Category: meh

Airport *security*?

[This post originally appeared in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull for several years.]

I missed my flight tonight. Now I’m writing this entry from the plane, which is a sure sign that things went well in the end. The flight was delayed. I was thankful for that. I have run all day, I was hardly ready to go at the scheduled time. I could have made it, it’s just that seeing the flight had a 25 minute delay, I left 25 minutes later than I intended.

Now the thing is that hold luggage should be checked in at the initially scheduled time. So the guy could not send my luggage in time. He asked if I had scissors or knives. Yes, I have a pair of scissors. I also had two smallish suitcases and a bag full of toiletries. The guy at the AF desk was almost willing to send me on the plane with all of my luggage. I said I couldn’t afford to lose them and would rather wait hours to be on a later flight than risk losing them to leave on time.

So he managed to book me on the next flight. It turned out I had to run because it was boarding pretty soon. He checked in my two suitcases and sent me with my bag full of toiletries and a pair of scissors. Sharp and pointy scissors. I thought the x-ray guys would stop me, look at me reproachfully, search for the scissors and take them from me.

Not at all. I also smuggled my entire collection of cigarette lighters and two matchbooks. That was for a Nice – Paris Orly flight. I don’t expect to smuggle these on the London Heathrow – Boston flight.

Update: I *did* smuggle them on the London – Boston flight too.

Less than impressed

I have been trying to close my accounts in a given bank since September 2005. I really thought that it was taken care of. Nope.

Mid-July I received a letter from them including the last letter I wrote them at the end of April. I had been advised at the local bank branch to enclose my credit card (that I had cut in halves, cutting right through the chip) and the blank checks too. So this letter is back. Just my letter, and theirs! Their letter says they could not close my account given that a life insurance account was still linked to it. They instructed that I meet with the local bank branch person. Again?!.

This life insurance account is closed of course. It took me months to close it and numerous phone calls and visits at the local branch of the bank.

I’m already bored writing this post! Let’s wrap it quickly. After sending my last letter, I followed the advice of my new bank and emptied the bank account I’m trying to close (after all the others linked accounts were eventually closed). Given that they just charged me the trimester fee for service (that I have stopped using back in September), my balance is now negative.

I wonder how long it will be till I’m definitely done with them. Also, it would be nice to get a refund of the service fees, all of them for the past 11 months.

paper–

I hate paper. I love books. It’s the one waste of paper that I agree with. But I really dislike paper letters (except for love letters, of course), pamphlets, brochures, junkmail and so on.

In May 2004, I think, I stopped opening my personal mail. It piled. I sorted it by sender or categories. I trashed what was junk every now and then. At the end of the year I moved. I brought my piles of mail with me. I got more mail and I stored it. Later I moved. I brought my piles with me. I sorted again. Every now and then I needed something that had been sent to me. I spent a fair share looking in boxes and piles, or suitcases for that very pile of mail I thought I’d find what I was looking for. I lost documents, naturally.

Since I stopped opening my mail, I have moved 6 or 7 times. My piles always followed me. Piles in a box, more piles bundled in files, others in plastic bags, and of course some piles are in plastic bags that are bundled in files that are in boxes. If only I remembered where these were…

One of these days I will do like I said: find them, open them, sort them, be a good girl. Then, I’ll have to open them as they come.

My company is fortunate I’m a good girl when I treat business mail.

virtual-album system of iPhoto 5

So I upgraded to Tiger a few days ago. It comes with iPhoto 5.

I really regret the disappearance of iPhoto Library/Albums/ 🙁

I searched around and found on a forum that with iPhoto 5, Apple has beefed up the virtual-album system. And adding insult to injury, I read that one doesn’t need to know a thing about the organisation of one’s hard disk to use iPhoto.

Hrmpf.