Computers and a competition

Hah! (I’ve been waiting for such a long time to open a blog post like so :)) What a couple of days I’ve just been through…

Firstly my sound card has given up the ghost. This happened some time last week, though I thought if I restored to the last pre-update status and restarted two or three times that the problem would miraculously repair itself. Not so. That brought me to Monday afternoon hanging on the line for customer service. The helpful gentleman on the other end of the line didn’t really want to speak English with me, which left me struggling for such technical terms as speakers (kaiuttimet) and headsets (kuulokkeet) etc. These are not words that fill my daily vocabulary anyway!

Luckily we crossed that barrier and traversed the sticky ground of serial numbers. Thank goodness for the universally recognised Alpha, Romeo, Sierra etc. There are Finnish equivalents (Aarne, Risto, Sakari) although they don’t spring to mind readily. This is definitely one list that I need to learn. Back to the service call and after a few seconds I’m instructed to write down a warranty return code and head to an special site dedicated for returns… Too easy.

Yes, too easy. It took me a long half an hour to work out that I should have used “http” instead of “www”. Then once that hurdle had been overcome I was faced with a page of text. Including a statement in bold red saying “read first”. It was far too much for my frazzled brain to deal with at the time, so this morning I picked up where I left off.

It turns out that the original packing that I tossed about a month ago is required for return. Humph. Oh well, I’m sure I can find some bubble wrap and cardboard. Reading further the power source has to go back as well. Hmm, odd shaped package then! Reading to the bottom of the page it appeared that every second statement seemed to absolve everybody of responsibility if something went wrong…

Eventually all fields are filled and appropriate boxes checked. An email has arrived with information about scheduling a pickup. I’m tempted to arrange pickup for after Easter. There’s some things I want to work on that don’t need sound… Wordt case scenario I could use the ‘house’computer. Upside it has sound, downside I’m last in line for access after The Engineer and Mr. 13. Very thankful for the “cloud” though. No last minute panic to back everything up 🙂

Now for the competition part! I’m contemplating holding a contest over on Heather’s Helsinki. I have some prizes. I have the “subject”. What do you think faithful follower? Do blog competitions work? Have you ever taken part in a competition that had prizes – real things that is? Was it properly run? Would it better on Facebook or Twitter? Serious questions that need answers! 😉