- Kellogg’s Vector cereal lists vitamin B12 prominently on the back of the box implying (indirectly) that it is a source of B12. A closer look reveals that the cereal itself contains no B12, but if you have it with milk, your milk will have B12 in it.
- When you log into Hotmail the first page you see is a page full of other Microsoft services with a small link to your Inbox. The Inbox should be the first page.
- Car salesmen. I know this is a tired cliché, but the jackass at the local Mazda dealership was so bad my sister almost bought a car she knew wasn’t as good just to avoid giving him the business.
- Another tired cliché: sensational journalism. In the last week I have seen two CNN on-air personalities desperately trying to extract exaggeration from a medical specialist and computer specialist on the West Nile Virus and the Code Red virus, respectively.
- Matt in Montreal to see Radiohead.
Thank you for humouring me.
An excellent point about Hotmail, Steven. Overall though, I think the upgrade is a winner. I’ve been similarly impressed with MSN Explorer — though it continues the Microsoft trend of naming everything “Explorer”…
I agree Kirby. Hotmail has visual glitches with other browsers, but it looks sharp in IE and works well. Windows XP is looking pretty good ( as well (one of the guys in the office is running the preview program).
I was actually thought about complimenting Microsoft on the new visual style of Hotmail, but felt it didn’t fit with the negative spirit of the rest post.
I concur with regard to the Mazda salesman… though considering the level of incompetence displayed generally there, it begs the question… which one! Protege5’s are hot.
I dealt with the Mazda service department while living on PEI and was very pleased with them. But I didn’t buy my Protege there. Great car, though — can’t go wrong.
I’m unsure whether protege is being sarcastic or not, but I do think the Protoge5 is a good looking car.
I was also very amused to see Hyundai, maker of fine affordable vehicles, appropriate the saab look in their new Elantra.
Pet Peeve #5 – All photos of the Protoge5 are either using a fisheye lense, or at some angle that make the car look far longer than it is. I love it for its stubbiness.
Are North Americian buyers that afraid of short cars?
Pet Peeve #6 – On one of my many random upgrades, i switched to the new version of my keyboard drivers. While the interface has been cleaned up, and there are new functions (I can finally switch all the useless keys to other functions, or even turn them off). I can no longer hide the little pop-up that comes up when i change my volume level.
As well, the media button no longer comes up with a list of media players for you to choose the default from – it just goes to Windows Media Player by default. Damn them.
My Logitech No Frills + a wrist support comes in at #1 in my good purchases of 2001 so far. Beating out #2-Food for sustenance, #3-Eyeglasses and, #4-Underwear
Pet Peeve #27: Want to learn more about new Mazda Protege. Go to this page. See picture of Mazda Protege and think “I should click on this to learn more.” Doesn’t work. Give up. Will not buy Mazda.
I picked up a new VW Jetta last month and I must say that I am quite impressed. Good service, good looking car, great mileage, strange european trade offs – No standard CD player, but it has heated seats – Cool microchip key like the Mercedes in “Gone in 60 Seconds”, a nice web site and an overall sense of style that reminds me of Apple. They have a CD that you can buy through the web site that has all the tunes from their ads for the last 4-5 years.
A note on the stereo: My Jetta has a Monsoon 8 speaker premium sound system and the wiring is completed for the in-dash cd player and the in-trunk cd changer. According to VW the majority of Europeans just don’t listen to CD’s in their car. Apparently the VW’s only gained cup holders 2 or 3 years ago because, once again, the Europeans don’t drive through Tim’s for an Iced Quad-Quad Super Coff(TM), they go to coffee shops and sit down to enjoy their drink.
Even if you are more interested in another brand, go to VW and take one for a test drive. I think their level of service is quite high for PEI considering we don’t have any of the real top end dealers.
Yes Peter, I had a hard time finding a good link to a Mazda Protege (actually ended up linking to MSN’s Carpoint since there was so much javascript pop-up window thomfoolery on the mazda sites (both canadian and US).
Charlie, I know you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to announce your new purchase and I applaud you for waiting for an actually pertinent time (I wouldn’t have been so patient). Fine choice. I think the Jetta’s are one of the best looking cars made today.
Careful though, I heard a rumour that silver 1993 VW Fox’s can just burn to the ground without notice…
At first I was going to make fun of you guys (Charlie and Peter) for giving us geeks a bad name by having our automobile purchases influenced by the quality of the manufacturers websites. However, I do think it is reasonable to punish or reward a company with your business based on their customer service. And of course, a (good) website is (good) customer service.
My 1993 V-Dub Golf (aka flog) has two cup holders in the console.
Totally functional vehicle which with regular maintenance should never be replaced. Almost at 200,000 km and going for the quarter million. Perfect product as it denies its own consumption – though it admits entrophy through a great service department. Drives to Ontario for 60-75 bucks Canadian through the states. Provides perfect setting for Jake Thackery tunes and daydreams of catapulting wankle rotary engines hillside to hillside across local pastoral mixed grain valleys.
The service department here in PEI like most VW service department is populated with hobbiests who can give you tips on minor self servicing – maybe only if you let slip that you used to own a 4 superbettle with a sunroof.
Years ago I read that the sector of Germany after the war with the Wolfsburg factory was under British military control and the parts department was put under their parts to vehicles ratio – something like for every 8 cars on the road there will be 1 car in parts in the service departments and that the ratio is still in use. Most other companies have a far higher ratio and as a result the parts are disgustingly expensive – try getting an engine part for a Volvo or Saab. I replace the foam in the drivers seat for 50 bucks every few years including labour. Try that with a US or Japanese car.
Best of all it is a VW and you get smiles from other VW drivers who let you know they know. Rallies are neither exclusive nor embarassing. Not as inexpensive as they used to be. My long-sold 74 superbeetle cost $1,500.00 in 1986. My 1993 Golf cost $12,500 or so with a beater trade in 1994. They are into the low $20,000’s now. You can’t negotiate the price when you buy. Removes need for having to engage with a salesperson.
Wants: new Westphalia camper van, 70’s bettle convertable and a thing.
Cheeky Steve: No 1993 Fox.
Actually, my sphincter got a fright one day when I was kneeling on the back seat doing something. The car immediately filled with smoke. I jump out and haul the seat out – ingeniously not fixed to the frame as it was not necessary. The stuffing in the upholstery is STRAW and the last owner left the positive protection on the battery – ingeniously located under the rear seat – OFF. I know someone who said he had a pal die in the back seat of a beetle right on Spring garden road in the 70’s or 60’s. If you buy an old bug, have the upholstry checked for straw.
Only weak link in the design…other than the shortlived auto cut off system which sent a chunk of metal into the carb to physically cut off gas flow which was operated by way of magnet which when the electrics failed – which ingeniopusly VWs in Canada are prone to do – the magnet turns off, the cut off engages and you can’t start the car to get it to your local friendly service department.
Ok Al, you have slandered me in front of my fellow VW owners. However, after some research you appear to be right, mine was not a 1993 Fox (although there was too a 1993 VW Fox). Rather, it was a proud 1991 Fox.
Very shortly after I purchased my Fox I was driving down beautiful Greenleaf Drive in Sherwood when the car stalled and the electrical system shorted out. While I sat there feeling sorry for myself, the cab started to fill with smoke. A kindly neighbour got me a hilariously small fire extinguisher, which was like spitting on a forest fire.
By the time the fire department got there the engine was completely burned out. Another two minutes and the whole thing would have been burned to the frame.
Fire-fighters chuckled and asked, “That yours?”. Yes, sir. Yes it is.
I found out months later that the battery hadn’t been properly fastend and had bounced against the hood, sparking.
Lesson learned, even though they look like they are mostly metal, cars and their engines are remakably flamable.
I will forever remember standing with my neighbour George, waiting for the fire department standing a safe distance from the good Fox. Waiting for it to explode with a camera in my hand, but no film.
Now I blush. Why would VW have both a Golf and a Fox line in production the same year? I had assumed the arrival of the Golf meant the death of the Fox. [I truly made an “ass” of “u” and “me” – sorry]
More interestingly, are there many tales out there yet untold of the VW battery and its deal with the devil? Perhaps there are demon cars seeking out the unsuspicious lover of bargian priced reliable Euopean cars snapping up souls for the dark lord? Then again, both stories would have been far less traumatic with a little bit of a preventative approach to battery maintenance. Is that not always the way?
Alan said:
Al, I couldn’t help but picture you in the VW Cabrio ad (Nick Drave, Jake Thackery, whatever).
BTW, I happen to think that ad is one of the finest ever produced.
Agreed: Cabrio ad is stunning.
I thought I’d mention something funny, seeing how we’re slagging Mazda’s website. A friend of mine was a Mazda account manager for Doner Canada, a bigwig ad agency in TO that handles the Mazda account. Because he’s a proud island boy I decided he would be the appropriate person to notify when I discovered that the “Dealer locator” image map on Mazda’s website had mistaken Anticosti Island for PEI. In fact, the blob on the east coast that represented the Maritimes was missing PEI altogether, a small oversight I guess. My friend recently accepted a job with an agency in Bermuda.
I was actually thought about complimenting Microsoft on the new visual style of Hotmail, but felt it didn’t fit with the negative spirit of the rest post.
Actually, my sphincter got a fright one day when I was kneeling on the back seat doing something.
Owning no car, I can’t really post anything relevant except to say, again with the copy and paste and no content.
I don’t even get it this time. Is he confused my the typo? oh dear!
“copy and paste and no content”
Sphincter?! I don’t even know her!
Dan? Is that you?
T’was I.
I could not resist. I blame my time at silverorange, specifically Steve.
I was known as ‘Tunabelly’ in StarCraft games.
You have a nice Tunabelly Rob…
I’m gonna read the rest of this thread later (promise) but in the mean time…
On-air “personalities”?
I know that’s the term they usually use. I’ve always found it exceedingly narcissistic. It’s like, “They hired me for my exceptional personality”. Beyond that, those who use it on air tend to have a direct correlation between its frequency and their vacuousness.
if you were really curious, a search for “mazda protege” in google would have sufficed… all the non-advertising info you’d ever want to know about your car existed 2 clicks and 5500 members away, at http://www.protegeclub.com
i’m sure i’ll see you there!