QUICK E-MAIL FIX

A week or so ago my wife Terry started receiving multiple copies of the same e-mails,  sometimes 3 or 4 and other times up to a dozen copies of the same e-mail.  She also lost the 6 most recent months of her inbox.  Knowing full well asking me to fix the problem was akin to asking pigs to fly; she did her best and hoped that it would just solve itself.  It didn’t, it only got worse.  I called Cox Communications, our service provider.  They walked me through all the steps to insure her settings were correct and a bunch of other stuff and determined that the problem was not theirs but was the Outlook Express software of Microsoft.

There it was, the dreaded Microsoft.  I was willing to exhaust all remedies before calling Microsoft, including throwing the computer in the garbage and buying a new one.  You see, I have had some mind altering experiences with them over the years.  I am talking about their fix-it department.  I’ll explain.

Whenever I call and explain my dilemma, customer service turns me over to someone they deem an expert on said dilemma.  Invariably, I get a person who took an on-line Rosetta Stone class in the English language a few days prior to my call.  This would not be a problem to most but when you are deaf it is most certainly a problem.

For that reason I am dreading making this call.  I get a good night’ sleep, have a nutritious breakfast, shower, dress and I am as ready as I will ever be.  I dial the 800 number, explain what’s wrong and then listen patiently as the lady tells me she will be transferring my call to a designated expert. 

At this time I interrupt her to deliver my remarks that I had been working on for days.  I calmly explained that I am a deaf person.  I am listening to her over a phone designed for deaf people.  That, nothing personal, I would prefer to speak with a male person because the deeper tones of a man’s voice are easier to decipher than the higher pitch of a woman’s voice.  And, again, nothing personal, I would prefer someone whose native tongue is my own because they’re much easier for me to understand than someone whose base language is other than English. 

The lady says “No problem, I understand perfectly”.  So I am transferred to a girl named Mardy Ann who is 7,295 miles away in the Philippines.  She turned out to be quite proficient in the English language and, with my urging, spoke up enough that I was able to get by.  Mardy Ann turned out to be a gem. 

I am not up to speed with many of the technological advances that the younger generation take for granted so it amazes me when someone half way around the world and below the equator logs on to my computer and I can see them moving the mouse around and making changes to MY computer. 

Mardy Ann told me to just sit back and relax while she fixed things.  I watched as she moved the mouse around and clicked on this and that in a blur.  Often something would have to be uploaded or downloaded and I would watch patiently as a little green bar measured the progress.  Often this process would take the better part of an hour.  The first time it happened I thought she had deserted me so I finally said “Are you there Mardy”?  The answer came back “I’m here Sir”.  She always called me Sir. 

The first day our session lasted 6 ½ hours.  My cell phone died and she had to call me back on the land line.  She finally said she had to go home and would call me back about mid-afternoon the next day. 

The next day’s session lasted 4 hours.  During one lull I learned that monsoon rains had wreaked havoc with Mardy’s small village.  There was severe flooding and roads and bridges were washed away. 

The third day was a 2 hour chat session to tie up loose ends.  Mardy determined that the problem was a corruption of all e-mail files caused by the sheer volume of files.  She gave me a stern lecture about backing files up from time to time to keep thing manageable.  We never did recover valuable inbox and sent items folders.  She did fix, out of the goodness of her heart, a myriad of other problems that had plagued Terry’s computer for some time. 

The next day I got an e-mail from Microsoft asking me to fill out a survey about the service I had received.  I gave Mardy the highest numbers possible in all categories and summarized by saying I thought she should be head of their customer service department.     

      

  

DEAR NBC SPORTS

I wrote the following e-mail today.  What I saw last Saturday morning moved me as much as any of the memorable Olympic moments I have seen over the years.  The fact that at this time in the history of the world there are women being treated like this makes me sick.  The fact that at this time in the history of the world there are women like these 2 gives me great hope. 

Dear NBC Sports and Bob Costas,

I love your Olympic coverage.  I offer my comments here in the most sincere and constructive way possible. 

I have an idea for an issue I feel should be addressed before the Games are over.  I was watching your coverage of preliminary races for the women’s 100 meters event.  Not the qualifying heats but they were called preliminary races.  It was about 8 am PST on Saturday morning, August 4.  There were several heats.  Two of them had women entered from countries that had previously forbidden women from competing.  One was from Qatar and I believe the other was Afghanistan.  Both women were dressed head to toe in full dress complying with religious beliefs that forbid women from exposing themselves in public.

As the Qatar woman was preparing to start the race, the TV camera focused on a close up look of her face for a good minute or so.  She was obviously petrified, her wide eyes glancing quickly from side to side.  After she took her position in the blocks, she waited for the starting gun then stumbled forward and fell to the ground.  She had not taken one step and was taken off the track in a wheel chair.

The other woman ran the full length of the race and finished last by a bunch with a big smile on her face.  As the competitors milled around after the finish, she was still smiling and appeared to be looking for someone to give her a high 5, knuckle bump or something.  Finally 1 other woman, of the 7 or 8 runners came up to her and shook her hand. 

There has been much written and spoken before and during these Games about the plight of women such as these.  Indeed there were comments leading up to their races by the TV announcers about their journey.  These comments, among other things, addressed the fact that their countries would refuse to televise the races they were in.  Each faced ridicule and resentment that would break any normal human being.  They were even forced to train secretly.  These 2 faced an uncertain, grave future upon return home.  Tell me they don’t represent the ultimate in courage. 

My point in writing this is that I feel the coverage of those 2 women deserves at least a segment of prime time coverage.  There are still a few days left.  For women around the world do the right thing, please.

Forest Smith III

Newport Beach, CA, USA

OUR GIRLS / THE FAB FIVE

Pardon me while I get another tissue.  Last night was rough.  I was busy pulling our girls through half way around the world in London.  I was reminded once more why the Olympic Games are worth the 4 year wait.  Each one has their extra special moments and memories and last night was among the best. 

Jordyn,Kyla, Aly, Gabby and Air Maroney firmly fixed themselves in the memory bank of everyone watching.  This group, ranging from 15 year old Kyla to the sage and seasoned veteran Aly at 18, put a choke hold on everyone’s heart. 

I had kids their age.  I have grandkids their age.  How in God’s name do you put kids that age under that kind of pressure without them wilting like an un-watered flower?  They are barely able to drive legally and here they are on the world’s stage, millions watching every move, performing precision routines as if they are in their own back yards on a summer day.  And heaven help those whose performance brought them to tears.  Television camera’s searched them out relentlessly and stayed in their face an eternity.  Try that sometime when you want to choke somebody. 

I marveled at their poise as they stood steely eyed and intently focused on their next routine.  Unlike most sports that require acts of aggression, gymnastics requires extreme control of muscles and nerves while wanting to burst with emotion. 

All of the 4 disciplines require great skill but I am especially awed by the balance beam.  Its obvious why this event is absent from the men’s competition but is there a more difficult task in any sport?  Doing a flip and landing on a 4 inch wide plank several feet in the air has to rank right up there.  This event alone must sustain the home town orthopedic community.

Gabby with the beautiful smile, pillar of strength Jordyn, youthful Kyla, queen of the vault Maroney and leader Aly make me very proud of our girls.  Aly was the capper with a flourishing finish where she bounced halfway to the ceiling while simultaneously breaking into her victory smile. 

While all this was going on TV kept cutting “back to the pool”.  Having recently had shoulder replacement surgery I cringed and reached for the Aleeve while watching the swimmers flail their arms while loosening up.  Ouch!!  Michael Phelps did his thing again as the anchor man of the relay team providing another memorable moment as he set the record for most Olympic medals.  Our girls have several swimming gold medals and all is well in the water.

To those complaining about TV coverage and excessive commercials, get a life.  The coverage has been fantastic.  The close-ups provide an insight into the human side of sports you can’t see from the stands.  It is almost as if you are going through the emotion with the athlete.  What a small price to pay that we have commercials that bring all this to us with flair, expert commentary and fascinating back stories.  And while I am at it, I love the commercials.  They are provided by some of the best advertising minds in the business.  They are creative and entertaining and everything good about our country, the best of the best.

I can’t wait for the next memorable Olympic moment.