Tom
09-16-2009, 06:54 PM
I've started sixth form (equivalent of college for you Americans) and I'm getting truly immense amounts of work - I've been back a week and a half, and I've already had to prepare two oral presentations, write three essays, make observational notes - along with a whole bunch of other inane crap, and I can barely cope with the workload.
I did anticipate that this would happen, which is why I asked to receive a laptop for my birthday (which was in July). I can type a lot faster than I can write - which is good for taking dictations at haste as well as helping me keep up with the assignments. It's also a lot more organised than having sheets of paper all over the place, and I don't have to take a fifteen minute break in between two essay tasks to give my struggling wrist a break. To top it all off, I got a cut in my finger which got infected, and because I hold a pen in a strange way, the infected area rubs against the paper as I write and it hurts like HELL.
So, I asked for a laptop. Nothing special, I only need something I can work on. I don't need any special features - I'm not going to be gaming on it, I'm not going to be downloading things, so I just found the cheapest laptop on the list and asked my mum to order it.
My birthday was in July, but the order wasn't placed until the beginning of this month, which I'll admit is mostly my fault. Now, though, the laptop has arrived in the shop, where the guy sent it off to have the language changed from Spanish to English - a routine task which I could easily do myself for free as opposed to the €40 extra I'm being charged for it.
It was supposed to be back from the language-changing person and in the shop on Monday, so I would have it ready to take in to school on Tuesday morning, and make my life a whole lot easier. But, they were "having some problems" changing the language so I was told it would "be ready tomorrow".
Well, I accepted the fact that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my laptop on Tuesday, ready to take in to school this morning (Wednesday.)
Unfortunately, there were "other delays" which once again set my laptop's arrival back a day. I was told "tomorrow" for the second time, so I got home tonight and expected my mum to arrive, laptop in hand.
But hey, guess what? Yup. It's the "tomorrow" syndrome yet again. Apparently they're having some problems installing an up-to-date video driver.
Might I ask why? I've NEVER had a problem updating video drivers. At most it takes about ten minutes to download the correct driver. It CERTAINLY shouldn't cause 24 hour delays. I'm looking at the nVidia website right now, and oh, look! There's the low-end video card my laptop has in it, and, look again! There are the drivers! So difficult to find!
I can do all of these things myself! Without the "extra preparation time" fees they're inevitably going to slap on to the cost of the laptop. Most of the time I'm a patient person, but I know for a fact that once the "tomorrow" syndrome gets going, it's bloody difficult to stop.
Surely I'm not the only one sick and tired of this kind of thing.
I did anticipate that this would happen, which is why I asked to receive a laptop for my birthday (which was in July). I can type a lot faster than I can write - which is good for taking dictations at haste as well as helping me keep up with the assignments. It's also a lot more organised than having sheets of paper all over the place, and I don't have to take a fifteen minute break in between two essay tasks to give my struggling wrist a break. To top it all off, I got a cut in my finger which got infected, and because I hold a pen in a strange way, the infected area rubs against the paper as I write and it hurts like HELL.
So, I asked for a laptop. Nothing special, I only need something I can work on. I don't need any special features - I'm not going to be gaming on it, I'm not going to be downloading things, so I just found the cheapest laptop on the list and asked my mum to order it.
My birthday was in July, but the order wasn't placed until the beginning of this month, which I'll admit is mostly my fault. Now, though, the laptop has arrived in the shop, where the guy sent it off to have the language changed from Spanish to English - a routine task which I could easily do myself for free as opposed to the €40 extra I'm being charged for it.
It was supposed to be back from the language-changing person and in the shop on Monday, so I would have it ready to take in to school on Tuesday morning, and make my life a whole lot easier. But, they were "having some problems" changing the language so I was told it would "be ready tomorrow".
Well, I accepted the fact that sometimes things don't go according to plan, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my laptop on Tuesday, ready to take in to school this morning (Wednesday.)
Unfortunately, there were "other delays" which once again set my laptop's arrival back a day. I was told "tomorrow" for the second time, so I got home tonight and expected my mum to arrive, laptop in hand.
But hey, guess what? Yup. It's the "tomorrow" syndrome yet again. Apparently they're having some problems installing an up-to-date video driver.
Might I ask why? I've NEVER had a problem updating video drivers. At most it takes about ten minutes to download the correct driver. It CERTAINLY shouldn't cause 24 hour delays. I'm looking at the nVidia website right now, and oh, look! There's the low-end video card my laptop has in it, and, look again! There are the drivers! So difficult to find!
I can do all of these things myself! Without the "extra preparation time" fees they're inevitably going to slap on to the cost of the laptop. Most of the time I'm a patient person, but I know for a fact that once the "tomorrow" syndrome gets going, it's bloody difficult to stop.
Surely I'm not the only one sick and tired of this kind of thing.