What Simply Works!

I’ve got a new app installed in my Makoy today — Adobe Photoshop Elements for Mac! He he.  I just bought the download copy because it’s about 30aud cheaper than getting the actual package/CD copy.  I downloaded the trial copy a month ago and I enjoyed doing my digital scrapbooking stuff there.  I don’t need the CS series for it since I rarely (if not never) edit layers on my photos.

So, I’m happy to have this today and I have a few photos in mind to do layouts for.  Happy!

With my Photoshop order still on ‘Waiting for Payment’ status on its 4th day, I phoned the customer service around 930am and spoke to a guy named Sam.  He said that he needs to verify with the Accounts department if they received my payment and that he’ll give me a call back.

An hour later, I decided to ring him again and after four tries, I still got an automated message.  Even the status of the online support on their website shows OFFLINE when it’s still business hours!  I knew that something wasn’t right.  I thought that Sam is avoiding my call and placed the support status on my account as OFFLINE so that I won’t be able to reach him.  Tsk tsk!

Huh, good thing I’m a girl scout.  I called the husband at work, requested for him to call the company’s number and check whether he’ll get the answering machine.  I told him I was already panicking about my payment and how I wished I could get it back.

After about 15 minutes, the husband called.  He said he was ABLE to speak with somebody there, advised him that there was something wrong with the online transaction that our bank didn’t push the money to their account.  Halleluiah!  You see?  That man was indeed avoiding my call!?!?

Anyway, I’m thankful that my money is still intact and as the husband said, I should get the software straight from the store even if I have to fork about a bit more.  Btw, the online company is Tech4U.com.au.  You’ve been warned!

The customer service representative from the software company emailed me back regarding my payment inquiry for my Photoshop order. The email says that bank to bank payments require clearing for three days and that I should check on the order status by Oct 23. Whew! That’s a relief to know. That only means I will receive my package next week! A few days short of my expected delivery date but that’s okay. At least I can relax now knowing that my online purchase is going smoothly so far.

I was monitoring my online order for my Photoshop software yesterday and was surprised that the payment status remained “Waiting for payment”. I made a bank to bank transfer because that’s the fastest way and that paying via credit card or paypal will entail additional costs. I felt nervous a bit and left a quick note on their contact page to inquire about this. I hope everything goes smoothly. I will check with them again midday today.

To date, I have over 6,000 Entrecard points and I don’t know what to do with all of it! He he. Two of my blogger friends launched blog contests and used their EC points as prizes. Now I’m thinking of a contest myself. Acck! It’s so hard to be creative in this area! Ideas are welcome! Thank you.

What better way to increase one’s vocabulary than by using a vocabulary software from vocaboly.com. From an extensive database of words and definitions, there are also tests and games that make learning words fun. The website offers a free trial download where you can access all of the software’s functions. It is interesting to note that this program has been awarded by the Shareware Industry Awards for Best Educational software. If my daughter shows interest in learning bigger words someday, I’ll definitely consider this educational program or games for her.

Guess what?  I finally dropped my order of a real-deal Photoshop software last night!  Woot!  I had second thoughts at first because it is my first time to purchase software online but I did quick checks about the company on the net and customer feedbacks are favorable.  I hope to receive the box later this week!  I can’t wait!

At this moment, my internet connection is c.r.a.w.l.i.n.g. I can sing a Happy Birthday tune before I can save a blog post. Nope, we haven’t reached the download quota for the month (it’s pretty weird coming from Singapore where we don’t need to worry about such things). The problem is with our ISP. This happens every now and then and it’s pretty frustrating. Thankfully, our contract ends next month and we’re planning to move to another internet service provider.

Since I started shooting in RAW rather than JPG format, my laptop’s disk space only has 28.5 GB left. Although I create back-ups to an external hard disk, I plan to buy additional hard disks to move the huge files there. So as soon as I have the new disk ready, I will free-up some space then I will proceed to reformat the laptop to hopefully address the memory issues.

Finding information like names, addresses or phone location is made easy with an area code finder. With a few clicks on the searchareacodes.org website, you can also get a free reverse phone look up with just about any phone number. Have I mentioned that this service is free? Well, you can’t emphasize that enough.

With 10 days remaining on the trial version I downloaded almost a month ago, I’m contemplating on signing up for a full license.  The student license is almost half the price but I don’t know a teacher or a university student here who will let me use their IDs to sign-up.  A friend told me to get the software via torrent but this time, I prefer to get the real thing.  I’m okay with torrent stuff really but for some reason, since I’m really serious with this hobby, I’d like to get a license for it.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what the top websites are globally? When I came across talkreviews.co.uk, I found out that my former company is at the Top 20. Interestingly, when I further browsed the company’s link, the Alexa ranking, Google PR, traffic stats and user website reviews are all updated there. Aside from the Top 500 Sites, there are more links to Kids, Sports and Travel Websites. This is one of the best opinion website I’ve seen. Go on, check it out.

Since I started taking photos in RAW file as opposed to JPG format, I’m badly needing more disk space.  I can’t use a regular disk for this because one RAW file is approximately 14MB already!  So now, I’m looking at buying one or two external hard disks.  I’ll check out Ebay and Trading Post in a bit.

I hurriedly dismissed a telemarketer’s call yesterday after she introduced herself calling from a phone company. I waited until she finished her introduction and told her that I was busy in the kitchen and that I was not interested with her offer. Instead of letting go, she quipped, “Why not?”

Not liking the sound of her follow-up question, I just quickly put down the phone. That left me feeling a bit irritated for the lack of respect she showed. If only we have phone number reporting then I would have avoided the call.

My classmates back home are organizing a major high school reunion in 2010. I’m glad that they are doing a lot of leg work in terms of reaching out to our batch mates whom we haven’t had contact with for years. Thankfully, one of our classmates in the US volunteered to help search for contact information through phone book resource.

It’s an online facility that lets you search a phone number whether mobile, residential or commercial. Aside from the number, the contact details of the listed number can be pulled up from the database as well. The records are categorized by state and the corresponding area codes are provided, too. I’m sure my classmate will not have a hard time with his research because this site can provide exactly what he needs.

I earlier wrote about telemarketers who incessantly make calls at any time of day. I can’t say it enough but they can be a real pain. It happened more than once when my daughter and I are napping and we’ll be awakened by their calls. I wish our phone service has a function that reports annoying callers and at the same time blocks those phone numbers.

Although I would rather purchase my much coveted wide angle lens and flash, I think I have to prioritize my laptop first. My current Dell laptop has been extremely slow since I installed a trial version of a photo enhancement software two days ago.

In my dreams, I would get myself a MacBook Pro. But to be practical, I just might get myself a new Dell. I just wish the MacBook Pro is not that expensive. Boo.

MacBook Pro

Dell Studio 17

I almost lost my temper last week when I dealt with the customer service people of our current ISP. We lost our internet connection for four days and no one could pinpoint the problem that long.

I fully understand how technical support works, with my experience dealing with my SAP (an IT software) end-users before. So, what was irritating (to say the least) was the incompetence displayed by two of their support people who gave us every bit of misleading information related to our issue.

My husband took time-off to bring what was to be a “faulty” modem complete with the adaptor, splitter and Cat5e patch cable for repair. He spent a good deal of time at their office only to find out later on (with my help to troubleshoot) that the problem is with our phone line and not the modem.

It was emotionally exhausting. I am just delighted to know that the phone company obliged to fix the fault in less than 24 hours.

I confess. I get stressed out when I don’t have access to the Internet. Except when I’m on vacation, I feel that checking my blogs and emails are part of my daily routine.

Funny how new words are introduced when Google became popular. There’s Google-ing (which means searching/search on the Net) and now Discomgoogolation (coined from Discombulate – to confuse or frustrate and Google).  I think I’m showing signs of this Internet obsession disorder.

My personal laptops are both due for anti-virus software renewal. Knowing how the licenses get really expensive, I’m scouting possible alternatives to my current installed security software. My laptop was once attacked by an ad virus and it was a pain to run different anti-virus programs.

Apart from the popular security suites in the market, there’s a brand called Cyber Defender that offers the same virus protection at lesser price. They have both antivirus products and anti-spyware which for me are must-buys. Although there are freeware available for downloads off the Internet, they will not give full security compared to complete software packages. They‘ve got live technical support and one of their products has a 2GB online backup offer. Also, big companies have subscribed to Cyber Defender’s products, which should boost consumer confidence.

I’ve read once in the paper that spammers will likely increase in the months to come and that should already be a warning to us, computer users. I have already bookmarked their website and will work on buying a license soon. The Internet has become a big part of my day to day life and I don’t want to open up avenues for any computer virus attack.