Weekend of Rain and Stuff

Weekend, yes! And if you checked my blog three minutes before midnight, Central European Time, then that's all you would have read. Well, that's what you get when you can't fix the schedule of your blog PROPERLY. but I won't rant this time around, I have a new-ish haircut and I'm happy, so I won't rant about Blogger.

The week at work ended up quite interesting, with lots and lots of work to do, which is great, because that means more and more stuff to keep myself occupied, and all of them are of the very kind I love the most: analyzing and trying to figure out what's not being said. It's economics CSI! Money Detective work! and have I told you just how much I enjoy that? Very.

I also had a little bit of "fun day" all by my own, though I didn't go to the movies, but instead I went on checking an old excentricity store I discovered some 30 years ago, which was packed with crystals, jewelry made from it at rather accesible prices, and witchcraft stuff. Needless to say, I was drawn to it like flies to honey. However yesterday I realized that the store has become another Chinese artifact store. Chinese amulets, Chinese traditional clothing, Chinese statues... and the only not-so-evidently-Chinese thing was a shelve in a glass counter filled with potions and magical soaps. long gone were the pendulums, the Tarot Decks and all other strange things I loved to stare at. That was a bummer. Now I don't have any witchy store I know of which I could think of and let my imagination run wild conjuring up the lives of the people stopping by. I guess I could still buy the stuff I always bought there, the jewelry and the crystals, but then again, with the store turned into a "chinería" as we call them here, it lost interest for me.

There are other witchcraft stores around, some of which I visited once with an acquintance of mine who back then was neck deep in black magic (and Dragonfly-cr knows her too...), but those stores seem to me a little bit... creepy. It's like the one I loved to go to was also creepy, but a bit more... The Craft shop like, while these others are more The Skeleton Key shop like. One has witches, the other might have a couple of zombies tucked in the closet. And yes, I'm curious, but I honestly prefer places more hippie-vibe like, instead of the "this is how you get rid of the lover your husband is keeping". Who knows, maybe it's the Christian in me saying "Yes, God is in everything, but that's no reason for you to be in everything too, so you get the fuck out of there and just run, run until you run into a cross". I'm a chicken, sometimes. (However, no matter how much some stores scare me, I fully support every religion in the world, even if initially they sound weird, like Jedism and Matrixism.)

After my encounter with China-invaded-Pagan store, I went on around the center of the Capital City - which has changed since I was last around - and went to an old cafe-bar I used o love. There I ordered my cocktail of the week: vodka and Red Bull. It was good, it was nice, it was sweet, and I hope the next time I order it they don't forget the vodka out of it. It was sheer joy to be there, alone, going through some work, while the world buzzed around me. It was also quite fascinating to witness how the girls on the table next to mine, who had been there longer than me, received a rather poor service, while I was attended to perfection. As a matter of fact, they not only complained that they had to wait 30 minutes for their cocktails while mine arrived in 10 minutes, BUT that I've got an order of fried green bananas (patacones), while they had also ordered the same and after 20 minutes were told there were none and had to order something else. By the way, yes, they were right in complaining for not getting the patacones, because they were HEAVENLY!

Today I woke up and was 2 kg heavier. Doesn't matter, the patacones worth it. Took mom to the University - I love driving her to work ^_^ - then worked a little bit on the Scrapbook project I started doing for her, but that's nowhere near to being finished, AND then decided to go do some errands. I was SUPPOSED to take Hyperion to the vet, but the cunning cat took his leave when he suspected that a caged trip was looming dangerously over his head. So instead I went and had other errands done, such as preparing some music CDs for a friend of mine. She had shared with me some of her favorite Jewish or pop-Jewish music, and I told her that, well, all I could share with her was Pagan music, and she said she would be interested, so I prepared her a small compilation. I don't have enough Yoga music to compile a CD for her, nor enough Arabic, and then Pagan music is in English (what I have) and it's quite interesting and not everybody knows about it, so there. :-) This is an errand for me, because I don't have a proper CD burner here at home, so errand it is.

Then I went to ask about a small presentation about turning what's negative into positive, but in the end I didn't attend it. Yeah, the reason being that I went to my hairdresser, and since she's moving from her current location to another shop, several of her customers were there waiting for her. I needed my cut NOW, since this is a Full Moon day (today, actually), and I'd love my hair to get a bit thicker (I'm working on getting rid of my layered style and have a fuller mane), and folklore or not, I wanted my hair done now.

I decided also to change my hairstyle. Still long, but something different, as the European style just wasn't cooperating with me anymore. So after talking it over with my hairdresser, we decided to go for a full mane in the back, work on recovering full lenght with no layer, but do a layering up around my face, much like a 90's style. Then as I was getting out of the shop it started to rain and my hair went up in big curls, as it usually does, so I don't know if it does look like what we wanted from it. If not, in 6 week, when I go again, but this time to the new shop, we will have the frayed layers removed and a long side bang cut in it's place.

Now, I gara go, I'm late for yet another day of fun, meeting with Kate and Carrie with whom it's all good cocktails (except that I'm driving) and loads of White Collar and gaping about other similar eye candy and goodies.

Lightning Shaked Saturday

From sunny to clouded and lightning linen, today looks a lot like a day with bipolar issues. And dear Hyne, what the hell happened to my weekend?? I remember still being in Hungary and spending quiet little weekends - maybe even wishing for weekdays so I could see my beloved Korean series - but now! Now I spend weekdays hoping for weekends - just like any regular, normal, decent and self-respecting employee does - and when the weekend comes I have a week's worth of plans and programs and no idea how to have them all done! Yes, planning, planning, all can be solved with proper planning and organizing, but sometimes an Ubiquity Pill would help a lot. At days like this I wish I were already retired.

Today's plans included going to the seamtress to get three pairs of slacks fixed, because somehow I have lost... well, if not weight, I sure have slid off my frame a couple of sizes. One of the slacks I took for fixing had already been fixed, which made the woman widen her eyes in amazement. I just smiled, but when I saw how much had to be taken off the slack to fit me I couldn't believe it. It's at least two inches from the waist!

Then I also checked a local bead store to get some supplies for my next project, and once again realized that they sell garbage. I needed some hooks, but the hooks they sold were so badly planned that they don't open. Don't get me wrong, they do move, only both parts of the hook never slide far enough to fit anything between them. From there I roamed here and there, went to the Post Office, then visited my DVD rental -where there was nothing, as usual - and then home, just in time to avoid the 2 minute pouring, which was preceded by lightnings like you have never seen before. It was like energy trees planted on the sky were shooting their powerful white roots from above into the Earth. It was scary.

Further plans include meeting with my fellow Heredian Tweeters at 15h for a coffee, sharing news and tweeting live, under the #tuiterosheredianos hashtag, and then meet with Carrie and Kate at 17h. Hopefully I can get them to meet at a different location since I need to fix a couple of things for next Thursday, when my friend Alix will be celebrating her birthday, for which I'd like to get her an appointment for a mini spa treatment. If I can't get Carrie and Kate to meet me at the new place I'll have to arrive at our meeting later, but in any case I need to meet them! Not only because I already miss them, but because Carrie has White Collar Eps for me, and I really, really need those!

Still have lots of things to fix and arrange, but I'll manage the rest of the load later, for now, I'll see how can I handle these.

Blessed weekend for all!

Waiting Times

One of the most common complains you get from users, customers and people in general, is about the "quality" of the service and a big part of it is related to the waiting time. Somehow no matter hoy much the seller or the clerk smiles at you or how speedily they try to help your with your request, the impression is always the same: the service sucks. And the service sucks because "in other countries" they do it much more pleasantly and much faster. The statistics curiously are never there, but the general argument to hold up this impression is "in other countries is not like this".

After unsuccessfully trying to revive my mobile line yesterday, today I went to the place where the service could be restored - so I was told. It was a nice, late winter day, kinda chilly but pretty and shiny, so I merrily went to the company's store only to find out that the service couldn't be fixed because my ID was expired. Say what?? Yes, my old, handwritten, notebook-like ID was expired. The clerk asked for my Driving License... but I only had my Costa Rican one with me, so that didn't work. A bit disheartened, I went to solve the issue, at loss about where should I go. So without a mobile phone line, I actually had to hunt down a payphone - thanks Hyne for small favors! - and called my boyfriend to tell him "the situation". After that I headed home, looked up the place I should go (that depends on which district are you inscribed, so the one my boyfriend knows isn't good for me, for I'm in a different district), and my aunt actually helped me with that. So we went to the "official documents' office" where I was received immediately - didn't even had time to take off my coat! - and a very nice, sweet guy asked me for my DL or my passport - I gave him this last one - and he quickly helped me fill the form to request my new ID. Thanks Hyne I've got a new picture, because I hated my last ID's picture. This next one isn't that good either, but it's an improvement considering the last one!

The guy then told me that my ID would be ready in 30 days. 30 days??? In Costa Rica I get my new ID or driving license in 3 minutes! I've got my brand new and first "Official Residence Card" (in the old ID's there were pages where such data was included. Now that the notebooks are gone, there's an ID card and an "official address card"). He told me that I could use meanwhile my Hungarian passport as official ID, until my actual ID is done. I didn't bother much about it, but it did made me smile how people at Costa Rica bitch about the waiting you have to do at the Civil Registry, and though I was served right away in here - probably because it was a low traffic hour - I'll have to wait far more than anyone in Costa Rica for my plastic.

Well, once this was done, we went back to fix my phone situation. Now, let me tell you in advace, that my operator is a private operator, not a State owned one. So, we went there, got called right away, by the same nice guy, and he started fixing my situation. As it happens, the fixing shouldn't have to be arranged directly though them, but through a series of e-mails and online forms and requests taking many days, but just as a favor - and because he knew someone in there - my situation was fixed there. I also wanted my own mobile Internet - which I got, and guess what? These two things took an hour of my life. Yes, one hour. The guy was really nice, and I guess that seeing how much time it was taking him to do all the TWO things I asked from him, he started telling me the story of his life in a half-flirtatious way (so salesman like!), and I took on the hint and asked him all kinds of telecommunications' questions, which amazed him and gave him the chance to ask how come I knew that, so I would talk and he could concentrate on his slow system while keeping me entertained (Rule #1 to keep a customer happy: make it all about the customer!).

I didn't mind, but it was funny again to compare Costa Rica and Hungary, and how people actually complain for the activating of a phoneline taking over 20 minutes.

People, procedures take time, and sometimes companies find that giving the best and fastest computers to their CEO's and their staff is a much better and justified move than giving it to Customer Service, who by rule always inherit the computers that have filtered down through the company and get discarded by the last link of the back office. Procedures are also way to ensure the reliability of a client, and they depend on the experience of the company with problematic clients, as well as the experience of the country in general. If in your country you've a culture that celebrates getting away with murder and consider "smart" people who manage to walk away without paying, then yes, get ready to face long insurances and procedures to get something where you could walk off without paying.

Have you ever considered that your Customer Service is also a result of the type of culture you help to creat? Have you considered that your attitude and also your attitude towards work, your responsabilities and those of others, also help to mold the type of Customer Service and the type of service you get? After all, it's people from the same culture you belong to, the one's serving you. Have you thought that instead of expecting THEM to change and suit your need, you could do the changing and adapt to the situation?

Thing is that everybody complain, but if you where to actually compare the services between countries, you would find that actually it isn't true that you have the worst service in the planet, and nor is it true that there's a place where the service is happy and swift and like a walk in Paradise. Something always annoy people because people are often predisposed to get annoyed.

Of course, when examples like this are shown up, then the usual rebuke is "well, other countries, because those are exceptions", which is fun, because they either can't come up with a country where things are the way they say they are, or the witness was a friend or family member of them, or you name it. Even if it was them, the case isn't clear and you are there with the feeling that something isn't right. And something isn't right.

It's time for us to realize that the Customer Service depends on the customer. We must realize that in order to make a transaction like this pleasant, also WE have to be pleasant. Sorry, the clerk isn't there to make you smile and serve you some coffee, and you won't lose an arm if you smile first and remain pleasant and understanding. So next time, when you have to make yet another endless queue, please make the effort and be a pleasant customer, be nice, smile, be understanding. Be all you want the clerk or Customer Service attendant to be, and you may be surprised at the kind of lovely service you can get!

Another Hectic Sunday

Something must be definitively out of order whrn you wake up on a Sunday at 6:45 am all by yourself. No alarm, no plans, no trip to the beach only a disjunctive: join my usual yoga class at 10:30 am or join my friends for breakfast at this awesome location some miles away driving, with the opportunity to meet new people, update on information and plunge into the most recent topics of conversation hot on the cyberuniverse - which I may or may not know of. This was a Twitter Breakfast, a uniquete kind of meeting where you can synch with the rest of the community, or at least be updated on the latest trends without having to sacrifice your own usual search. (For instance, I'm quite disconnected of the local gossip and national actuality, as I'm more stuck in telecommunications, Amazon.com, books and American Politics.)

As I was starting my Sunday as any other Sunday, I realized that I still had to wash Sookie. But not only that. Kari and I had decided to take my older nephew for shopping to get him scubba diving equipment (he's birthday is close and his aunt - me - thinks that a T-shirt and a Chinese Chess game ins't nearly enough). Then I realized that I had to get going with Lau's scrapbook project, so either I worked on it now or I would never be ready. As result Sookie got washed and waxed, but neither the yoga class not the Twitter Breakfast were doable under my current situation.

It's kinda sad that two things that are important to me, that could be among the last one I can attend in my life, are moved for something one could say I can do any other time. Well, no. Yes, say, but I had to cancel on both for the reason that though I could do scrapbooking any other time  - pictures are not going anywere - scrapbooking is a very time consuming thing and either you get doing it on schedule, or you end up with no margins of time left, holding into any available, free minute to work on them.

It reminded me of studying and even working. Sure, you can think you can study any time, you can work anytime, but exactly that sort of thinking is what pushes you later to be unable to do it anytime, because either you do it now or you'll never get done with it, and you'll fail or lose what you where aiming for with the project. I didn't plan my time well with this project and I ended up running out of time, and as result now I have to give up things I would love to do, in order to catch up on the project and get it by the last available time possible for me.

From this I leave you a question: Are you looking forward for Hectic Sundays? Is your schedule really as flexible as you pretend it is, or are you working yourself a whole lot of rushing and trouble? Pressure isn't fun and it can end up being really expensive.

Organize your time well. Plan your activities.

Scrapbooking!

Today is my brother's birthday. ^_^ Watching him get older each day - and the years he's counting! - makes me remember that I'm not that young anymore. (He's two years my junior.) It's not like I'm delusional, thinking I'm still some snot nosed kid, but my actual age doesn't down on me as much as on the day of my little brother's birthday. Getting him a present is quite hard too - as it usually is for a woman to get a present for a man, because we can't relay on the easy things there are to give to women: jewelry, make up, body creams, splashes, purses... - but in the end we picked up a sort of organizer with many transparent drawers, where you can store screws and nails and tiny things like that. He'll probably use it to store his spare LEGO pieces. Another year solved, 364 days to go for the next one. Oh, sorry, 365 days as 2012 is a ... how do you say in English? Leaping year?

Aside from my brother's birthday, today is Saturday, which is usually a good "errand day" for me. In this particular Errand Day, I've got my first scrapbook album. ^_^ Well, not mine, as the project is going to be for my Mom and my sister-in-law and I are going to asseble it together. (I think I've explained this before, but it goes like this: Lau was making scrapbooks for herself, we decided to make one for Rose, then I decided to make one for Lau, and Mom saw it and she said she would like one for herself too. Then I decided to make it along with Yul, so the scrapbook contains the things of Mom's both kids ^_^.) The idea is to pick 100 pictures (50 mine and 50 Yul's), so I calculated how many sheets we would need to set the 100 pictures, and worked around a ballpark amount for the project. Then, thanks to my trusty datebook, I planned the benchmarking of supplies (album, extra sleeves, pages), and  I decided to make it today the day I would go pick up the supplies we required for it.

Close to my old highschool, there's this tiny house that keeps odd open hours, which is filled with all sorts of scrapbooking supplies that range from the expected to the stranges and most unexpected things I wouldn't even know how to hold on the right side. I though I was going to last a couple of minutes in there as I already had a list of what I needed, but the salesgirl was soon instructing me on the techniques and arts related to scrapbooking. And here I thought it was about pasting the pictures and putting some decoration on it. Oh no.

She explained that two pages one next to the other should always match somehow. Didn't need to be alike, but a certain theme should always carry on. The sheets, which for me were just the base to paste the pictures, are supposed to be layered, often treated with special drawing chalk for an aged effect and nothing that wasn't acid free should go on the pictures. (Holy fucking shit! I must have been assembling Laura's the wrong way! Nothing of my supplies are acid free! They sure as as acid as lemons!)

She took the chance to show me her own "multi-topic" scrapbook album - many with pages I honestly considered down right of poor taste (not offensive, just terribly designed and envisioned) - and was quick talking to me about how wonderful the owner was, and how great her style and vision for arranging pages - and indeed the pages she told me the owner had helped her with were honestly beautiful! - managing the layering of different pages, and how a double sided paper (like all I bought...) were used only as accent as the back was usually plain, one color and build on that with the design.

... My boyfriend was, meanwhile in the car - BLACK CAR! - under the noon sun cooking himself extra crispy.

My eyes fell then on the stamps and I'm crazy for stamps!!! 'Letter decoration' I thought at once - fuck scrapbooks, I need something to eventually grace up my letters, and stop being the only penpal with plain paper... filled to the margings with words. Most of them where phrases and those with pictures were mostly about babies. There was one "October 31st" and what sort of witch (figurative or real-life... depends on how you see it, either as I'm a fun, crazy person, or because I'm observing ancient celebrations - now called Pagan celebration - or because you think I'm a monster who lives only to destroy the poorly done job of others and rip at their throats instead of being benign and let them be in their incompetence) would I be if I didn't jump at the opportunity of having THAT? ^_^

Seeing that I would soon be left with no boyfriend, but a big gooey mess of melted boyfriend in my car, I did my best to make my way out, however I must admit I was caught. I left the store wishing to know more, holding my purchase and a business card with their phone number, promising myself to recruit Lau and Yul to come with me to the shop again for a class. Is this the beginging of yet another, serious hobby?

The Old Fashioned Errands

This post is coming out really difficult this time. Talking to my friend Trish the other day (on the net, because we are a ocean apart from each other), about bloggers, popular and all the matter about traffic and I was rolling the thought around the matter, and even considering to ask her to synchronize posts with me on the subject. However, as the topic is still up and running, I haven't gotten around enought to grasp it and add to the previous post (Blogger(ina)). Instead I'm caught here in the middle of daily little matters, with a peanut butter and jam sandwich by my side, concerns I can't voice around (yet), nursing a cherry coke and thinking - already two hours into my work shift, and about 4 hours since waking up - how I would rather be at home right now, spread across the bed, under my comfy blanket, with the wamr sun shining through the blinds and me surfing the egde between being asleep and being awake, pulled equally by waking up and grabbing a book or a manga from my nightstand and read it, or sinking in again into sleep and find out how the dream goes.

It's Friday, but not any Friday as I've errands to run after work, I don't want to do on Saturday. Please, I need to rest! I want to rest! So this means that today - of all days - may finally come the day when I drive to a certain city part famous for lodging the most prestigious university of Costa Rica - and some private ones too - one of the most famous malls, being home to several politicians and local celebrities, housing many of the most known bars and restaurants... and having the worst cases of traffic jam. On a Friday. Yes. I've been trying to avoid going there, but there's no avail. I must get this done, and the only way I can do it is personally and there.

What? What could it be, you may ask. Perhaps you think I must meet someone on a personal matter that's too delicate to discuss over the phone or through e-mails. A secret love affaire that shall end now inspite of our mutual feelings... wrong. I'm not mushy, I don't have an affaire, and even if I did, the first to know would be my boyfriend (I'm just that open) so there would be nothing secret about it. Or maybe a friendship that went sour, so I'll meet my soon-to-be-ex-friend to a coffeehouse where I'll tell her what has she done to disappoint me so deeply and why I believe that terminating our friendship is the only acceptable next step. Plausible, specially when you consider that I don't shy away from terminating friendship and I have been complaining about how some of my acquintances have a special talent for whining, which consumes all their hability to "do something about it". Thought the idea is tempting, that's not my business in Traffic Town either. My business this time is actually closing an account with a company. Account? Like there's money and now I'll have some refound or something? Wishful thinking, and then again wrong. It's one of those cases where once upon a time you signed up for an account that was supposed to make your life easier, and for a while it did. However things have changed, you've downsized many things, simplified many others and there you are with this membership card, and tons of no longer wanted e-mails and account balance sheets long in 0 because you haven't been using the benefits of it, though you've been charged the membership every year without fail.

So I was thinking "I don't need this anymore, let's cancel it and have less clutter in my drawers. Let's simplify". Sure, let's do that, except that this organization that has offices in every corner, is unable to cancel the account unless you go to the very place where you opened it because "that's where they keep your record". So let me see if I get this right: we live in an age of technology... for quite a few decades now, AND there's such a thing called "messenger service" for records kept physically, AND there's an organization that can't close an account if it's not where it was opened? What if I moved to the other side of the planet and now I remember I've this account and want to close it? Take a plane and do the line? Unbelievable.

But that's it, folks, here I am on a Friday, with my coke and PB&J sandwich, with all great ideas for a post blocked because I can't recover from the enormous imbecility of one organization. At times like this I look at certain acquintances who are engineers and spend their lives without fixing anything, but boasting about all the things they could create, brushing away the toaster that needs to be fixed only to make some aesthetically offending contraption of the size of a big cat, that can light one Christmas lightbulb while measuring some waves nobody really cares about. Those you loooove to go around "well, say what you want, but you couldn't do your job if it wheren't for us and technology. You need us, we make the planet a better place and without us you would be in the Medieval times". Yeah, those, I'd like to grab them by the neck, show them my account and say: "so you are so cool and you can't fix this? You're so full of crap".

Today is trip-day, so please wish me luck. ^_^