Tag Archives: dublin

Girl walks into an electrical store…

August 3, 2009 Steph 3 Comments

The charger for my 4.5yr old Sony laptop went bust a few days ago. On Sunday I took the old charger into town to seek a replacement with varying & irritating results. Note – all prices quoted are approximate & from memory so don’t kill me if I’m not 100% on the money here…

PC World, Jervis St.

Sales assistant spotted me eyeing up the chargers on display. Offered assistance in choosing. I accepted. He took my old charger to the “techy” folk in the back to double-check a generic charger was ok to go & so it was. Their range went from about €70 up to €130, the €70 ones without a price tag.

Maplins (next to Jervis St)

Big range of chargers going from about €50 to €150. No assistance offered.

Peats, Parnell St.

Assistance offered immediately as I browse. Pricing not very obvious. I’m recommended one that works out at €80 (after citing budget as a factor in decision) although there were others priced at up to €140.

The purchase

“You can always bring it back if it doesn’t work” and “it’s self-regulating so you don’t have to worry about accidentally switching the voltage up & killing your laptop” swayed me into buying the recommended one from Peats for €80.

Trial & error

So this morning, I plug in the new charger and hope for all to go smoothly. Sadly not. If anything it was almost like the laptop had an allergic reaction going from “I’m charging” to “critical battery – switch to mains power” ever 5 seconds until the battery died. Repackaged charger, off we go to town.

The return

I visit my nearest Sony centre to see if I would have to give in & purchase a Sony branded model & hope they would answer me honestly. Sales guy tells me a new Sony charger is €140 but a generic one should do. Offers to try one out there and then, I accept, it works, and it’s only €60. Checks Peats’ stock (as they’re somehow connected), they don’t have that particular one but should have something similar for the same price. Lovely. Off we go.

Get to Peats & I get handed over to the sales guy I dealt with the day before. He doesn’t remember me at all. I explain my problem. He suggests a €120 one in replacement while testing the one he sold me to see if it it’s faulty. “This works fine, it must be the power connection on the laptop.” I tell my Sony shop story highlighting the fact that it was charging for them, ask for refund of my cash. Ignores the request. Suggests a €70 one. Again I ask for a refund, I want to buy the one in the Sony shop coz he has none – they checked your stock mate. Offered a €50 one. I ask to try it out, he agrees reluctantly. While awaiting startup he goes on to bad mouth the Sony Centre staff, “they don’t really know what’s going on underneath…they’ll sell you something that just looks good”. I’m starting to twitch. Charger test works, I get a refund of the balance, I thank him for his assistance & go.

Never to return again

I will never shop at Peats again. The first visit there I wasn’t offered the one I ended up purchasing for €50. If I’d been a total pushover I would have ended up buying the €120 model originally “recommended”. I’m not sure if I was within my rights to insist on a refund but the fact that he ignored my request for one twice was absurd. Trying to tell me that my laptops’ power connection must be faulty after I tell him I’ve tried and tested another brand in another shop was either stupid or he just wasn’t listening. As for bad mouthing the Sony staff? Pathetic & highly unprofessional.

Sony Centre on O’Connell St – I’ll be seeing you in October where I (hopefully) will buy a new VAIO.

Events

Top Gun charity night – Thursday August 6th

July 30, 2009 Steph Leave a comment

I just stumbled across this in the tickets.ie enewsletter. A ‘Top Gun’ charity night is taking place in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, D2 on Thursday next the 6th of August & it sounds like awesome fun.

90′s outfit Smash Hits will be live on stage belting out the classics of the decade before a screening of the movie Top Gun followed by an afterparty in the Morgan Hotel. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s complimentary drinks on the go and a prize for the best costume so get your overalls ready!

It’s in aid of the Dublin Simon Community and the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association, tickets are only €20 and available online at www.tickets.ie.

Events

Playhouse – Daft.ie get funky with Liberty Hall

July 29, 2009 Steph 2 Comments

The blurb goes like this:

“We will turn Dublin’s tallest building into a giant public canvas—and we want you to play with it. Our simple tools allow you to animate your thoughts and broadcast them on the city skyline.”

Today’s article in the Irish Indo says that 330 windows combined with some sophisticated LED lighting will turn Liberty Hall into a huge, electronic canvas as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival which runs from September 24th to October 11th.

Sounds wicked, and I’m loving the really cute n sexy website. Full info will be available on August 24th according to the www.daft.ie/playhouse page. In the meantime you can keep tabs on developments via Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo and Flickr.

Reviews

U2 360 at Croker – my review

July 26, 2009 Steph 2 Comments

Cutting to the chase – how good was it? So good I’m searching for tickets to go again on Monday night. If you got any or any leads on a pair, please please please email me, tweet me or leave a comment.

I’m still reeling. I’m pinching myself looking at those photos, looking at videos on YouTube, wondering did I just dream I was there. I think I established over the past week on the blog that I’m not a U2 fanatic, not a die-hard lover of the lads (shoot I didn’t think their latest album was any good so I didn’t buy it!) but I am a fan of their music & their shows & my did Friday’s gig satisfy that.

While a healthy helping of the new album was dished out, a good selection of older songs including four from The Unforgettable Fire album made for a tasty setlist, in my opinion. For someone who didn’t warm enough to the new album to go add it to my record collection, I was quite impressed when I heard the songs live & could yet make the purchase! Personal highlights included really lovely semi-acoustic (if that’s a term!) renderings of ‘Desire‘ & ‘Stuck in a Moment‘, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name‘, ‘The Unforgettable Fire‘ & ‘With or Without You‘. Yet again I was hit with the realisation of just how big their back catalogue is & how many different setlists you could come up with for a 2 hour set. Not sure if that makes it easier or more challenging but it’s a credit to them either way!

The stage was a phenomenal sight – at times it looked like some kind of robotic crustacean that would start walking down the pitch at any given second, other times like some kind of crazy, sci-fi temple with the spire of mirrorballs pointing way up into the night sky. The vortex-like 360 degree screen was pretty breath-taking stuff, not quite PopMart now but bloody big & used to great effect! Bono’s LED-enhanced rig-out for Ultraviolet was pretty awesome, if a little Christmas-y

As with the last time, I left the place buzzing. Exhausted but buzzing. Hard to believe another 4 years has passed by. And it could well be another 4 before I get the chance to do it again if ever so I’m going to do my best to get another round in before they leave town. One of the most enjoyable & memorable events in a long time – well done guys, long may you do what you do & I think the 3 live U2 newbies I had with me would agree.

Lots of lovely videos on YouTube, setlists from Friday & Saturday here. Pix.ie has a great range of photos from the gig too. If you’re going Monday night, have a blast – fingers crossed I’ll be there too

*Note on the photos I took – none of them have been touched up or anything of the sort, they didn’t need it, the set was so fantastically photogenic! If only every subject was as easy…

Thoughts