Back in February I posted about the unbelievably awful experience I had with Best Buy over Christmas, and the two months they left me without a computer – only to give me back my laptop just as broken as it was when I first brought it in.

The situation was a shitshow from the start, and I’ll still never buy from a big box store again, BUT, after reading my post, the head office in Vancouver called me up and told me the store would be in contact with me to work something out.

The wonders of social media, friends.

So the store manager called me and apologized for the unnecessary wait, and he offered to set me up with a new computer. Thrilled that something good had finally come of this ordeal, I quickly accepted and he gave me some times to come into the store to see him directly.

Of course, this is the store that is full of fail, so when I got there during the time he told me he was working, dragging my super heavy 17 inch laptop with me, they told me he was already gone for the day because the other manager came in early. These people!!! The worst. 

So I dragged it in another day, and after a 10 minute wait he finally showed up, took a look at my computer and said he could give me a laptop for the current value of mine (600$). I wasn’t expecting to be able to choose one that day since on the phone he said they would have to look at mine and get approval, but now he said they could do it then and there.

Having no clue what I wanted other than a 17 inch screen, he gave me two options, and I went with a Samsung model he seemed to be pushing on me. Only upon looking at the receipt on my way out did I see this computer he recommended was on sale, and worth $160 less than my computer (it wasn’t even on display in the store). I had asked about an HP that was actually $600 but he told me Samsung lasts longer and that this particular HP was a cheaper model that would die sooner – having quite the love affair with my Samsung Galaxy SIII phone, I was inclined to believe him.

I’m still annoyed that I ended up with a cheaper sale computer, but the worst part is that it is running Windows 8. What a nightmare. While I’ve finally (mostly) gotten used to it, for about three weeks I really wanted my busted two year old laptop back just so I could have Windows 7 again. On the positive side, this laptop does have a faster processor and a lot more space than my old one, so I can’t really complain. If I could get the stupid right hand side panel to stop popping up EVERY single time I move the cursor slightly to the left I might not hate it so much.

Had I known when he first called me, that it really meant I’d have to give them my old computer to keep, and get Windows 8 instead, I’m not sure I would have agreed to it as fast as I did.

BUT they did make an effort to fix a major fuck up, and the new laptop is still a newer, better laptop without a busted hinge, so its still a nice little win against the corporations.

Have you ever complained to or about a brand and had them actually listen and fix their mistake? Share, please! 

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A quick TGIF before the madness that is Canadian Music Week begins (previews/recommendations starting tomorrow!):

• David Bowie’s wife drops strong hint that the veteran singer may tour again. YES PLEASE!
• Twitter acquires We Are Hunted, readies standalone music app. This is awesome. We should be able to play music right on twitter, finally it is happening.
• Facebook announces dedicated music tab in news feed redesign. I am pretty excited about this – fishing through my feed for the music related stuff can get tedious between all the other shit in the newsfeed.
• Digital music news- where are the women on the Billboard Power 100? Good question.
• Ang Lee and the uncertainty of success. Such a great article – must read for those struggling to get where they want to be with their career.
• Patricia Rozema’s manifesto for Canadian movies. Brilliant.
• Finally, the most wonderful video I saw all week. I don’t think it even needs an explanation, just watch:

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I’m sure you have by now (I meant to post this on Thursday when it was released but got distracted by bad news), but if you haven’t – go to your Facebook profile right now and check it out. It’s basically just a collection of your top 20 most commented/liked/shared photos and statuses of the year, which means it can be pretty limited if you’re not a huge Facebook user.

I’m more of a Twitter fanatic, so it’s not as accurate for me as it might be for others. Mainly it just shows photos from my first trip to Montreal (since that’s the only photo album I posted this year) and drinking photos, which is a testament to my general dislike of having my photo taken, in that people can only make it happen when I’m inebriated. I promise I will never be one of those bloggers who just posts 1000 “selfies” a day on instagram and on the blog, instead of actual content.

Anyhow, it’s a cute feature and a good way for Facebook to create some perceived value out of the yearly format of Timeline. I’ve definitely enjoyed going through the Year in Review pages from my friends who’ve chosen to share theirs.

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Rarely do I think Canadian tourism boards market this country to tourists successfully. Canada on screen can seem like a whole lot of flatlands and nothingness if not handled with care, so when this video popped up last week I was pretty excited. Not only is it not boring, but they asked one of my favourite Canadian bands – Yukon Blonde  (who I filmed/interviewed this summer, check that video out if you missed it) to write a song for it.

What’s fun is they actually rewrote their best song off their latest album, “My Girl,” for it, changing it to “My Home,” and even singing parts in French.

What’s even cooler is that this video is a compilation of footage shot by a whole bunch of Canadians, showing off all the great things we love about the country (seasons, food, adventures, animals, cities, beaches, mountains, sports, art, etc) – rather than what some marketing firm thinks tourists would like about the country – so it actually shows you why it’s fun to live here/come here.

Watching it filled me with pride (despite knowing there’s nothing stupider than being proud of something as arbitrary and out of your control as where you were born, thanks George!) and made me want to travel around Canada and do and see all these things that I’m so lucky I have the privilege of experiencing all the time just because I was lucky enough to be born here. I’ve always wanted to move south for the warm weather, but when I see Canada like this I realize just how much I would be giving up.

The concept of Canada explored by Canadians is spot on. Not only did they make an interesting, much more shareable video than usual, but they made it for free! Super smart idea, kudos to whoever came up with this social media winner:

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Another interesting infographic from Hypebot. Do your listening habits fall in line with what this says? I’ve listened to music to help me fall asleep since I was a little kid, and it’s usually on when I’m cooking (a rarity), exercising, commuting anywhere alone, and working (but not when I’m writing as it’s impossible for me to not sing along when a song is on, making it impossible to write).

But I definitely listen to more than 10 hours of music a week – I probably listen to 10 hours of live music alone per week some weeks. Of the three social music sites they mentioned I’m only on Last.FM but both Pandora and Spotify aren’t available in Canada. I do most of my social listening via Songza. For a long time I had a paid subscription to Last.FM but that was only because my very cool boss (who encouraged us to listen to music at work) paid for it. I’ve never paid for a music service.

I love that 94% of people listen to a song because they see a friend listening to it. This is why I love Facebook’s integration of certain music services into the live feed in your sidebar. I see this person is listening to that song and suddenly I need to hear it. It also makes me understand why so many use the privacy option, as I sometimes like to listen to music I’m not proud of (a girl needs a little late 90′s nostalgia sometimes, okay?) and I wish it wouldn’t blast out for all my friends to see.

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