Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[rob krejzl]

I just got my AGS seed request back, which isn't itself a cause for moaning quite the reverse. However two of the packets got withheld by AQIS, which is. One packet (a cyclamen) because AQIS aren't quite up to date with their naming and the other because it's a hybrid primula and someone dropped the 'x' from the name. It would be nice, now that bio-fortress Australia has been instituted, if they'd spend a little money on making it run smoothly.

The other part of my gripe is with the person at the AGS who received my request since, forseeing that there might be a problem, I included a typwritten list with the synonym & the acceptable form of the primula name and asked that it be included with my seeds to forestall AQIS.

Sometimes you just can't win.

[Lesley Cox]

We in New Zealand are REQUIRED to include a list of all the seeds we order from the seedlists and do so accordingly, though it takes ages to type the list of numbers with their relevant names for every possible selection we make. They need double-checking too, as MAF isn't at all happy if a name doesn't correspond with the number on the seedlist, which they have aquired in the meantime.

Last year and this, the AGS packers didn't enclose the list I'd sent them, even though I'd carefully written "for attention Hort Inspector, Port of Entry, NZ" and specifically asked that the list be returned with the seeds. Instead, both years, and for surplus seed which I ordered last year for the 1st time in 20 years, they included another copy of the seedlist itself. Since Roger and I get one each and with the surplus one, as well as those included with our separate seed orders, that meant we had 5 copies of the seedlist. One would have been plenty. It also meant that instead of checking our seeds against our own list, the hort inspectors had to look up each number in the AGS seedlist to see if what we'd ordered was permitted. It must have taken ages longer than a quick tick off our own list and they'd enclosed a note with the seed saying that I must have a list of seeds I'd ordered, sent with the seeds.

As you say Rob, we can't win.

[rob krejzl]

It would be nice if the AGS could enclose lists when requested - just on the off-chance that we know a little more than them. Certainly the SRGC manage to do so. But then my SRGC request, despite having a separate typewritten list, came through uninspected - I should have imported the cyclamen seed through them.

As for our quarantine service here in Oz, since they rely on the goodwill and honesty of the importer for it to work it's in their interest to try and avoid inconvenience for obvious reasons.

[fermi de Sousa]

Since we're all moaning about Seed confiscations here I might as well add that as predicted the AQIS officer couldn't find "Iris Californian Hybrids" on the "Allowed List" and confiscated the seeds which I presume were the ones Kristel or Diane had sent to the SRGC exchange! just as well that Diane sent some to me (and paul) privately!
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Actually it's like buying a new car and expecting the tank to be full of gas...

Actually, Carlo, when (on the very rare occasion) Ian buys a car, he demands that it DOES come with a full tank included in the price... Fine Scot that he is!

[Katherine J]

Actually, Carlo, when (on the very rare occasion) Ian buys a car, he demands that it DOES come with a full tank included in the price... Fine Scot that he is!

Well, my husband bought a new car this summer, and he was so happy, he didn't even think about gas... Sat in to drive home... no problem for a while, but... suddenly the car stopped on the highway...
He had to phone our neighbour to come and give some gas, because the next filling station was far away.

[Maggi Young]

Now this is a MEGA computer moan! Ian is barely out of the country on his way to NZ and the  start button of the pc has broken ! YIKES!!! Yes, okay, I can access the forum with the laptop, as I  am at this very minute, BUT if I don't get the pc fixed then the next four weeks' Bulb Logs are stuck inside the ruddy thing! Thank goodness this week's one is already sent through to Fred.
I would run away and join the circus if there was still one of those about with lions and tigers so I could stick my head in  mouth of one and hope for a quick end! AAARRRGGHH!!

[Paddy Tobin]

Maggi,

This happened to me a few years ago, at work with a machine that wasn't worth spending money on. This is what I did - it is possible to remove the front of the processor, perhaps there are some screws involved or else some tabs which have to be depressed to release the front. You will then probably find that what is broked is the back of the button, the part which reaches from the button to the real switch on the processor. Turn on the computer by pressing the switch - should be an obvious hole or spot on the front of the processor, obviously directly in from where the button was situated on the front piece -with the tip of a pencil/biro. The  computer should be on now. Replace the front of the processor; the button will probably have fallen out on you; leave it out and place a length of tape across the hole which the button occupied so that you cannot turn the computer off again. Leave it on permanently.

There is a chance that you may be able to repair the button using superglue or the like and reassembling the front piece with the button back in place and resume working as normal.

Of course, there was the story I heard many years ago when attending a training day on computing. It was related by a chap who worked on telephone technical support. A lady rang and said her new computer would  not work. He asked her if she had pushed the button - the one on the processor and the one on the monitor. She replied that she had. He asked her to check if the processor was connected to the monitor, detailed description of what the cable like, where it would be connected etc. Again, all was fine. Several other checks were suggested and carried out without any success. Eventually, he asked her to check that she had it plugged it to the mains. She said that would be difficult as the socket was down at the back of the table. He suggested she pull out the table and look. She did but reported that she couldn't see the socket. He asked why and she told him that she had no light because there was an electricity failure. He patiently explained that there was only one thing left for her to do. He asked if she still had the boxes and packing that came with the computer. She had. He told her to pack up the computer and bring it back to the shop in which she had purchased it, to lob it straight up onto the  counter. 'And what will I tell  them was wrong?'  she asked, to which he replied, 'Tell them that you have spoken to the people on technical support and that they told you that you were too f...ing stupid to have a computer.'

True story!

Good luck, Paddy

[David Nicholson]

Maggi, I do find, in the case of mal-functioning electronic objects, that a good kick sometimes has the desired effect. I have to admit, though, that sometimes it doesn't

Apart from that you have my sympathies.

[Maggi Young]

I think the dodgy machine is new enough to be worth a proper repair, Paddy, Though your suggestion seems useful.  I must confess to being horribly ignorant in the matters of connecting and disconnecting these things, in general, so just undoing the ruddy thing from  all its peripheral bits and bobs will be a trial, too! And this from a woman who always carries a screwdriver, too. Pathetic, isn't it?
Just as well the BD gave me a reminder of how to connect the laptop to the telephone router wotsit before he left or I'd be sitting  now trying to plug it into a carrier pigeon..
"Not, he said, that I'm expecting any problems with the pc..."  Yeah, right!
I should have known that something was going to break down we've had the cooker and the gas pump... there HAD to be a third thing


TSK! TSK!

[Paddy Tobin]

Maggi,

What I suggested should not do any damage.

The machine at work was left with the tape across the hole previously occupied by the power button because it was not worth spending money on it. You can do this as a stopgap measure; it should do no damage and you don't have to disconnect any cables, connections or anything else. You simply want access to the front of the processor. Taking the front off and putting it back on is a regular procedure in repair shops and does no damage to the machine.

Have a go; if it all goes down the toilet I am going to deny all responsibility, return to this posting and delete it all.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Paddy, I may pluck up courage to have a go.  It was the unfixing everything if I need to take the machine to the repairman  that I was anxious about! However, I'm waiting to hear if a friend of a friend can come to have a look... he does know what he's doing so my ill-informed interference may not be needed!

[Maggi Young]

JOY OF JOYS!!  I was just looking for something else in the files on the laptop and what do I find? BD has got the files for the BulbLogs while he is away on the laptop, too. I didn't realie that! Panic over, I can now relax knowing that I'm not going to have thousands of desperate BulbLoggers after my blood for depriving them of their weekly fix. Phew, that was a close call.
Should have known that Ian would have had them backed up elswhere...after all, he's off to NZ with five different storage versions of his talks!!    He's a belt and braces sort of chap, is Ian...

[ChrisB]

Lol, Maggi.  I do sympathize with you.  Never fails does it?  Hope your friend can sort it out for you.

[Lvandelft]

TSK! TSK!

Maggi does this mean, what I think it might mean?
Or is it scottish for: "Lucky me" 

BTW, now everything seems ok, reading your last message.. Congratulations with such a good and foreseeing husband.
Cheers,
Luit