So let’s put away the dastardness of dealing with inefficient large corporations, card fraud and other nasties as I talk a little about the pleasure I had to welcome two young deaf people here last night.

Let me quickly start at the beginning when I went down to Austine School for the Deaf in Brattleboro to enquire about the local deaf social activities, I had been informed that there is a sizeable deaf community in Brattleboro and the surrounding areas of Vermont so I was naturally keen to find out more.

The busy bubbly receptionist named Kim at the Austine School audiology department had me wait a short while whilst she attended to some weather-beaten senior citizens who had come in for their regular check ups, but then finally Kim came over and asked what I wanted. I told her I was new to the area and would like to get involved with the deaf communities, to which she replied;

“Hmm, I’m totally the wrong person to ask for that, why don’t I give you some email contacts who are a little more clued in to the local action”.

This was fine by me, so I went away with a couple addresses of whom I wrote to. The first probably doesn’t check her email so often as I have yet to hear from however the second address I tried, I got a reply immediately. He instantly told me that every Sunday at 4pm there is a deaf group who tend to go bowling and every Friday they meet up at a local pub/bar called McNeils at 8pm. Well surprise, surprise, this was my fathers favourite watering hole. So I agreed with my Dad to go check it out.

That was not all though, the guy (named Karl) asked in his email what I was doing tonight? Well here I am in the middle of nowhere just outside of Putney with limited means of transport, I told him I’d be out tomorrow at McNeils but gave him directions to here anyway. He didn’t reply to that so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, it was getting dark and I kinda thought they wouldn’t make the trouble to drive out here (whilst getting lost and wet in the rain).

So a few hours later, I’m doing more research on the PC here when there is a knock outside. “It couldn’t be?”. Thought I.

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Well, Well, Well, this is looking more and more like a case of credit card fraud, there has been some contact between Paypal, my mother and I. I was able to provide ParcelForce tracking information and a full email transcript between the ‘buyer’ and myself forwarded to Paypal and can only sit here and wait for the best outcome. It looks like someone in Russia was victim to a stolen credit card and the person that had won the auction and used the stolen credit card to pay for it is a very, very naughty person.

I’m concerned that I will end up being the only victim here as usually these credit card companies can brute force their way into getting money back from anyone and so the person who is going to lose the money is likely to be me. That’ll be 415 GBP + a fee straight out of my pocket for just being the trust worthy chap I am.

I have two great friends who are both from Russia so I suppose that meant that any potential warning flags that this Russian chap from eBay might be seriously dubious were quenched unconciously.

Oh well, I’ll wait and see what the verdict will be, if I lose the money then fair enough, you can say it’d be a lesson for me, ‘once bitten, twice shy’ and whatnot, but I’d rather just stomach the loss and go on trusting people than turn into some kind of paranoid old pessimist. I think having a positive outlook on life and people is important and in the long run is much kinder on your general well being. I won’t let a rotten apple spoil my barrel-full.

Hey hey, yesterday wasn’t all so bad, I had the pleasure of welcoming two very nice deaf people into the farm house here last night. I think they deserve their own post away from the current evils of credit card fraud via Paypal.  So let me just make a new post…

Hi!

Good news!

To solve the problem with Dell not accepting my UK VISA card to purchase my laptop, my Grandfather very kindly stepped in and allowed me to put the purchase on his VISA card so that I may take advantage of the limited time offer.

I shall pay him back as soon as I have wired money from my English bank account to here. Just writing a letter to Lloyds TSB to inform them of the details in order to do so right now..

Bad news!

I checked my mail today to be greeted by a message from Paypal that the buyer digital camera that I sold last month via eBay auction has now requested a chargeback to his credit card for the full amount. There was no information listed other than Paypal wanting to hear my response to this issue.

You can still view the eBay auction here (note the first comment from the winning buyer near the bottom):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250015288465

Well of course I sent off the camera a month ago using ParcelForce, I have a tracking number that proves it was delivered and accepted at it’s destination. It was shipped all the way to Moscow, RU which seemed fair enough as initially the buyer covered the cost.

I sent an email to ask if the guy had received the camera ok but never got a response to that. The money for the camera had been deposited to my bank account already and I assumed all was well. Until now that is.

So it seems that altough the camera was delivered and accepted in Russia, the guy has now contacted his credit card company and has requested that the money be refunded in full. So I have a pending charge on my Paypal account for -415.54 GBP, charming..

To make matters worse, Paypal instructed that I log in to their ‘Resolution Centre’ and provide a response to this charge-back issue. So I do log in and enter the Case ID number provided and guess what?

We are sorry, we are experiencing temporary difficulties. Please try again later. If this error occurred while making a payment, avoid duplicate payments by checking your Account Overview before resending a payment.

Message 4011

Needless to say I’ve sent a barrage of emails to Paypals charge-back credit card department demanding why their service is not functioning properly along with all the information I have to hand concerning the transaction including the full email transcript I’ve had with this less than honest Russian.

I have yet to hear from Paypal or the dodgy Russian.

So as the gloomy grey skies open up and pour down on this chilly afternoon, you can imagine this has been a sucky day.

Apparently my choice suddenly became a whole lot easier when it came to laptops as I browsed some notebook review sites and one had posted a special offer for all ‘Inspiron’ series notebooks from dell over $999.  A whopping 20% off with the coupon listed. A no brainer.

So I rushed (well as fast as a 31Kbs 56k country modem connection allows) to put together a custom build ‘Inspiron’ with all the best specs for my needs on their site.

With the latest core2duo processor, 17� screen and other goodies I ran up the ideal laptop for my work on the road, priced just over $2500.  The special discount knocked off $500 and so as you can imagine, I was pretty chuffed.

There was one problem though.. the offer expires on the 19^th, a whole 3 days from the time I placed the offer.

I assumed that I could breeze through the purchase and just use my UK credit card as I still had the funds in that account overseas but Dell sent me an email saying that my card was refused..  Doh!

A whole 2 days later and I finally got an official answer that even though I am making a US purchase to be used in America,  the fact that my UK credit card has an English billing address,  it would not fit into their US-only database of addresses… Charming.

I particularly recommend the Dell phone sales support if you have an overwhelming desire to ride merry-go-rounds whilst repeatedly chanting order numbers, addresses and telephone numbers over and over again as you travel round and round from department to department greeted each time by overly apologetic sales reps with various accents that seemingly span the length and width of existing continents of this planet.  Weee.

Did you know there is actually a prerecorded message somewhere in the Dell system that says “You have encountered a problem, please hang up�?  One of the many, (un)amusing incidents that I had the pleasure of tearing my hair out for.

So the race is on to find another way to pay for the laptop or my super discount goes up in flames…  Discount laptop, to be or not to be?  Tune in later when all shall be revealed.

On a plus note I opened my Bank of America account yesterday and will be getting a VISA debit card but within 8 working days which, naturally, is no use for said special offer above.

Hmm ok that wasn’t a very plus note, let me try again.

On a plus note,  I stumbled into a music shop after braving the chilling ordeal of opening a bank account and bought myself a very, very nice Taylor acoustic guitar that fell in love with me (or possibly the other way around)..  More to come!

Hello again, I have not disappeared or forgotten you, but Internet access is quite difficult here in Putney, Vermont. In fact this house is not even in Putney, it is off in the wilderness somewhere sat in a beautiful forested valley. It is a large white house sat amongst land littered with great bit metal sculptures, they are the works of the artist I am staying with, Chuck Ginnever. He is a long-time friend of my father as they have done a lot of work together over the past 25 years. My father has an apartment/studio in the nearby village of Bellows Falls but there’s barely any room to swing a stuffed meerkat so here I am in Chucks large home.
There is a phone line here and so am able to connect with a 56k modem but because we’re so far out, the usual connection speed is about 36Kbs on a good day which makes things a bit difficult when you have to wait about 53 seconds for a page like this one to load.. So that will explain any delays in posting here..

Hmm anyways, it’s nice to be isolated from the hustle and bustle of New York and it’s rat race. In fact this place is a complete contrast with it’s idyllic location and laid back folks. I really must apologise again for the lack of photos, a blog is not a blog until there are images to match the words!
I am currently in a dilemma choosing the digital camera to go for as there are many options and features (some I need, some I don’t). Also I have limited funds until an American Bank account is opened here to transfer money from my English account thus you begin to see my predicament. Rest assured, I hope to have all such matters solved by next week so hold on tight folks for now.

The other big priority is purchasing a car for myself since I am literally stuck here waiting for my father to turn up in his truck before I can actually go anywhere and join up with the rest of civilisation so to speak. As soon as I have my own set of wheels, it seems that I will have bought my independence here finally. Again a car is not a simple impulse buy as there are many factors to consider.

Lastly I shall need to settle on buying a laptop as well because I cannot do any of my digital based work without one, however I am unsure if it’s waiting until the Core2Duo (new Intel CPU) has been a little more integrated and the laptop pricing thus following suite.. Meh
So, yes, at the moment I am at the “What On Earth Am I To Buy For The Roadtrip??” stage. Please bear with me 🙂

I’m sat here again at my Grandpas PC and my father seems to be cooking something interesting (judging by the smell). Pretty hungry too, not eaten since breakfast this morning and it is now 8:23pm!  My dad is mostly vegetarian which means a lot of tofu, broccoli, chickpeas and beans of various sort but he cooks ’em well and so it’s usually a nice wholesome meal.

My mother incidentally is also pretty much a vegetarian these days as well but her cooking often results in some sort of vegetable mush concoction, usually tasty but odd looking.

Anyhow,  so yes, a couple days ago there was a pretty big storm blowing over Long Island, there were winds of up to 50mph in some cases, it didn’t rain torrents but everything got a nice refreshing douse of it.

I enjoyed watching the trees blow around in the wind and sat outside on the porch for a short while to watch the show.  Then the power went out and I returned inside to see my father and grandparents scrambling around in the darkness for torches and candles.  It took them a moment to realise that just opening the blinds on the windows would solve the darkness problem but as it was getting dark pretty quickly we stacked up all the flashlights we could find and tested their batteries.

Then we realised that we wouldn’t be able to cook any food without power so my father and I drove off quickly to the ‘Stop and Shop’ supermarket to buy some ready-cooked food.  On the way twigs and small branches were falling from their trees all over the road and some banged down on the car, fun stuff!  We also passed a huge tree that had fallen across the front lawn, narrowly missing the house behind,  the storm certainly was shaking the place down.  

** Ooh dinner is now ready.. to be continued then.. **

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OK, now that the storm has abated today and the skies are clear with the sunlight streaming in through the window-blinds I can attempt to resume recollecting where I left off previously.

N.B This post has nothing to do with fox-hunting.

Right, well yes, as I was saying, Americans live in a big place, do things in a big way and have big personalities (most of the time).  There, see, that pretty much gets to the point (see I am capable of short musing too).

I have several days to catch up on so I’ll try and be quick,  photos would have helped the briefness (worth a million words and whatnot) but I still haven’t had a chance to purchase a camera yet. Hoping to rectify such matters pronto..

3 Days Ago:

My father and I went bank-hunting to enquire about the best place to transfer my English funds to a dollar account so that I may begin buying items for my journey.  The three prominant nation-wide banks with good internet banking facilities were, ‘Bank of America’, ‘CitiBank’ and ‘Chase’.  Of the three, considering my needs, I had a good feeling about CitiBank… Mmmm.

After the bank bashing, my father drove me to ‘Long Island Art College’ whilst I munched on a Raab Deli Sandwich (tasty if slightly soggy).

I spotted a music shop on the way which meant that we had to stop first and have a look.  My father being a musician also means such occurances are likely.

Nothing much to report on from that particular ‘Guitar Center’ except that I could name all the guitarists postered up in big on their windows, and the keyboard selection was pretty good.

Back to College!  My father wanted to drop in to his old art school and see if his old pal was working today.  He was! Thus I met Frank the potter; currently head of the pottery department, he shared the same name, height and taste for art as my dad.

Seemed like a nice guy and briefly started telling me that his daughter had left for 6 months in Italy to study and so was in the same boat as my mother, unfortunately his cell (mobile) phone rang and our discussion was cut off prematurely.  I managed to have a longer chat with a couple of his students who were apparently “always around” even though the new term wasn’t due to start till the following Tuesday.

I was shown a pretty nifty kiln that had been constructed by the students and teachers themselves out of clay. A large spider with an obvious affinity for smoke and fumes had also taken it’s resident spot close by. I suspect it will be unfortunately evicted from his home sometime next week by a broom-wielding student potter girl with a nervous disposition.

Drove back home through a wooded “Well-to-do neighbourhood” according to my father.  I had to agree, these were pretty needlessly large homes..

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Well here I am typing away at my Grandfathers PC,  it’s like an AOL Haven with just about every single bit of AOL software installed that exists.  I daresay the PC is just about holding up with it though, I guess I’ve never been much of a fan though.

I am staying with my Grandparents here in Long Island, NY.  Typical American Suburbia; grid-locked streets, masses of ‘Stop’ signs and arrays of cozy houses, many donning the Stars and Stripes flag with pride.

There are so many small and subtle differences to life in the US compared with the UK that it can be a little overwhelming.  I was here merely 3 years ago and yet it still is quite the culture-shock.   I suppose many of those outside America will have already been treated to the gist of patriotic gusto and borderline brash outwardness of the people thanks to the media, films and television, all showing a slice and key-hole glimpse to this countrys lifestyle but it still is the uncountable small things that can take a lot of getting used to.

The toilets are a good example,  for in the UK and most of the European places visited the basins are filled with only a small amount of water,  whereas the US toilets are topped to at least nearly half to three-quarters full which always makes me wary of taking ones dangly bits skinnydipping each time one takes a seat.  I suppose water-conservation isn’t such a high priority here.

It’s not just heartily filled toilet bowls but everything in this country seems to stand for excess, the Americans do things BIG.  Huge cars, trucks and SUVs (sports utility vehicles, aka 4x4s) with their huge tanks to fill.  Huge roads to drive them on, there is so much space here.  Foods and drinks come in their extra-extra large sizes,  I’ve never seen fruit and veg so big, apples the size of melons, melons the size of pigs! It makes me feel like I’ve shrunk back down to being 6 years old again..

Oooer,  OK it looks like I shall have to cut this blog entry short for now,  a storm is just getting started here in Merrick,  50mph winds are predicted in places, gosh.  Time to turn off the PC.

More to come later then folks! I’m off to hunker down with a hot drink.

-myles

 

August 27th, my journey officially begins. An early 6am start to catch a National Express coach from Warwick Parkway Train Station.

The coach journey was as much fun as a coach can provide for a person with long legs like myself but I managed to nod off some before awaking to a scene of congestion; merely the hundreds and thousands of vehicles ploughing their way into the terminals at Heathrow.

The coach clipped a luggage trolley that had escaped the clutches of two teenage girls, sending their belongings sprawling alongside the kerb. The coach got stuck but was freed by an assistant and eventually parked. Everyone stared on haplessly.

My mother had decided to see me off at Heathrow for it was not definite when I would see her again, I appreciated her company if not her nagging and constant checks to see if I had everything but the kitchen sink with me. I knew it would be difficult for her to see me go but such things had to be done. We both were aware that this was an important moment, when the parent has to let go of the child, hoping that they will fly free and be strong on their own.

The queues were about as bad as could be expected thanks to the extra security checks in place. My hand luggage just squeezed into the maximum size restrictions enforced and thankfully was able to continue carrying my hard drives with me containing all my work and data (approx. 600GB worth). Continue reading →