The price of not forgetting

Mind what you show

A while ago, I saw something both unusual and attractive in a face online, and did wonder who it was. I was gripped by curiosity but unaware of the tools at my fingertips to satisfy it.

In one of those events of one thing leading to another online, I happened upon PimEyes, a website that thralls the Internet for image similarities, it uses a form of Artificial Intelligence and for the free product, it is good.

I did find the face and just the other pictures and URLs you could not visit on the free version was revelatory. Let's just say you do not want to put pictures online on sites and profiles that could leave you compromised.

That it out of face

The same happened with a chap with totally enviable model looks, I found out where he took his modelling pictures from one of the URL results, but some other pictures were in flagrante dilecto, giving full expression to his sexual proclivities.

The prude in me did wonder how such a beautiful man could be up to such naughtiness. Even in my wildest years, my nudity never included a face, which must be a law, a rule never to be broken regardless of your state of sobriety, except where that is your clear intention.

It’s somewhere online

However, more pertinent was the impression of the Internet never forgetting, when a website I used for a core part of work research went offline months ago.

As I needed information only it could provide, in simplicity, I found the Wayback Machine, a website that does a sweep of the Internet, it periodically captures literally anything published online, it is an internet archiving resource. I was back in my element for the recall of an essential service.

My blog started in December 2003, hosted by a local company in Scotland that I thought I was supporting until they decided they found no more pleasure in hosting blogs in mid-2010. The harsher lesson was they used proprietary tools which made it impossible to migrate my blog to another hosting provider.

We were given 18 months to do whatever we could to get our content off before the hosting facility closed down in 2012. It took a good few weeks to copy each of the over 1,500 blogs to another location, but I lost the images, internal links, and interactions in comments.

Publish and be damned

Imagine, 13 years later, I plugged my old URL in the Wayback Machine and up came captures from 2003 to 2012, including comments.

All was not lost, just somewhere, if you knew where to find it. That is both a solution and a problem, how you can find what you thought you had lost, but worse still is what others can find that you had totally forgotten, you had done.

When Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was being blackmailed to be left out of the saucy memoirs of his mistress Harriette Wilson, he retorted, “Publish and be damned.” The publisher Joseph Stockdale did publish, but retribution came through others who ruined him with libel suits.

To many of us, there is probably no fear of libel or defamation, just the unfortunate situation of someone being able to dig up something from the past and make it relevant to the present, at a point of ascendancy, that you might have to relinquish an honour, an accolade, or a position in ignominy.

Think about what you post or court controversy at your peril.

Technical: A whole weekend networking

On it since Friday

It is like the dogged determination of a hungry dog that just found a juicy bone, I could not relent until I had found a solution to my unfortunate network problem. I have been with Virgin Media for over 6 years until I was quite persuaded to review the quality of the service and how much I was paying for it, especially that of the package I was offered, I was only using the broadband and not the telephony or television bundle.

After getting a third off my subscription, I was sent a new cable modem, the Virgin Media Super Hub 3 to replace my Virgin Media Super Hub 2AC, it was supposed to be a plug-n-play activity which I left until after work on Friday, it was anything but.

Blog - For the food, I can forget

It should work, I thought

Connecting it up in the basic configuration that I had with the one I was replacing with the wireless configuration switched off, that was the beginning of my problems, my wired connections that came through a switch to just 19 other devices on my network could not reach the Internet. What was baffling was to use a basic analogy, I had arrived at the gate, been seen by security and all I needed was to be waved through, but I was held back.

The Super Hub 3 listed all my devices on its administration page, but it was not letting them onto the Internet, it being the gatekeeper. Could it be a compatibility problem? Quite doubtful as all my kit had only had their firmware updated.

No Internet no help

My NETGEAR Nighthawk X6 R8000 router on its administration page was saying there was no Internet connection, yet, my Amazon Fire Stick 4K was getting on the Internet having obtained by WiFi an IP Address, it was making no sense as my laptops obtaining IP Addresses from the same router could not get online.

There was nothing wrong with my setup, the only variable that had changed was the Super Hub 3. So, I called Virgin Media and they were as helpful as a blacksmith giving a brain surgeon instructions for performing a radical frontal lobotomy. Much as I was convinced that the problem was with the Super Hub 3, I switched it to modem mode with no success.

Reverting to router mode and the wireless service enabled, some devices did connect but it was unstable, my laptops getting nowhere. I then reconnected the old Super Hub 2AC but as the service had been bound to the new hub, I was having no luck.

Firm on the wares

Along the way, I found that the switch TP-Link TL-SG108E was behind on its firmware, so I updated it, though the latest was 3 years old. Still, no progress and Virgin Media from their myopic perspective even after over an hour of communication with a lady considerably more knowledgeable about networks were satisfied if I could connect one device and it went online, the problem was mine. They even wanted me to pay an additional fee for support on a service they changed only 4 days ago. I was exasperated.

Internet searches crept along with snippets and no clear solutions, I needed to piece together these elements with the hope that I might get some headway. Then I realised the stock firmware on my NETGEAR router did not expose all the elements I need to troubleshoot that No Internet screen comprehensively. Now, I was on to a crazy path that could brick my router. I found flashed the router firmware with the latest version of FreshTomato firmware for my model, it first looked dead, but a factory reset gave it a FreshTomato persona and I was ready to play.

It all clicked together

I was given too many levers than I knew to manage, even my knowledge of networks was challenged, but I found enough to manipulate things better. I put the SuperHub 3 back into modem mode disabling the wireless functionality by default attached it to the NETGEAR router where the router now acted like the SuperHub 3.

Things were beginning to make some sense even if things did not seem to work as required. Then a final tweak, the gateway address which used to be the address of the SuperHub in router mode now had to become the address of the FreshTomato configured NETGEAR router and suddenly, all my devices appeared in the list of managed devices by NETGEAR and they were waved through the gate, the SuperHub 3 and onto the Internet. That is the short version of how I deduced the solution.

The WiFi SSIDs had changed, so all my devices were reregistered as well as my wireless printer and I guess we can all go to bed happy. Much as it was a bit inconvenient tethering my work laptop and another to my mobile phone for the day, I guess some things have to be done to get other things fixed.

For the food, I can forget

You switch power in time

I have not normally had much interest in the utilities I use, I acquire the service and arrange payments and leave it at that. Then I realised these utility companies will take undue advantage of loyal customers, your initial contractual period runs out, they do nothing to woo or keep you about, they just let it roll giving attractive discounts to new customers and heaping on annual increases just because your direct debit details allows them to coast along.

About two years ago, I notice my energy company was about to implement an eye-watering price hike and for the first time I thought, I am having none of it. So, I log on USwitch that does price comparisons for energy, broadband, and mobile telephony with seamless switch to other providers and found a better value service.

I saved myself about 50% then the utility company after a year was about to hike rates, which led me shopping for another deal. How annoying can it be that within a quarter of a year, this new offer is again at an unreasonable price hike that it is almost like musical chairs? USwitch is not slacking, as anything I can save more that £50, I am alerted to the opportunity much as I glibly ignore many offers. Here we go again.

App on the blink

Over a year ago, I acquired a NETGEAR Nighthawk X6 R8000 router because all other access points that I got to replace the moribund Virgin Media Super Hub 2AC wireless service were not giving me stable and reliable connections especially when working from home. When setting it up, I was offered an app to install on my Android mobile phone to manage the hub, which seemed a rather nice idea.

However, every time I logged on the router to update the firmware from my mobile phone, I was told there was no new update and I believed it. All I was able to do was restart the router on occasion and I thought nothing of it. A few days ago, I thought of installing my ExpressVPN service on my router by logging on via a web service and found my router was so far behind on firmware updates I needed to perform an intermediate update before the latest one.

A virgin I am not

This brought me to my Virgin Media broadband service that provides Internet, television and land telephony of which the last two I can do without, considering most of what I need on television comes from my Amazon Fire Stick 4K, they want to add 5% to my subscription having had my custom since August 2014. I have been paying too much already and I was not going to stand for this.

In South Africa, I was using the Amazon Fire Stick Lite and bought ExpressVPN which allowed me to watch shows I will normally get to see when in England. Murder, She Wrote, NCIS, Columbo, and Law & Order are amongst my homely comforts. There are other uses of the VPN along with giving me access not normally available in the UK.

I eventually found time to call up and 45 minutes into the call from the land telephony service I have with them, I was ready to cancel, but they made me some interesting offers that I could not decide on yet as USwitch seemed to have better deals until I realised how much of a hassle it would be to change providers.

Delivered from lagging delivery

This morning, I called again, and we went over the whole provision, something was marketed to me to retain the services I had for a 30% discount for 18 months. I think I can take that, but I am not going back on that outrageous tariff in 18 months’ time. Meanwhile, I am getting a new hub and I can install my VPN on it.

Since I am sorting out a few technical things, I thought of getting a new laptop for my test lab activities, one that has some particularly critical security features I need to take through its paces and acquire some knowledge and practice. I had my designs on a Dell laptop which I was ready to pay for when I saw the delivery date 26 days hence. That, for me, was not good enough, if they could not turn it around in just over a week, someone else will get my custom.

Anyway, no time for a rant. What’s for supper? 

Service does involve being serious about providing it

Hoisted by Houst

When Brian arrived on Friday, he tried to sort out a few issues with our apartment on Saturday, like he was able to connect on WiFi he was getting no Internet connection and getting a spare set of keys. Once again it showed why it is preferable to book hotels with apartments rather than AirBnB-type arrangements though this was presented on my Hotels.com portal where I have been a loyal member for 8 years.

Our apartment in a complex is managed by an agency called Houst that seemed to find ways to exhibit levels of intransigence and incompetence, this will not be the last word on the matter. Whilst they have garnered many 5-star reviews, the length of the 1-star reviews is well over half of the 5-star ones, with negligible reviews in between. This is indicative of probably an outfit that excels despite themselves and underperforms with deliberate urgency.

Brian’s call should have elicited a response email, a reference number and some idea as to when the Internet issue would be resolved, none of which happened. When I arrived late on Saturday, after attempting a call, we decided it all best dealt with on Monday.

Quick to the buck

Today, we began with the need for a second set of keys even splitting it into having just a key fob for the main gate and the entrance to the apartment block, to no avail. A hotel would easily have provided a second set of keys where there was more than one guest. It just pointed out the indolence of the agency.

On the Internet matter, I was having none of the nonsense about having not connected properly, this simple networking situation is my bread and butter, it has been for almost 30 years. As I suspected, I contacted the Internet Service Provider (ISP), the account for our apartment had been suspended for the non-payment of bills.

It might not have been the responsibility of the agency to pay that bill, but they should have taken on the responsibility of checking all advertised services were in working order before accepting guests. Nothing is as irksome as to find that you have been short-changed by unprofessional and inattentive outfits quick to the buck but slow at the muck, it just sucks.

Fixing it ourselves

At a point, I did consider paying the bill to get the service back pronto, though it would have taken 24 to 48 hours to restore the service and we were already in the 4^th day of a month-long stay. Eventually, we decided on getting a MiFi dongle with oodles of gigabytes to play with and connect up to 16 devices. This immediately solved the Internet access problem, and if the apartment eventually gets the service restored, fine.

As we were going out, we saw the Building Manager’s office, but she was on the phone. On returning, I had a word with her, and she said I could have a key fob for a deposit to be returned on our departure. If Houst had bothered to Know Their Customer and the apartment they were letting, this information would have been present either for them to have spare key fobs or inform guests of that availability. My honest opinion is the service Houst provides or my experience leaves much to be desired.

At the end of 6 email exchanges where my views were clearly and forcefully expressed without losing my composure or courtesy, their last response was a boilerplate dereliction of service. “Thank you for your message. I will pass this on to the host and keep you updated.” I am not holding my breath on any improvement on their part. Never again is my consolation for any new booking and hopefully when we get our places and need to have them managed by an agency.

It is behind us and we can enjoy our holiday and time together without the frustration of dealing with atrocious customer service.

Thought Picnic: What am I supposed to do?

What for?

I woke up to an astonishingly atrociously unwarranted vicious message in my mailbox this morning. Much as I have received threats, abuse and worse before, I have usually consigned the message to the bin and marked it as spam.

Over time, I have learnt not to allow things like this is perturb or upset me, these are messages from generally inconsequential people with whom I have no contact or relationship, that it should never matter.

Fight this

However, on this occasion, I decided not to overlook the situation. Too many times, people have sat behind their keyboards with a deluded sense of anonymity to lay invective and vitriolic abuse on strangers without consequence.

For instance, if you were abused without cause on the street or a public space, you can either have other members of the public intervene or even have the police deal with the issue.

Consequences abound

The fundamental especially in the free world I have the privilege to live, is that we all have the freedom of expression but the licence to threaten and abuse crosses the line into menace, illegality and possible criminality. That licence, if anyone deigns to use it is not protected speech and should be sanctioned.

Whilst there might be many reasons why I was abused in the mind of the perpetrator and I cannot care to imagine what they might be. My acting now might well ensure no one else gets attacked like I was and also make clear that the full force of the law is just round the corner as a result of acting in a reprehensible manner.

I won’t hurt a fly

The person oblivious of what I can do, I traced the particulars and indicators of message and forwarded the information to the administrator of the hosting facility he used along with a complaint. I probably will not get more than an acknowledgement, but it was a necessary action.

It reminds of someone who in the process of trying to defraud me left me with a number of his bank account details, it was not long before I obtained his home address, birth certificate and a few other private pieces of data that I forwarded to the authorities. He, at the end of the day, was responsible for his misfortune.

I am as docile as a sleeping dog, kick me and you’ll wake a rabid dog with a vicious bite. But then, some people just have to scratch their itchy noses with the gaping fangs of a viper. What am I supposed to do?

Decade Blogs - Ayo Sogunro - Gone Blogging, Back Soon

Decades Blogs

To the Nigerian Twitterverse, Ayo Sogunro probably needs no introduction as the cerebral and very reasonable legal brain who will tackle issues we so easily get emotive and sentimental about with passionate yet objective adherence to logical thinking.

I guess getting Ayo to write a blog for my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging is the equivalent of a scoop. Not only did he immediately respond to my request, he came back with reassurances that his promise would be delivered.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

On Twitter Ayo exudes wit and his blogs are well-constructed persuasive legal arguments on thorny contemporary issues in Nigeria as child marriage and the outlier issue of gay marriage.

Why You Should Be Worried About Nigeria’s Anti-Gay Law which he wrote in June 2013.

Ayo Sogunro is the author of The Wonderful Life of Senator Boniface and other Sorry Tales. A lawyer by profession, he also indulges in socio-legal philosophy on www.ayosogunro.com. Interact with him on Twitter via @ayosogunro.

Here Ayo writes about how his desire for the impartation of knowledge has not changed but the theatre has been enhanced by the Internet. Quite a good read from a raconteur.

Gone Blogging, Back Soon

As a university student, I gained a reputation for being rather clever, and the satisfactory nature of this reputation encouraged me to develop an even more satisfactory habit of imparting some of my versatile knowledge to friends and colleagues in the form tutorials.

In the course of time, I had gained a wider reputation as a fine teacher, and I soon got used to hearing complimentary remarks such as: “You teach very well! You ought to become a lecturer, someday!”

Since humans are generally shaped by expectations of society just as much as by their own personal choices, it wasn’t long before the ambition of being a university lecturer gradually settled in my thoughts as though I myself had originated the idea. Also, it was an easy ambition to aspire to: in those days, the qualifications required to be a university lecturer in Nigeria were a fairly simple matter—all you had to do was complete a first degree and then obtain a Master’s degree.

As I was well on the way to finalizing the first requirement, and the second being no more than one more year of the same, I was fairly confident that I would join the ranks of the academia very soon. I was so sure of this that I had already begun to stake out my own office in the staff rooms.

I already had my class schedules figured out, my routine mapped mentally, and in keeping with my character as a young and naïve male—I could picture already the horde of admiring students of the feminine aspect. I was ready to be the archetypal Nigerian lecturer: lording it over enslaved students, my word would be law and my exam scores, final.

But the Nigerian Universities Commission was not so sympathetic to my career ambitions for, just before I left school, it became a requirement that university lecturers had to be possessed of a doctorate degree.

I was quite puzzled by this idea: the logical connection between the ability to educate students and the possession of a certificate for having pursued a research thesis was—and still is—lost on me. And even then, I knew a number of lecturers who bore plain “Mister”, but were absolutely brilliant and even more lecturers that had the now required “Doctor” and who, as the man on the street would put it, “couldn’t teach jack shit”.

But my armchair protest at this unnecessary requirement was in vain. And with that came the dampening realization that three to four more years of study would now be required before I was entitled to brandish my academic lecturing skills. It was quite clear that the NUC had no urgent need for my services.

It was also quite clear that I couldn’t afford to pursue a doctorate degree right after school. In the end, I quietly pushed aside the ambitions to become a career teacher and took up a financially rewarding job instead, and without much ado, the ivory tower and I parted ways.

But along came the Internet, and that has made all the difference.

You see, back in school, the Internet was simply what you called the 30 minute long stare at the rolling icon of Internet Explorer over what was often a dial-up connection that taught you the patience of the gods. Emails and chats were the most interactive form of Internet usage, “Facebook” was just a typographical error to be underlined by Microsoft Word, and blogs—if they existed back then—might as well have been located on the moons of Jupiter.

But, as my professional life budded, and I became more aware of the other world that is the Internet proper, blogs gradually became A THING and soon, I found myself in possession of one. My first blog was a rudimentary package from Blogger that allowed me delusions of grandeur after seeing my name spread out on the Internet browser address bar.

With great grandeur comes great responsibility: blogging was work, and I worked at it. The perseverance paid off. And before long, the readership trickled into the thousands and the lecturing ambitions of my younger years were transmuted into a stream of steady articles for my readers.

The Internet is a school, and the blog is my classroom—and I don’t even have to perform the gruelling task of marking examination scripts. Of course, one comes across comments that make you want to take a stick to the reader, but even with those, the blogging experience is generally exciting.

I might go back to a classroom someday and oppress young students as originally planned, but for now, all the teaching I need to do—all over the world—can be done from my corner. With a click.

  

Decade Blogs - Ikhide R. Ikheloa - This life, London, tribes, and the Internet

Decade Blogs

Pa Ikhide, as we all know him as on the Social Media (Twitter and Facebook) haunts where he holds court as the king of acerbic wit, the conjurer of piercing satire and the scourge of the pretentious in all professions from writing to politics needs no introduction.

He styles himself a reader who writes, I guess that makes him a better writer than those who have to pen something for their supper.

I had barely asked that he contribute to my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging and he immediately consented, I am greatly honoured.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

His story here is the story of many of us who left Nigeria from excited to disillusioned young people when we realized we might have greater opportunities for adventure, discovery and more, yet we harbour a nostalgic yearning for a much better Nigeria.

Yet, once you resist the temptation to do the sums, Pa Ikhide personifies youth, the life of the party, the agglomerator of diversity too broad to define and the master of ceremonies that gives ceremony meaning and purpose, we all want to be like him when we all grow young too.

You can find Ikhide R. Ikheloa with the Twitter handle @ikhide, he blogs at www.xokigbo.com and before he cycles away slowly on his trusty old palm wine tapper’s bicycle, you could befriend him on Facebook.

Meanwhile, This life, London, tribes, and the Internet

Three decades ago, I left Nigeria for America, a scared man-child. I was used to being away from home; my life from childhood is a blur of restless movement, from boarding school to boarding school to life on campus, but I had never been this far away from home. I missed Nigeria. I missed my girlfriend, she who filled me with the joy and mystery of fellowship with a truly beautiful soul.

The hunger to be with someone, to touch someone was a heartache that turned life in America into one large cold and desolate graveyard. I was miserable. I came to America two whole decades before the cell phone and the Internet became commercial possibilities. My girlfriend and I wrote long heartbreaking letters to each other. It took weeks for these letters to be delivered. I had to walk what seemed like a mile to get the mail from the mailbox. You have not experienced exile in America until you have trudged a mile to a mailbox in the depths of winter only to meet an empty mailbox. I had yet to discover earmuffs, in the winter, my frostbitten ears would threaten to fall off as the wind howled and mocked me each time after a trip to the mailbox.

When I left Nigeria, the telecommunications system was being bullied by state-sanctioned incompetence, mediocrity and corruption. In any case, my girlfriend did not have access to phones. I would like to see her again and thank her for the gift of her friendship. In my stories, as in Cow foot by Candlelight, her laughter reverberates across the canyons and both comfort and make me yearn for a beautiful time of innocence.

The eighties in America were a whirl of darkness, a violent, persistent separation from my umbilical cord, literally and figuratively. My restless spirit wanted to kick the claustrophobia of physical walls and be home in Nigeria. It was not all bad. In 1986, news came that Wole Soyinka had won the Nobel Prize in literature. Our local newspaper in America carried the news, with a picture of him. Excited, I shared the newspaper with my colleague. She took one quick look at it and muttered, “He needs a haircut!” Americans are not that into good literature. The pain of exile was also blunted by the kindness of many Americans who tried to make America a home away from home. Still, the distance hurt and nothing could console me.

The early nineties were not much better. Television helped, but American TV had her own priorities and one only learnt of Africa through bad news; dark smoke, rapes, murders, pillage and looting, apartheid, pot-bellied generals stumbling through badly written speeches announcing coups, etc. However, I do remember when the Super Eagles, Nigeria’s national football team came to America in 1994 to participate in the world cup. Even after all these years, memories of the pleasure of watching them play on television still send shivers down my spine. When they lost and they had to leave for home, I was heartbroken; it was as if my brothers were leaving me behind.

To say that the Internet gave me life would be a little bit of an exaggeration, but the Internet seemed made for me. I remember my first interactions in 1994 with fellow Nigerians on the list-serve Naijanet, the first ever social media network for Nigerians. Until I was admitted into Naijanet I had never come across such a robust body of intellectuals and professionals all in one place. I soon learnt that there is a mystery to the human spirit, that the flesh is simply flesh. We made lasting friendships, and in a few instances, lasting enemies. But it was the market place to be in. We loved, laughed and fought like siblings. And shared our opinions and to a great degree became the communications conduit for the fight against military dictatorships in the Nigeria of the nineties.

The advent of the Internet has been a lifesaver. Susan P. Crawford once wrote a lovely piece in the New York Times, The New Digital Divide (December 3, 2011). It is a thoughtful essay but I respectfully beg to differ with Crawford. I do not see a digital divide; I see a digital bridge. Today, the Internet and social media continue to remake the world in counter-intuitive ways – with spectacular muscle.

Every day on the Internet, new tribes (yes, tribes) are formed, and these tribes have great impact on the analog world. It is hard for me to think today of a world without the Internet. The Internet and smartphones have empowered women and children in Africa in ways previously unimaginable. For a change, the literature of Africa sails free and unfettered on the Internet, free of the cloying influence of Western editorial standard.

For me personally, it has given me life, I was born to express myself, and the Internet has given me the platform to do just that. More importantly, it has given me the gift of friendship, true abiding friendship that I access in real time. It is very interesting, when I finally meet these friends in person; it is as if we have known each other forever.

I remember London in April 2013. I was visiting my friend and her family. At the immigrations desk, the young official asked me if I had ever met her. It seemed like a trick question. I knew the right answer: I had never met her. But that was a lie. I had met her, only not in the flesh. I told the requisite lie; no, I had never met her. And he let me into London to see my friend I’d never met, but that I’d met. There was no drama to our meeting, we had known each other for so long, there was nothing to say or do, but continue where we left off on the Internet.

In London, I met many friends, mostly writers and readers I met on the Internet. And I met Akin Akintayo, a fellow citizen of Twitterville. Over several moons, we have bonded wirelessly as can be seen by our friendly banter on Twitter, threads that are defined by a playful tensile strength. He is the personification of all that makes me love life as a digital citizen. Once I wanted a copy of the UK version of Chinua Achebe’s book, There Was a Country, because its book cover of a soldier sitting on a car was evocative of a certain era in my life and it spoke to me. I announced my wish on Twitter and Akin set about getting it for me at considerable inconvenience, financially and logistically. I’d never met Akin of course, until I finally met him in London in April months later.

My days in London remain special for many reasons. One of them is of hanging out with Akin, and many of us on the streets of London this fine evening, going to dinner. Akin was the very picture of splendor, grace and charm under trying circumstances, a brave man politely giving the gatekeepers of life the middle finger, modeling for all of us how to live – without fear. I salute you, Akin. Keep on blogging and talking, we are listening to you.

Decade Blogs - Nkem Ivara - The Power Of Words

Decade Blogs

Nkem Ivara is a published writer, the author of Closer Than a Brother, publisher earlier this year, so it is no wonder that she has chosen words as the theme of the blog she has contributed to celebrate my decade of blogging.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

Nkem Ivara who blogs at www.thewordsmythe.wordpress.com uses the Twitter handle @thewordsmythe

This is Nkem Ivara in - The power of words

Words. I have been thinking about poetry, about prose, about literature. I have been thinking about the way some people's writing makes me feel. I have been thinking about writing that is so sweet the explosion of flavours assaults my taste buds and all my senses. Descriptions so vivid, language so evocative, I find myself right in the centre of the action, soaking in all the lushness of beautiful words.

Words. In the hands of the right writer, words are like a tightly strung guitar. Strumming the taut strings, at times gently, at others wildly, they tease out a melody so sweet. And starting out soft and gentle, then building up till the tempo reaches a heady crescendo, they transport me to dizzying heights. My heart swells and drops along with the cadence. My pulse keeps time with the beat. The tune lingers in my head long after I have read the piece making me want to leap out of my chair and dance with pure joy to the symphony.

Words. Luscious, rich, unapologetic writing oozing sensuality and making no excuses. Words wound so tight they spring out like a jack in the box, hitting the reader right where it matters. Writing that bursts into vivid technicolour, bold splashes of colour lighting up the screen, riveting me to the screen as I watch the plot unfold, wringing out every ounce of emotion leaving me drained and spent when it's all over.

Like a roller coaster ride, deceptively slow at first, then exhilaratingly fast, it flings me this way, then that way. I hold on for dear life as my stomach drops when the ride suddenly falls from a height. And as it slows to a crawl at the end, I get out on wobbly legs, thankful to have made it out alive.

It matters little whether it is in a book, on a blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, when I read great writing, it feels like a homecoming. Like the smell of a cake baking in my kitchen. Like hot custard on apple pie. Like frothy hot chocolate. Like coming into a warm house after being out in the wintry cold.  

This is the kind of writing that births a kinship with the writer. An affinity that erroneously leads me to thinking I know the writer well. That makes me believe we would get along like melted cheese on toast if we met. I feel like the writer has captured something that I have felt within my grasp yet it eludes me when I try to express it. I feel like the writer has reached deep down in my heart and articulated what I am feeling, speaking for me when I cannot find my voice.

I have been thinking how back in the day, this feeling would remain just a thought, an unreciprocated virtual high five. But not anymore. These days, I can reach out to writers whose work I enjoy via social media. I can let them know how their work makes me feel.

Here is a quote I love; it perfectly articulates what I mean. “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.” J.D Salinger, Catcher in the Rye.

So, Akin, brave wielder of words, bold resident of this virtual space we call the Internet and to all the other brave souls who delight us with their words, thank you. Happy 10^th anniversary.

Thought Picnic: Villa Bellagio - a case of a manager beyond her depth

A bad manager

When  I consider the issues I have with Villa Bellagio, the hotel I have stayed in for 2 weeks now that has failed to resolve the 10 day loss of wireless internet service, I see a serious deficit in problem management that I put down mainly to the manager at first and then to the brand.

The hotel in advertsiements clearly touts that it offers free Wi-Fi, it is part of the product set and like I have said before, one of the things people check for when booking a hotel is the availability of Internet connectivity, either wired or wireless. It is also becoming uncompetitive to charge for that service and this trend was started by hotels with the Radisson brand name and it has extended to the group and now beyond that.

The lies are many

The manager had a story as regards the loss of this service for the first 4 days which was far from the truth when she blamed it on Swisscom saying other hotels were having the same problem when our own independent investigation determined that the hotel or possibly the hotel chain itself had cancelled their contract with Swisscom.

Apparently she was not aware of that situation until I informed her of the situation. What amazed me was how such a unique selling point in the hospitality industry could have been missed by a manager running a hotel with about 100 rooms.

I accept the fact that we are unusual clientele for the fact that we have spent more the typical average stay of less than 3 nights such that the story that might have worked for short-stayers will not work for us, but it makes the issue nonetheless urgent.

No problem ownership

She never once owned the problem from the very start, everything else was to blame, Swisscom first, then her head office and now probably us for being a nuisance demanding the service be restored.

She no doubt must have had a discussion with her staff because I first heard of the “it is a complementary service” line came from one of the desk clerks, but she was missing a fundamental point which was, complementary or not, this was part of hotel service just as much as one will expect to have one’s room cleaned, clean bed linen, a television and even a fridge, if not a mini-bar.

No re-mediation steps

Between the hotel group and the hotel, they cannot have been unaware of the pending loss of this service and facilitated a replacement, first with immediate re-mediation pending the installation of the new service with presumably the service provider I am told they have signed up with, but I am nowhere near believing that she has told the truth here either.

In fact, I have come to the conclusion she will manufacture any story to get her out of a sticky confrontation with me that I will need to contact the head office myself and remonstrate about this dissimulating manager.

Beyond her depth

Beyond the being a hotel desk clerk able to check-in and check-out middle-aged to retired Far-East Asian guests, this lady who has been promoted well beyond her capabilities cannot really manage a hotel, she by terms looks no different from her staff and lacks the requisite aptitude to manage even the simplest situation of giving priority to rooms that clearly have “Please Make Up My Room” door signs over other non-urgent rooms. [See earlier blogs on this.]

That it has taken this exceptional situation to recognise a fundamental flaw is both unfortunate and careless, she has not grown to the challenge and by that, she might well destroy both her job and the brand too just because 6 people came to stay 3 long weeks at the hotel and got a good feel of how it really is being run.

Abandon hope

So, once again, I was at the desk this morning, we had extended our stay for another 2 nights; at this stage there really was no reason to change hotels even though we had another week to run. Our patience has been tested, our endurance of the incomprehensible has been tried, and life goes on.

There. I learnt that new phone lines have to be put in on Monday and then the wireless connectivity will be restored thereafter. I did not believe one word of what she said apart from understanding we might not get the service restored before we leave and that is if ever the service will be restored at all, it has gone on too long to hold that prospect.

When I asked for a contact at their head office, she said she will call up for me and then connect the person to my room. Trust had broken down to the level that I just told her, I will find out myself and make my own call.

WiFi Coming Back

Coming back, possibly

Politics, you find that everywhere, but that is another story between assertiveness and a passive-aggressive stance to ensure one is not undermined by events and decisions that should have one’s input or audience.

At the hotel I spoke with the desk clerk last night and as on had feared, the contract between Swisscom and the hotel had been cancelled and apparently, they have now signed up with another provider.

I have been assured that the wireless connectivity will be restored today and as I have just heard, the communications cabinet was being moved out this morning.

Bring it back, first

Now, I will rather not dwell on good intentions but effective action with results. This means the graphic with the red cross through the “Free WiFi” icon on the hotel’s sign will remain until that service is restored after which I will blog from the hotel of that change.

After 7 days without wireless connectivity, I have been an utterly patient man to my own surprise, if not chagrin. I have accommodated this atrocity by walking up to the Le Caméléon Bar where they have free wireless internet and power sockets to link up and just connect to our heart’s content.

Besides that, even after informing the desk clerk that I wanted my room cleaned for Saturday, I returned to an unmade room, a basket full of rubbish and used towels. I do hate complaining but I went downstairs after a 12-hour working day to remonstrate – I had towels delivered to my room and a promise that on Sunday my room will be cleaned.

It was cleaned.

Disconnected at Villa Bellagio Bussy-Saint-Georges

It just gets worse

Everything that made our hotel a great relief to move to in terms of location, quality and availability of services seems to have been lost to circumstances within the control of the owners but left to decline into atrocious service.

I cannot for the life of me understand how a 4* hotel cannot have “Do not disturb” signs to put on the door that other guests tend to steal the few available from other doors to put on theirs.

In my case, I had to retrieve mine from the room next to mine and then mark it up so that it could be identified if stolen from my door again. It is unnecessary but not with housekeeping staff desperate to meet their quotas that they will enter your room if it is not barricaded.

Having the “Clean my room” sign on my door has made no difference either and I have not been able to demand something be done about it until this morning for that fact that I have been working unusual hours.

96 hours offline

What irks me most is that the hotel offers free wireless connectivity as part of their attractive package and for one it is probably the biggest reason why I will consider staying anywhere away from home.

Four days ago, the service went down but having returned to the hotel at just before 3:00AM I could not be bothered to chase up the problem until the morning. At dawn, I went to speak with the desk clerk about it and I was allowed to use the computer at the reception to send an urgent email to work.

Later, when I got to speak with the desk clerk on day duty, he simply offered the view that it was a free service to which I retorted, the free service was essentially what made their hotel attractive compared to the competition.

Lies and flies

The manager then said this was a problem with Swisscom and that more hotels were affected, we took that on face value but there was something suspicious about us not getting a signal from the access points, the problem could hardly be with Swisscom.

I got my colleague to call up Swisscom on the third day suggesting he report the problem without intimating Swisscom of what the hotel had told us before and we learnt that they were not aware of the issue.

Talking to the manager later, I tried to spare her the embarrassment of letting her know that she might have been caught in a lie by preparing her for what I was about to say. She swore Swisscom had been informed but I let her know that the problem we had in the hotel by reason of the knowledge of networks the four of us had pointed to problems in the hotel.

The truth is bitter

With our call incident number we made two further calls to Swisscom with the hope to resolve the problem and we learnt this morning that Swisscom was no more doing business with Villa Bellagio Bussy-Saint-Georges and this can only have been due to the hotel not meeting up with its obligations.

What I find most irksome is that the hotel having put out a falsehood about the state of affairs regarding wireless network connectivity stuck to the story without realising that some of their guests will indeed try to determine the root of the problem and report back their findings without mincing words.

A new sign

It is with that in mind and the fact that every advertisement about Villa Bellagio Bussy-Saint-Georges touts free wireless internet that doesn’t exist and the prospect that the next 10 days I will spend there will be as harrowing experience of being incommunicado that I have taken a picture of the sign outside the hotel and updated it with today’s reality.

A red cross over the Free WiFi offer because that is the case and until that changes, anyone who needs internet access as part of their hotel deal should consider other accommodation for now.

Getting bad attitude from one of the desk clerks and the running down of what is supposedly a 4* hotel by 0* staff having been offered a service they are making no moves to restore is just not the way I intend to spend the next week and my name will be known by the time I leave.

As always, I am not a vexatious customer, just one with a requirement that I reasonably and any one reasonable person will expect to be met.

Incredible India: A Close Shave at Koenig Inn

Air ran out of the taps

The backstory to the vivid picture of me in a bathrobe with shaving foam all around my ears and over my head is that as I was shaving I ran out of hot water completely.

This was at just a few minutes past 7:00AM and barely a week after I was told hot water will be available for 24 hours at Koenig Inn.

Things had in the space of just a day moved or generally acceptable to precipitously untenable with no Internet access overnight and then this.

As the water then began to trickle out of the tap I used my hand cloth towel to wipe off all the foam and then had a hand cloth wipe in the place of a shower.

Meanwhile, for whatever reason after the staff came up to see the problem, there was a leak in the bathroom, I went down for breakfast and gave my key to the staff not returning to the room as I left for the training centre.

The new Internet Policy

I could not wait to get out of the Koenig Inn this morning to start at the training centre where I hope no construction firm had inadvertently dug up the cables again like they allegedly did a few days ago.

A new notice had appeared on the wall in addition to the many notices that we have to read, this one might well add insult to injury – whilst I appreciate that the provision of free wireless Internet service comes at a cost for the training centre and the abuse of it for other purposes is not fair, it is one thing to have a poor service and quite another not to have it at all.

Nowadays, we select hotels for the simple reason that wireless Internet is available and free; much as one would expect that a training centre of the calibre of Koenig Solutions will not impose extortionate costs on access for purposes as voice chat (Skype) since being far away from home is partly compensated for with the ability to communicate affordably with friends and family back home this might become a core consideration in choosing this training centre in the future.

If anything, the new Internet Policy is a radical disincentive, a service downgrade and an unfortunate development, especially after last night.

Conversely, I think I am now reading the sign clearly; it reads - "Welcome to India"

Incredible India: Without Internet Access, Koenig Inn is a Prison

My connection was down

When in a distant land, well away from friends and family there is one bond that we take for granted because we have taken it in trust and it factored into all the decisions we made to leave the comfort of our home for the adventure which might well be the one of a lifetime.

Away from those I know, I am four and a half or 5 and a half hours ahead of their own daily timeframe, it means ones bears it in thought that one will not call to speak in the morning because they will be asleep, neither can one during the day because the overlapping times of work mean the pleasantries of interaction are reduced to more business-like conversation.

The window of opportunity between my getting to bed and they having the time to chat is reasonably around 8:00PM their time which is just after midnight here or an hour later.

In terms of cost, we have found that Skype suits us best and that needs the Internet as the carrier, its availability is critically paramount.

A prison of life

The lonely world that is framed within the confines of the little room that is a prison of convenience for a month is opened up into a vast and limitless place through the Internet which serves as the beast of burden for email, social interaction, news retrieval and again a critical research resource that underpins the reason why we have left our homes for this place.

Whatever discomforts, nostalgia, loneliness or isolation is somewhat ameliorated with the feeling that one can through this invisible but tangible medium, touch the world and be in touch – at will and without let or hindrance.

However, this night will count as one of the least comfortable I have had in a long time, the darkness settled in figurative and literal sense at the doors to the world were closed like one were in a maximum security prison.

Freedoms lost

The guards knowing we should be free could not open the prison gates and we were completely constrained, our freedom lost and the silence of the night stilled to the hearing of sounds from outer space if ones ears were so attuned.

From about 9:45PM when I noticed, the wireless connectivity between my netbook and the wireless access point was fine but the wireless access point could not take me beyond itself into the world of the Internet – it was down.

An idea for partnership

The staff could not resolve the problem and there I was, cut off and thinking fast about what other alternatives were available at the loss of this service – none easily came to mind apart from one good idea – the need for a contingency plan which should come at no additional cost.

There are many hotels that are in the vicinity of my hotel, all broadcast the presence of their wireless access points, where the service in one hotel fails, there should be an arrangement between hotels to allow for guests in other hotels to hop on their systems whilst steps are taken to expedite repairs of the service we used to have.

A rotten moment

This must be the lowest point in terms of my sense of comfort; the absence of Internet access, the last resort is to switch the SIM card in my phone back to my home SIM card and roam – not the best but this situation must definitely not happen again, it just must not, again.

No, sooner had I changed my SIM card and began to roam, my 10MB of data was used up without having done much.