Awesome of the Week - 02/21/11

Holy crap, did you see a computer play Jeopardy! last week?  It was freaking AWESOME!  I find it equally fascinating and hilarious.  How amazing is it that we can teach a computer about the complexities of human language?  Jeopardy! clues aren't always strait forward, so I am completely in awe that "Watson" can pick up on the subtle clues and get the right answer.  I'm filled with wonder about the many applications "Watson" will be put to in the future.  Plus this whole experiment was doubly amazing because it was Jeopardy! and Jeopardy! is rad in itself.  I'm not sure how long these clips will last on YouTube, but seriously, watch them before they are gone.  They are the definition of AWESOME.

Episode One: Part One




Episode One: Part Two




Episode Two: Part One




Episode Two: Part Two




Episode Three: Part One




Episode Three: Part Two

Surfing Saturday - 02/19/11

Surfing Saturday: a weekly round up of some of my favourite links on the interwebs.

Music

If you haven't heard it yet, go over to LadyGaga.com and listen to Born This Way.  It is a TONNE of fun and the song will start playing right when you land on her page.  You can also watch massively talented ten year old Maria Aragon from Winnipeg sing it too, by clicking over to YouTube.  There is also THIS ADORABLE video of Maria talking to GAGA while on a Winnipeg radio station yesterday morning!  It is so sweet I watched it twice!

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Canadian Music Awards, The Junos.  In honour of the anniversary, they are having a contest where you vote for your ten favourite Juno nominated songs by following this link to their Facebook Page.  I don't think you have to "Like" the Juno page to vote, but you do have to accept an application to submit your list.  There are too many amazing/classic songs to choose from that I couldn't pick my favourite ten, so I haven't voted.  Some of the awesome choices include: Rock Me Gently by Andy Kim, Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone by Glass Tiger, Can't Stop This Thing We Started by Bryan Adams, Drinking in L.A. by Bran Van 3000, and Could I be Your Girl by Jann Arden.


Geeky Goodness

I recently discovered some online photo editors.  FotoFlexer provides many different tools to embellish and enhance your photos, and there is even a function that lets you merge two photos together.  I used FotoFlexer to add the text and the border to the above photo of Gary.  I also tried Picnik, which has some pretty cool shapes and designs that you can layer onto your photos.  I also like that you don't have to "sign-up" to use these services.

Atomic Tom does a pretty good cover of Don't You Want Me for a movie coming out called Take Me Home Tonight. The music video is really fun, with the movie's actors portraying iconic scenes from 80's flicks.

Rick Mercer does a nice send up of the proposed metered internet in Canada.

This is the best use of Justin Bieber I have ever seen.  Have a great weekend everybody!

Everything is a Photo Opportunity #5

This isn't exactly a photo, but this is the image that greeted me when I went to the knitting blog Rhythm of the Needles this morning.  I won a book!  How fantastic!  I won "It Itches" and it is a humorous book for knitters. Many thanks to Joanne at Rhythm of the Needles for this fun contest! :)

To Enjoy The Whole Year Through

I reluctantly took down my Christmas cards yesterday.  I know, it is the middle of February, but I love greeting cards and love having the "cheer" hanging around.

Look how festive and happy these are!

As I was taking them down, I got the bright idea to leave the string up and display whatever random greeting cards I'll receive throughout the year.  Previously, greeting cards would sit on my desk, but due to limited space they were easily knocked over and didn't get the attention they properly deserved.  Now with them hanging up, I will be cheered the whole year through!

Look how festive and happy these are too!!

What do you do with your greeting cards?  I have a giant box of them from over the years. Every time I move, I look through my giant pile and clear out any that I'm not attached to anymore.  I also have a plan to make a scrapbook that showcases the greeting cards that I'm really sentimental about...but that will be a BIG project, so it hasn't moved past the planning stages.  So what do you do with your greeting cards?  Do you display them, store them, or toss them?

Sunbeam Humidifier: Remarkable Customer Service and an International Adventure

We bought a Sunbeam Humidifier in Barrie in November.  It was on super sale, only $17.99, so it was worth the drive to go buy it.  The store return policy was within two weeks of purchase, and wouldn't you know the humidifier started causing problems a day or two before the return window was to end.  We were set to return it, but a giant snow storm got in our way and we missed our window. The other return route was to contact the manufacturer (Sunbeam) and try to get the problem resolved with them.

Enter phone phobia.

I'm great when I'm on the phone (my hours of used in-plan minutes can prove that), but depending on the nature of the call, actually picking up the phone and dialing can be a problem for me.  Especially if I perceive the call as having a conflict.  In the case of calling Sunbeam, I just avoided doing it, convincing myself it was an added hassle to my day that I just didn't need.

Until two weeks ago.  I woke up with a take no shit attitude and dialed.  And it was the best customer service experience I have ever had.  I don't remember the woman's name, which is unfortunate, because she was kind, funny, attentive, knowledgeable, and she really wanted to help me.  I explained the problem (the unit kept shutting off on it's own) and she trouble shot with me for a few minutes and then said: "We'll send you a new one."  She then said that the model I had was no longer available and she would tell me the details of another model and see if I would "accept it".  The model she described was amazing, and retailed at over twice the price I paid.  I told her that and she said: "In replacing your unit we are comparing features not prices, so we want to ensure you get the features you wanted."  Amazing!  I asked about the old one, and she said not to return it, just put it out at the side of the road.  I told her that she won at customer service, and she said: "We're Sunbeam.  We stand behind our products."

Once off the phone I discussed it with John and we hypothesize that the original unit we purchased must be a trouble unit and it is probably easier for them to just send out a new one rather than go through the hassle of trying to fix something that might not be fixable.  Whether that is the reason or not, my $17.99 humidifier turned into a $44.99 humidifier, and I still have the broken one!

Not only did I have the best customer service experience, they sent my humidifier over 2000km via UPS.  Starting in Missouri on Feb 8, I tracked it's journey across America and into Canada, and I am awed by the complexity and efficiency of the shipping process.  One week after departing, it arrived at my door right on schedule.  I Google Mapped my humidifier's journey, and I can't believe all the effort that was made to send me a free humidifier!


View Larger Map

I have been running the humidifier steadily since I got it yesterday and so far so good.  I can't imagine they would ship a broken one 2000km, but if they did, I know that their customer service is excellent and I will have no trouble phoning them.