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laurainlimbo at 05:28pm on 02/09/2005
laurainlimbo at 05:28pm on 02/09/2005Once again, my email box has been empty for the last few days. Why did this, which I thought was the best way for me to communicate with family and friends across the ocean, turn into a one-way street?
A couple of days ago, I said that the weather was changing here, but its been unbelievably hot the last two days, so I spoke too soon. We are not using the air conditioning at night anymore, but during the day its still sweltering in our third floor room. I guess summer is not really over yet, even though the Japanese people say that Fall officially begins with the start of school, on September 1st. But I checked my calendar, and its not until the 23rd of September - the first day of Fall. And the weather is definitely still summer...
Well, as for the crisis with my computer, Masahiko has figured out that it is the disk drive itself that is not working. He tested it by hooking it up to his Japanese computer - and it doesn't work! This means that Dell should, according to the terms of my limited warranty, replace it for no charge. So that also means that I wasted almost 45 minutes, plus the cost of an international call, two days ago to talk to some incredibly stupid Indian woman (Dell has all of their technical support calls sent to either India or the Philippines) who was supposed to provide technical assistance. After all of that time, and about three or four tests to the computer, she deciphered (wrongly it turns out) that there was nothing wrong with the hardware of my computer - it was software issue, she told me. What a stupid cow! And I even told her that it had to be a hardware issue since even a program like Real Player won't read disks on my computer. I am planning to write a scathing letter to Dell telling them the whole situation and demanding that they repay me somehow - and of course I should get my driver fixed or replaced free of charge.
anyway, I think I've finally gotten a regular schedule for myself through the month of September. I will be working Wednesday evenings and Saturdays at the school in Shizuoka, and tutoring Noriko and her grandson and his friends on Friday afternoons. So, I'll be pretty busy - three days a week is a good schedule. And of course we will still work on our own school little by little - first we need to get the room repainted (wall papered, actually) and fixed up - and then advertise . . .
The nice thing about going to tutor for Noriko and the kids is that she always treats me to a very nice lunch on top of paying me for the tutoring. Of course I do have to pay for the train there and back, so the lunch is payback for that. Today we had delicious pasta and dessert - and I tutored her a bit and then the kids. They are cute - I will put some pictures on here next week.
Finally, just a thought on the whole crisis caused by the hurricane in New Orleans. I am truly shocked and even disgusted at how the people have been looting and raping and turning everthing into a "survival of the fittest" situation. I understand that people are frustrated and hungry and tired, and that the U.S. government is not doing enough for them, but the way people are behaving is not appropriate in a crisis situation. Did we see people looting and raping each other, and turning guns onto the police officers after the tsunami in Indonesia? Of course not. there was a genuine concern for the welfare of everyone, and for helping the survivors. And after the last big earthquake in Japan, in Kobe several years ago, people were working very hard to help each other - its in their nature to be concerned about other people's welfare. What happened to America? It is quite scary to see the real nature of people in America when faced with a crisis situation and it makes me afraid for the future of my country.
anyway, enough of my soapbox - don't even get me started on our wonderful President Bush and how little he has done to help out . . .
A couple of days ago, I said that the weather was changing here, but its been unbelievably hot the last two days, so I spoke too soon. We are not using the air conditioning at night anymore, but during the day its still sweltering in our third floor room. I guess summer is not really over yet, even though the Japanese people say that Fall officially begins with the start of school, on September 1st. But I checked my calendar, and its not until the 23rd of September - the first day of Fall. And the weather is definitely still summer...
Well, as for the crisis with my computer, Masahiko has figured out that it is the disk drive itself that is not working. He tested it by hooking it up to his Japanese computer - and it doesn't work! This means that Dell should, according to the terms of my limited warranty, replace it for no charge. So that also means that I wasted almost 45 minutes, plus the cost of an international call, two days ago to talk to some incredibly stupid Indian woman (Dell has all of their technical support calls sent to either India or the Philippines) who was supposed to provide technical assistance. After all of that time, and about three or four tests to the computer, she deciphered (wrongly it turns out) that there was nothing wrong with the hardware of my computer - it was software issue, she told me. What a stupid cow! And I even told her that it had to be a hardware issue since even a program like Real Player won't read disks on my computer. I am planning to write a scathing letter to Dell telling them the whole situation and demanding that they repay me somehow - and of course I should get my driver fixed or replaced free of charge.
anyway, I think I've finally gotten a regular schedule for myself through the month of September. I will be working Wednesday evenings and Saturdays at the school in Shizuoka, and tutoring Noriko and her grandson and his friends on Friday afternoons. So, I'll be pretty busy - three days a week is a good schedule. And of course we will still work on our own school little by little - first we need to get the room repainted (wall papered, actually) and fixed up - and then advertise . . .
The nice thing about going to tutor for Noriko and the kids is that she always treats me to a very nice lunch on top of paying me for the tutoring. Of course I do have to pay for the train there and back, so the lunch is payback for that. Today we had delicious pasta and dessert - and I tutored her a bit and then the kids. They are cute - I will put some pictures on here next week.
Finally, just a thought on the whole crisis caused by the hurricane in New Orleans. I am truly shocked and even disgusted at how the people have been looting and raping and turning everthing into a "survival of the fittest" situation. I understand that people are frustrated and hungry and tired, and that the U.S. government is not doing enough for them, but the way people are behaving is not appropriate in a crisis situation. Did we see people looting and raping each other, and turning guns onto the police officers after the tsunami in Indonesia? Of course not. there was a genuine concern for the welfare of everyone, and for helping the survivors. And after the last big earthquake in Japan, in Kobe several years ago, people were working very hard to help each other - its in their nature to be concerned about other people's welfare. What happened to America? It is quite scary to see the real nature of people in America when faced with a crisis situation and it makes me afraid for the future of my country.
anyway, enough of my soapbox - don't even get me started on our wonderful President Bush and how little he has done to help out . . .
indescribable
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