Me again!
Gosh, happy, happy :)

Those of you who follow my posts assiduously will remember that my parents received a refund from the AA (car insurance, not alcohol) because I recognised a bum deal when I saw one and drafted a letter.

This time round, Mum was very unhappy about their hoover (although not a Hoover, a Dyson) breaking down. Now she did have the nous to call their helpline, but was even more unhappy with the response. She was asked to dismantle the machine and although an engineer could be sent out, if it was not a replaceable part it would cost them £70 plus parts because despite the 5 year guarantee there is an expectation that customers take care of the vacuum cleaner. The 'rents do of course, but £70 cold hard cash scares Mum if she can't be sure.

They went out the same day and bought a cheap Hoover (yes, really a Hoover this time.)

No, sez I.
Dyson can do better than that.
Let's appeal to their brand-pride. They offer a 5 year guarantee, you are OAPs with health problems. You have not abused it.
You have similar-aged friends and the newspapers love a story like that.
So I drafted a letter. No mention of said friends or newspapers of course; you do not appeal to a company's PR department by making threats, veiled or otherwise.

I told no lies.
Mum amended it and she told no lies either. You know what I mean.
And I specifically said that there was no complaint about the person who handled the call, and Mum kept that in. Poor lass was following company policy.

Mum got a call today.
So sorry.
No responsibilty accepted, but an offer - without prejudice - for an engineer to come out free of charge and mend it. Just wish Mum & Dad had taken my advice and not bought another vacuum cleaner in the mean time. But it would have scared Mum into fits to have a house un-hoovered for three days.

Mum sez she will have one for upstairs and one for downstairs.
She's made up anyway, saying she wouldn't have argued this, or the AA issue and she's glad I am here.

And there it goes a little weird.
Because she's all apologising for being a bad mother and how she failed all of us and all this and all that.
I mean I get cross with her. Often. And I really dislike her double-standards and critical approach. But she is my Mum and I love her. So to hear this when I've made her happy and that means I am happy is... well, weird.

Maybe this has been sparked by me nearly getting a job. So perhaps a little bit of regret that the first thing she said was "Let's just hope they don't find out about your medical history." Which sent me tail between legs to break the news to you instead.

Anyway.
They will get their Dyson back (£370)
And that is really good news.
The new Hoover (£77) moves like a car with the handbrake on.

And anyone looking to buy a Dyson cleaner in the future - go for it. It's worth the initial payment for the peace of mind. Even if it took a letter.

Surely it's the health issues themselves? Maybe they're making her realize that she might lose you someday--though not for a long while, and not likely in any case, it still might be a sudden wake-up call for her that she can't take you for granted.

My drummer kid makes me happy. Horrible quality but you get the point.

I like how she looks so relaxed, "I've got this." You should be proud: Griff Krupa!

She was actually weirdly nervous, you can hear the tempo rise but what the hell, right? Pretty cool kid.

Very cool, put me in the mood. :thumb:

That's a really good way to look at it, thanks.
Damn cool kid.

Griff - that is fantastic!


I am so jealous of you all ... We don't really have any videos from when my kids were young.
AND my memory is not so good anymore :(

Picked up Universe Sandbox from Steam for less than $3. It's an astronomy simulator a lot like Celestia except you can add and edit celestial objects. I already increased Earth's mass to 55 suns to see what would happen. It has some nice prepackaged tutorials.

Kerbal Space Program is another one in that vein. It's an early release on Steam. Not complete, but very fun and has come a long way in the last year. I think I bought it for about $5.

Kerbal Space Program is now $23. :(

Thats a fun game , I landed saftly a few times and crashed into the Moon spectacularly a time or two , look for Scott Manely on Youtube , he is the Master , oh and Robaz rocks as well but for totaly different reasons !!!!

My steam buying strategy is to add things to my wishlist. They then email you when any of the games on your wishlist goes on sale. When the sale is killer (75% or so, or drops the game below the cost of a movie), I then buy. Sure, I don't get to play the cool stuff when it comes out, but I save a boatload in the long run.

On an annoying note: My gaming machine died a couple of months ago, and I still haven't taken the time to repair it.

Oh how much you all loved me! <tear>
And my creativity! Happy Guy Here!

I became an uncle yesterday!