Cav's Place

A year ago I was saying that Simona Halep probably lost the best opportunity she’ll ever get to both leap to the top of the WTA rankings and win her first Grand Slam title. But a few months later she did become the number one, admittedly thanks to Serena Williams clearing the way and allowing the others to fight for that spot, and only briefly lost that position since then, for a few weeks following the lost Australian Open final, so that left the matter of that first Grand Slam title… Until today.

She did seem to be the favorite against Sloane Stephens before the match, but considering Stephens’ form and the similarities in playing style between her and Ostapenko, there were good reasons for concern. And those concerns definitely appeared justified as the match progressed, Stephens winning a first set perhaps even more clearly than the single break shows, and then breaking Simona’s serve again right at the start of the second set as well. And Simona was playing excellently, still putting up an outstanding defense but showing that she learned from the past failures as well and not in the least letting the defense be her only weapon of choice anymore, so it really was a matter of Stephens being even better… Until she started to tire.
Once Simona took that break back, the match turned, and she quickly followed it with a second. Stephens did break back to tie the score again, 4-4, but that was the last time she threatened, Simona Halep’s better endurance, and possibly also her stronger determination, deciding the outcome from then on, the match ending 3-6 6-4 6-1 after Simona actually led 5-0 in the final set. It’s entirely possible that she would have won that set 6-0 if she wouldn’t have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the achievement ahead of her. And the statistics actually show that she even had more winners than her opponent, definitely proving that she learned from those past failures, the one from a year ago in particular.

So, again, I’m pleased to have been proven wrong by her on both counts. Or perhaps not exactly proven wrong, since it may still be that it’d have been easier to win a year ago, but pleased that she has now achieved both goals, leading the WTA rankings and winning a Grand Slam title, and in fact winning that title while being, and remaining, the number one. The fact that I care does strike me as rather odd, and difficult to justify, mainly to myself, since it’s not like I have any particular reason to be interested in her results other than the fact that we happened to be born between the same lines more or less arbitrarily drawn on a map at some point in the past, and I’m completely against any shred of nationalism or anything else based on the perceived relevance of something like this, but tennis is a sport I enjoy watching to some extent, if mainly just for Grand Slam tournaments, in recent years perhaps mostly just for Roland Garros and Australian Open, and as her results improved I did start to care. So, again, for whatever reason, I am pleased that this happened, and that maybe it’ll be enough to finally silence her critics, at least for a while. And may it be a sign of more to come.

My computer is now once again protected by the UPS, though what I should really say is that I’m hoping it’s protected and not threatened by it, considering the whole mess, which was finally sorted out today. Since I didn’t want to use the UPS before replacing the battery with what I had actually ordered, and what the store sold as being specifically for this particular UPS, I had just kept it here, unused, until now, so my computer was unprotected for almost three weeks, which included a brief storm, Tuesday. The forecast mentioned more storms, but isolated ones, and that was the only one in this particular area, and there were no problems with the power, whether then or at any other time. Since it’s getting hot, I expect at least brief power failures from now on though.

But to start from the beginning, after dropping off the UPS, I expected them to contact me quickly and tell me whether the problem could be fixed and, if so, how long it’ll take and how much it’ll cost. But after hearing nothing from them two days later, I sent an e-mail to ask what was going on, and only got a reply to it four more days later. The delay was normal, since I had sent it Friday evening and that Monday was a free day as well, but the attitude definitely was not, the message being short but revealing a lot of annoyance and simply telling me that it had been just two days, one of them a free day, and they’ll handle it. I pointed out that it had been two days when I sent it, so not including the free day, that I hadn’t sent anything else until then, just because I knew there had been free days, and that I wasn’t expecting it to be fixed already, but just to be told whether it can be and some details if so. And while I didn’t get another reply then, the next day I got a call, being told that the problem was minor and I could come pick it up in an hour, and given a price that was a fair bit less than I expected. I agreed to that price, but said there was the matter of the battery as well, and the guy say that he doesn’t know about that, somebody else will take care of it.
Once there, after another guy recognized me and said I must be there to continue reading, which was a joke I was too tired of, the guy I had spoken to on the phone brought me the UPS and told me the battery was already inside, and I paid him the fee for repairing it. Then he called someone to tell him how much to charge me for the new battery, being told the correct price we had agreed on, as in the price which had been listed when I sent the original message and not the significantly higher one it had been changed to after that, and he asked someone else to make the invoice. However, that guy asked whether I was buying for a firm, then whether I was using a card to pay, and when I said no to both questions he said he had nothing to do and to just give the money, which I did. So there was no sign of any invoice or receipt, nor of any warranty certificate, and they expected me to just walk away like that.
That definitely didn’t seem right, so I took a moment to open the UPS and check the battery inside, noticing that it was black, like the old one had been, and that it had that APC sticker on it, though it was rather torn. So I asked whether they had placed the one from mine on it, and was told they did that so they’ll know it won’t be tampered with, though I have no idea how that would ensure that. Also peeled a corner of it off, just to check that it wasn’t my old battery still there, finding no other label underneath, which at least confirmed that it wasn’t that old one but still didn’t tell me what it actually was. But instead of focusing on that at that moment, I was focused on getting some sort of warranty certificate, so that was what I asked about and the guy who repaired the UPS came with a sticker to place on it after I closed it, actually preventing the battery slot from being opened without taking it off. The warranty was for 24 months though, while the battery in question clearly had 26, and when the other guy was asked by that one to check on the site he first said it had 12, which is the period for any other battery, not the one I ordered, then correcting himself to say it’s 24 if the replacement is part of work done on the UPS, but still nothing about 26.
Still, left like that, but I was really bothered by that color, as I was seeing plenty of other batteries from that brand around there and they were all of the color of the one in the image. So I got to the end of the alley, stopped, carefully peeled off that sticker, which was easy to do, showing that it doesn’t really seal anything, and looked inside again, this time actually taking the battery out and looking on the other side as well, seeing that it was actually a 12V, 9.0 Ah Reddot. Didn’t see other information on it, but later, when I checked on-line, I saw that the other specifications were worse as well. And, either way, it clearly wasn’t what I had ordered, and was also worried that it may not be new at all, but perhaps some battery they had tested the UPS with and had accidentally left inside, so possibly just a mistake and not an attempt to trick me.
So I went right back, not telling them that I had already opened it, as I had replaced that sticker, but saying that the color keeps bothering me, so I want to check, opening it there in front of them after carefully peeling off that sticker again while they were telling me that the new batteries of that kind are black and the picture shows the old ones, one guy telling another to open a new box in front of me to show me that. Of course, I didn’t care about them showing me anything, instead taking the battery out and showing them the label, which caused a barely perceptible moment of silence before they recovered, the guy who had repaired it saying he doesn’t know anything about that, it was given to him with the battery inside, then asking me what the specifications of what I had ordered had been and then telling me that those having 9.6 Ah are for alarms and other things, and those like the one I was given, naming the brand as well, are for UPSs. When I said that they specifically sell that one, on their site, as being for this UPS, they just repeated that these are actually for UPSs, but said that they can check if I insist, yet they’re still giving me this one with a two-year warranty, and also that it’s supposedly heavier than that one, though I have no idea what relevance that has… But I couldn’t keep talking there, face to face, needed to get away, so I stupidly agreed to keep it, as long as the warranty will apply to it.
Definitely wasn’t content with the situation though, so I actually checked their site on my phone on the way back and saw that they don’t have any Reddot batteries, making me even more worried that I had been given an old one that they had just used for testing. So when I got back I sent another e-mail, calmly describing what had happened, pointing out that even Reddot batteries now seem to be a different color, not black, and that the stores that sell this model here do so for less than what I had been charged. After that, I asked whether that’s how they usually do business, without any documents, even if I had been told that I can actually pay cash after all, then said that I wanted to make sure I can get the full warranty, 26 months, if necessary, then asked whether the battery they specifically sell as being for this UPS isn’t actually for UPSs at all, as I had been told there, and added that it really doesn’t seem right to pay for one thing and be given another, especially since it’s something cheaper and with specifications that seem worse, so I’d rather have it replaced if what I actually ordered can be used in this UPS after all, or if what they gave me really is better, I’d want them to explain exactly why that is. Also mentioned that I’m not accusing them of anything other than a mistake and miscommunication, but also that I’m concerned that the mistake involved giving me a used battery they had just used for testing.
Also that evening, I first tested the UPS in the kitchen, first with the TV, then with it and a hand mixer, which should require more power than the computer but still less than the UPS should be able to provide. Then I took it to my room, plugging in the data cable as well and checking the information while I let it charge, testing it again with that hand mixer after it reported being fully charged. However, the problem appeared after that and it was entirely my fault, as I wanted to test it on a computer as well, so I took it to the living room to test it on dad’s, unplugging the power cable first, so what the software saw was that there had been a power failure and then communication with the UPS had been lost. As a result, the fact that I found my computer off, or more exactly in hibernation, when I got back, after successfully testing the UPS on dad’s computer, shouldn’t have surprised me, the software having done the only logical thing after what must have appeared to have been a malfunction of the UPS. The problem was that the system couldn’t change fan speeds again after recovering from hibernation, so I had to turn it off and back on in order to fix that anyway.
That evening I also received a reply to my e-mail, the guy saying he appreciates me and values our relationship, which struck me as odd, that he shares my opinion, which I gathered meant the fact that it was a simple mistake and miscommunication, that the battery I ordered, or any other with this kind of connectors, can’t be for alarms, it’s clearly for UPSs, therefore contradicting what his coworkers had been trying to convince me of while there, that manufacturers use the same components to make products of the same quality under different labels, though the specifications clearly differed between the two, and that I should consider that e-mail to be the 26-month warranty so I won’t make another trip. And he also sent a few short audio files which were supposed to amuse me, though they didn’t, also being connected to the sort of stuff in that book they gave me to read, in its Romanian edition, when I went there the first time. He even said to reply if I wanted more.
Well, I did reply the next day, saying that I didn’t want more but would really prefer it if making another trip will be the only problem. So I’d much rather go back and have the battery replaced with what I actually ordered, seeing that it’s in a sealed box to make sure it’s new, and also get an invoice and a warranty certificate, as I should have gotten the first time. Then, later, I sent another message to add that if paying cash is a problem, seeing as I’ll need to wait until the next week anyway, since June 1 is a free day here as well and the weekend was coming after that, I can come with someone as well, so they can return what I paid and he’ll be able to pay by card.
Another reply only came Monday night, actually after midnight, and the first one was just “OK”, sent as a reply to that last message of mine. Then, a bit later, there was another reply, to the one before it, though I had sent that one as a reply to the other one, just to make it easy to keep track. This second reply at least said I can come with the UPS, since I had asked whether they wanted me to bring it back or just bringing the battery will be enough. Gave me the very clear impression that he was too angry at first due to me not agreeing to leave things as they were, hence that initial reply with no details.
The thing is that I noticed that first reply before going to eat that night, but didn’t open it, and after I got back my Internet access stopped working, only recovering in the morning, so I could only read the messages Tuesday. Not that it mattered, since dad couldn’t come with me that day, nor yesterday, so I sent a reply to say I’ll be coming Thursday, so today, receiving another reply to say that I can come whenever I want, and if he’s not there to ask his coworkers to call him… Which was what they did before as well, since I never found this guy I exchanged the e-mails with there, and that didn’t change today either.
What did change today was that I went with dad, and once I mentioned the name of the guy I had exchanged the messages with the cashier said she knew what this was about, so don’t even know whether anyone did call him. The problem was that, even though I had told him about it, I guess dad either forgot or never even paid attention in the first place to the fact that he should be prepared to get the money back as cash and pay them again using his card. Admittedly, I was also surprised when the entire amount was mentioned, so including the fee for repairing the UPS, but he was definitely surprised when asked to pay by card, saying he wasn’t sure he still had anything on his card, and having both of them declined, which resulted in the cashier not giving us any invoice then. She did give me a warranty certificate though, even if it was printed on a page with some other order on the other side, crossed out, and had 26 months written in pen under the spot where the document itself says 12 and the date of May 23, so when I sent them an e-mail with my information to order that battery, a week before picking up anything, just added somewhere on the side. There were stamps next to both additions, which I guess makes them “count”, but a few lines at the bottom, stating that the warranty no longer applies due to the fact that the battery was used in certain ways, not that it would no longer apply in case it will be used in those ways, definitely worries me.
But I’m more worried that I didn’t check the new battery as thoroughly as I should have. There were people, the situation felt somewhat tense and I couldn’t really focus anymore, even having to ask dad now whether they replaced the battery right away or only after we came back with the money. He said they replaced it then, though he didn’t look at it otherwise, so I guess that’s what happened, and I do remember that a box with what seemed to be the right label was opened in front of me, one of the batteries in it being taken out and given to me. They were also black, and the guy pointed that out, saying that they are black now and what I see in the picture is the old model, but I had a quick look and saw what seemed to be the correct label on it, or at least listing the brand and model I expected, because like I said I couldn’t exactly keep it together anymore and didn’t check anything else, when in fact I should have read the specifications, checked the other side as well and likely try to see whether that label I saw could be peeled off, checking for any other underneath. But I didn’t do any of that, instead asking them to remove that sticker from the bottom of my UPS, giving them the old battery and putting the new one in. Also meant to use a protection I had kept from the battery the UPS originally had, but was told that was broken, which does indeed seem to be the case, and not necessary anyway, so I left it out. Now I can only hope that they didn’t trick me, as this time it would indeed be a trick and not any mistake, and that the specifications of what I got really are what I paid for.
Either way, that still left the matter of the invoice, the cashier asking whether we really wanted one and dad saying we did. She wasn’t going to give one unless we paid by card and dad needed to deposit money on the card first, and while he fortunately had enough money on him, we had no idea where we could find a branch of the bank in that area. I suggested looking on his phone, but he said sites don’t seem to load on it and my attempts only confirmed that, so he called someone and asked that guy to look up a nearby branch of that bank, being given an address that didn’t help much, considering the large areas covered by some of the numbers on that street. And we also tried the wrong side first, then he asked someone after we got on the right side but was told just that the number in question covers a large area, then just as I had managed to finally get an address for a branch that was somewhat in that area on my phone, figuring out some other method of doing so after it was clear that the bank’s site won’t properly load on it, he also called the bank, after calling that guy again to ask for some clearer instructions and a phone number to ask directly. Then he was finally able to find the ATM that was what was actually in that area, the branch being the address I had found, some distance away. Not that we couldn’t have gone there in the time it took us to find that ATM…
So it was quite some time later that we finally returned to the battery store, after also missing turns and driving around a bit longer, and the cashier could give back the money I had given them and dad could pay by card. Then she asked a guy to make the invoice, and he made it by adding the information on the computer by hand and calculating using a calculator, but at least it seems all right. Or almost all right, since he had to list price without VAT and VAT separately, as you have to do on invoices, and the total ended up being 0.01 RON less than what dad had been charged. But that’s their problem, and at least I have the invoice and the receipt, with today’s date, that should make everything legal. How much they’re cursing me for it and for insisting not to leave things as they were, I don’t know… I just hope there won’t be any problems. Quickly testing the UPS with that hand mixer and then actually with the computer seems to indicate that there are none now, but who knows what may happen later.

I keep saying that I want to post at least two posts in this series each year and at least I seem to be posting the first one before the end of the year’s first half. Interestingly, last year’s first one was also on the first Sunday of June, though that meant the 4th then. But that one only included the usual five bands, while this time I’m hoping to get to eight, which would be the most included in such a post so far, if you don’t include those I just happened to mention in passing in a paragraph about one of those I did actually mean to include. This will also give me a chance to get to that goal of 15 bands included in such posts in a year even if I won’t add a third, assuming I’ll somehow add seven in a second. But I never managed 15 in a year so far, so definitely don’t count on that.
Before getting to the bands though, I want to mention another YouTube channel, Metal Bands with Female Voices II, which has full albums. It probably won’t last long, the original one having already been deleted for copyright violations, but at the moment you can have a look. I won’t be linking to anything from there though, sticking to official uploads, and to the usual rule of two songs, preferably from different albums if possible, per band. The bands won’t really be new finds though, since I rather avoided looking lately, not even paying much attention to what I happened to see posted, so I started from one I wanted to include due to being rather stuck, on and off, on a song posted in April, then continued with a Romanian one I also wanted to add, but after that it was a matter of looking through names, searching for countries that I happened to think of, and picking what ended up as being six others. However, it just so happens that two of them have just released new albums, two others released new albums earlier this year, and one is about to release a video, even if for an older song.

That first band I wanted to include is Temperance, and the song I got rather stuck on at various times since it was posted is Broken Promises. As for a pick from an older album, I guess I’ll go with Me, Myself & I, after just going through the few uploaded by that annoying label that makes their bands delete their accounts on sites like Bandcamp, ReverbNation or SoundCloud and the proper songs posted on their YouTube accounts, adding what they want on their own accounts instead. But to go back to the band itself, it’s not actually a new find either, as I seem to remember first stumbling into them years ago, but what I heard at the time made me dismiss them. Definitely changed my opinion now…

The Romanian band I mentioned above is Lion’s Roar, which so far only seems visible at the Romanian Eurovision selection. Their first appearance was last year, with I Set You Free, while this year… You know, I think I’ll go with Nothing in Between, even if people didn’t actually get to hear it, since they had apparently submitted two songs and this one was rejected in the preselection. And I do hope they’ll release some more material and try to make themselves heard again before next year’s Eurovision selection, because they sound quite nice, and while it was a good strategy to make themselves heard the first time, it’s not like they had any success in that selection anyway.

Getting back to Italy, I think it’s been a few years since I first stumbled into Desdæmona, but the name caught my attention again now and I see that they seem about to release a video for Invisible Thread, so I’ll go with that as the first pick, while for the second… Let’s say Shipwreck. Quite an interesting voice there. Probably not something I could get stuck on, but it made me remember them after quite some time. Admittedly, didn’t know why I remembered them, realizing that this was the reason once I started listening, but that should be good enough too, right?

While at some point I seem to have stumbled into another, which has since split up, The Loudest Silence seems to be the only band from Bosnia and Herzegovina that caught my attention at some point and is still active, and Friday they just released their first album. Not much uploaded at the moment, but can definitely recommend listening to The Loudest Silence, even if it does strike me as odd to have a song with the same name as the band when they managed to find a different name for the album. The second pick will have to be Wood Nymph, but I hope there are better songs on that album. Didn’t listen to anything other than what they posted so far, but what I can say is that they seem to have some potential with a certain kind of sound, yet it doesn’t work so well if they try other things.

A band that really seems to be the only one from its country that caught my attention so far is Dream Ocean, from Turkey. That seems somewhat odd, as the music scene should be rich enough over there, but there’s the question of how many sing in English and, either way, I guess I just didn’t happen to stumble into any others that I’d find interesting. So I’ll just look at this one band I know of and pick from the few songs they uploaded, since that’s all I listened to. Guess I’ll go with Forever and Everstorm, as parts of that other one bother me, so wondering which of the sounds is more present on the album in general. Nice voice, so I’d say they should focus more on that and leave out those heavier instrumental parts I noticed there.

The remaining three bands are from Hungary and all of them have been around for quite a while, but while Ideas is well over a decade older than the other two, it may be the one I most recently heard of, close to the end of last year. It seems that they just recently changed their vocalist, and since that happened after releasing their most recent album, what I can listen to and pick from may not quite reflect how they’ll sound now, but I see that they have had other changes in the past as well, albeit long ago, and they only have what they released since the previous change of vocalist on their YouTube channel. Then again, that also means what they released since YouTube was created, and it’s hard enough to pick anyway, so have a look if you’re interested in more. But I’ll stick to the usual rule and, more or less randomly, pick Just Call Me from that most recent album and Hide Your Heart as an older song. And yes, they do have the songs in both Hungarian and English, which seems like quite a lot of work, but I’m obviously only listening to the English versions.

Then there’s Obsidian Shell, which I believe I heard of a few years ago. They also went through a few different vocalists, but I’ll just try to pick one song from their most recent album, released a little more than a week ago, and one more from one of the others. As such, I’ll go with Land of Wonders and Endsequence, but those are songs I preferred after rushing through what’s available and they are a bit different from most others, so feel free to listen to whatever and wherever you want. Not sure how much I like that they have something that sounds like the soundtrack of an old game in their songs, but it does make it interesting. Definitely don’t like the harsh male vocals on what I understand to be the first album with their current vocalist, however, and I’m pleased that they gave up on that idea.

Finally, Dharma is a band I recall adding with mixed feelings, most of what I heard being of a different genre, but I’m quite sure that Dive Deeper is the reason why I ended up adding them after all, so that has to be my first pick. Otherwise, they don’t seem to have uploaded anything from their latest album, and I’m just going through what they have on their YouTube channel, because otherwise it’d be too much again and I’m not sure how much it’d help anyway. To have the second pick from a different album as well, I’ll have to go with One By One. But, again, this is something for those who prefer a genre that’s different from what I’d usually listen to.

For quite a while I didn’t think I was going to finish this post today, and initially posted it with only the first five bands, to be sure I’ll have something here in case there will be any problems, possibly due to the storm that seemed to be coming, then updated it after adding Ideas and Dharma, and then added Obsidian Shell as well, since there was a lot to go through, even while rushing, in order to pick which songs to link to. But now it’s all done, with quite some time to spare before midnight, and I may really have a chance to get to 15 bands included in such posts this year. But, again, not promising anything.

It’s been over a week since my last post and my computer’s still not protected by the UPS, though I do have it here at the moment. But I’ll write about that when the whole mess will be sorted out somehow, so I’ll leave anything else about it out of this post and just mention the few other things I did during this period, starting with the fact that I finished two more of those “Divine Empire” scenarios in Disciples. Started number 13 on May 25, played until the game crashed, actually after a good moment that got lost as a result, then played some more that night and finished it the next day. And number 14 was a relatively quick one, started and finished on May 28. Since the goal there was to destroy some enemies on the map, the hard part was finding them, and I actually explored everything, a lot of it with summoned illusions, without spotting those enemies, only finally doing so after having another very careful look after it was clear that they couldn’t be in any area that wasn’t yet revealed. Then I just used spells and summoned creatures to take care of them right away.

On May 29 I went to Auchan, also taking the plastic bottles that had gathered, which actually was a bit of a problem, since there was a lot of wind and I put them in that large bag, meaning I had something large and light for the wind to push as I walked. Dad had asked me to get some more cat food, of the other kind, and one more thing for him, so I grabbed those as well, seeing that the actual price for the cat food was a bit more than what was listed on the shelf. But it was quickly proven again that at Auchan these really seem to be mistakes, since I checked the price for corn puffs as well, seeing that the price had increased a fair bit, and those were a bit less than what was listed. Didn’t buy any corn puffs though, but did get some more cucumbers from the other farmers’ market, as I passed through it on the way back. Had left Auchan in between the free buses, with some 20 minutes before the next one, so that was why I walked back as well, taking the opportunity to pass through there. The wind was still a bit of an issue, the worst moment being just as I left, when a gust actually made it somewhat difficult to even walk.
After dropping everything off back here, I went out again, also taking the plastic, metal and glass to drop off on the way to Kaufland, and the plastic bags and wrappings to leave there. But couldn’t find the place to drop off glass anymore, so I ended up just leaving those bottles and jars in a bag at Kaufland, next to the place where I dropped off the plastic bags and wrappings. Then grabbed some more of the cat food that was on sale there, since it was the last day of that sale and this made the amount dad had to give me exactly 20 RON. Also got some tofu that was discounted due to expiring relatively soon, even if that actually only means June 8. Gave the cashier 50.21 RON when the total price was 10.22 RON, since those were all the coins I had, but she accepted it and gave me 40 RON back. She had I think 0.07 RON left there by the person before me, who complained that the listed price of one item was I believe 3 RON less but accepted to pay anyway.

The next day’s main event had to do with the UPS, but since I said I’ll leave that for another post, what I’ll mention here is that I went to Cora before going to that store, getting some bread from there this time. And went to the Cora next to that cheap farmers’ market, since I had the metro card, but didn’t go to the market as well, thinking it’ll be strange enough to go with a full bag of bread to the battery store. Interestingly, at Cora I got charged for “black” bread instead of whole wheat, so a third less, but since you pick this up on your own and put it in a bag, the cashier then determining what to charge for just by looking at it, it’s possible that the guy identified what I got correctly. I did take it from the spot with the whole wheat label, but now that I ate some of it I must say it does seem closer to the “black” one than to the whole wheat one I usually get from Auchan, so it’s also possible for the label on that part of the shelf to have been wrong. Either way, that bread sure is big, and the bags they provide are too small for it, so if I didn’t want to leave a part of it out of the bag I had to use two for each.
Then, on the way back from the battery store, so carrying both the UPS and the bread, I went to this farmers’ market as well, wandering around a fair bit, mainly looking for green onions and maybe also green garlic and not finding any I particularly liked at the price I wanted. So the only thing I got was another lettuce of that kind I prefer now, but I think that when I did that I lost the larger plastic bag I had with me, as it probably fell out of my pocket when I took the other one out. Realized it after leaving and actually went back to look for it, but it obviously wasn’t there anymore and I couldn’t get myself to ask anybody. Though this was by far the smaller issue, adding it on top of the mess with the battery just about made me just stop on the street and sit down. Felt like crying, didn’t know whether I’d have been able to, but it was too hard to even walk anymore. Almost considered sending dad a message to ask him to come pick me up, but eventually pushed through, step by step.
When I finally got back here, I learned about the Constitutional Court’s decision, which clearly meant there were going to be protests. In the end, there were far fewer people in Victory Square that evening than anyone thought, about 2000, but while I did mean to go at first, even if only to see what was going on and take some pictures, I just couldn’t get myself to be among people again after what had happened that day. Did have a look the next evening, on the way back from the book fair, but just got to the area at 8:30 PM and left five minutes later, as the number of participants was only in the hundreds and nothing relevant seemed to be happening. Now let’s see what the weekend will bring, though at the moment I think people are waiting to see what the President will actually do.

As for yesterday, I first went to run, the time being 48:21, with sector times of 4:23, 4:59, 6:00, 4:28, 5:07, 5:49, 4:44, 5:10, 5:53 and 1:48, making for lap times of 15:22, 15:24 and 15:47. The exact time for the first lap’s second sector was actually 4:58.83, but I’ll just do what I usually do, only looking at the seconds, and add it to the growing list of times of 4:59 on that sector. That’s not even in the top five anymore anyway.
Really wanted to run that day because there was supposed to be little wind, and days with little wind are very hard to find lately, but it was quite hot and there actually were a few gusts that bothered me as well. Nothing like what I had to deal with before, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it’d be, and I’m actually unhappy with the time considering the effort I made, really having to push. Thought it was all fine after that fast third sector of lap two, but I guess I pushed too much then and lost even more time on the third lap’s first sector than I had gained, without realizing that I had slowed down, so I had to really give everything from then on in order to at least stay under 48:30. The fact that a shoelace was coming undone and I had to take a few seconds to tighten it right after that, at the start of the third lap’s second sector, definitely didn’t help either.

After coming back, I spent some time on-line, then left again, to go to the book fair. Actually wasted a bit too much time around here, even if that was in part due to waiting to see whether I’ll get a reply about that battery, so I already knew time may be a problem when I left, at 4:50 PM, yet once I got there I first had a look at some international food fair that’s also taking place these days just outside, on the way, and also at what were presented as exotic birds that were in some cages at the end of that area. Most of those birds were chickens of all sorts of breeds, including a few that did have a pretty unusual look and a few quite huge roosters, at least one of them really not seeming to feel well, probably due to the heat. But there were a few other kinds of birds as well, and also a few rabbits.
Finally entered the book fair at 6:05 PM and started wandering around very methodically, wanting to look at everything even though there were only a few places that could actually interest me. That worked until I covered just about half the area, perhaps a little bit more than that, and I checked the time and saw that it was 7:15 PM already. At that point, knowing the fair was closing at 8 PM that day, I gave up on looking at everything and rushed to the other side, starting from there and making my way back, mainly looking for anything else I could actually be interested in, no longer paying much attention to anything else. Somewhat oddly, since you’d think they’d want to make use of every minute they have since they paid for that spot, some were already closing then. And I also got a bit confused while wandering around like that, so I needed to go back, passed through some parts multiple times and only found one spot just before leaving, for example. But I didn’t find anything else interesting anyway.
Since I hadn’t found the store I used to buy from, even though they had been there in previous years, nor this publisher that focuses on Romanian fantasy books, I actually went to an info point before leaving, to check the map and the list and make sure I really did go everywhere and those really were not participating, then walked out at 7:48 PM, having purchased nothing. Did find a few places with fantasy books in English, obviously including the guest country’s area, as this year that’s the United States, but not anything I really wanted to get, while the one participating Romanian publisher that has something I may be interested in had small discounts, as they usually do at this fair, and I can find some of those books for less at an on-line store even now. But at least I was left completely alone, nobody asking me what I wanted or trying to give me any offers or to get me to sign up for anything. Quite sure that, at least in a few places, one of those selling books in English in particular, I had the fact that I kept my headphones on and music playing on my phone to thank for that.
Other than that, spotted a number of known people there, and by that I mean writers or people known from TV, and did think it was somewhat strange that there were multiple stages, with their own sound systems, so even though the place was large there could be issues for the speakers and those trying to just listen to one, especially when you also add the smaller events taking place at various publishers. But otherwise I ignored all of that, the only exception being when I spotted Remus Cernea and actually wanted to greet the guy and say I was sorry to hear about him breaking up with his girlfriend, as he recently posted a long message announcing that, a message revealing feelings and a state of mind I could definitely relate to. But just when I noticed him, he stopped to talk to a little girl who was alone, likely to ask whether she was lost, and when she ran away from him he chased after her, moving away from me and to an area I had already checked, where I saw him stop and talk to a woman. So I just kept going and didn’t spot him again.

Seems like my fears about my UPS were proven true, at least if I believe those at the store I took it to yesterday. While the store I bought it from seems to have just ignored the message I sent them describing the issue and asking about being able to return the battery if the problem proves to be with the UPS itself, this other place did reply Monday evening, actually quite late, some time after I wrote the previous post, and they said they’ll also test my UPS for free if I go pick up the new battery from them and bring it then. And yesterday I did just that, after I asked why did the listed price for that battery increase so significantly just then and also said that if I’ll really need to pay using a card it may be a while until I’ll be able to ask someone to help me with that, and the next day they said I’ll be able to pay using cash after all, and that the listed price was wrong, so they corrected it when they checked, but I will be able to get that battery at the old price.
Since dad was using the metro card, I put the UPS in a bag and used Auchan’s free buses, where I had to go after that anyway, first taking the one that gets me there from here, then wandering around for a while, to wait for the next one that was going to take me close to this store, and then taking that. Once I got off, I went around instead of using the direct path, because I wasn’t sure there won’t be a gate or something on that one, but it wasn’t that much to walk anyway, and I arrived around 5:50 PM, or maybe a bit after that. The listed schedule, both on their site and on the door, was until 6:50 PM, but there were no other customers around and the employees seemed ready to leave, and when I told them I had exchanged some e-mails about a new battery and testing an UPS and mentioned the name of the person I had exchanged those e-mails with, they knew what I was talking about, including the fact that the old price should apply, as I heard it being mentioned, but I was told that the guy had left already… And that I had arrived rather to late for servicing. I said that the schedule states 6:50 PM, but was told that it’s different for each department, the warehouse operating until 9 PM while those at the front desk leave at 6 PM, or apparently even earlier, since that guy had apparently already left. Wasn’t told what department the listed schedule is for though…
Still, was first asked whether I wanted it back that day, and when I said no I was first told to leave it for them to check and I’ll be able to pick it up later, but then another guy was called over and told to quickly check it then and there anyway, and he took it to another room to do that while the guy who had talked to me asked me to sit down while I wait… And then gave me a book, telling me it may be the best thing that will ever happen to me and that reading even only a few pages may change my life, adding “if you like this sort of books” a moment after handing it to me. Not entirely sure I identified the book correctly now, seemed to remember something about the confessions of a billionaire, but the cover I remember pretty much seems to be for the Romanian edition, which doesn’t seem to be listed on Goodreads at the moment, of Millionaire’s Notebook. Either way, definitely no question of liking it, but actually of firmly opposing it as a matter of principle, so I said I didn’t like those things at all, but after the guy at first started to say that in that case maybe he has something I will like, he asked me to at least try to read a few of the bits he underlined. He also made a very bad joke, saying that the book had changed his life after he had been abused as a child, following that, possibly after noticing my stunned reaction, with saying that he had been abused by a certain priest who has been in the news, which was obviously quite impossible, and then mentioning something about that guy either taking away or giving him a scooter, I think. Was getting rather angry at a joke being made about such things and I didn’t exactly care to pay attention anymore, but at least he then followed that other guy to that other room.
So I didn’t have much to do other than to glance through the first couple of chapters of the book and look at what he had underlined, though I obviously didn’t care for any of it. Did spot some writing at the start of a chapter, stating that the book had been loaned by the guy who had replied to my e-mails, which was a somewhat interesting bit of information. And it did seem that either more of the employees liked it or, perhaps more likely, they had all been pestered with it, since another one who was there at the front desk got my attention and told me that I’ll have to come there for one hour per day and read from then on, because the price I had been told included mandatory reading, and that there were others in some reading room in the back too. He also added that the reading room in question is open until midnight, and there are people staying there after they leave. So they all seemed to want to be quite funny, but in a way that definitely made me uncomfortable, even more so than simply being around people and having to interact with them in itself, I mean.
Didn’t have to put up with much more of that though, as I was soon called to the other room. Did get one last quip from that front desk guy then, as I set the book down and he said I had to go with the book, can’t leave it, but I pretty much ignored him and went to see what was going on… And that was when my fears were confirmed, as they showed me that the UPS was still reporting a disconnected or bad battery even after they had replaced it. Of course, I had to trust that they had indeed put a good one in and connected it properly, as I couldn’t see that myself. But then that other guy was also asked to test my old battery, and I saw him pick up and do something to one that had the label I saw after peeling off the APC one, even though I had replaced that one, so if it was indeed the same one they must have removed it again. And he said that the battery was probably what damaged the UPS, since it was very old and was only providing six volts instead of 12. Was also asked how old it was, and while I thought they were referring to the UPS itself it was the same answer for both, so there was no need to ask.
After that, they handed me the data cable back, saying they don’t keep cables, but seemed to want to keep the bag I had brought the UPS in, so left that there along with it, as they said they’ll check it for free and contact me to tell me what can be done. The guy who gave me the book showed me some of the UPSs they had there on display, saying they had refurbished ones as well, but also new ones, with two years of warranty, which of course is the minimum required by law and a pretty bad thing for me, seeing as that one had three years, and I had just mentioned that, at three and a half, the warranty period had only ended some months before. The guy mentioned he had some APC ones too, but didn’t see this one and he actually asked how much a new one like it was, and when I said about 400 RON he muttered something about that and the battery adding up. But that was the end of it then, the other guy hastily filling a form, with only my name and phone number and nothing but “APC” in the field for the product to be serviced, and then sending me on my way with a copy. Asked how we’ll talk about it, whether I should send another e-mail, and was told they’ll call me… Which, of course, I’d rather avoid, but now it is what it is.
The thing is that there seems to be an offer from the manufacturer for this UPS now, as I see it at 399 RON at a few different stores, and at 419 at another that adds a “free” power strip to it, which dad may find some use for. But these offers expire these days, so if I’ll need to order a new one I’ll need to know that right away, I’d say no later than tomorrow. However, if I could trust them to fix it properly, so it’ll work fine for a few more years, and definitely so it won’t risk causing problems for my computer, I’d rather do that instead of getting a new one, obviously for environmental reasons as well. But they’ll need to tell me that they can fix it relatively soon, since I don’t want to be left without one for long, and at a price, including that of the new battery, that will make it worth it. However, even if those conditions would be met, the bigger issue is trusting them with it, as I never had anything to do with them before and at the moment I find myself wondering whether they didn’t even trick me to keep my UPS, even if the behavior did make it likely that there actually was a problem with it. The fact that they kept making that sort of jokes, and that bit with that annoying book, definitely doesn’t help either.

To move on to other things as well, Tuesday I ran again, the time being 48:12, so what should be very much a normal time now, yet it required a fair bit of effort, in part also due to the wind. This is actually rather worrying, the fact that I can’t seem to find days with little wind anymore. But not much I can do about that, so let me also list the sector times, which were 4:24, 5:11, 5:42, 4:30, 5:03, 5:56, 4:36, 5:05, 5:59 and 1:46, making for lap times of 15:17, 15:29 and 15:40. The only particularly good time was on the first lap’s third sector, so I remembered the exact time there as well, and it actually was 5:41.67, which may make this the second fastest third sector time. But I don’t know the exact time from September, so, as usual, I’ll just take the seconds into account and simply consider it a second 5:42 on that sector and tied for second fastest at the moment.
Didn’t get right back after running though, because there was some campaign going on there, with tents and signs about blood pressure and how it affects the heart and brain and plenty of people inviting those passing by to check their blood pressure. In some of the tents they were also offering apple slices, and I meant to grab one when I eventually left, but couldn’t get myself to actually do it. But, since I know that running does tend to increase blood pressure, I turned around after I was done, told the girl who approached me to tell me to check my blood pressure that I was going to, just out of curiosity, after a run, and went first to the people from one tent, and then to one of the others, where there were no apples, that those pointed me to. Once there, after saying I wanted to see what it was after running, I was told you don’t usually check the blood pressure then and that I should sit down and rest for a while, but after sitting there for maybe two minutes they did take it. Never really remembered the exact high value, but it was around 135, and the low one was definitely 68, with a heart rate of 108. If that’s my “high” blood pressure, I’d say I’m doing well…

After getting back from the park, I went out again, meaning to check prices at the usual three hypermarkets but mainly to get some olive oil that was on sale at Kaufland and get toothpaste from that pharmacy, and break some larger bills I had while doing that. So I decided to take the free bus from Auchan to the other Carrefour, where I also remembered there were oranges on sale, so got a few of those, also dumping a fistful of coins when paying for them, then went to the pharmacy and to that other Kaufland for the olive oil and also a large red cabbage. Did take me a while to find that olive oil though, at first assuming they were out of it when I didn’t find it where other olive oil was, but then I remembered that, despite being the cheapest that was part of that sale, it was “bio” (organic), and they have a separate place for such products, and I didn’t know where it was, since I’m used with this other Kaufland. But I eventually spotted it, and the oil, the glass bottle fortunately not breaking when it fell over when the belt moved after I had placed it on it at the checkout. Also spotted another 0.05 RON coin behind the checkout I used, but considering the problem with the guard last time, I left it there. Had found a few others by then anyway, in other places.

Wednesday I went shopping again, before and after the part with the UPS. My mother had asked me to get cat food on Tuesday, but I saw a sale starting Wednesday for one of the kinds, so decided to wait with the other as well, and also with the cat litter, which we also needed but she had forgotten to mention at first. So then I first went to this Carrefour, picking up a few things that were deeply discounted due to expiring soon, then to the nearby Kaufland for that cat food. Interestingly, that particular kind of cat food still had the old price listed even though the others from the same brand that were on either side of it did have the discounted one, yet when I scanned it, it showed up at the discounted price as well, and so did a pack of yogurt that had no price that I could see but which was of the same brand as another that was discounted. So I guess there can be such mistakes there as well, I guess when it’s the first day of the sale and they didn’t get around to replacing the prices yet, though usually the real price is higher than the listed one when there are differences over there.
After getting back with those things, I waited for a while, spending some time on-line and wondering whether I’ll get a reply to confirm that I can take that UPS to that store that day and can indeed pay cash despite what the site says. But there was none by the time I had to leave then, yet I did leave, deciding to risk it. Then I just walked away from there, not waiting for another free bus to come and take me to Auchan, and that also meant that I stopped at a farmers’ market I happened to spot on the way. Didn’t know there was one there and wasn’t paying attention, wondering what to do about the UPS, but at some point I looked around to make sure I hadn’t passed Auchan already and noticed that I was at something that looked like such a market, yet it was surrounded by places selling meat and cheese and other such things, so I had to go around and find a way in. Not that I found many farmers there when I did, the place not being big to begin with and most of those selling listing that they were firms, yet I did get some cucumbers at a good price from one who should have been a farmer… And who looked awfully bored. And then I got to Auchan for the other kind of cat food and the cat litter, and some tea, and used their free bus again to get back.

Since a meeting with the Sector’s mayor had been announced across the street, at 8 PM, after dropping off the purchases I went back out to find out what he had to say… And found myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with the guy most of the time, except when he again said that all poplar trees should be cut down, despite firmly opposing him and his party in general. But at least I’m still opposing the people, as the meeting turned into quite a mess, people rushing to speak about all sorts of issues, not even letting him finish what he wanted to say at the beginning, not allowing answers, not letting each other speak, crowding together, and often asking for infuriating things, such as pruning trees or chopping them down, and a whole lot of things about parking spaces, including one woman who arrived quite late and demanded to remove these small parks, the green spaces around buildings, and make parking lots instead, because the large parks the city has are supposedly enough. The mayor was quite angry by then, after being very correctly challenged by a man on the matter of a lot of the work done on curbs all over, and then another man came to that woman too and told her that the air everyone breathes is more important than her car, and advised her to give up on it for good, at which point I clapped my hands, being right next to them.
The meeting was ending then, the mayor leaving to check out some specific matters pointed out by some of the people, yet it was some time before I finally got back, as I first went to Carrefour again, to get one more thing that was on sale then. That sale was supposed to end that day, but seeing as the products in question seem to expire relatively soon, the kind I got having the date listed as June 5, and they still seem to have a large stock, I’m thinking that they’ll be discounted even more soon enough, if they’re not already, as of today. But now I got it, so nothing else I can do about it. And I also gave the cashier 10.15 RON for a product costing 7.16, pointing out that it was what I had in change, since I didn’t have any more 0.01 RON coins, and she just took it and gave me 3 RON back. Actually looked around at first, wondering if I’ll find any of those coins inside the store, but didn’t… Though I did find one, and a 0.05 RON one, as I was walking away from there.

As for my feet, since that toenail with the bruise under it was coming loose, I was able to get water under it and wash most of that blood out when I showered Tuesday night and I mean to see what else I can do when I’ll go shower again now, after I’ll post this. There is still some of that blood left, on one side, but otherwise it does seem better now, so I hope it won’t fall off after all. On the other hand, or more exactly on the other foot, all the walking I did these days, and maybe the weight I carried as well, did cause some pain again, starting at some point on Wednesday. The problem is that it actually seemed worse today, the painful spot actually being around my ankle and feeling like something worse was happening, the duller pain around it being somewhat different and more worrying as well. But it’s better now, once again, so I hope that a little rest will again be enough.