Monday, December 21, 2009

4 days 'til Christmas!

... and I still haven't sorted all my presents for people out yet. I've only got 2 more people to sort out, plus I need to wrap presents, and I need to paint the pot for mum (she asked for a plant pot which we went and got from a garden centre the other day, now I have to figure out what I'm going to paint on it, and hurry up and get it done...). Plus I really need to be doing work for uni, I've been doing a little bit, but not nearly enough. Tomorrow I'm planning to go shopping for the rest of the presents, and then get back and do some more work.

On a different note, I got a new phone yesterday, so that was good - it's been needed for quite a while (my current one being held together with sellotape, and dying every time I try and do anything other than check the time...).

Today I rang up my current network to get a PAC code so I could move my number over to my new network. It was an interesting process. I talked to three different people and had to repeat my details to each of them as none of them knew what I'd talked to the last person about or anything...
I first called up and was put on hold for a while, then got through and told them I wanted a PAC code, told them my mobile number, name and date of birth. I was told that I'd have to be put through to someone else because my details weren't complete and they had to sort it out for their records before they could give me the PAC code, so I was put on hold again. Interesting music... I think that the most annoying thing was not the music, but the woman's voice that came on every few seconds saying "Thank you for your patience, please continue to hold and an agent will be with you shortly". I was quite amused at the term 'agent' because it just created the imagery of the secret agents or the Matrix... I started doodling at this point - I scanned my doodles in and have put them below...




The first one (on the left) looks a bit more like a bad attempt at some sort of Michael Jackson look... The second one is better, I quite like it.
After this second time of being put on hold, I was put through to a nice lady called Julie. I had to tell her what I was calling about and give her my details again, and then give her the extra details that they didn't have on record. This was the first time that I ever had to use the phonetic alphabet - I've had other people use it to me but not vice versa (the first time I had to get a PAC code I was very confused when the guy said 'Tango Sierra Charlie' and he had to go back and say 'T for Tango, S for Sierra, C for Charlie', lol). Anywho, I took a few minutes to come up with 'D for Doctor', I was trying to think of what the actual one for the alphabet is - I later recalled that it was 'delta' but this isn't exactly a usual part of my vocabularly, so I'm not surprised I forgot it. But yes, she said the weirdest one they'd ever had was 'T for Triceratops'.

I have now looked up the phonetic alphabet (one version of it anyway, I'm sure there are a few differences depending on what it's being used for). I think it would be a useful thing to learn, though I'm not sure if I'll bother - anywho, see below:

Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Gold Hotel India Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu

Julie said that I had to be put through to someone else to get the actual PAC code, so she put me on hold again. This time I tried to draw a triceratops, however I had no recollection of what they were supposed to look like, so I just made it up as I went along - see below.



It's not too bad, though doesn't really look like a triceratops at all... It looks more like a mix between a dragon and a rhino, and the horns on it's head look more like ears. When I was first drawing it, it looked very friendly, I tried to adjust this a bit so it looked less like a pet... It still doesn't look very intimidating though.
Having just looked up a what a triceratops is supposed to look like, I can say that my picture definitely looks nothing like one, lol. I missed the weird collar part of it, and it doesn't have spikes along it's spine (I did know this, but it looked too boring without them, and I wasn't exactly being accurate anyway...). But nevermind.

Anywho, while I was doing this, I was still on hold, and the music got a bit vicious - it was suddenly really loud, and so was the woman's voice thanking me for my patience. I felt like maybe I was being punished for trying to leave the network. I was finally put through to someone whose name I think was Alice, and I had to again explain my situation and give her my details. The reception wasn't great, so half the time I couldn't really hear what she was saying, but I didn't mind hugely as she spent quite a while trying to convince me that I really didn't need to leave the network and that they had plenty of deals that might work for me. After saying no a few times she finally gave me my PAC code and reminded me that if I wanted to at any time I could come back to the network by just getting a PAC code from my new network (because clearly I was enjoying all this time on hold very much and wanted to repeat the experience again soon). Yes, so that's all sorted. I don't think I swap my number over until after Christmas as I've still got a little bit of credit that I want to use up (at least most of it anyway) and I want to text everyone on Christmas to say Merry Christmas, so I can use it up then...

Right, after that long story that was not particularly interesting (sorry, you didn't have to read it, in fact you probably didn't...) I'll stop blogging.
I should really be doing something constructive anyway. I might go and try and find things in the garage, that should be an adventure... Plus it's all covered in sawdust because dad's decided to make himself a work bench. Lovely.

1 comment:

Jingle Bella said...

Oo you're organised ... I'm going to try and go and change my phone after Christmas sometime.