We bought tickets to see U2 in Amsterdam on July 13th. Because Shannon is a member of U2.com, we were able to buy these tickets as part of an Internet pre-sale. This was our second pre-sale attempt, the first round of pre-sale tickets were available on Jan 25th.
During the first round, tickets for the UK and Belgium concerts were available. Brussels is very close to Amsterdam, and the date suited us, so we attempted to buy tickets for the Belgium concert. Mass traffic events like this are never a pretty sight on the Net. Both the U2.com and Ticketmaster sites were hit hard. After receiving multiple time-out/error pages, our pre-sale authorization code was rejected. We were not alone.
Today, armed with a new code, we accessed the second round of the pre-sale. The code was accepted, but after we entered our credit card info we were presented with a page that instructed us to buy the tickets over the phone, an impossible feat as this was an Internet pre-sale. ARG! After some frustrated clicking and reloading we were finally brought to a confirmation screen, and supplied with a purchase reference code.
Our problems did not end there. During the purchase process we created a Ticketmaster account under Shannon's name. When it came time to enter the credit card info, we noticed that Shannon's card-type, an American Express, was not accepted. We used my Mastercard but were not given the option to enter the name of the card holder. Would Mastercard deny access to a charge bearing Shannon's name? A quick call to the credit card company calmed our fears; everything was copasetic on their end of the transaction.
Our final predicament: The tickets are being sent to the billing address on of the Credit Card. This is my parents address in Canada. Our tickets for the Oxegen festival are also being sent there, for the same reason. Only time will tell if this is troublesome.
For the curious: We got general admission, stand-up-and-jump-around at-the-front-of-the-stage tickets.
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Last Wednesday I met my first computer repair customer. Friday night, I met another, and yesterday, a third. All problems were solved, (1: Ancient modem short-circuiting the motherboard, 2: Loads of spyware and viruses, 3: Webpage advice and instruction).
I designed a new flyer for the business, (the first wasn't as enticing, and included a spelling mistake) and posted a classified ad in the Amsterdam Weekly. The ad brought the second and third customers; the first found my number on the bulletin-board of our neighborhood grocery store. Each customer was supplied with some flyers for friends and family. The remaining flyers were distributed by my parents as they explored the city.
My quest for full-time employment continues, having sent my resume to many IT companies, and multilingual employment agencies.
Shannon was disappointed as she was not asked for a second interview with Boom Chicago. Fearful of employee turn-around, they were looking for a waitress with stronger ties to Amsterdam. During the interview they expressed concern with the amount of time we planned to stay in the Netherlands.
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In September I posted this scan of a sticker from Ottawa. A fellow named James has posted a collection of Maki sticker on Flikr. Check it.
I have posted a short story about a weather man to my fiction blog, structured thought.
The wind here is strong, and the weather changes rapidly. The sun has just appeared, banishing the grey skies that have oppressed us for the past week. Time to head outside.
