Waiting for my new filofax

 

Property of Stormberry
From my shopping cart
at filofax UK

It has taken quite sometime and a lot of luck, but I think my Personal Lockwood Zip Filofax is inching closer to my hands. I ordered this on October 2nd, and it landed on Customs here on October 20th. The tracker page filofax provided me with, showed where it was, because I could never get the tracking number to pop up on Costa Rica's Post Office. So, after a couple of days of no action, I started writing to all available contacts I could find, and on Tuesday, October 25th, I've got a reply to an e-mail I wrote, and got an opening, assuring me that the parcel was in Costa Rica (Yay!), so I had to send the paperwork. They provided a link, but it wasn't working.

That same day, I've got the number of Customer Service, called and got answered really fast. The guy who got my call was wonderful and sent me the paperwork and the address to send the paperwork. So, I printed out the pages, filled them, scanned them and sent it back. But I've got a bit vigilant now, and realized that my e-mail didn't pass through, and the notice was delivered to my spam folder. So I called again, checked and it seems the problem was that I sent some documents on JPG format and not on PDF format. So I printed out the images and rescanned the whole thing, and sent it again. So far, it seems it was gone through.

My purchase could be considered small, in the sense that I didn't order half the shop, with magnetic clips, washi tape, stickers, sticky notes and extra inserts (which I don't really need). For some, it might also seem like I ordered too much, like why order new A-Z coloured tab dividers, when I already have a set, or an extra transparent ruler page marker. For anyone wondering, I ordered those because I know I used them A LOT, like really a lot, so I rather have an extra ruler and an extra set of A-to-Z dividers of the kind I like, for when the ones I'll be using break or tear up beyond repair. And yes, I have also dividers, but those are not black nor colored.

In my personal experience, these products actually last for several years. My problem before was that the personal planners I had weren't made out of leather, so the binders themselves deteriorated before the dividers or the rulers broke (ok, I think I have 3 more personal rulers, but mostly brown or black, and I prefer transparent). My A5 planner is in leather, so I know those binders last so long that the dividers and rulers are gone before the binder ever does.

Unlike what you normally see, I don't plan on making huge set ups. I do plan to print out what I keep currently in my A-to-Z tabs, so I don't need to write it out over and over, and also because in printed version I can reduce the bulk all that info would amount to. I'm still don't want to run amok with inserts and ideas for my new planner before I get it in my hands... but I'm out here planning to get the minimal possible printed out stuff. Which trackers I do want to use, how to fit them in a smaller size and so on.

I plan & hope.

Oh Black Friday

Friday. Tired Friday, may I add, with a credit card that suddenly maxed on me (got immediately paid, so no damage there!), and waking up at the wee hours of the day to click check out on my cart at Amazon.com and get my Black Friday on the go. In some three hours and twenty minutes my work week is over, and you know what will I do? I'll go straight home, change into my pj's, climb into my bed, get under the covers and watch TV until I fall asleep, which most likely won't take me more than 20 minutes, if I'm lucky. 2 minutes if I'm not. And I still haven't seen "The Perfect Student" nor Margin Call, ans I really want to!

Why is it that this time of the year weeks seem to be much shorter than usually? Have you noticed that too? Things are piling up as well, as I have to plan out my gift lists - I plan to make most of the gifts myself, but others are not that simple - and then there are plans already in formation for 2013. :-)

However, be it as it may, my Black Friday purchases are done, and my only plan for the weekend are resumed to: rest, rest, rest, rest and sleep. :-) Oh, I have many, many good plans! Maybe some scrapbooking, some crocheting myself a new hat... anything relaxing. ^_^

Thank You All! ^_^

First of all I'd like to thank everybody for making my last post such a success! I've never had such an audience before! So far my most read post was "Study in Pink: The Sherlock Mistake", so I'm sitting here blushing. Thank you really. ^_^ For a relatively hidden, secluded little blog, this is quite something. The Franklin Covey inserts I've offered up are also gone, in one day! Can you believe that? And no, don't come and say "oh that's because they were for free", because they are rather specific, and yet the blackness from which you all lovely readers come, yielded someone who could find a use to them... within a day. I know people, I've read blogs where people offer swapping or giving away all sorts of beautiful, more flexible things - pens, notebooks, make up, books, scarves, etc. - and they don't go away that fast.

So, what for today? Not much. My filofax is finally in the counter - spent the whole day of yesterday "on way to the counter", which being that it arrived to our international airport, and the counter where my stuff is sent is max. an hour away by car in bad traffic, a whole day was a bit too much. I did tweet to the company and offered them my eternal gratitude for the rest of the day if they delievered it to me yesterday, but I guess they are only after my money. And that they have no shame on taking! I mean, my filofax, with the shipping and handling within the States was $108. (I've got the $27 Personal Sketch, and all the rest are extra accessories, in case you wonder.) The cost of this company for shipping, handling and doing the customs PLUS the customs' amount is $63. Yes, that's 59% surplus. I mean, sure I know it costs money to ship stuff from the States to here, but 59%? It's a FILOFAX! Not livestock, plutonium or a home appliance! Not like I would order livestock online, mind you, but you know what I mean. No, I wouldn't order heavy metals either. I wouldn't know what to do with them.

Oh, sorry for talking about money, I know it's not nice, but I wanted to give you a clear view of what has me so upset with this company. I'll most likely chance to another company soon.

You know, that was a nice thing about living in Hungary: I had Amazon.com to mail directly to me. I didn't buy my filofax from Amazon.com, but from filofaxusa.com directly, so most likely I would have ordered mine from filofax UK - which would have probably put stars in the eyes of a certain Whoian I know ^_^ -, but still, it was the company and the postal service and not feeling like you are being ripped. It does have some advantages to living here though, like Amazon.com not telling me that "sorry, this product can't be delievered to your given address", and not being able to use my Prime membership. But be it as it may, I have my filofax!

I plan to continue making posts on the filofax matter, but also to impart to the world a few tips and tricks I've up my sleeve regarding "organizing" and how to make your life easier, while keeping a comfortable level of casual messiness. Nothing Martha Steward-like, but rather something that gives you the chance to fall off it and bounce back easily and making the whole process fun. I'll still have to think about that.

I'd also like to make a post about blogs about organization and filofaxes, for all those who would like to dive a little bit more into it. However I want to research some more on it, and also add a few youtube channels you can watch - which are really fun! - about the subject.

For all those who are not into it, fret not, there's still plenty of bitching in me for many, many more posts! It's not that I like to complain, but Goodness, life is full to the brim with people that get to my nerves, so you'll have plenty to read about that. :-) Oh, and I'll probably post again about Skyfall when I'm closer to my 10th time watching it and there's hardly any spoiling to me made!

We Have Sheers!

Our apartment looks different again, better, if I may say so, and the reason is simple: we hung our sheers from the windows. And Goodness Gracious! The difference it makes! Light isn't harsh in the room, though that has never been a problem, but the windows themselves have smoothed as well. The ugly gas pipes get somewhat better hid from sight, and the unslightly, discolored window frames are also discreetly taken away from the view.

We had bought the sheers perhaps a month ago, but didn't get to hang them, since it demanded time. We have three windows and for each of them there's a pair of sheers that need to be fitted. My boyfriend's job was to get on the ladder and hang the sheers twice - one for measuring them up and once when they were finished. My job was to measure the sheers, calculate the exact lenght with the expected 4% shrinkage (I totally love that IKEA tells you about this!), and then mark the lenght by ironing the part that would be the edge on each of the six sheer panes, then put in the fixing strip (a sort of plastic strip that sticks to the fabric when it's ironed to it, normally used to stiffen the fabric, but also to make a hem without stitching), and cut the excess fabric. It wasn't a short job, but we made it today at last, and I'm pleased with the results.

After visiting my penpal Trish on the weekend, I must admit that I'm quite ashamed of our apartment, as it isn't as taestfully arranged as theirs, but then again maybe I'm just being silly. There's no way, after all, that an economist who has spent most of her life in the tropic, could possibly compete with a consumed, professional interior designer and furniture connoisseur who happens to live in an artistic, tasteful town, where everything is just delightful.

Be it as it may, my boyfriend wants me to take pictures of the apartment, so he can upload them on the Real Estate web, to get a feel of the price our apartment could get. Realtors, you know.

I had plans for today, but none of them got completed. I was supposed to go to the Post Office, since I so brightly forgot to give my postcards to Trish - living with her kind offer - so she would post them for me from Braunau to my penpals. I think it is about time I start thinking about going to the doctor to get some "old people pills" prescribed. My memory is really, REALLY bad (maybe I sould start thinking also about getting a pillbox, so I can keep my medication in order for the future). Then I wanted to go to IKEA on a double mission. For once, the new collection would enter in August, so what better chance than right not to get a feel of what pieces of the old collection are leaving the scene and thus being sold at reduced prices. And we need two desks. Urgently.

The other reason is to search for small bottles. I'd like to take with me a few elements of Hungary that will accompany me wherever I am. Since the traditional elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) are kinda hard to get - due to the air - I was thinking about the five elements of Chinese philosophy (Wu Xing: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). The idea of it came to me the other day, when I was once again marveling at how different the soil is from that of Costa Rica. I guess I can't get over the pale, sandy type of earth we have here. I've already located the source for all of my elements, decided on each of them BUT I haven't found the bottles. Naturally plastic bottles won't do it, because I kinda want to keep the "organic", old, natural feeling to them, AND I need them also to contain water, so wood boxed wouldn't do it either. Now, the bottle you see in this picture is what I'm thinking about, in a small size, say 7 cm (3 inches) high, or with a 1dl capacity. That's all I need. I don't want to take the whole Danube with me, along with half of the Roman Excavations. But you know what? Getting these small bottles is impossible. I'm not kidding, it is impossible!

Upon this, and having bought in February some spice jars, I thought about making it happen with spice jars.

Well, the trip wasn't made, so we shall see if I can unglue myself from bed in time to go to IKEA and take a quick check around the kitchenware and see where can I hunt down my bottles. It doesn't help my case knowing that Amazon.com has them and sells them. :-( Why!? They wouldn't make it in time! (Not like I won't buy them! I will).

I'm packing - I just finished my first packing try out today - but I still have a lot of stuff to pack and to get. I at least want a mini cauldron (you would too, if you would have eaten that FABULOUS bogrács stuff I had! Wish I could pack a real size one and tons of venison... that would make me happy), and then some replicas of medieval time swords (mini!) and jewelry I saw being sold at one of the museums I visited. I'll still visit my favorite museum, but I doubt there's anything left for me to buy there, as I've bought all the Empress Sissi books and souvenirs I could get my hands on.

Well, tomorrow is a new day, and the cleaning lady is coming, so I'll have little time and plenty to do. ^_^

Tracking: The New Game in Town

Several series around in tv got in these days to their midseason break. A lot of sports finish a circuit in their seasons too, and red before the Playoffs. People plan their winter vacations, their holidays, and all sorts of new things come into view. Maniac Christmas decorating, heated declarations in favor or against it, a rush for buying gifts and planning huge dinners that will yield nothing but heartache and sorrow when someone doesn't show or they eat too much and their dieting efforts are tossed once again into the trash can.

For those of us who have gotten quite addicted to the online purchases, this is also the season when our Internet usage paramethers change. We don't spend so much time on the Twitter, or the Facebook, on google, youtube, sites of books on line and all kinds of magazines, but we are phisically and virtually glued to tracking sites. UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, you name it, and for some of us, constantly checking the site of the Smart Address company, minute by minute tracking our Black Friday purchases. In these days, for those of us who have to pick up our purchases at a counter, lines in the cold, easily going over one hour are expected. Worn out, tired clerks whose manners fray rapidly surround us, along with all the other customers from the horde. Here and there a newbie tries to strike a friendship with one elder customer, a seasoned online-buyer, and ask the most innocent questions, like "which sites are safe for buying?". Dude, do you remember those days? When the biggest worry was to have your card stolen?

You count your days, youwait for that specific checkpoint after which it will be in your hands in 24 hrs, only in this season, packages multiply and burst through the roof. There's no waiting room, and behind the counter you can no longer see the logo of the company. Everything is brown boxes and tons of friendly Amazon.com smiles.

Two of my three packages have arrived, with my beloved Colts' scarf landing in my hands yesterday after a 90 minute waiting in the cold, outside the counter in a tent that the wind was boxing into. My JCPenny coat is still in Miami. Hell, what's this doing still in Miami? Get it here right now!

Packs of customers reach out through every single available channel of communication, collapsing the entire system, with calls and messages sticking out like arms reaching from between the bars. Twitters load the different companies with questions and requests. The usual messages change. Now people hardly care about who's who and what's what, and the "I hate Los Intrusos" and "I love The Jonas Brothers" change for tracking numbers and "where's my order?".

For a courier company, it's a big season, for a courier employee it's hell, and for the customer a veritable nightmare we continue falling into over and over.

From our orders three packages are still on  their way here. Located, thanks Hyne, tracked, and we know where they are, but still, they are still to get to the counter. And so the tracking game is still on.

Mah Dream Phone

Phones and I have a very particular relationship, you see. Even though I work at a telco, and I worked for the longest time at the Mobile Division (until some smart ass thought there was no need for "product-lead divisions") I always had difficulty deciding which is the coolest phone for my taste. I've seen the longest parade of mobile phones ever, either because my coworkers had the compulsive need to change their phones every three months (while people in the country change it every 18 months, 12 months for the more "hip"), or because we had presentations and pilot plans with all kinds of ne devices. Slowly these toys and thingies, which capture everybody's attention, started to leave me cold, much like it happened with cash after I worked at the bank. No matter what new, fancy little feature they had, it wasn't that much of a deal for me. Even when the iPhone made a hit, for me it was a slab, a flat, glass-like brick that disn't do much for me. Sure, I used it in a fic titled "Scholomance" (really cool), but still, it wasn't mah ride. I wanted something in the line of the blackberry's but without looking like I was talking to a notebook.

I first noticed this handsome contraption in the movie "The Devil Wears Prada". May, I wanted that cute little phone Andrea was carrying around! Tried to read the brand but there was none. Oh, what should I do? I have this Sony Ericsson thingie... of which I have seen at least FIVE in the office, same color and all, and I'm not much attached to it. Works better than my useless iPod, that's for sure, and it's my first clam-phone... and I'm not crazy for clam phones. I bought it as my "emergency situation" phone, since I lost my phone on the plane in Caracas... so I do needed something to communicate, and this was like the first, cheapest thing available that had what I needed. However, even before I bought it I made plans to change it for something much more to my liking (which includes all features in Hungarian) on December when I go home. But what was I going to purchase for meself? ^_^ Now I know: Andy's phone. ^_^

To my delight, I discovered that I can actually personalize the skin of my sidekick with an online tool, which I just did, as you can see in the picture above. You don't have to like it, but I LOVE IT!

I guess this means I've found my phone.

E-bay's win a win for customers

My first thought was "fuck, I really should improve my French, because that sounded so wicked". But then, after reading it a tiny bit more carefully, I realized that, no fucking shit, e-bay actually claims that winning this trial against Tiffany's for letting people use the name of the brand on fake jewelry, and not be punished IS a step up for the rights of the customer. Fuck yeah! We are entitled to be taken for fools and cheated with cheap knock-offs in the name of fucking capitalism. Fuck dude, this makes my day! There's a company on the Internet, where trust is vital like air and fragile and expensive like a beautiful Lalique glass pendand, that ensures our right to be sold a lemon, to be tricked, cheated, robbed, misguided and subjects of forgery and fraud. Really, how can I thank them? Oh, I know! I'll never buy from them!!! Geez, that would be awesome, don't you think? ^_^ It would be just great! And since they lost a similar case in France, where those "stick-up-noses" pretend to protect the customer by forcing the enterprise to punish knock off sellers and disclaim faux products,, yet in American soil they where given the right to let their customers be cheated, well... would I buy something pricey or of a good brand from any Internet company? Oh, you can sit and wait for that to happen! Adidas sportswear from Internet? Not in my life time. Out of the cart!!! Lovely Swarowsky glass pendant ring? Give-It-Back! Lalique pendant for Christmas? Hahahahahahahahaha!!! Yeah right.

One case won sets a precedent, which will be brought up over and over and over in each long case, and meanwhile Internet companies, which should be the first ones to ensure the up-most quality and the most precise information (since you can't actually see the product and properly inspect it before purchasing it), let the veil of doubt fall upon their merchandise. It is easy to shake off their responsabilities and say that "the customer should know better", or that it a provider is bad it will eventually disappear because people will notice how bad business is with him or her. Suuuuuuuure! And rumors do not affect the stock market because eventually brokers will realize it was a rumor and they won't listen to it again.

I would like to say that the world, and the market, is not like in the books, so please don't be as stupid as to think that the perfect competition can be made a reality. I know there are a lot of imbecilic people out there, many of them product of purchasing their degrees or grouping up with "the right people" to get a job or get the school projects done instead of studying of Hyne forbid, "working". I mean, yes, I am a 108 Narcissist, but I am not stupid, and all in all my results are perfectly normal (someone as smart and hot as me NORMALLY will turn out to be narcissistic. Or what? Do you EXPECT ME to consider myself equal to my peers and just as STUPID? HA!!). So, I know about morons and imbeciles. I work at the very core of their civilization. Yeah, lazy and ignorant people, like those who think that "maths" have no use, and "history" is a waste of time, or that the "literature and language" class is a bunch of useless crap, and so, are likely to think that "perfect competition" is duable. However, the ones pushing these ideas into people's mind, pretending to have the key to get there, are not necesarily imbeciles, but rather corrupted people who need a smoke screen to ste their crooked business. Open markets so they can have a share of a former public enterprise. Sell State assets so they can get a "bonus" for it. Sure, they are imbeciles but that's not the matter. Their imbecility is shadowed by the smashing magnitude of their corruption. At least in the past, in the Ancient and Medieval times, these corrupts in power claimed to have a Divine Right, but what do these claim to have? The aproval of the people? The people they are squeezing into poverty and death?

World, where are the daughters and sons that once stepped up in France, in America and around the world in revolution for their right to be human?

Annoyance

If you are in my mail list from one of my yahoo.fr addresses, then you may have received a copy of the mail I sent to the people of Adam Hersh Posters. You may wonder what's the story about it. Well, simply put, I have fell in love with this poster made by Theophile-Alexander Steinlen known as "Tourné du Chat Noir". It's not only iconic of Paris, but also of the Parisian boheme, artist life. Today is the Birthday of a dear friend of mine and I wanted to give him something beautiful, something special, and all the meaning that this poster has, our shared love for cats, our love for art, for the creative and artistic evolution of mankind, as well as many perticular aspects of ourselves regarding our environment that are so similar to the story, the meaning of the Chat Noir Café, well, it made of this poster the perfect gift.

I went to Amazon, as always, selected the poster sad because Amazon was not selling it directly, but confident that someone with 4,5 start of rating would deliver the items with the usual Amazon efficiency. I ordered two posters because, well, I wanted one for myself too. Then came the first shock:

Posters: $5,98.
Shipping and handling: $9,97

Okay... the shipping more expensive than the items themselves. But then I booked it under the fact that, me being a Prime Rate Member at Amazon, I was no longer used to shipping and handling rates. I ordered two books from Amazon from the same date, and which hit Miami two days ago and are on the counter here today. I was going to pay a faster shipping for the posters so I would make only one trip when I realized this seller didn't have that option. Deception No.2. When I checked when the items will arrive to Miami, it was for tomorrow, Feb. 1st. That wasn't good either, but I thought my friend might not mind the delay on his present.

I tried to pay the purchases with my Raiffeisen card, but Amazon seems not to like my debit cards, so it smacked them back that same day. I, naturally, in order not to delay the delivery, put the purchases, ALL OF THEM on one of my credit cards. As soon as I received the e-mail that my purchases were shipped, I ran to check them to prealert them at my local courier company. That's when I realized that my books were sent, but the posters were not being shipped. So I went to check on them and the delivery date was moved to Feb 2nd-Feb 5th. Okay, that was LATE for me. I mean, my friend's Birthday is TODAY, Januar 31st, and waiting to get the poster on Feb 5th as the latest in Miami, and then wait 1 to 2 days to get it here was not doable. Yet I believed that with a lot of smiling I could manage and explain my friend that it was not that I forgot his present, but that the perfect present was delayed by the seller. I was Pissed but I could live with it. Deception No.3. I wish ti would have been only up to deception No.3, but Deception No.4 was waiting around the corner.

At the begining of this week I checked on the posters again and the delivery date was delayed yet again. This time it was Feb 5th to Feb. 8th. Well, I was not going to take that, would they delay the delivery of the posters until Christmas? Absolutely not. I wrote both to Adam Hersh Posters and to Amazon requesting to cancel the order since it would not be delivered on the originally offered date. Amazon immediatelly jumped up to help me, sending the cancelling e-mail from my part, since at that point that was all they could do. (So Adam Hersh Posters go TWO e-mails where I cancelled the order.) I received the confirmation of reception of my mail from Amazon, but nothing from the seller. Little later the seller sent me an e-mail telling me that my order was ready to be shipped. They do not listen. Deception No. 5. I wrote the again letting them know that I HAD cancelled the order. No answer, no answer and then, TODAY, two days AFTER I told them again that I wished to cancel my order, and that I had e-mailed them about it, as well as Amazon has told them about it, the tell me that my order had been SHIPPED and furthermore, some lady from the Customer Service Department sent me a mail telling me that my order couldn't be cancelled since it was already processed. Deception No. 6.

Now you may understand the upset (an therefore terribly mistyped) e-mail I sent them promising them I would let the world know what a piece of shit they are.

So please everybody, remember the name, Adam Hersh Posters and stay away from it, and let others know. Or recommend it to people you hate. ^_^