 1A on a Pass/No Pass basis, Philosophy 25B, to fill my History Requirement for LnS, English 1B to finish up my Reading and Composition Requirement, and Asian Studies 10 to fill my International Studies Requirement. If I took that schedule in the spring, then I would only be left with an American Cultures requirement and a Biological Sciences requirement for the college, and whatever requirements I have for CS. While I would in theory be able to apply for the CS major after this fall, I'm still planning on waiting until after the Spring, just so I can have all those requirements out of the way, and even more breadth showing up in what I'm taking. And if I can't take that combination of classes for some reason, I'm going to try to take classes that fill the same requirements.
I've still been reading more and more Pratchett. Strata was very good, though the last 10 pages were crazy. The Carpet People was all around good, and the end had a similar effect on me as did a similar scene found in Jingo. I found my eyes getting wet.
I've got the novels I need for my English 1A class, though I haven't read the ones I haven't already read long before. Maybe I should read one or maybe both of the ones I've never read, so that when the time comes, I can skim them. I don't have the poetry yet, so I can't think about that. Books shouldn't be as expensive for my classes this semester, I don't think.
Well, I survived Anime-Expo, and I even came in under budget, to boot. Once people everyone pays me for the room, that is. All the same, it was cool. I'm glad I didn't have to work like Scott was doing all weekend. He missed a lot of Expo because he was working on gathering content for the AX Live Site. A lot of the cool things from the show can be relived there, if you're so inclined, and next year it should be even cooler. Anyway, I saw a bunch of great Anime, saw a lot of nifty toys, saw a lot of neat costumes, figured out what I'm going to dress up as next year, and generally had a great time. The various Anime which I saw will eventually be summarized on the Enjoy :: Anime page. In the mean time, the ones I enjoyed most are listed there.
So I had a great vacation. When I got home, I was very relaxed, which is how one should feel after a vacation. Two mildly annoying points were the two traffic jams we got into on the way home. The first was caused by a van which hit a cinder block wall rather violently not too far from Anaheim, while the second was caused by a truck which had somehow burned to a smoldering wreck on 99 just a little past the Grapevine by the time we saw it. This second delay was offset by the fact that the truck was carrying a bunch of bananas. It stunk, but it serves them right for being bananas. But now that my vacations over, that means that the rest of my summer is not long for this world. It hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm aware of it hovering at the edge of my awareness. I have to be back in Berkeley by three weeks from Yesterday. I'll probably only be working for the next two weeks, and after that I have to pack everything in my room up into boxes, so that my family doesn't have to once they move. It still hasn't really bluntly impacted itself upon my mind how much will change three weeks from now, but it'll hit me. And I think I'm ready for it.
So after getting back home from my vacation, I discovered that my Monday would be good, too. And it was. First up, They Might Be Giants finally released Long Tall Weekend. Then they had a live chat on Yahoo! which I sat in on. And then they had a free concert in New York, that was also broadcast live on the net. While the webcast concert isn't as cool as a live concert, I also found out that they will be having a national tour this fall, so I'll get to see them then, at least once. So it was a funfilled day of TMBG for me. Go Get Long Tall Weekend Now!