Hopped Up On Lotus

On a cheerier note, last Friday (25th) it was a karaoke night put on by the Rushden Amature Theatrical Society in aid of buying them some more lights or something.
I got there quite early as per usual and was worried i’d be evacuating to the nearest propper pub within the first hour. The venue was the Rushden Athletic Club, a smoke filled hole with as many toddlers running around as working class oddballs drinking in there.

The night improved after the drinks started flowing though, here’s a hint to the atmosphere in the place: they didn’t even dim the lights until gone nine, and last orders were at eleven!

Still when all said and done, a nice night out.

Pictures in my gallery.

Its commonly reconised now that the blogosphere can make or a break a company. Gone are the days of the only people that only know of your gripes being the regulars down your local. The most famed example was when Dell got a slaughtering on a few peoples blogs to such an extent they made serious changes to their Customer Service structure.

As HUOL grows in popularily our influence grows with it so don’t take what I say next lightly.

The British School of Motoring have demonstrated apauling levels of professionalism and customer service to me in the last 2 days.

I had a driving lesson booked on Bank Holiday Monday, a lesson appointment which I had verified twice. No instructor turned on Monday and there was, of course, no one in the office to query.

I gave them a call first thing this morning to find out what had happened and was told in a very matter-of-fact way that the instructor was on holiday last week so couldn’t pick his appointments up for Monday when he got back as the office was shut over the weekend. When I asked why they had booked appointments he wouldn’t know he had, all I was told is that they had a text messaging service which perhaps didn’t reach him. Great.

I demanded some sort of compenstation and explained how I was seriously considering taking my custom elsewhere, but dispite charging £23.25 an hour they couldn’t even afford to give me 10% off my next (and first ongoing) lesson. To their credit, they did book me in for tomorrow evening at less than 48 hours notice, the least they could do.

I’m going to approach the instructor tomorrow with an open mind, but he will no doubt face a grilling as to what has happened. I am largely sure on it being an office cockup, as I have had dealings with this BSM office before, but I will still push for some money off. Its difficult to be pushy though without damaging any potential rapport I would like to build with a potential instructor, but I will let you know how I get on tomorrow.

I found this on a fellow geek’s blog. Funny little cartoon I thought deserved sharing.

The Smug Dragon

Sounding dodgy enough for you guys yet?

No, it’s not some bizarre Channel 4 Reality show, it’s my attempts to make Leather armour. I’m re-creating a 16th century technique called “Cuir Bouilli” and so far so good. If anyone gets any ideas of things they’ve seen or pictures they might see on the internet, please bung me a link so I can have some practice making stuff. Thanks.

p.s. Chris… those comment things still not working, please turn them on for me.

These two were clearly separated at birth.

Or maybe they’re clones…

(more…)

1. You can understand all of Sam’s techno babble.
2. You answer questions from friends and family with “indeed”.
3. You say “for crying out loud” when frustrated.
4. You stand in front of the mirror trying to perfect your one eyebrow arched look.
5. You and your friends can actually integrate various SG-1 Quotes into everyday conversation and still make it sound normal.
6. You attack everyone with a deep voice (i.e. Goa’uld).
7. You name your dog Murray.
8. You insist in having an apostrophe in your name.
9. You go up to Tony Blair and declare him a False God.
10. The Stargate opening theme tune is the only song on your play list.
11. Your entire computer screen is themed with Stargate references.
12. Your entire wardrobe consists of black shirts and green pants.
13. You own a large black cloak and speak with a deep voice.
14. You call your ‘Goa’uld’ fish O’Neill and Teal’c.
15. McGuyver?
16. You spend $35 US on a book on the SG1 universe, and not just to play it as a D20 module, but just to own it.
17. You name your cat Shrodinger
18. You refuse to eat any other jello but blue.
19. You stand at attention when you hear “Cree!”
20. You yell out Holy Hannah every time your surprised, amazed or shocked by something.
21. You say Sokar in stead of hell.
22. You name your pet/child Thor.
23. Every time your computer crashes, or you have a power failure, you blame it on the Replicators.