April 27th, 2008
Lisa had warned me about this before we left Australia, but I have to say, it still came at a total shock to me when it happen……
I thought I would ring the department of social security to see if there was anything that could be done from their end to ease this ‘new number’ syndrome I seem to be suffering from…….
I got a computer voice recognition system……uh, I speak English, I can answer questions…..how do Mexicans or any of the other nationalities that live in this free and brave land get on???? Beats me…….
I put on my best American and gave it my all…… Let me tell you this much……. I really cant do accents, and I really cant do American accents. In fact, I think I do American about as good as Americans do Australian. I would love to know how an American would go with such a system in Australia……. Anyway, long story short, the kids were laughing at me, I felt really silly, and while I got a fair way though the voice prompts, I totally failed to say the word ‘Smith’ in American. I got the numbers, I got my name (tricker than you might think, the a’s come out as i’s) right, I got my address Ok, but totally failed to say my mothers maiden name in American…… I mean just how does an American say Smith?
Bah, anyway, ’cause it could not understand me, I had to wait on the phone line for about 20 min…… end result, nothing they can do.
The cell phones are just going to have to wait.
I thought I would ring the department of social security to see if there was anything that could be done from their end to ease this ‘new number’ syndrome I seem to be suffering from…….
I got a computer voice recognition system……uh, I speak English, I can answer questions…..how do Mexicans or any of the other nationalities that live in this free and brave land get on???? Beats me…….
I put on my best American and gave it my all…… Let me tell you this much……. I really cant do accents, and I really cant do American accents. In fact, I think I do American about as good as Americans do Australian. I would love to know how an American would go with such a system in Australia……. Anyway, long story short, the kids were laughing at me, I felt really silly, and while I got a fair way though the voice prompts, I totally failed to say the word ‘Smith’ in American. I got the numbers, I got my name (tricker than you might think, the a’s come out as i’s) right, I got my address Ok, but totally failed to say my mothers maiden name in American…… I mean just how does an American say Smith?
Bah, anyway, ’cause it could not understand me, I had to wait on the phone line for about 20 min…… end result, nothing they can do.
The cell phones are just going to have to wait.
Great day in LA yesterday, some really good messages at church and a nice lunch in the middle. The drive up and back was not so bad. About an hour and a half each way, averaged 30.2mpg (12.8km/l)and 63mph (101kmh), so the Passat, while really uncomfortable for me and a tad small in the back seat for the kids, does the job really well, economy figures like that are going to be impossible to achieve in a minivan of any kind.
Off to the mountains today, Im very excited about it……heh, been up since 3:37am….just waiting for the family to wake up and shuffle them into the car…… Actually, thinking about it, if I had left when I woke up, I could have been there and back and they still would have been in bed!!!
