Endless frustration partially ended

Yesterday seemed to be a day of nothing but frustration. On top of the issue with the fraudulent co-author on amazon.co.uk, I got the gaming machine back from repair.

First, it took a MONTH to exchange a ram chip and the mouse plate around the touchpad.

When it returned, it was wiped of all information, even the drivers were all gone. I had to reinstall all drivers, and no, that did not happen easily and automatically. I also had to update and reinstall all the programs I had put in.

I am updating wow as I type, but all of that feels like child's play after I got up at 2 am tonight, unable to sleep from frustration, and finally managed to find the right way to install the drivers that followed the computer when it was new. Then I let it work on installing windows updates the rest of the night.

Anyway, this is for the Norwegians out there.

Hvis du tenker på å kjøpe en Asus maskin, tenk et par ganger til hvis du ikke er i nærheten av verkstedet deres på Kjeller, og du ikke tar automatisk back-up av arbeidet ditt hele tiden. Det tar lang tid å få deler, på tross av et godt system for å sjekke hva som skjer får du ikke noe mer hjelp enn dette når det begynner å drøye, og du kan ikke regne med at de tar vare på dataene på harddisken din. Den blir slettet, selv om feilen er et helt annet sted. Maskinen i seg selv er god, men det hjelper lite når den til nå har tibrakt en av fire måneder på verkstedet, og jeg har mistet mye av arbeidet jeg gjorde før RAM-kortet ble ødelagt.

Rett skal være rett, etter en måned tilbød de meg kompensasjon for at det tok så lang tid - en trådløs mus. Men det er ikke akkurat en fullgod erstatning for at jeg har vært uten et viktig arbeidsredskap i mer enn en måned.

From heaven to frustration

Just before Easter this year, I bought a new machine, a big, powerful gaming lap-top from Asus, on Hilde's recommendation. I loved it, despite the bulk (which makes it more schleppable than portable); the speed, the power the graphics - yes, I felt empowered.

So, what happened?

The motherboard is most likely dead. I have to mail the big thing in for repairs. And to do so, I have had to fill in their forms, and read the language on their sites. Now, the very polite and helpful clerk at the helpdesk had an accent which, for dialect-sensitive Norwegians marked him as originating from outside of Norway. He spoke perfect Norwegian though, no problem with understanding there. I don't think the following issues originate with him.

Once I started reading on the Asus help site, the problems started. First, the site did not like the signs I used. I eradicated all the Norwegian letters, æ, ø, å, which so often create problems. My mail was still not accepted. Then I removed all the "", and if that wasn't enough, the () was going next. This time it went through, though. And then I got to see the high point of the experience:

Registreringen er vellykket!

Vennligst merk at ønsket dato for opphentingen kan variere.
Den endelige opphentings datoen vil bli bekreftet på en email som sendes tilbake til deg i løpet av de neste 2 timene. (gelder kun Mandag-Fredag 07:00-16:00.
Vennligst forsikre om emailboksen ikke er full, eller din spamfilter ikke filtrerer bort emailen.

Now, if you're not a fluent Norwegian speaker, there's no problem. But Norwegian has genders, which influence pronouns, and the word "opphenting" means literally "upfetching", as ridiculous in Norwegian as in English - unless they arrive with a helicopter and actually fetch the machine "up". Also, they aren't fetching the machine at all, I have to mail it to them. Not to mention the simple typos. So: Bad grammar, nonsense words, typos and imprecise content.

Right, my English isn't perfect, far from it. That's why I, when ever I have a chance, use proof-readers. It's part of being a professional in a formal context: you make sure you make a good impression, and you can't be misunderstood. (Before I get slammed to death with my own typos, I don't consider this blog a formal context, it's just my personal writing, my responsibilities, my errors.)

I have a bad feeling about this experience. Very bad. It's making me regret I didn't spend a little more and got the Dell which was the alternative.

I am crossing my fingers, hoping, and hugging the new, shiny, functioning machine the college got for me, just a few weeks ago. Also I am praising the fact that I did some maniacal copying of the most important files just before I went to the states, and my recent habit of putting the pictures on a remote hard drive. I just may have been very lucky with that timing.