A pleasant surprise :)

Dear Jimena,

Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care.

Since our previous email, I have sent an email to Head Office to see if they can supply us with any assistance. As soon as I receive a reply I will contact you regarding this matter.

I love my child, I love my child, I love my child...

... even when I want to scream at him in frustration.

It's a really good thing my kids are really good at certain things, like math and language arts and science, and generally smart. Because every so often I smack up against something they're not good at, and it's excruciating.

I am no musical prodigy, or particularly talented. I have a pretty little voice with a range of about half an octave, am no earthly good at sight-reading (hey, I'm a soprano; I never have to) but I'm very good at remembering music once I've heard it. And I have a decent sense of rhythm. And I have nothing like perfect pitch, but can certainly hold a tune.

My children have almost no musical talent whatsoever. Justin almost never sings, but Daniel does and is almost tone-deaf. And he (Daniel, that is) has about as much sense of rhythm as your average blowing leaf.

It's painful. Really, truly painful. Not so much when he's singing for fun (I just wince once or twice) but when he's doing piano, it's all I can do to not strangle him. He's been struggling to play the same five bars for over half an hour, The First Nowell, and it's just not coming out. It sounds like Jingle Bells or something. I've tried clapping the rhythm with him (just confused him), setting the metronome (which clicked annoyingly in the background while he plonked on the keys with no relation to the clicking), counting one-and two-and three-and (guh! not helpful!) and finally one two three four five six, which appears to have helped somewhat. But he really can't hear or feel the difference himself.

And right now he's plonking and counting along while singing the melody, the notes from his mouth having only minimal similarity to the ones from the piano.

It's like nails on a blackboard.

Augh, augh, augh. Kill. Me. Now.

Plus ca change...

Latest volley:

From: Case Manager who told me she'd contacted Head Office
I have received information back to contact a specific department who in turn advised that this would have to go through International transfer of ownership.

I have gone to that website and completed the form required and received a message back that it did go through successfully. I would suggest that we now wait to see if this does go through. I will check on this again about mid week.

From: Me
I thought it had already gone through International transfer of ownership. Was I being told to change the ownership at the wrong place this whole time?




And, in other news, I got my birthday present today!!! Finally!! Yes, my birthday is before Christmas, I know.

Chris talked to Amazon again today. He's been talking to them ever since my present didn't arrive on time, and has also been given a runaround. Said runaround involving changed "There by no later than" dates (December 27 to January 7), a tracking number that didn't track anything, an Amazon supervisor graciously agreeing to refund the $18 he'd paid to have it shipped "Priority Post" (since he's been such a good customer for so long, you know) a reassurance that if it wasn't here by January 11 (the third "There by no later than" date) they would re-ship it and guarantee that it would be here within two days, and, finally, today, a trip to Future Shop when Chris called Amazon to tell them "It's not here yet" and they refused to send it and guarantee it would be here within two days.

What was my birthday present? The Order of the Phoenix DVD!! Wheee! Sohappy.


My Christmas present, by the way, is still not here.