“In order to serve customers better, we’ve discontinued technical support.”  So says Ted, the Generic Guy, in Scott Adams’ cartoon, Dilbert.  I sometimes wonder if there isn’t an element of this type of thing in real life on the part of some providers. 

While I was trying to get back to a movie on TV recently, the screen indicated this message: “A problem occurred while playing this item.  Try again later, or select a different item.  Go to [the provider’s online support address] for more information.” 

Read More

Einstein apparently said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  I guess I qualify, for I optimistically keep on buying things with zippers, hoping each time that the zipper will last. 

Just about everything I’ve ever owned along the lines of boots, sweaters, fleeces, pants, coats, suitcases, carry-ons, backpacks, tents, sleeping bags and briefcases, has been ruined prematurely by zippers. 

Read More

The ice floes stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see, a vast expanse of brilliant white shapes outlined by dark jagged patches of the ocean.  By contrast, the sky was such a clear blue that if an artist painted it that way, a critic would say it was too perfect. 

I was in the water at the edge of one of the ice floes, but I had no idea how I got there.  For some reason I could not feel the intense cold, but I knew I had to scramble out onto the ice floe beside me, or I would suffer the same fate as those who had been aboard the white wooden vessel I could see on the ocean floor through the clear water. 

Read More