Blog/January 2015/Jan 16th

January 16th (See this week's devar torah)

Lots to talk about this week. We released 8th 1.0! Some insights into air conditioning as seen through our eyes. Random technical stuff with a touch of politics.

First the politics. France is undergoing a revolution, and it’s not clear they realize it. It seems more clear that at least some French Jews are getting the message that their days of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” have expired.

Last week I mentioned the inclement weather, but I didn’t mention that Sarah’s A/C unit had ceased working, just in time for the Big Storm. This is the same unit we had just had repaired a few weeks ago. After the storm, we tried to figure out what could possibly be wrong with the A/C, and we tried everything under the sun (including all the suggestions in the user manual). Eventually, it occurred to me to go up on the roof to see if there were something I could do at the external unit.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the A/C cover off and the body of the A/C unit torn! The technician had not, apparently, closed the unit (or had not closed it properly); and when the strong storm system came through and dumped hail and rain inside the unit, it was unable to cope. So I called the company and told them the situation, and asked them to send a different technician out to repair the problem (since the original repair was under the 30-day warranty, we figured this would be covered as well).

They sent out the same numb-nuts technician, who tried to tell me that “the storm blew the cover off the unit”. When I asked him if he could explain why no other A/C units on the roof had been so affected, he had no answer. Eventually, he came down and told us the compressor had to be replaced. When I asked him why, he said, “apparently because of the rain entering the unit”. No duh!

I informed him we were in no way whatsoever paying for them to replace the compressor, since it was their fault the unit was destroyed. The tech said he had nothing to do with it; in any case he had to order the part, and the earliest he could get it would be a week from this coming Sunday. So I called the company’s support line and yelled that my daughter was freezing, and that it was unacceptable to wait more than a week when we’ve already been waiting. Esther also yelled at them. I sent an email to the executive in charge of their tech support. Esther also did that. I also sent a FAX to them. My email and FAX also included pictures of the damaged unit.

A couple hours after the screaming was over, we got an apologetic call from their support personnel saying “in response to our email to the executive” they would get the repairman out this Friday. Now we just have to see if they’re going to try to charge us. I’m ready to sue them blue. It’s now “this Friday”, and they sent the very same technician. I guess, on the theory that “you broke it, you fix it”. I would have been a lot happier if they had sent a baboon from the zoo.

OK, an update: the technician just left, and the A/C works (for now), and we did not get charged anything more. I sent a thank you note to the executive who “made it happen”, with a caveat that I would update him personally if the unit had further problems. All’s well that ends. Well…

Random technical news:

Build a USB charger for $10, which steals keystrokes from MS wireless keyboards
Why Mac users don’t switch to Linux

The big news of the week is that we released 8th 1.0 publicly! After more than a year of toil, we’ve finally released the Next Best Thing for cross-platform development (well, we think so). Go ahead, visit the link above and tell us what you think of the site! Our 8th forum is also open now to the public.

Even though it was a lot of work, and even though we may not make even one cent from it directly, it was a very satisfying project to complete. We look forward to seeing how it’s received over the next few weeks as word gets out, and we’re also going to aggressively pursue clients for whom we can write projects using 8th. We’ll also start a “viral marketing” campaign, while continuing to develop 8th and add features and fix issues as they are reported. Interesting times!

This shabbat we’ve got guests. RivQua will be staying with us, though Dinah will be elsewhere. Sarah’s friend Desta and her new husband will join us for lunch. On the menu:
homemade ḥallah, butternut squash soup, tortilla de papas, tortilla de acelga, cauliflower couscous, roasted veggies, Israeli salad, cabbage salad, carrot tehina salad, meat cholent, sticky wings, and marble cake.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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