(written on the 6th and 9th)
Wasn’t Groundhog Day a few days ago or so?
Kind of feels like I’m repeating my days. 🙃
I was up and gone from my overnight camping spot pretty early this morning, heading pretty much straight to the park I had been at yesterday.
Somewhat comically, and yet unexplainably, I had a repeat of my battery being drained down without having left anything on before too great of a period of time.
😶
🤷♂️
Gratefully, just does that happen, an early 20 something young man pulled up behind me, and I was able to have him charge the battery quickly before he had to go to a job interview.
Thx, Brad! 🙏
I spent time working on journal catch up posts. I’m making at least a small dent in the number of catch-up posts I need to do.
I still have a few more before I even finish catching up on the month of December. 😆
And I’m worn out. My attention span for the effort is very short because the posts, for whatever reason, take me so freaking long to do, even though I’m voice texting them.
It’s quite puzzling that it can take so long when I’m not even having to hand type everything.
🤔
Anyway, from there I went over to the mall, hanging out in the outdoor parking lot for maybe an hour, switching back and forth between wasting my time on YouTube videos and catching up on my journal.
Then I parked in the underground parking for another 4 hours or so doing the same.
And I went inside to get an update on my phone, and they still hadn’t gotten the replacement screen for it but told me that they would sometime in the next couple of hours.
Three days now… crossing my fingers.
Moved my van from underground parking backed outdoor parking.
If you’re wondering why I keep moving my van, the reason is that I’m only allowed to park in each area for a certain amount of time before the van has to be moved. Outdoor parking is like 60 minutes to 120 minutes, I think? Underground parking is 240 minutes.
And I continue doing the same. Just working on journal catch up and watching YouTube videos.
Got an update from the guy behind the counter at the cell phone repair station inside saying that my phone was going to be ready at 6:30 at a different location, so now I’m on site at that location waiting for my supposedly repaired phone to show up.
The last update I got was that they’re running behind. It’s 6:42, and I’ll head over in a few minutes to see where we’re at. 🤞
…
Well, it’s Monday now.
Frustratingly, after yet another day of waiting for my cell phone to be properly fixed, it… wasn’t. 😕
I went over to look at it after they said that they had finished it, and I found that the new screen that they put on it was damaged. 😶
By the looks of it, bad out of the box. It looked like during the manufacturing process, some sort of grit got between the laminate and the screen itself, as it looked like there was something pressing up against the screen the same way you would see it piece of grit between your screen protector and the screen itself.
Unfortunately, what that does is it kills the pixels in that area, so I’ve got a nice little cluster of dead pixels right where the charging percentage is displayed.
Not only that, but the middle lens hadn’t been wiped clean at all, so there was still the slightest little fingerprint on it.
And to top it off, the “cleaning” that they did on the back glass wasn’t done with any attention to detail, as the spots were certainly cleaned, but nobody stopped to pay attention to see whether or not there would be leftover streaks, and the boy were there ever.
At quick glance, it was totally fine, but if you take it out and just check in the light at an angle, two of the three lenses had bad streaks all over the glass.
I just don’t understand the lack of attention to detail. This is somebody’s everyday job. This is what they do all day every day–fix phones.
How do you not check to make sure the glass that’s on the inside that must be clean for the camera to be able to take good pictures… How do you not triple check before putting on a phone screen that requires sealant and significant risk of screen damage if future removal is needed?
And gow do you make that same mistake three times in a row?!?!
I just… I’m at a loss.
At first come I was just going to swallow it and walk away, but there’s only one way to resolve the streaks issue. You have to remove the screen yet again.
And I shouldn’t be paying full price for a damaged screen. I mean…
Erg.
So I went back in and complained a bit, and then I last, and then my frustration increased, so I wrote a pretty lengthy expression of frustration, giving sort of two options that I felt like would be reasonable. Either do the job again, replacing the screen and properly cleaning the glass, or refund me enough money from the charge for another tech at another repair place to replace the screen and clean the glass.
He said there were no more screens available in New Zealand, so they would need to order one from China, so I went ahead and had him order another one from China.
Two to three weeks.
Quite frustrated but at least with the possibility of repair under warranty available to me, I left with my phone, hoping that maybe it could take decent pictures, as at least the lens that I used most often had mostly clean glass.
🤞
I won’t know until I actually try and take pictures in the light, as that’s when the glare from streaks and smudges and dust and dirt is at its most impactful.
🤞
I debated about whether or not to hang around town, just in case they got another screen somehow or to leave, and I finally decided to just leave and head up into the mountains to where I was trying to go a couple days ago.
To Edoras, and the Kingdom of Rohan. 🙃
So after a failed attempt at getting gas (self serve place, Miss identified because someone had put the wrong picture on Google maps for the store front), I found a place to get gas, which I think ended up being the same place as The last time I tried to leave Christchurch after getting my phone “repaired,” And then drove up up up and away into the mountains, More than a 2-hour drive from where I was, accidentally passing my freedom camping spot by a long way, because I had accidentally plugged in Edoras instead of that spot, but I found a little spot on the side of the dirt road that was the parking area for a hiking trail.
I veged out a bit, and I guess I’ll wake up to a view of Edoras. 😊
What a day.
My first picture with this phone since my first day in Taveuni… a test picture of the selfie camera that, though misaligned, at least works. 🙃
~ stephen
Lift the World 