Checksum Arcanius

Wednesday night, I didn’t go to bed; instead I stayed up to finish a Bioengineering lab report — the last one of the quarter. Thursday night, and then Friday morning, I was up late again, this time working with fellow students on the Bioengineering homework due that morning. I felt surprisingly awake even at 2:00 when I dropped the second of my classmates off at her apartment on capital hill. I considered staying up the rest of that night, but chose sleep, feeling confident in my ability to tackle the squeak assignment on Saturday. Wakng up in the early afternoon, I got to work, taking a break only to help clean up the downstairs with the housemates. A few hours ago, I finished the assignment, and I celebrated by playing some Half Life 2: Episode One.

Let me say, so far the game is excellent, and I reccomend it.

Now all I have left is four finals — Discrete Structures, Statistics, Bioengineering, and Programming Languages. None will be particularly easy.

And now, to answer the question in the title; I do, and now is the time.

UPDATE — RETRACTION
Adorama has agreed to refund the $15 for shipping, and pointed out to me that the auction does mention that the item pcitured may not be the same as the item shipped. As a result, I feel strongly that a retraction of my accusation and an apology is in order. While I looked again at the page for anything like this before writing, I managed to miss that clause. Adorama has truly impressed me with their willingness to refund the money — I had truly given up and was just going through the “due dilligence” motions before filing negative feedback. However, they responded productively and I have to give them a lot of credit for that.

I will keep the post below, just to remind me that I shouldn’t judge too quickly (wasn’t I supposed to learn that during the Super Bowl?)

I have had bad luck with my online purchases recently. A couple months ago, I made the mistake of purchasing some laptop power adapters from Priority Electronics. Last month, I made the mistake of purchasing a camera from Adorama over Ebay.

Now, the Adorama Camera Company (ebay id adorwin) has a hugely positive feedback score — over 5000 positive, with a low percentage of negative feedbacks. I thought I was safe. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

“Take a look, good condition and works fine. Please see photos and place a bid. Has eye control. Good luck, no reserve. ” the ad boldly stated. I had been flirting with the idea of purchasing the same camera without eye control from a local seller for aout $100. On Ebay, I was able to get it for $80, shipped. I thought I would be happy. The camera arrived, bare bones as expected, and I began using it the next day after picking up (expensive) batteries at Radio Shack.

In attempting to become familar with the camera, I noticed that some of the icons below the left dial were rubbed off. Since the camera came with no manual, I would have to surf the net to find out exactly what those icons were. I was, however, undeterred. After all, everything went fine… until that first evening, then I turned the camera on and it reported “no battery.”

Strange, I thought. On the other hand, ocasionally on my Rebel G, a low battery icon will show up when the camera is cold. However, the camera wasn’t cold, and this was showing No battery left. I cycled power a few times, and then the camera came back to life. That left me undaunted, but I soon ran into another problem: after taking a picture, the viewfinder remained blank. Upon further investiagtion, it became clear that the mirror was not returning after the picture. Cycling the camera’s power resolved this issue. However, at this point it was clear to me that I had a defective camera.

So I began a little more in-depth research. I double checked the ebay listing to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything. Sure enough, the ad said that the camera worked fine. And it included this photo:

I quickly compared that photo to my camera, and came to the unhappy realization that I had just become the victim a bait-and-switch routine. Here are some pictures I took of the camera sent to me before I sent it back:

If you look closely at the left dial, you will see that the icons that are missing in the pictures I took are very much present in Adorama’s photo. They had cheated me. The images below highlight the area in question:

Had I simply recieved a intermittently broken camera, I would hae been very understanding. Adorama has, after all (about three weeks later), returned my money, except for shipping costs. I understand that they can’t catch every intermittent problem, so I am willing to deal with that. However, the icon business convinced me that they had intentionally shipped me a camera other than the one advertised. So now the shipping costs kinda piss me off, a lot. I’m out $21 bucks — $15 to get it here, $6 to get it back — and Adorama gets that $15, and the camera, and a lot of my time and energy is wasted.

Thus this blog, and thus the fact that I am about to leave Adorama a hugely negative feedback. Likely, it will hurt me more than it hurts them — they have a +5000 rating and I have a +2 rating. However, I would be remiss in my Ebay duties were I to let this fraud go unchallenged. So I will take the hit and let the world know what Adorama can do to you.

Chroni-cles of Narnia

The lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, called “Garden D’Lights” are incredible this year. With the help of my new Canon A610 digital camera and my Dad’s tripod, I attempt to share some of the beauty with you. Its certainly worth a visit if you haven’t been yet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft has just upped the ante again in what has, for me, become the most interesting battle between Google and Microsoft yet: displaying ariel photography. This time, Microsoft’s Windows Live Local provides “Birds Eye” views of (from what I have seen so far) much of King County, and perhaps other places as well. The Bird’s Eye views differ from regular ariel photography in that they are much higher resolution, and intentionally at an angle — so a North-facing view is significiantly different than a south-facing view. The images produced are truly incredible:

Red Square (Univeristy of Washington)

Where I will be in about 30 minutes (Chem Library, UW)

More later, class calls.

Harvey Danger’s latest album, Little by Little is excellent — and its free! Go get it now, and listen to the first song. If you don’t like it, you’re weird. :-D

Wine, women and song: I tried them all
it did not take me long to figure I’d unlock the door to happiness
I figured wrong (with a capital R)
All the baggage I brought wouldn’t fit in a mid-size car

The crew at Chipotle before the infiltration
Read the rest of this entry »