intodimensions.com

In this article, the founder of Desijaan.com, a social networking site, is described as “the latest place to go in desi entertainment” and sure enough, it has a list of torrents of what seems to be a pretty decent list of Bollywood movies. Now I’m not really debating the legality of this but rather if the GN reporter should perhaps picked up on this and asked the guy about it. The fact that it’s a self-proclaimed social networking site doesn’t get questioned by the reporter either it seems. We all know of the issues there are with social networking and connecting online, so perhaps that should have been explored further as well.

A friend of ours is landing in Germany in about an hour and a half. We’ve helped him make reservations with Sixt Car Rental so that he can have a particular car (Mercedes C-Class or BMW 5 series) when he lands and even made a special request.

We just now called to try to make sure our friend will get the car we’ve requested and the very friendly customer support representative Sebastien told us no we can’t know that until just a few minutes (about 30) before it’s due to be picked up. In this day and age (2008) it seems amazing that such information is not available. So we ask Sebastien if we could call the local rental place to find out what cars they have. He politely answers no we can’t because they don’t have a phone. I’m sorry, but WTF? No phone? Yes, says Sebastien, the local office only have a special “call” so that customer service can contact them. “So”, I say to Sebastien, trying to keep a straight face, “what if I work in that local office, I don’t have a mobile phone, and my wife wants to know when I’ll be home for dinner?” Seems the only solution is for her to call Sixt customer service and they can contact me then, I guess. I started to laugh, and apologized to Sebastien for that, but I asked him of they record customer service calls. It took him a while to understand what I meant, but finally he said it might happen. I said I’d love a copy for my records, because I thought no one would believe me. It just felt like such an unreal experience. Just to add something to that, we asked Sebastien whether there was a supervisor or manager there that we could talk to and he said “no, it’s Sunday”. Of course, it’s Sunday in Germany so then there’s no need for any supervision or management. I wonder what Sebastien would do in a really tricky situation. I’m all for empowering employees, but there also needs to be some sort of authority available, even if it’s just over the phone, I would think.

This ended with me feeling like “this should be on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart” This was such a moment. Especially with the writers’ strike right now, they could make a reservation with Sixt and try to find out what car they’re going to get. Jon are you listening (reading?) - I won’t even charge for the idea.

Credit where credit is due though, after arguing with Sebastien for probably 10-15 minutes he was as polite and calm as ever. That’s rare to find and he should be congratulated for that performance. And I’m not blaming any of this on him, it’s unfortunate that he took the blunt of our frustration. Personally I blame Sixt the company for what seems to be stupid inflexible policies and procedures. They don’t put the customer in center, not at all, instead they seem to do what’s good for Sixt.

Anyway, we’re calling back in about an hour’s time to find out what car our friend will get. That’s around the time that Sebastien told us we should be able to find out.

I’ve been using Pownce for a while. It’s like Twitter or Jaiku if you know then, but they have a desktop software with which you can post.

Trying the Canon G9, here in macro mode.

Not much, and currently a bit messier than normal due to it being end of semester assessment period.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UAE24HRS.COM ANNOUNCES THE FIRST ALL-EMIRATI TEAM FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL 24 HOUR RACE

UAE24hrs.com, a Dubai-based motor sport organization, today announces the first team consisting of all UEA drivers to participate in the Toyo Tires 24 hour race at the Dubai Autodrome on January 10, 2008.

Taking part in the race are no less than 90 teams from 17 countries. For the first time in 2008, there will be a team representing the entire United Arab Emirates with all drivers being Emiratis. The race starts at 2 pm on Friday January 11, 2008, and runs for 24 hours. For the UAE24hrs.com team, the drivers are Mohammed Al-Abdooli, Mohammad Al-Falasi, Khalid Al-Mutawa, Mohammed Al-Owais, and OmranAl-Owais.

Mohammad Al-Falasi, the Team Captain of the UAE24hrs.com team said, “Having the 24 hour race in the Emirates is a wonderful opportunity for us as local drivers to showcase our talent and passion to the region and to the world. This will be a great test of our abilities and dedication, but we’re confident we can prevail. I know these guys and they are the best. We ‘re proud of our country and we’re proud to be the first team with all Emirati drivers taking part.”

The Toyo Tire 24hr race is a competition of endurance as much as it is of driving skills. Cars as well as drivers are put to severe tests and it’s only the team with the best working combination of drivers, car, mechanics, and more that stand a chance to win. Drivers will take turns in approximately two-hour shifts.

One of the drivers in the UAE24hrs.com Team, Omran Al-Owais, said, “This will be a great challenge for us both physically and mentally. We don’t just have to look after ourselves but the car has to run for 24 hours, which is something we’re working hard on together with our excellent mechanics.”

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UAE24hrs.com, run by a team of Emirati racecar drivers, is a UAE-based motor sport organization, which combines the experience of driving in races around the Gulf region with creating awareness about local motor sport events. You can find out more about UAE24hrs at http://uae24hrs.com.

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If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Crystal at +971-50-9211006, or e-mail at crystal@uae24hrs.com.

I had a question about a particular type of IKEA furniture, a motorized standing desk, so i went to the IKEA US site. There you can ask “Anna”, the IKEA help desk specialist, I guess.

I asked “Anna”:
Do you sell a motorized standing desk?

“Anna” answered:
Please have a look at the desks.

I asked:
Which one is motorized?

“Anna” answered:
I don’t know the answer to that question yet, I am sorry. Please contact your local store for help on the issue.

Unfortunately, it seems “Anna” is rather limited in her knowledge of IKEA products.