Having got myself an iPad almost two weeks ago, now seems like a good time to say what I think about it especially as I agonised for weeks over whether I should get one of these or an Android tablet. The bottom line to my decision to buy the iPad was that if I decided in a years time to upgrade then this peice of kit would invariably have a much higher resale value. Having said that, it cost a lot more in the first place so it should have a much higher value!
The initial setup experience was nothing like as simple as it is with Android, so Apple's 'it just works' slogan seemed pretty hollow on day one. It doesn't just work. Depending on what you want to do with the iPad you may need to do quite a lot of setup and annoyingly are faced with a lot of questions about using more of Apple's paid for services. Anyway, that aside, I now have it doing almost everything I want. Unfortunately the lack of Flash is a nuisance, and the lack of book mark sync could be another, but there are some apps I can buy that will hopefully more than make up for that.
Garage Band is probably the one app that's the saving grace for the iPad to me. It's an absolute bargain and is immensely powerful.
So, this thing is nice to use and the display is stunningly clear, typing is very easy despite the lack of any feel, and everything always feels very fluid. But... There really isn't anything that makes me want to say this is a must have gadget and it's biggest failing is its lack of expandability in the memory department. All Android devices have memory slots but not this thing! How the heck are you supposed to know when you buy it how much memory you're going to need in a few weeks or months time?
If I had to replace this tablet, or a friend asked for a recommendation, as nice as it is, I'd really find it quite difficult to justify an iPad over an Android tablet unless you were a total Apple fan.
Update: Just installed the iOS 6 update and am now seriously pissed off at the backward step this device has taken by dropping Google maps in favour of Apple's own useless mapping software. If I was in the market for a tablet right now, no question, I'd get an Android one.
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Dealing with a timeshare salesman - easy!
Last year we entered into a deal at the hotel we stayed at whereby if we paid for one week in advance we would get a free week (65,000 stayer points) in return for attending a 90 minute timeshare presentation sometime during the week we'd paid for. It was a good deal and we could use the free week at any Sheraton hotel worldwide and as they also own a lot of other brands it seemed like we couldn't lose. However, the major obstacle was of course that we knew we would get the hard sell, after all they're not going to give you a free week or so for nothing.
The hotel (and timeshare) in question is the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa, in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and it has been voted the best ski hotel in the US for the last couple of years so they know that they are selling something pretty special and very nice.
To be honest I was dreading the timeshare presentation, because I know what they can be like, so I spent the evening before scouring the web for any hints and tips. I decided pretty soon that all I really needed was a strategy because everything I read told me that that's how the salesmen work - they have a strategy.
Their strategy is to disarm you by trying to be your friend and making you feel like they care for you. They will act all happy and address you by your first name, tell you they have family connections in the country you live, or are planning to visit sometime soon etc. They want to try to and make you think that they like the things you like so they will ask lots of leading questions that help them build a picture of what you like. All this means that when they try to sell you the time-share you feel that everything they say is true and you can take it all on face value.
So I decided my strategy would be the exact opposite. The first thing we decided was thatSheila would say nothing - if she was asked any questions directly then I would answer. I would appear to be in an abrasive and argumentative mood. I would reveal nothing about myself other than the bare minimum. And I would be totally honest rather than polite.
And so it began... We had arranged the presentation to be at 4:00pm and they were late, so when the sales guy arrived all beaming smiles and friendly chat, I immediately complained about the lack of punctuality and told him that we had another appointment at 5:30 so he had already lost some of his time. He appeared agitated but tried to laugh it off. He tried to ask me some questions about personal things but I asked him to stick to the business in hand. He then launched into a presentation about all the hotels operated by Sheraton around the world, how wonderful they all were, and the potential for staying wherever we wanted to if we joined the SPG family (bought a timeshare). We both intentionally appeared uninterested, told him that we'd already seen the presentation before, and didn't like staying in big hotels anyway. He tried to regain ground by explaining that the hotels were in some amazing locations, but again we said they either in places we had already been or places we wouldn't want to go anyway.
He persevered, he really did, and every time I would knock him back with negative comments about the location or simply the size of the hotel, reminding him that we don't like staying in hotels. This is actually true. We don't like staying in hotels unless there is no alternative, and we would almost always rent an apartment or house for anything more than a couple of nights. Skiing is the only exception. This went on and on with me being negative to his every word and Sheila saying nothing. So we wound up in his office and he started telling us what all this would cost us. I told him that I didn't care what it cost as I had no intention of buying something I didn't want, so unless he could sell me a timeshare in a house in France nothing was going to change. After approaching the problem from a couple of different angles he said he's need to go and speak with his manager and we were left alone in his office.
We had already anticipated this would happen and had agreed that in this situation we would sit in silence as I can't help thinking that these offices are mic'ed up so they can know what your next move might be. After about 15 minutes he arrived with his manager. A miserable looking man who sat down and tried to make light conversation. Again I gave him the cold shoulder. Eventually he gave up, wrote some numbers on a piece of paper and basically threw it at us across the desk saying that was their best offer. I didn't even look at it and told him that whatever was written on it it was irrelevant because I still wasn't interested. He left. The first salesman said that he was beaten and was giving up, saying that it was clear he wasn't going to be able to sell us anything. He threw our certificate with our 65,000 points across the desk and walked out with the bare minimum of farewells. Job done and were out of there in just over 30 minutes!
We checked the certificate with SPG and it is kosher, in fact depending on the hotel we use it at it could be worth as many as 21 nights. So it looks like we will be spending a few nights in a hotel somewhere after all.
The hotel (and timeshare) in question is the Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa, in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and it has been voted the best ski hotel in the US for the last couple of years so they know that they are selling something pretty special and very nice.
To be honest I was dreading the timeshare presentation, because I know what they can be like, so I spent the evening before scouring the web for any hints and tips. I decided pretty soon that all I really needed was a strategy because everything I read told me that that's how the salesmen work - they have a strategy.
Their strategy is to disarm you by trying to be your friend and making you feel like they care for you. They will act all happy and address you by your first name, tell you they have family connections in the country you live, or are planning to visit sometime soon etc. They want to try to and make you think that they like the things you like so they will ask lots of leading questions that help them build a picture of what you like. All this means that when they try to sell you the time-share you feel that everything they say is true and you can take it all on face value.
So I decided my strategy would be the exact opposite. The first thing we decided was thatSheila would say nothing - if she was asked any questions directly then I would answer. I would appear to be in an abrasive and argumentative mood. I would reveal nothing about myself other than the bare minimum. And I would be totally honest rather than polite.
And so it began... We had arranged the presentation to be at 4:00pm and they were late, so when the sales guy arrived all beaming smiles and friendly chat, I immediately complained about the lack of punctuality and told him that we had another appointment at 5:30 so he had already lost some of his time. He appeared agitated but tried to laugh it off. He tried to ask me some questions about personal things but I asked him to stick to the business in hand. He then launched into a presentation about all the hotels operated by Sheraton around the world, how wonderful they all were, and the potential for staying wherever we wanted to if we joined the SPG family (bought a timeshare). We both intentionally appeared uninterested, told him that we'd already seen the presentation before, and didn't like staying in big hotels anyway. He tried to regain ground by explaining that the hotels were in some amazing locations, but again we said they either in places we had already been or places we wouldn't want to go anyway.
He persevered, he really did, and every time I would knock him back with negative comments about the location or simply the size of the hotel, reminding him that we don't like staying in hotels. This is actually true. We don't like staying in hotels unless there is no alternative, and we would almost always rent an apartment or house for anything more than a couple of nights. Skiing is the only exception. This went on and on with me being negative to his every word and Sheila saying nothing. So we wound up in his office and he started telling us what all this would cost us. I told him that I didn't care what it cost as I had no intention of buying something I didn't want, so unless he could sell me a timeshare in a house in France nothing was going to change. After approaching the problem from a couple of different angles he said he's need to go and speak with his manager and we were left alone in his office.
We had already anticipated this would happen and had agreed that in this situation we would sit in silence as I can't help thinking that these offices are mic'ed up so they can know what your next move might be. After about 15 minutes he arrived with his manager. A miserable looking man who sat down and tried to make light conversation. Again I gave him the cold shoulder. Eventually he gave up, wrote some numbers on a piece of paper and basically threw it at us across the desk saying that was their best offer. I didn't even look at it and told him that whatever was written on it it was irrelevant because I still wasn't interested. He left. The first salesman said that he was beaten and was giving up, saying that it was clear he wasn't going to be able to sell us anything. He threw our certificate with our 65,000 points across the desk and walked out with the bare minimum of farewells. Job done and were out of there in just over 30 minutes!
We checked the certificate with SPG and it is kosher, in fact depending on the hotel we use it at it could be worth as many as 21 nights. So it looks like we will be spending a few nights in a hotel somewhere after all.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A year without (paid) work
So a whole year has now gone by since I retired from IBM and I can't believe how it's flown by. Before I left I was worried about how I was going to fill the time, after all, my weekdays had pretty much been defined for me for the last 30 odd years and now I had to do it all myself.
I needn't have been worried. First off Sheila gave me the challenge of doing 33 things (one for every year I worked at IBM) that I'd never done before, all to be completed within that first year. I did all of them - the last one on the last day as it happened.
I've spent a lot more time in court this year as I'm now able to do all the last minute sittings that crop up most weeks. That's both interesting and fun and I'm happy to step in pretty much whenever I'm needed.
I became a trustee of two very different charities. One that is constantly struggling to get enough money to survive, and another that has a huge revenue stream and is constantly looking for ways to invest its money for the future. Both are very interesting, a lot of fun, and give me lots to think about and do.
I go into IBM one day most weeks where I'm a curator in the museum. We spend a lot of time getting old kit up and running which is both challenging and rewarding - and of course I get to see all my old buddies while I'm there.
Finally I'm playing guitar a lot more now than I did before. In a way I'm currently in three different bands. One is a four piece that does acoustic stuff with vocals, one a five piece band where I'm the lead guitarist, and a finally a guitar duo that could soon become a proper four piece band.
Oddly we haven't been away on any more vacations than we normally would. When we have been away we've been for longer but we had assumed we'd be off somewhere or the other all the time. Actually I think we've got the balance about right as we're both pretty busy most of the time doing all the different things we enjoy.
I needn't have been worried. First off Sheila gave me the challenge of doing 33 things (one for every year I worked at IBM) that I'd never done before, all to be completed within that first year. I did all of them - the last one on the last day as it happened.
I've spent a lot more time in court this year as I'm now able to do all the last minute sittings that crop up most weeks. That's both interesting and fun and I'm happy to step in pretty much whenever I'm needed.
I became a trustee of two very different charities. One that is constantly struggling to get enough money to survive, and another that has a huge revenue stream and is constantly looking for ways to invest its money for the future. Both are very interesting, a lot of fun, and give me lots to think about and do.
I go into IBM one day most weeks where I'm a curator in the museum. We spend a lot of time getting old kit up and running which is both challenging and rewarding - and of course I get to see all my old buddies while I'm there.
Finally I'm playing guitar a lot more now than I did before. In a way I'm currently in three different bands. One is a four piece that does acoustic stuff with vocals, one a five piece band where I'm the lead guitarist, and a finally a guitar duo that could soon become a proper four piece band.
Oddly we haven't been away on any more vacations than we normally would. When we have been away we've been for longer but we had assumed we'd be off somewhere or the other all the time. Actually I think we've got the balance about right as we're both pretty busy most of the time doing all the different things we enjoy.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Skiing stats
We've just got back from a little over three weeks in Colorado on a skiing trip, and some of the things I've never got to the bottom of are far I've skied and how fast I've skied. Now however I've got a neat little app that runs on my phone that can tell me everything that's going on when I'm on the move. Using GPS it will tell me all I need to know about how fast I've traveled, where I've traveled, and how far I've traveled.
I know this is all a bit nurdy but as a result of my handy little app I now know that in the nine days we skied we were actually slid a little over 300 miles downhill. We took the lift just over 100 times, we did a little over 180,000 vertical feet, and my maximum ski speed was 75kph. And as if all that wasn't enough the cost per lift ride was $8.40, the cost per mile skied = $2.80, and the average ski per day was 33.3 miles.
I know this is all a bit nurdy but as a result of my handy little app I now know that in the nine days we skied we were actually slid a little over 300 miles downhill. We took the lift just over 100 times, we did a little over 180,000 vertical feet, and my maximum ski speed was 75kph. And as if all that wasn't enough the cost per lift ride was $8.40, the cost per mile skied = $2.80, and the average ski per day was 33.3 miles.
September trip to France 2012
Just
an update of where we are with the trip. I'm really excited about this trip and I
know we have a great group of people who will have a lot of fun
together. If there is anything extra you need to know please just ask
me. The booking is confirmed for the week September 15-22.
This is who's coming along:
- Mark and Deborah
- Larry and Christine
- Mary and John
- Pete
- Jane
- Danny and Jane
- Mark and Sheila
- John and Sandra
- Rob and Andrea
The owner of Le Presbytere did give us a 10% discount from the published rate and will arrange anything we need while we're there - see his web pages (link below) for details on what he can do for us.
Here are the details about the house which is located here.
The grid ref: N44 48 30.7 E000 11 09.7
You can use Streetview to get a really good idea of the surrounding countryside, and here are pictures of the house we've taken.
Link to Train timetable
Link to video of Le Presbytere
Link to details about Le Presbytere
Other useful links:
http://www.tourisme-dordogne-paysfoyen.com/default.aspx?lg=5
http://www.tourisme-dordogne-paysfoyen.com/FR/randonnees_/les_sentiers_de_randonnee_en_pays_foyen.aspx?mode=listingWithOutSearch
http://www.pays-de-bergerac.com/pages/randonnees/index.asp
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Jazz
After 11 years of trouble free motoring Sheila's Honda HR-V has gone. It's been almost perfect since we got it as an ex demo car in 2001. Apart from wear and tear items hardly anything had gone wrong with it in 82K miles. One and a half new sets of tyres and a few wiper blades, and apart from service items it only had three things go wrong with it, and one of those was paid for by Honda. The other two were very minor and inexpensive.
To replace the HR-V we surprised ourselves by buying a three month old ex demo Honda Jazz. Surprised because it was always a given that we'd get a CR-V but in the end it seemed just too big and impractical. Amazingly despite its seemingly small size the Jazz is actually bigger on the inside than the HR-V was, and not actually any smaller than the CR-V is. Looks can obviously be very deceiving!
The Jazz is actually great fun to drive and not at all like you might expect given it's less than stellar image. It's got good nippy performance, is extremely quiet and smooth, handles well, and is loaded with many things that are options on most other cars. Two bikes will easily fit inside and the seats fold in ways I've never seen in other cars like it. And, on top of all that, it can easily do over 50mpg.
Fingers crossed that it will live up to its reputation and be another superbly reliable Honda.
To replace the HR-V we surprised ourselves by buying a three month old ex demo Honda Jazz. Surprised because it was always a given that we'd get a CR-V but in the end it seemed just too big and impractical. Amazingly despite its seemingly small size the Jazz is actually bigger on the inside than the HR-V was, and not actually any smaller than the CR-V is. Looks can obviously be very deceiving!
Fingers crossed that it will live up to its reputation and be another superbly reliable Honda.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Playing again
For the first time in about 15 years I'm about to go out and play guitar in a band. I used to do this on a regular basis for years and years, playing about 2 or 3 times a week, but stopped regular playing in the mid 80's doing only the odd gig after that.
The background to this is that the charity Sheila volunteers for is having a fund raiser in a local restaurant and needs to provide some live music as an added attraction to get people along. The husband of another volunteer, Danny, plays guitar and we have spoken about all the ins and outs of playing on all the occasions we've ever met previously. He has two daughters who are both good singers and so getting together to form a band seemed like an obvious thing to do.
We've decided that as we're playing in a restaurant we'll do an acoustic set with him playing a 6 string and me a 12 string in order to produce a really full sound. This also means we'll have good control over the sounds and the girls won't have to compete with us forcing the sound levels up. After all, people will be trying to eat while we'll be playing.
The rehearsals have been working out fantastically but I'd forgotten just how much hard work it can be with all those arrangements and chords to learn, let alone the fact that I didn't even know a lot of the songs so have had to learn many of them first. With only two weeks to go we need to cram in three more rehearsals and we should be ready to go. If it works out on the night, as well as it has so far, then everyone should have a great time.
The background to this is that the charity Sheila volunteers for is having a fund raiser in a local restaurant and needs to provide some live music as an added attraction to get people along. The husband of another volunteer, Danny, plays guitar and we have spoken about all the ins and outs of playing on all the occasions we've ever met previously. He has two daughters who are both good singers and so getting together to form a band seemed like an obvious thing to do.
We've decided that as we're playing in a restaurant we'll do an acoustic set with him playing a 6 string and me a 12 string in order to produce a really full sound. This also means we'll have good control over the sounds and the girls won't have to compete with us forcing the sound levels up. After all, people will be trying to eat while we'll be playing.
The rehearsals have been working out fantastically but I'd forgotten just how much hard work it can be with all those arrangements and chords to learn, let alone the fact that I didn't even know a lot of the songs so have had to learn many of them first. With only two weeks to go we need to cram in three more rehearsals and we should be ready to go. If it works out on the night, as well as it has so far, then everyone should have a great time.
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