Christmas, Sailors and the Interwebs

I recorded some audio clips for Freesound years ago, and had forgotten until I got some feedback. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" : http://www.freesound.org/people/boater/sounds/3069

"Hello Sailor" was used by quite a few people - even in a music mashup which was quite hilarious. Listen to "1 H8 teh Interwebs" here: http://macidol.com/jamroom/bands/12339/

Rogers Mobile can be as inefficent as any Government

Once a year I try to pay Rogers for pre-paid phone service, and it's always an adventure. I'm supposed to be able to pay for one year of service using a credit card online. 

When I went to "Billing" in my online account to top-up my service, the website clearly showed my credit card was not "valid", even though I updated it months ago. There was no link anywhere to update my credit card expiry date.   

So over to spend another 10 minutes in Web chat, where "Jim" finally tells me that he has no access to pre-paid accounts. He tells me to phone Rogers. Since I've had various dead ends in their phone menus in the past, I asked him for the exact route to talk to the human who can fix this. That saved me at least another 10 minutes. 

I finally talked to someone on the phone, who not only was able to update my card's expiry date, but agreed to make the payment from my pre-paid credit instead of the credit card. Of course, only a human on a phone can do that too. So half an hour trying to pay them ended up saving me about $100.  Since I was now on a roll, I asked her why my pre-paid account no longer provides billing details online. So she agreed to send me (at no charge) a list of my calls and charges by - believe it or not - Canada Post!

Agism - the Final Prejudice

I have to say it's hard for me to understand why after 49 years using and programming computers, people think I'm a dinosaur just because I'm old. And female. (Some prejudices never seem to die.)

My "friends" ask complete idiots for help or information just because they're young and male. Then complain about the problems that result - to me. Sheesh! </grumpy>

Inspiration for Modern Girls

This tickles me somehow. Generally regarded as the first programmer, Ada Lovelace was born 200 years ago.  http://mentalfloss.com...

Follow that up with today's modern woman (almost) Maya Penn, who not only taught herself to program (HTML, javascript, python), she’s an animator, started her own business "Maya's Ideas" (at 8), teaches kids to become entrepreneurs, and operates a nonprofit called "Maya’s Ideas 4 The Planet".  She gave a TED talk at 13.  

Her business plan involves environmental awareness and giving back to make the world better. Did I mention she's still only 15!

How to find your Lost Dog

The dog owner should take a piece of clothing that they've worn all day, so the dog can pick up their scent on it.  Place it at the location where the dog was last seen.  If the dog has a crate or favorite toy, you can leave that too. Leave a bowl of water (but not food).  Leave a note asking people not to move these items.

Check the site regularly. Hopefully the dog will be waiting there.  Good luck.  (Original photo by @TheWorldImages)