OldBlogger

Another idea for a Christmas present for girls I found today was My Life a portable console game from Flair a UK based toy manufacturer.

To quote the manufacturers blurb My Life is a virtual life simulator designed especially for girls! It’s the ultimate digital pocket games console combining the charm of virtual fashion dolls with the ever increasing interest in video games.

This should keep one of the girls in the family happy, may even get more than one as they can interact with each other a bit and the girls can play together, now that would be a first :-).

Well at least another one of the Christmas list, plenty more to go though and its getting nearer all the time.

Starting to look around for ideas for Christmas Present this year, I was looking at what are tipped to be the top 10 sellers this year.

One I came across that is tipped to be a hit this year is the Elmo Live animatronic doll from Fisher Price.

Elmo is a popular character from the long running childrens TV program Sesame Street, this doll mimics the mannerisms of the TV character and talks and sings, it looks kinda cute and would probably make a great gift for some adults as well.

Well that is one present off the Christmas shopping list, Elmo Live, plenty more left to get yet though.

Today I was looking at the call log in my FritzBox which is a ADSL Modem Router with VOIP and PBX capabilities, and I saw hundreds of anonymous incoming telephone calls of 0 seconds duration.

Our FritzBox is configured to reject anonymous calls so the 0 duration was because of that, we had some problems with silent calls a while ago which is usually tele sales auto dialers with no one available to take the call if it is answered so we had BT (British Telecom) enable the caller ID service on our phone line and set the FritzBox to reject anonymous calls and any other annoying number.

Also set up its do not disturb feature so only certain numbers can get through between the hours of 10pm and 8am, marvelous it is, taken control of the telephone again, we receive the calls we want, when we want.

I spoke to BT about all these anonymous calls and after a little investigation the conclusion was they are coming from abroad as that is the only way they would be as completely anonymous as they are, and basically there is nothing BT can do about it, they suggested keep a log and if it is a problem they could give us a new telephone number. I know BT offer an anonymous caller reject service, whether that would work in this situation I do not know, but the FritzBox does a great job and more beside, with dialing plans and some VOIP accounts set up, all our phone calls are routed over the internet via the cheapest provider saving us a fortune on phone calls as well, and combined with a Dualphone Skype/PSTN telephone system with a couple of handsets it is a good system tailored to fit our requirements precisely.

So back to my original question, I don’t really expect an answer, I expect a computerised auto dialing system has thrown a fit somewhere and I hope when the company receives their phone bills for all these useless phone calls that somebody gets a rocket for incompetence not setting it up and monitoring it properly, this has been going on for 10 days at the moment, that is thousands of calls to our number and presumably we are not the only ones getting hit like this.

The tele marketing companies use these overseas call centres to get around the TPS (Telephone Preference Scheme) and cold calling rules in the UK, as these overseas centres are not covered by them, then when they make a contact and get through their initial sales script they can hand the call to their UK based colleagues as it is no longer a cold call. Two ways to deal with these nuisance calls, hang up immediately or if you have the time waste as much of their time as possible. We have the automated hang up here, works a treat.

Have fun out there and stay safe.

Having just had an annoying experience attempting to buy some items online I thought I would post my experience here and see if it strikes a chord with other people.

I went to a website to purchase some items for a forthcoming trip, they had just what I wanted or near enough to make no difference, so I put the items into the online shopping basket and clicked the checkout button.

First gripe, why do so many of these online sites want you to create an account, I do not want my details littered all over the internet on unsecured databases behind sites which I have purchased one item from once in my lifetime, in the current climate of identity theft and fraud it dones not seem the best thing to be doing.

So I created an account and got to the payment screen, I intended paying using my Visa Debit card, it used to be simple, select card Amex/Master/Visa/JCB possibly one or two others but it is immediately obvious what you need to select, now particularly with Visa there is a list of three or four different sorts of Visa card, I am not interested in twenty questions to simply make my payment, the payment system can work it out from the card number what type of Visa card it is, it could probably even work out what sort of card it is completely from that, so why do I need to make a guess as to what this site is currently calling my card and get an authorisation declined message when I get it wrong.

Bottom line, maybe its time for some of these sites to revisit there checkout systems, and do some useability testing on them, and design a system that actually helps people purchase items instead of making it as difficult as possible.

Well its been a couple of months at least since I completed the sessions of hynotherapy, 4 in total, so has it helped?, an emphatic yes, I am now driving a round trip of about 65 miles a day to and from work and it does not bother me.

Before I started the course I was seriously wondering if I was going to be able to do this 6 month contract by commuting or whether I would have to take accommodation in the week local to work. The journeys where the high/low point of the day, now I don’t really consider them and just admire the scenery on the way.

So what next with this, well I plan to arrange another session with Cino where he said he would teach me self hypnosis, the reason for this is I am starting some Stock market trading, using CFD’s, Spread bets, and Fixed bets, and doing some research it seems a message coming loud and clear from all good traders is the mental side is important. So I want to be able to tweak myself as required when necessary.

I also plan to keep a bit of a log on here of my trading adventures. So watch this blog

Well after many years of nonsense, it all started some time back in the early 90’s, I have finally had enough of being crippled and decided it is time to do something about by driving problems. It is silly, I have driven all over the country, thousands of miles on busy motorways, and now I can barely face a busy fast road, and have not driven on a motorway for years.

It is very irritating to have to plan journeys by back roads everywhere, if I try to go along what would be considered the sensible route I either have to dive of down a lane or give up, its not something I can simply ignore, believe me I have tried. What happens then is I virtually freeze up and go slower and slower which simply compounds the problem.

What to do?, I got talking to someone I met recently, Cino, and it turns out that he is a trained hypnotherapist, I told him my problem and he said he could probably help me with it. Well I have had one session so far, he reckons it will take three or four sessions, but already I can feel the difference, just more relaxed and in control, and its affected other areas of my life apart from my driving. I went to the first session on Friday, and over the last few days since then I have done several jobs I had been putting of because I simply feel more in control and able to get things done.

Well I was not sure to start with but I am a convert, I definitely recommend hypnotherapy, and Cino at www.cbhypnotherapy.co.uk in particular.