A waste of time...

I've been trying to set up a direct Skype link to my sister-in-law, but it's been rough going. While skyping her on her landline, she told me her username, which I added to my contact list.

The greeting message I appended to my request to authorize me as a contact didn't arrive for a while, and Alla's response didn't show up on my end at all, and neither could we "see" each other in our contact lists.

So, after searching the Skype FAQs for help, I emailed a support request to Skype support.

What a waste of time. After going back and forth for three days, here's a copy of my latest response to them, which pretty much sums things up:

Thank you for your prompt response. However, your advice does not appear to apply to my installation of Skype.

For example, when I position my mouse over any name in my contact list, nothing at all happens. Furthermore, right-clicking a name does not show a 'Resend Contact Request' option in the resulting popup menu.

This is my fourth message to you about this issue. To be frank, the responses from Skype support have not been very helpful, possibly because first, you don't appear to be paying attention to my messages, e.g., I'm Alex, not Alla. Second, you seem to ignore what I'm reporting, e.g., I am able to use SkypeOut with no problem, but you keep pointing me at possible firewall/router issues. Third, you don't appear to have examined the screenshots you requested, e.g., there's no question mark in front of Alla's name ('Алла') in the screenshot. And finally, fourth, you don't appear to be aware of the fact that whatever canned scripts you are using for support are out of date, e.g., the current Skype version is 4.1.0.141, not 3.8.

If I find a fix on my own, I'll be sure to let you know.

The upside is that I just finished speaking to Galina on Alla's landline using SkypeOut, and noticed that Alla and I can now "see" each other via Skype (and we even successfully tested the link).

Criminy, IT is almost like medicine sometimes: things eventually work themselves out without intervention.

Cheers...

Shaken foundations...

Galina reports that her world was shaken the other day when she was on the Metro with her sister... and someone got up to offer Galina their seat.

"It would appear I have now officially joined the ranks of the 'elderly'," said Galina during our daily conversation yesterday.

The official expectation of the Metro system, which is repeated every few minutes on the train's intercom, is for passengers to respect each other and to give up their seats for the handicapped, the aged, and mothers with small children.

And so it goes.

Cheers...

Monday? Monday!

I got a slow start on the day, not starting work until almost 10:30 am, but fortunately, the document I'm translating is fairly straightforward, even if I have to watch how I use the adjectives "noise," "sound," and "acoustic" to modify nouns. I've gotten further than my stated quota, but not as far as my "extra credit" quota that would bring tomorrow's balance to within a comfortable striking range of completing the assignment.

I made sure to grab an extra-large "grapefruit" of dough this morning for the baking ritual, and although the volume of the dough did not seem to be all that much larger, the 30-minute baking time wasn't enough to bake through the center of the loaf, which suggests that my previous loaves have been right on the money (if somewhat small) in terms of size. Then again, if one makes bread on a daily basis, the loaves - frankly - shouldn't really be all that large to begin with.

In going through various boxes of books, I am coming to the realization that I really do own quite a large number of volumes, especially in the dictionary and reference departments. I'm almost thinking that, had such volumes been out and on display instead of in boxes and out of sight, I might not have bought so many to begin with.

Almost.

At least it's a comforting thought.

I haven't been outside yet today (if you don't count a brief egress to water plants at 6 am, when it's quite cold outside). Perhaps it's time.

Cheers...