Windows Live – Check it out!

A great summary of the cool things you can do with Windodws Live

Photo post

I was recently in America and here are a few great shots from my time in San Francisco

House for Sale

Gutted that we’ve only lived in this rental and the landlord is putting it on the market to sell!

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Customer Service, the 2nd time round.

This is a bit of a rant about my recent experience with a professional company called Ede & Ravenscroft…..

Many would not use the term “photographer” loosely as it is a profession that is highly respected and regarded around the world. People commonly associate characteristics like high quality imagery, photo editing, digital art form, and professionalism with photographers; however these characteristics were not portrayed or delivered in my recent experience with a company called Ede & Ravenscroft.

As a recent graduate from Glasgow University I was recommended to use this companies service for ordering my gowns and professional pictures. After checking out the company website and reading their strap line which says “Robe makers & tailors since the year 1689” I was confident that I would be ordering and dealing with a professional organization and photographer. However to great disappointment this was not the case.

On the day of my graduation I was herded into different lines waiting patiently for my turn. Eventually when I arrived at the desk to receive my gown and have my pictures taken there was nothing but further mass confusion. Even with a print out of my reference number and full order details there was still confusion as to who I was and what I had ordered. After a bit of a debate I was given my gown and pointed in the direction of the photographer. The photographer quickly put me in position and took my picture before I even had the chance to look up and say “cheese”. Then I was quickly ushered off for the next student to take my place.

So to say the least, when I walked away I did not feel confident that a good picture was taken. A few weeks after the graduation and the arrival of my pictures, my unsettled feelings were reaffirmed. Not only was the quality of pictures crap but my order wasn’t even right! When your paying a lot of money in advance to book and pay for these things to have an event like this occur just tick’s you off even more. To say the least the lack of quality and attention to detail did not leave me a satisfied customer – so I took action and wrote to the company voicing my complaints. My letter highlighted to the company that they are not a discount venture but a reputable company that was recommended by the University.

You’d think that with advancements in technology today and the ability to quickly and easily edit images my parents did a better job with a 35mm camera than the professionals did!

After sending off my letter I was pleased to see that Ede & Ravenscroft took corrective action in the matter. They not only wrote me back apologising for their error but also provided me with a new set of prints that met my standards. Their letter back to me commented on how they strive to provide consistent high standards of customer service and valued my comments.

So what is the moral of my story and my little rant……?

If you don’t get it right the 1^st time – make sure you take the appropriate action to correct the situation. Considering the University of Glasgow has over 50% of their student body from countries around the world you can easily conclude that the craftsmanship of Ede & Ravenscroft is travelling around the globe not just locally within the UK.

Graduation is an important event in the educational career of numerous students and an event like this could have been easily avoided with a little more attention to detail.

Overall I would now classify myself as a satisfied customer and Ede & Ravenscroft have acted in a professional manner to correct the situation.

Blogging in the local community

Well I've been living in Edinburgh for just over 4 months now and I stopped off to pick up my local Edinburgh Council Adult Education course listings . Figure I would take a look and see if there was anything that interested me over the winter holidays. To my surprise the city is offering courses in almost everthing from dancing - languages - cooking and I was even surprised to see that they are offering a course called "Creative Writing: Blogging". I guess for those folks interested in the Web 2.0 yet are still skepetical to try things out on there own might be intereseted in taking a course like this but in my opinion the only way to learn things like this is to get out there and do it yourself! Not sure if you need someone to tell you how to blog - just type - what ever is on your mind! thats the beauty of it, there are no limits!

Speed dating 101

So I bit the bullet and decided that the best way to meet people is to get out there and meet them! Being new to any city it can be hard to make new friends and meet people, the older you get the tighter some of your social networks can become and other than the people you work with it can be difficult to meet new folks... So the solution=speed dating.

Speed dating has become increasingly popular much like internet dating and what better way to meet loads of potential men all in one night! The event took place at Kasbar in Edinburgh on a Thursday night there was 21 men and 18 women so being a girl made the odds in your favor....Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I've had friend in T.O that rave about speed dating - but I've meet folks here that have sworn against it, so being the stubborn person that I can be I decided that I could not pass judgment on it until I tried it out for myself. It's a pretty cool idea you sit pretty while you meet 20 different guys and each one you can spend 4 minutes talking to. For some the 4 minutes felt like 4 hours, yet for others the 4 minutes felt like 4 seconds.

Like anything it does take guts putting yourself out there to be shot down but at least in this kind of a setting everyone is in the same boat. Out of the 20 guys I struggled to give check marks to any of them but decided to go ahead with a few of them on a social aspect rather than a romantic aspect. If anything I will meet a few folks, which will likely lead to meeting a few more, the occasional drink, a few good laughs I figured there is nothing to loose.

So for all you single girls or guys out there if your looking for romance or just some new friends give speed dating a try.

Out of 10 stars I would give the event and 7 but the pickens... No comment I think its a bit of a hit or miss.

Halloween

Maybe Im just getting older or maybe the Brits just don't celebrate Halloween in stlye like the Canadian but this year I was somewhat dissappointed not to see the usual hussle and bussel of this strange event (shttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giftrange depending on the culture). Depending on where you live in the world the celebration of Halloween can mean different things or even reasons to celebrate. has a good Halloween bio. Considering Halloween originally came about in the UK there is not much left of it around from what I could see. No trick or treating, no people walking the streets in crazy costumes the night of, even the dance club we went to didn't have anyone dressed up inside!

This year I decided to perfect on my costume from the previous year and dressed again as Paris Hilton. Went out to a Halloween party of a co-workers with a few girls from work. All in all we made it a good night from the party to dancing in the club 'Le Monde'.

I think Halloween as you get older is what you make of it.