One for UBER

Taken from Google.com

Yesterday I had to run an errand. My dear friend Shimmy Gin is getting married and I had to get them a wedding present (which had been hinted to me quite a couple of times). The store where they had their Wedding List (or how are these things called???) was relatively close to my work, but not so close as for me to go there walking (I could, but really, that would have easily taken 45 minutes in each way to get there), so the sensible thing to do was to go there either by taxi or by UBER. I've been using UBER for quite a while now and have been very satisfied with the service. So, yes, I ordered a driver from UBER. Now, normally you don't need to mark into the app the pick up point (unless you want another) because the system knows where you are. So I entered the destination and requested the car. One was assigned, I went out of the building... and waited. There car was supposed to be there but it wasn't. Oddly the driver didn't call me. They usually do, when they arrive or are close to. This didn't and I had no way to contact him.

Then he called me and told me he was there, in an alley. There are no alleys here. I told him I was in front of the building, so supposedly he drove there but I didn't see him. It turns out he was at some other place. Ok. There is a park in front of my building, and the driver said he was at the other end of the park, that I must have typed down the address wrong. I didn't. Furthermore, he wasn't going to get around the park and come and pick me up. Unheard of. He asked me to cancel the trip. I tried to but the system wasn't letting me. Then I received an SMS from UBER telling me the driver cancelled my trip. Ok, that was unpleasant. I took a cab, went to get the present and on the way back I ordered an UBER, which came quickly to pick me up, and took me without any problems back to the building.

THEN I check my e-mails and there's a charge from UBER because I cancelled a trip 5 minutes into it. REALLY???? I tried to get in contact with them, but my app doesn't have the "Help" button the e-mail talks about, and the link to the site gave me no way to contact the company either. I got so mad, like you have no idea. Well, maybe you do. So I went on Twitter and ranted their heads off. A couple of hours later they replied, though I saw their replies only today. They got in contact with me, gave me an e-mail, I sent my complaint and they fixed it. They fixed it.

Yesterday I was so upset and was about to close my account, but today they solved it. It's still bad that they offer solutions that are not appliable. My phone is a Microsoft Lumia, and runs Android (as fas as I know), and if there is some particular problem with that... well, it's UBER's problem, not mine. The help site was also very unfriendly and sent me to those oh-so-Microsoft kind of pages where you are cut from anyway to place a complaint, but make you click through a list of "problems", none of which actually fit your problem, only to lead you to a dead end of "replies" that don't really do anything for you. That should be fixed as well.

I had to scream on Twitter to get attention, but once I grabbed hold of their attention, things went well. I just don't want to keep screaming my digital lungs out everytime I get wronged. They need to improve that.

Coffee Jitters

Taken from the internet, but such a
long time ago I don't remember.

It wasn't supposed to be a post a month, but oh well, this is what you get, so be grateful. Today's post is about something I like a lot, and which bit me back on Monday: coffee. Now, I love coffee, I really do, and though I don't always drink coffee (I drink surprisingly quite a little compared to how much I like it) when I do I like my coffee strong. Well, you - dear reader - probably know me enough to know that I drink quite strong coffee. For those that don't know me, I drink strong coffee. Strong enough to be barred from graveyards when I drink coffee (though I don't see why would I drink coffee in a graveyard... oh wait, I thought of why would I!), because in case I would spill some on the ground, we could end up with a Walking Dead situation.

Foto taken by me. Studying for
Promotional Mix.

Anyway, the last two weeks I've been terribly busy, with so much studying and summary making and for the test I had for my different classes. And the papers... hell, that wasn't funny at all. Somehow this period was quite stressful for me, even though I enjoyed very much two of the classes I had. On Sunday I had my last test, and after that I was elated!! That wonderful feeling of freedom that you can only experience when you have been submitted to a lot of studying, that amazing thing that tells you "You don't have tasks for today, you can do as you please". Oh that wonderful feeling! So I wrote to a friend, spent a lot of time laying in my bed, with my feet on pillows, my head on cushions, reading novels and magazines, while with the TV on, half listening to the thousand and half crime stories of Investigation Discovery Channel... That is... That's what I want to do the rest of my life. That's what I'll do when I retire :-). - Ok, I keep on derailing from my intended purpose, which is the thing about the coffee jitters. - So yes, the week was looking up fantastic. I mean, sure, on Monday I had a German test... but that's a language test and I always do good in those. No biggie! Except...

It all started around 8:30 to 9:00 am. I had some work to do, and I wanted to start to write to another dear, dear friend of mine - no time like in between school periods to catch up with all your accumulated penpal letters! - however I was feeling a little pain in my right hand. I'm right handed, but usually, when my hand hurts is my left hand, and that's due because I use the mouse with the left hand. Though ever since I use only and exclusively laptops at home and work, that has stopped being a problem. In other times, when I overexert my hand at writing, the pain is much stronger and it goes all the way up my arm. This wasn't so bad. I presume this could have been the case because for the last subject I studied, I made all my summaries using fountain pens, and these make you apply less pressure on the writing.

Taken from https://cdn.makespace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/16143607/french-press-save-space-small-kitchen.jpg

So, the thing is that my hand was hurting, so I decided not to start writing to my friend at once, but give it a little rest, and meanwhile make myself a coffee. I use a French Press. The one I have now is different from the one I used to have (and which I believe remained with Kari), basically because it's a 4 cup one, instead of a 2 cup one (it says "2 cups", but really, it's only like a mug). I'm still learning the measures with it, so getting a perfect coffee is still a bit challenging. I've been thinking about buying myself a smaller one, and pack this up and keep it for when I'll have my own place (which hopefully won't take that long). I've made some coffee some weeks ago and it was week. On Monday I decided I would use my capacity and make about 2 cups - this 4 cup one is FAR larger than  the regular 2 cup ones, and seems like it could brew 3 cups - so I measured up the coffee and went down to the cafeteria and poured hot water into it. Back at my cubicle, I poured myself a lovely mug of coffee and sipped it with delight. then, when I finished my first cup - it went down surprisingly fast - I poured myself the second cup only to notice that it wasn't quite as much coffee. In fact it wasn't even a half cup. And THEN I started feeling like crap.

From somewhere on Google

My hand was still hurting for being exposed to fifteen days of 6 to 9 hours daily of writing, with several bouts of 2,5 to 3 hour continuous writing. I needed something for that - like getting a bandage - so I went from my floor to the floor where the doctor's office is. Using the stairs. Not my brightest moment, I'll admit. Hell, everything was spinning and shaking! Then there was the all encompasing nausea that wouldn't let me be. While I waited for the nurse to bandage my wrist, I was scared shitless thinking that she would notice I was sick as hell, and might say something. How was I going to explain that I drank a brewed-to-kill cup of coffee? It was pretty much O.D.-ing on caffeine. I would have made plans to leave for home, but I had a test on Monday - German, remember? - and I had to write that down. However, with all that caffeine in my bloodstream, I just couldn't concentrate. Could hardly work, and definitively couldn't write to my friend or even check on my homework.

Taken from Google.

Like any normal person today, I googled "coffee jitters", and sought for ways to get them over. The curse of this era, google offered nothing good, save from some posts about yeah, this is what the coffee jitters are, and do you want some advise on how to get rid of them (Me: yes! please! now!), yeah well... (me: now! now! now!), the jitters are produced by... (me: *scrolls down furiously*)... nothing has ever been proven to actually help with coffee jitters. In my case, my jitters went as far as taking away all my apetite, and also made me sleepy. I tried to drink water, but that didn't seem to help. I did notice how they lessened when I ate some, particularly stuff like breads. I did notice that walking and slow, deep breathing helped quite a lot. Be it as it may, I was on jitter effect all the way to 8:00 pm.

Needless to say, I've spent the last two days (including Today) avoiding coffee. I already feel the need for it. It's not like I never had some sort of jitters before, only I have never had deadly jitters in the past. Sure, my heart has sped up in the past. but I've never been that shaky, unsteady on my feel, or so sick to my stomach. That was a new and unpleasant one. So, the things I learned from this experience are:

• Jitters are real. And they aren't funny, they are bad.
• Internet isn't really has helpful when you actually need help. Like when dying from coffee jitters.
• Fountain pens are actually much better for writing. They reduce the amount of pain you end up suffering from unholy amounts of writing.
• Jitters can last a hell lot of time.
• Things that help with jitters: walking. Staircases don't help, but walking of flat, horizontal surfaces do. Breathing slowly. Eating some carbs, like bread.

Well, this post wasn't really intended to help anyone, and I guess it has fully succeeded in that department. :-) Hope you have a good one, while I sip on my large cup of water, and wait until I'm brave enough to face the coffee again. And meanwhile, I'll perch up my feet and read.