Sanaseni asioista

Finnish spam, this is rare?

sanaseni — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:41:52 +0000

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Subject Hyv? yst?v?
Date Sun, 7 Jun 2009 21:26:12 +0000
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Hyv? yst?v?
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The flag

sanaseni — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:43:00 +0000

After much trial and error, I finally managed to cast my vote in the European parliament elections. Funnily I have to vote for Finns in the Finnish embassy, even if living in the UK. I wonder if I could vote even if I was living in a country outside of the EU? It seems that most of the candidates are running their ship with the best intentions of their home country first, and the EU as a distant second, making the selection of a suitable candidate that much harder. Thankfully there were plenty of suitable, open minded and well travelled candidates.
I had to vote under a grey and blue flag though. Somehow the embassy flag looked dirty, but there is hope that it was an optical illusion, as the building is really white and it was really sunny. However, the white of the flag should be as white as there is, and this wasn’t.

Flags outside the Finnish embassy in London

Naturally, I had to whine about this to the embassy.

Whine is good

sanaseni — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:38:29 +0000

Ever since becoming a househusband, I have had a ton of time to waste on helping companies in doing their business. I average three whines per week, to all organizations big and small. Every now and then, my voice is heard. That is more important than anything else. If the company listens, it will succeed. I will only spend my money on those who listen, as the others will wither while the listeners evolve. Most often there is a shroud of secrecy about how to get the message across.
The customer is often faced with a miniscule problem that absolutely no one cares. Common examples might be “an error message, go back”, “sorry, but we are unable to care” or “computer says no” messages, ones that could easily be logged, found and repaired with some housekeeping.
Then there are the actual problems, you cannot get the info/attention/service you want and was promised. Normally, this results in lost sales. The damage is not that big and these should be attended routinely and tackled massively only if they are the biggest worries.
The worst ones though, are the ones that include a broken cash till. Customer who has seen the ad, gotten to the shop, found the product, decided to buy it, filled in the form, queued to the till and is finally, offering the wad of hard earned notes for stuff they do not really need, but are refused. “No thanks, we do not want your money.”If insisting, offered a “Try again later”. Now for me, that is something that is wrong. There is energy and resources wasted here, I don’t like it. If I have the time, I try to make it right. Like telling the providers.

This is the challenge though, really is. First line of defence is always the customer service person or website. They will not take a message but offer excuses. If the message is forced through this layer, it is quite often going amiss. This is intentional, as the middle management rarely cares to do the job right and proper. Good enough is good enough, the whine needs to be blocked, or at least filtered and then ignored. Only issues that are really pursued and pressured are dealt with, as there is too much to do. More mass of issues being greater than the mass of time is a constant problem really. This forces the middle management into installing an internal messaging platform that can be made to handle the issues. Since there are more issues than time, the load becomes too much to handle and the system is then used to produce statistics of the messages. These statics can be tweaked and then produced as evidence against the whining customer, if necessary.
“I want to get this in blue” only 12% of you want it in blue, so we don’t have it now, but we can order it.
“I ordered it months ago” 88% of orders are delivered within established time parameters
“It does not work” Have you tried rebooting it? 72% of the problems go away after rebooting it.
“It is a pencil” 95% of our customers use a computer
“I want to speak to your supervisor” 25% of the time this happens. You have to fill in this form.
“With what, my pencil is not working!?” We have no records of that ever happening, you must be mistaken. Goodbye…
Now there are few ways of making this right, but they are absolutely never used, since the problem only exists if the no-one gives a shit. This is my theory, and I spend my free time trying to prove myself wrong.

Normally, I do some research to get some names of who might be able to right the wrong. This information is never volunteered and is always hidden. Then, armed with this list of names, I write an email addressing them all. I try to be brief and polite, write without emotions and enable them to make it right. Feedback is rare, promises frequent and proof to my theory is mounting. It is overwhelming, actually. The chain of exploitation goes right from top brass through management and customer care, down to me, the consumer. After a carefully orchestrated play, we find out that I could have gotten what I wanted had I just followed the white rabbit, or if Mr Anderson had taken the blue pill. Or if there wasn’t a glitch in the code.

You know – consumers do not care about reasons. In this ecosystem, the consumer holds all the resources, they should be listened.

Groceries online

sanaseni — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:10:30 +0000

I have been taking full advantage of the convenient webshops and deliveries around here. Or so I thought. I never actually planned for the meals or anything, just shopped what I wanted or thought we needed. Habitual enactment from previous experiences and customs. The thing is, shopping online makes you shop out of season and shopping weekly is not possible if you think daily (used to shop daily) and do not plan the menu.
Change has come. I now shop every five days, as the produce does not really stay fresh for a week. I also plan the menu for five days and then buy the ingredients. Planning makes all the difference for the taste, the balanced diet, budget and time. I recommend.

Getting rid of an old PC

sanaseni — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:16:57 +0000

Back in the day (90s’) a new laptop was supposed to last for three years. That was before we as consumers decided to want cheaper laptops. The warranties went to one year and the computers broke within a year or two. Then the EU stated that the minimum warranty is two years and dragged the kicking and screaming manufacturers back to sanity. Now they are still kicking and screaming, whining about the warranties not covering wear and tear, so when the cheap as chips hard disk goes bust, your warranty might not cover it. And you lost all your data. And you do not have a working PC anymore. All things concidered, you are in it – or are you?
Had you prepared for the inevitable, the story would be quite different. Your £200 netbook will most likely break, be dropped, spilled over or stolen within the first two years. As this is pretty much guaranteed, you should plan for this by keeping your data safe somewhere and having a mental image what to do then, when disaster strikes.
Get a new laptop. Just buy one, anywhere. If you bought it from a shop, give the shop your old laptop to recycle. If you are squemish about the data on the destroyed hard disk, you can always destroy it some more before turning the carcass in. The manufacturer of said computer is also obliged to recycle it. You can even order a pick-up from your house, the manufacturer has the EUs’ Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment or WEEE directive to obide. They can however, make you pay for the transport or just point you to their recycling center in your area.
Bottom line is, do not bin your old computer, there is no need. It is also bad, as the chemicals are not to go to a tip. And with the legistlation in place, thankfully, there is no need.
I have never tried this, but I will. In fact there is a german company called ALBA who are handling crapped HP’s in the UK. They are to collect them, but the price of the collection is not in yeat, awaiting their offer…

Green IT in credit crunch

sanaseni — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:57:06 +0000

Green and remote

Staying green or surviving the credit crunch? Why should they exclude one other? The whole idea of going or even staying green is saving money. That’s the whole point. I was in a pub the other day, when the owner asked “someone green” how to be more green. The someone did not know, as the answer requires some knowledge of the trade. Well, I know IT and I know how to be greener there. Here is how:
1: Reduce the waste of paper and power. Just do not print. Use a screensaver. Have a dark backround image. Use powersaving. Unplug your chargers when you are not charging anything. Turn off the lights for the night but do not switch everything off from the power button. Some switches are not designed to be used ten times a day, they will burn and you will have to get them fixed. If the switch is light to use, it is usually ok. If it is like turning a boat around, don’t flick it.
2: Minimize the waste of old computers. Do not buy anything you do not need or replace something that is working. The last thing you want is to throw away your 18 month old computer and buying a new greener one to replace it. When buying a new one, Ebay your old computer without the hard disk (information security) or wipe the disk good and proper, using a special software to do that. Ebaying it will get rid of the clutter, recycle the hardware while it is still of use and make you a little bit of money as well. Do not expect a great return on your investment – the point is to get rid of it, get use of it and to do the right thing.
3: Extend the life of existing systems. Up-to-date backups and good maintenance routines will give your computers and servers longer life spans, thus saving the environment. Use a good service or company for this, as it is really, really important that this is done properly.
4: Eliminate the risk of waste. When buying someting, make sure it is the right thing. Use expert help when buying a new router, firewall or a computer. That is if you are not an expert nor want to become one. To get what you need and eliminating the possibility of a bad purchase, you eliminate the risk of wasting the investment or wasting time trying to work with insufficient tools.
5: Enable the work from anywhere. You need two things, the tools and the rules. Travelling to work wastes time and energy, but working from home is often just a day off. The tools are easy to set up, a computer with an internet connection needs to have a remote support available, so any problems can be fixed on site. Support has to be available at home just the same as at the office. The home office might have some security issues that you might want to check before setting shop. But most important, make practises and establish targets for working at home. Demand results from that day, just as you would from a conference or a business meeting, even more. Any properly motivated employee is more efficient working four hours at home than eight hours at the office.

People in London

sanaseni — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:08:02 +0000

Millenium to St Pauls

I have had the fortune to meet various cultures in the same city and I find the spread interesting. Indians are behind the counter, that is any and all counters. Basically, whatever your food is, it comes from indians. It seems that art galleries are mostly taken over by french and frequented by very rude (smoking, farting, spitting and loudmouthing) french tourists. The english themselves work in pubs. It is impossible to go out and about without (over)hearing someones conversation in finnish and there are always japanese and chinese origins about, with their cameras documenting the travel for the holiday to be enjoyed at home. Most common tourist is english, as majority of the popula steer clear from the capital at all costs, only popping over a few times in their life. Most commonly observed are the two american twenty something girls going “oyh my god I waz like so-o…”
Before 9.30 on a weekend, when the city is almost empty and having only the homeless people around, is the best time. The worst would propably (never seen this personally) be before 9.30 on a weekday, as the londoners are around rushing to work. But I like all of them. They are the sight of the city.

Most typical sight in london

sanaseni — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:51:54 +0000

The doubledecker, black cab, post box and telephone booth + the crane

The most typical sights in london are nothing like you might think. Here is a picture in which I managed to capture many of the most common quintessentially Londonese institutions. The traditional Hackney Carriage or Black Cab is often seen in the city. Driven by a person with especially large hippocampus leaves little room for caring of pedestarians well-being. These cabrioles (where the word Cab comes) are not always black, in fact the London cab can be (and indeed are) of whatever colour since there is no rules about it. The sides are quite often plastered in colourful advertisements as well. The double decker bus is very cheap, easy to use, goes everywhere in what seems as a lightning speed. It does not try to kill you and the drivers are very humane. The one thing to remember is the getting of the ticket. With exact change in coins from a machine next to the bus stop. The driver does not sell these and there is no use for plastic money here. The red post box is a frequent sight and they really do look like that everywhere. With quarter of a pound the Royal mail will try to deliver your letter anywhere in the UK, sometime in the next two weeks. Funnily enough, double the money and they deliver anywhere in the world within 5 days. They have an extensive range of services and the ones that are not the absolute cheapest – are really, really good. Basically, move over DHL. Finally the telephone booth is still very much alive here. I have no clue how good or bad the service is, but there are several different companies operating these. They are definetely in use and I would guess that people make collect calls from these when they run out of money. Also, none of the “free to call” numbers are free when calling from mobiles, so I suppose people call their banks or such to whine about stuff, from public phones in the street. As it is free. Finland made the decision to remove even the very last booth last year. The brits might have been slow to act, but are now planning to build a nice Internet hotspot network with the phonebooth network. Finnish telcos prolly thought that someone should think of something to make some use of them, the workgroup appointed did not think of anyone to think anything, but knew that there are some guys who could tear them down… But it does not matter really, the thing that is most obvious and always visible in the town of London, is in this picture as well. It is not the sunny weather, that is rare. It is not the few tourists, as normally there are loads. It is very hard to take an outdoor picture without it being in it. Peeking from the backround, as always, it is the everpresent building crane.

Pandemic preparation 101 – hoard

sanaseni — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:17:42 +0000

The pandemic pig flu is quite possibly nothing to worry about. Then again, it might be akin to “Spanish flu” that killed millions. We live in a big city and the chances of catching said flu are unknown to me, but not to prepare would be foolish. I decided that the risk of doing nothing is greater than the risk of doing something, even if in vain. Just investing (not spending) 100 pounds is the plan I am going with.
Living in finland tought me to always have food for three days for the household. That is how long it takes for the government to get organized in case of shit hitting the fan, so each for themselves during those first three days. Pandemic could cripple the infrastructure as people would be staying home instead of working the system. Therefore I just simply up the hoard to a 10 day stash. On top of this, only some cold medicines, tissues and handwipes. And only a few luxury items, in thinking of what you want when you have the worst flu you have ever had and cannot leave the house for a week. Some tea and biscuits.

About the risk assessment, realization and actions

Risk does not come to be but you took no action
Well done, you were right. You have earned yourself the bragging rights and can mock everyone who did something.

Risk does not come to be but you took action
Well, you were wrong. You are the one who is being mocked now. Hopefully the action did not cost too much and you can live with it.

Risk does come true, but you took action
Well done, you were right to take the action. Now what matters that you took the right action and it was sufficient. If you did, then you should be alright, at least better off than most. There is no point doing this half-heartedly. Do it or don’t, but do it properly, if you decide to do it.

Risk comes true, but you took no action
Well now, you the weakest link – goodbye.

Now if the risk is ultimate and the cost of action is neglible, a logical response is to act, regardless of the propability of the risk materializing.

Spreading the flu 101

sanaseni — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:42:52 +0000

The flu spreads, as we all now know, through the extensive campaign from touching contaminated areas and airborne. The problem in UK is that the country is built to spread the flu. Yes, the open sewers have been eliminated, but the taps on the basins are still one for hot and one for cold old fashioned “touch me touch me” ones. So you wash your hands and touch the contaminated tap? It’s no good, you have to wash the taps first, then your hands. Lots of soap and hot water will do the job. Next, it is the drying of hands. Not drying would be really bad, as getting the hands dry is really the most important part to getting your hands germ free and to stop the spreading. And what then? Push the potentially contaminated button of the dryer to dry your hands. Finally, to get out of the loo, you have to pull the handle of the door, as they open inwards instead of out and cannot be just pushed woth your elbpw. The wet handle, as the previous person couldn’t dry hios hands properly. Ideal germination ground for the virus that was left on the handle by a previous person.
My two cents about ho to get rid of the flu? Fix the toilets. Install no touch taps, get some paper towels and change to doors that do not insist on touching.