blog.erwintang.com

There were so many things I wanted to write about while my server was gone. So, in no particular order, here goes.

I went and saw Dodgeball tonight. Despite getting a single star in the Vancouver Sun review, it was way better than I was anticipating. Some surprisingly sharp bits and dialogue made the difference. Also impressive were the multitude of cameos in the movie. Vince Vaughn did his usual work in the movie, but I have to single out Ben Stiller for his creepy yet funny portrayal of a fitness guru. Thumbs up from me.

In other news, yes, the McDonald’s incident did get resolved. Last Saturday, I went to the restaurant to again try to make good on the manager’s offer. I wasn’t really expecting anything positive to happen. Just in case, I brought three friends along.

I stood in line and thankfully when it was my turn to order, I got an actual manager to serve me. It wasn’t Charles the guy I talked to, but it was a manager nonetheless.

I tried to explain it to him the best I could and I saw a flash of recognition on his face as I completed my story.

“Yeah, you’re the guy that came in and no one believed you. Yeah, I read that in the report. That’s disgusting.”

We agreed that I could get four meals of my choice plus dessert. I ordered the most expensive meal you can get, the double Quarter Pounder Meal. I also had an apple pie. Two others followed my lead, while the final person got a McExtra meal.

When all our food was ready, he handed me the tray and gave me a final apology.

“Sorry once again, and if I was working that night, that wouldn’t have happened.”

I thanked him for finally believing in my story. As we ate our meals, I realized I’d never had so much “beef” at McDonald’s before. This was the same exact meal Morgan Spurlock had in Super Size Me when he threw up. Granted, he had the meal supersized, but I could see why he’d want to bring it back up.

I am happy that whole incident is finally over.

One final bit of news, I started my job working for a professor this Monday. The job lasts a month and a half. I need the cash and the commute is only five minutes by foot. That’s the good part. The bad part is that I have to be at work by 8:30am. I don’t care how short your commute is, being at work by 8:30am sucks. I could spend my nights in the office and it would still suck.

It’s taken me all week to adjust and this was the first day where I didn’t nap after work. Thank goodness for caffeine.

I’ve got some stuff to do before bed, so I’ll see everyone later.

My e-mail now works. Bring it spammers.

I have received word from Stephen as to what happened during the last several days. Apparently, a hard drive died on the server I am using.

The drive has been replaced, but Stephen warns me it will probably die again in six months.

I currently have a huge gap in my e-mails. Anything sent to me in the last week or so probably won’t get to me. I still can’t receive e-mail, though I can send them now.

The good news is that I didn’t lose any of my web site files. I wish I had all that lost e-mail though.

I have to say, I really did miss writing to my blog. There were a few things I wanted to write about, but the moment passed. That’s the great thing about blogs, you can get your message out in a matter of minutes.

It’ll take a few days to sort some things out, but we’ll be back to normal soon.

I so want my site to be back up right now. I really miss reading my e-mail as well.

According to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Fire Department has removed Internet access from all its fire houses. The reason? They determined that the computer at one of their stations was used to “to visit ‘inappropriate sites’, possibly including pornography”.

The entire station in question will be disciplined. The report quotes a CFD spokesperson about the type of discipline to be handed out.

“Members who had access to the computer will be orally counseled…”

After receiving word from Charles, the McDonald’s restaurant manager on campus, I headed down to make good on his offer.

Chris drove me to the Village around 12am. I stepped up to the counter and told them that Charles said I could have a free meal. The girl behind the counter looked at me incredulously.

“Um, no he didn’t”.

“He told me that he would leave a note with you guys that Erwin could have two free meals.”

“We don’t know anything about that.”

At this point, I thought I could take it two ways: I could demand my meal because Charles said I could have it or I could just save the fight for another day.

I decided to be gracious and not make a scene. Why? I thought about it from their point of view. I had no reason to believe they were lying to me. They probably did not receive word from Charles. So, from their point of view, this crazy guy comes in and starts demanding free food.

If I were to be angry, I should direct my anger towards the manager. He told me he’d do something, but he didn’t.

In light of this, I called the restaurant looking for Charles today. I missed him by ten minutes. They said he’d be in at 10am tomorrow morning.

I am definitely going to call him again. I’m debating right now whether or not to call the head office again. So far, in my mind, McDonald’s have committed two errors: the first offense and then by screwing up their efforts to reimburse me. I’ll see what the manager has to say, and then I’ll assess if further calls are needed.

I’ll keep everyone posted.

Since about Monday night, the server which handles my web hosting and e-mail has been experiencing a major malfunction.

Around 1am in the morning, it decides to quit. Every morning, I call Stephen to reboot the server. Afterwards, all the mail I’ve been not reading starts to trickle in.

Today, Stephen told me he has no idea why this is happening nor does he have the time to figure it out right now. In fact, he has advised me to back up any files I need as soon as possible. He’s leaving for Texas on a two-day business trip. What does this mean?

It most likely means I will not be able to receive e-mail on my primary account. For now, please use erwin@interchange.ubc.ca. It also means that I won’t be able to post to this blog. For some reason, you’ll probably still be able to access the site, but I won’t be able to write to it.

Alright, I have to end this here and go back up some files. See you on the other side!

The manager of the UBC McDonald’s restaurant called me this morning. He wanted to hear the details of the incident himself.

He told me he knew exactly who was working that night on the grill. He would question the individuals involved.

In the meantime, he offered to compensate me thusly: two combo meals of my choice and two desserts.

I agreed, though I would have preferred the regional office to send me coupons for free stuff. It’s more official that way. In my case, I have to mention my name to the staff. The manager said he’d leave a note to all the staff that I’d be coming in.

I’m not sure if I like that. They’ll all be asking why I deserve the free meals. Have you seen that scene from Road Trip? I don’t want them to mess with my meal.

Anyways, we’ll see happens.

On Monday morning, I called McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada located in Burnaby. A customer representative took my information down and I reported what happened.

She told me the manager of the McDonald’s location I was at would call me. She also apologized to me for my less than stellar experience.

No offer of compensation was made at the time. She did, however, imply that the manager would make it right. She didn’t get into specifics unfortunately. So, I might get a simple verbal apology or free cheeseburgers for life. I think reality might lie somewhere in between those two.

If the manager doesn’t call me by Tuesday afternoon, I will contact McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada again.

You have to admit, there are some similarities.