I pinged the router but is dead! - Wednesday 16th November 2005

Posted on 2005/11/16 15:30:18 (November 2005).

Today I had to leave Taipei to go to Seoul. As usually packing was a pain in the arse, though the idea that this is the last leg of the trip raised the spirits a bit...


Fortunately, I received the news about my surgery,so that the mood could go right down again.
Basically due to a fund cutting that hit the Florentine hospitals, I am first of the list but I'll be postponed at least until the 10th of January, maybe more!!
This fucks up all the plans that I was making, plus there is no certainty of the date as I would have hoped at first.

On the way to Seoul I met a nice English chap, he's traveling around the world, living in different places, going to see strange areas and dangerous zones. Spending some time with him was rather good as he told me many stories about places that I want to go to see (Madagascar, India, Tibet), plus the trip went by quite quickly thanks to the long chat.

Of course this day wasn't going to end like this, there had to be another slide towards "pissed off" mood.
The bus. The bus that took us to the airport to the hotel took THREE BLOODY HOURS to get to the place... Nuff said. It took longer than flying from TAIWAN (2 hours)!
Anyways I get to my room, order some food and hook up the computer on the net and what happens? The connection is not working!!
So I try some simple connection checks and I realize that there is something either with the main server, or the cables in my room. I call the concierge, get the system engineer (as they call sys admin here), and manage to explain to the bloke what is the problem.
He's good and agrees with me, so he said that I should change the room.

The hotel people forget about me for 20 minutes, then I call back explaining the situation and all of a sudden they are really sorry for not calling, and the whole situation...
Three people come to my room, to carry the suitcases and bowing excusing themselves for the trouble...
Maybe I am too "English", but I worked in a similar environment and I started telling them that it was my fault, because I had to use the PC and that they should not worry etc etc...
Well they take me to the upper floor, there are HUGE doors with glass and all the furbishing is different... I was hoping that the connection would work from here, so I didn't really pay attention, but when I entered the new room, I was awestruck!
A massive room, with a proper bathroom + shower, all covered in carpets, marble, a massive TV plus a great bed!
I have been given a Junior suite!!!!! The pictures speak better than me, but the comparison with the Taipei room is not even possible... They are just in a different league!

So all in all, despite the ups and downs, the day is ending in a good way!

Hey, guys, just look at the saucy mags in the suitcase !!!! NAUGHTY LOX !!!!

Posted by Sheri at 2005/11/16 16:32:06.

Nice room, by the way.

Posted by Sheri at 2005/11/16 16:33:04.

Sheri: I am ashamed to reveal their true nature: WOMEN FASHION MAGS! In theory they are research material for our designers, in practice, I use them for personal leisure (such as wiping my ass etc etc...)

Posted by Lox at 2005/11/16 23:58:48.

It seems you have had a similar experience of up and down to me then Loxy - one minute in a good mood, then next minute pissed off.

Sorry to hear about your operation being put back. Still, even January 10th is less than 2 months away, and maybe it is good to have that sort of thing after Christmas? I assume there will be recovery time etc - and imagine the nightmare if they gave you some special pain killers to take which you meant you had to stop drinking... Bearable normally, but over Christmas....?

I am impressed with your room upgrade. I used to be very anti complaining, but recently I have found it does seem to get results. On my last flight from Japan to Europe we asked at check-in for the exit seats (i.e. more legroom), but somehow although the woman at the desk said that was OK, by the time we actually got onto the plane we seemed to be sitting somewhere else. We complained - in the most polite possible way - and when it turned out weirdly the exit seats were actually unoccupied we were offered them before anyone else.

As the old saying goes: "The best things come to those who whinge."

Posted by John at 2005/11/17 07:12:24.

John: Moodswings are bad, I don't like them but I think I am running out of steam on this trip. Probably it's due to it...

I guess you are right, the Xmas period op was really good ONLY under a company point of view. I can't seem to be able NOT to care, even if they treat me like shit and I want to leave...

As for the whineing thing, you are right. I will adopt this tecnique in the future, complaining gently, let's see... In the end I do pay for a service so...

Posted by Lox at 2005/11/17 08:22:32.

We gave up on TV in my household about four or five years ago and have never lokeod back. Had cable for about two months last year to watch the World Cup, then promptly had it disconnected. We watch movies on DVD some weeks not at all, other weeks maybe three or four and we have watched a couple TV series via DVD over the past couple years (the only ones I've gotten through are DEADWOOD and THE WIRE).My wife and I were talking about this last night, as we have sometimes tried to get into shows via DVD that people rave about and found them awful. It almost seems like you have to watch a lot, or a fair amount, of TV to really get into a lot of this stuff. I think that might explain why some people love TV and hate movies, and vice versa. When you go a while without it, seeing it is really kind of a shock; the flashing images, the volume of the commercials, everything. I see it on the monitors at the gym, but thankfully the sound is down and I'm not distracted by it. With few exceptions, I don't see any of the people in my real world on television that I can relate to, and that bothers and irritates me.As for reading, I read 85 books last year, so that averages to a little more than a book a week. I think my wife probably reads close to that many as well, though she doesn't keep track like I do (to date in 2011, I've read 28 books and watched 28 movies as well). I've also written half-a-dozen short stories and made progress in both a novel and a novella. I don't think I could have accomplished nearly so much if we had a TV, as I'm sure I would have gotten sucked into various sporting events at the very least (we did go to a local sports bar to watch the Arizona Wildcats during the NCAA tournament, I must confess).

Posted by Anzhelika at 2013/03/15 16:08:23.

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