Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

I don’t care that much for television. Even less I care for advertisements. And even les than that I care about advertisement on television. You can easily say that I don’t care about them at all.

But that didn’t stop me from seeing one of the funniest things that I’ve seen on TV ever - The Big Ad for Carlton Draught (It doesn’t look that as good in the tiny window as it does on a large TV screen, but at least you’ll have an idea of what I am talking about here.). That was something!

It turns out I am by far not alone. A lot of people enjoyed it. There is even a Wikipedia page for it.

(singing)It’s a big add. Expensive ad! …

I had yet another negative experience with FedEx today.

I need to sand a small package with 6 beer glasses to Moscow, Russia. I wanted them to be delivered fast and for delivery to be paid by the recepient. I wasn’t sure that FedEx could provide me with the service so I passed by their office a couple of days ago and asked if they could do it.

After I spent about 20 minutes explaining to the clerk what it was exactly that I wanted, she told me that there shouldn’t be any problem. The only thing she wasn’t sure was the taxes that Russian customs office would ask to pay. I said that those shouldn’t be much as the package itself is a gift and has a very low value of about 15 CYP.

I also asked if FedEx could provide me with any form of packaging as I wasn’t sure that I could pack the glass appropriately myself. FedEx doesn’t do packaging, which looked a bit stupid to me, but who am I to judge.

I found the proper packaing myself and came with the box today expecting it to be sent. There was a different clerk in the office this time. I explained again what I wanted. 10 minutes later she confirmed with the headquarters that fragile items in general and glass in particular are not accepted by FedEx.

I stood there for three minutes with the WTF expression on my face and then left. Shocked. Was it so difficult to tell it to me the first time? I mean, I made myself clear at all times that I am about to send some fragile items. What are they thinking over there? And why not take it? What is so different with fragile items? All you have to do to deliver them properly is to not throw them hard on the floor. Putting fragile packages on top of the baggage heap is not even as important.

I don’t know… This doesn’t feel right…

I’m going in circles - computers, photography, Cyprus, computers, photography, Cyprus… I seem to enjoy this so far. Do you?

Photography comes out on top today. If you’re looking for the beauty - that’s the place to start.

• Darwin Wiggett - Photography Galleries
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• Eric Myer Photography
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• Glenn Feron - The Art of Retouching
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Beer is one of my favourite things in the whole world. It also makes for a good subject. I’ve made few more shots today. The choice of the brew - Marke Weltenburger Pils. This is one of those recently discovered beers that I enjoy the most.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-08-10_POTD

Kingfisher lager is the first Indian beer that I tried. I bought a small bottle in the All About Beer shop during my taste-all-those-bottles crusade. It turned out to be a good quality average tasting beer much like many others.

So far I get the most satisfaction from German and British beers. Belgian come next. All the rest follow. But I haven’t tried all of them yet.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-08-09_POTD