Tuesday, 18 October:
I spent the morning taking care of some grocery shopping. Thankfully, Suzanne finally got a good night's sleep. She is still resting today, but there are signs that she is returning to normal, and hopefully will be out and about in no time.
I called BT today to see about getting a phone, and apparently they do not accept U.S. cards as a form of payment. It is strange how it is a royal pain to get a bank account in the U.K. but everyone expects that you have one to order services. To get a UK bank account, I have to have a utility or phone bill proving my address. OK, so to get a phone number, I have to have a card from a UK bank to set up direct debit. Are you as annoyed as I am about this? Probably not.
There is a solution, but it is not a fun one either. You can go to the post office and pick up what would be a money order in the U.S. but is called a post order here and send it to BT. When they receive the order, they will open the phone line for you. I hate mailing things. I find it to be a very archaic way to doing almost anything but transferring physical goods from one place to another. I am a net addict, so want to be able to do everything online or by phone. Even documents should be allowed to be scanned in and transferred electronically, rather than having to do everything via snail mail.
My aggravation might have something to do with my little adventure to get my passport, where my wonderfully happy picture and all my citizenship paperwork was lost by Fedex/Kinkos and never recovered, so I had to drive up to the consulate in Los Angeles to get new documentation, and send less than happy photos out the second time. I was so angry in the pictures that I am surprised that I don't get searched as an IRA terrorist every time I show my passport. *Note--I am not a terrorist, I do not support any terror group on any level and I have never been in association with any anti-government group of any kind. I do not condone acts of terror for any reason! There, I don't think anyone can mistake my intentions.
Back to the point, I now have to rely on the British Postal Service to get my 50GBP deposit to the phone company in a timely manner so that I can have phone service. Once I get that, I can get internet service five business days later. So I might not have to go to Starbucks as early as the end of next week to check my email. And, hurray for me, I earn 3.5% interest on my 50GBP for the twelve months I am required to leave it in BTs hands. Whew, almost to retirement baby!
You heard it here first! *Warning, intellectual property follows. By continuing to read, you agree to not infringe upon the ideas listed nor to attempt to profit from them.*
So here's my idea: Create a certification standard that is very rigid in its rules as to who is allowed to "notorize" documents. Once this standard is in place, you approach government agencies, consulates, embassies, phone companies, cable companies, banks, etc. and show them the levels of guarantee that you offer with your certification, then you get them to approve you certification as allowable for the documents they regularly require. You would then partner with a larger carrier, either the shade of poo trucks or Republic Quickly and be in all of their stores as a document transfer service. People would come in with original documents, that you would verify as legitimate, then you would be able to scan said documents and send them to the required agency's appropriate email and the email would then be accepted as originals. No more lost in the mail documents, no more waiting for two or more weeks for documents to arrive, be processed, then returned. No more worries. Of course there would be a notarization fee, that would make your money. The idea is appealing for agencies, as they no longer have to worry about your documentation, they print and file. It is appealing to people like me who hate snail mail, and it is appealing to mail services, as they are not dealing with losing important documentation that has no real monetary value, and incurs a minimal charge for shipping. Now to find investors. If you have an interest in investing, email imcrossingthepond at gmail dot com.
So I went to the post office and asked if I could use a traveller's check to pay for my post note. Nope, I have to cash it and they charge 3GBP for that. But, since I also need a stamp (0.20GBP) I can buy the stamp with the traveller's check, they will give me my change, then I can pay for my post note with cash. Hmm... I love bureaucracies! The interesting ways they come up with for doing business. Now I need an envelope too, but I can't buy that at the post office window, I have to go down to the end of the post office and purchase that at the post office store. So after spending my 53.95GBP I was all set to send off my 50GBP deposit that I couldn't take care of over the phone. I dropped it in the mail slot, checked to make sure that I couldn't grab it back out again and offered up a prayer to the god of post carriers that it would get there, and hopefully in good time. I should note that the reason for the deposit is that I have no British credit on file and have never had a BT phone line before.
Kudos to my Dad won his first sailing race in a few months on Saturday. It was a real come from behind win and he was down two of his normal crew (myself being one of them). He had a sailing novice on board and a no show for the other crew member. Having raced more than a few times on his boat, it is a hell of a feat to win with only one crew member and to have that crew member be a novice makes it doubly impressive. I really miss racing every month! If there is anyone who would like to sponsor a racing team by flying me to San Diego and back once a month, please let me know. I am sure that we can work out some sail space for advertising. You would be seen on one of the most gorgeous boats in San Diego's bay and it regularly is a podium finisher. To discuss terms of sponsorship, please email me at imcrossingthepond at gmail dot com (using appropriate symbols instead of the words. I am trying to reduce spambot notice by not putting the symbols).
Final note. Every time I bring up Google, I type in google.com and get google.de. This is not a problem, as the search still works just as well, but I keep wondering why my bought in the USA laptop that is sitting in London England thinks it should be in Germany. Maybe my laptop has biometric ID and figured out that I was born in Berlin, so figures that the closer I get to the German border, the more I am going to want German sites. I will have to take a trip to Germany to see if all of windows converts to German or if it is just Google. It could be as simple as T-Mobile being a German company, and so all defaults are to german sites if necessary. More research to follow. It is really time for me to get out of Starbucks, as they have started playing Bob Dylan, whom I can't stand listening to.
I called BT today to see about getting a phone, and apparently they do not accept U.S. cards as a form of payment. It is strange how it is a royal pain to get a bank account in the U.K. but everyone expects that you have one to order services. To get a UK bank account, I have to have a utility or phone bill proving my address. OK, so to get a phone number, I have to have a card from a UK bank to set up direct debit. Are you as annoyed as I am about this? Probably not.
There is a solution, but it is not a fun one either. You can go to the post office and pick up what would be a money order in the U.S. but is called a post order here and send it to BT. When they receive the order, they will open the phone line for you. I hate mailing things. I find it to be a very archaic way to doing almost anything but transferring physical goods from one place to another. I am a net addict, so want to be able to do everything online or by phone. Even documents should be allowed to be scanned in and transferred electronically, rather than having to do everything via snail mail.
My aggravation might have something to do with my little adventure to get my passport, where my wonderfully happy picture and all my citizenship paperwork was lost by Fedex/Kinkos and never recovered, so I had to drive up to the consulate in Los Angeles to get new documentation, and send less than happy photos out the second time. I was so angry in the pictures that I am surprised that I don't get searched as an IRA terrorist every time I show my passport. *Note--I am not a terrorist, I do not support any terror group on any level and I have never been in association with any anti-government group of any kind. I do not condone acts of terror for any reason! There, I don't think anyone can mistake my intentions.
Back to the point, I now have to rely on the British Postal Service to get my 50GBP deposit to the phone company in a timely manner so that I can have phone service. Once I get that, I can get internet service five business days later. So I might not have to go to Starbucks as early as the end of next week to check my email. And, hurray for me, I earn 3.5% interest on my 50GBP for the twelve months I am required to leave it in BTs hands. Whew, almost to retirement baby!
You heard it here first! *Warning, intellectual property follows. By continuing to read, you agree to not infringe upon the ideas listed nor to attempt to profit from them.*
So here's my idea: Create a certification standard that is very rigid in its rules as to who is allowed to "notorize" documents. Once this standard is in place, you approach government agencies, consulates, embassies, phone companies, cable companies, banks, etc. and show them the levels of guarantee that you offer with your certification, then you get them to approve you certification as allowable for the documents they regularly require. You would then partner with a larger carrier, either the shade of poo trucks or Republic Quickly and be in all of their stores as a document transfer service. People would come in with original documents, that you would verify as legitimate, then you would be able to scan said documents and send them to the required agency's appropriate email and the email would then be accepted as originals. No more lost in the mail documents, no more waiting for two or more weeks for documents to arrive, be processed, then returned. No more worries. Of course there would be a notarization fee, that would make your money. The idea is appealing for agencies, as they no longer have to worry about your documentation, they print and file. It is appealing to people like me who hate snail mail, and it is appealing to mail services, as they are not dealing with losing important documentation that has no real monetary value, and incurs a minimal charge for shipping. Now to find investors. If you have an interest in investing, email imcrossingthepond at gmail dot com.
So I went to the post office and asked if I could use a traveller's check to pay for my post note. Nope, I have to cash it and they charge 3GBP for that. But, since I also need a stamp (0.20GBP) I can buy the stamp with the traveller's check, they will give me my change, then I can pay for my post note with cash. Hmm... I love bureaucracies! The interesting ways they come up with for doing business. Now I need an envelope too, but I can't buy that at the post office window, I have to go down to the end of the post office and purchase that at the post office store. So after spending my 53.95GBP I was all set to send off my 50GBP deposit that I couldn't take care of over the phone. I dropped it in the mail slot, checked to make sure that I couldn't grab it back out again and offered up a prayer to the god of post carriers that it would get there, and hopefully in good time. I should note that the reason for the deposit is that I have no British credit on file and have never had a BT phone line before.
Kudos to my Dad won his first sailing race in a few months on Saturday. It was a real come from behind win and he was down two of his normal crew (myself being one of them). He had a sailing novice on board and a no show for the other crew member. Having raced more than a few times on his boat, it is a hell of a feat to win with only one crew member and to have that crew member be a novice makes it doubly impressive. I really miss racing every month! If there is anyone who would like to sponsor a racing team by flying me to San Diego and back once a month, please let me know. I am sure that we can work out some sail space for advertising. You would be seen on one of the most gorgeous boats in San Diego's bay and it regularly is a podium finisher. To discuss terms of sponsorship, please email me at imcrossingthepond at gmail dot com (using appropriate symbols instead of the words. I am trying to reduce spambot notice by not putting the symbols).
Final note. Every time I bring up Google, I type in google.com and get google.de. This is not a problem, as the search still works just as well, but I keep wondering why my bought in the USA laptop that is sitting in London England thinks it should be in Germany. Maybe my laptop has biometric ID and figured out that I was born in Berlin, so figures that the closer I get to the German border, the more I am going to want German sites. I will have to take a trip to Germany to see if all of windows converts to German or if it is just Google. It could be as simple as T-Mobile being a German company, and so all defaults are to german sites if necessary. More research to follow. It is really time for me to get out of Starbucks, as they have started playing Bob Dylan, whom I can't stand listening to.
posted by Unknown at 7:32 AM
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