An inquisitive old fart with a camera
Products, services, marketing, names
Trying to find someone to install a rear-view camera in our car, one of dozens of extras that aren’t included because this is Uruguay. Prices range from USD 300 to USD 190, and require spending the day in Montevideo, never my first choice.
Couple days ago, on a whim ask in a local car alarm/stereo store. Sure, he can do it: USD 120. And walking distance from home!
Get there this morning, and he tells me he can’t because special plug, USD 365 camera blah blah blah.
Merchandising tip, fresh to you from Uruguay: place frozen food freezer in full sunlight.
It’s been a long time since I introduced the subject of electrical outlets in Uruguay. A visit to the hospital reminded me of their wonderful weirdness here.
Shuko is common in Europe; “Inclinado” the standard in neighboring Argentina, and “Tres en linea,” my favorite, apparently the standard in Uruguay. But when your whole country is 3-1/2 million people, who – meaning people manufacturing electrical appliances for worldwide sales – particularly cares?
And of course, if you’re installing signs in Uruguay, who particularly cares that you glue the capital B to the wall upside and backwards?
Which perhaps has you thinking, I want to visit your wonderful little country. What should I do about my electrical needs?
The obvious answer is to throw your hands up in despair, and leave all your damned gadgets at home.
Or just stop by our place.
I probably have your needs covered.
This receipt struck me as colorful and unusual, so I put it aside, seeing the bar code. I assumed it was something promotional from Tienda Inglesa, where you have to scan the receipt to get little stamps or something. Currently I think they’re doing a trip to New York. Were those clouds in the design? Whatever, later, unpack groceries….
Later
Short answer: no. The new blue ink – hopefully less toxic – appears to be water soluble. And apparently something in my shopping bag was wet.
Oh well. It’s pretty, and mentally considerably less demanding than the thought of a (another) trip to New York.
Taking up valuable space in our luggage back from ‘Murka: cotton tea towels that absorb moisture. Kitchen scouring sponges that don’t begin to disintegrate immediately with use.
I know. I can hear you already: why would you want those?
Early yesterday morning, I found myself with coffee at McDonald’s at MVD – Montevideo airport – near this receptacle for “mixed waste” and “recyclable materials.”
The “mixed waste” graphic caught my eye.
What’s this? Your McDonald’s hamburger will be so bad you’ll throw it out half-eaten? Or worse, it’s so bad that the hamburger itself is vomiting?
I guess in a country of 3.5 million people you’re not going to get the cream of the crop when it comes to graphic design. Or it may be that someone has a really really good sense of humor.
I like the latter idea.
For a country that considers itself non-religious, Semana Santa – oh, sorry, Semana de Turismo – is a big deal. That’s Easter Week in case you’re still not up to speed 😉
Duly noted, of course, in my calendar:
Fortunately we had nothing of particular importance to accomplish this week. Our friends Sandy and Don, whom we just left at the airport for their move back north, were kicking themselves that they didn’t factor Semana de Turismo into their planning, but almost everything that needed doing got done regardless.
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
A little security company mini-minivan pulled partway into our driveway and beeped the horn. When I went out front, the driver got out, leaving two (three?) people sitting in the car.
He was offering a security special of free installation something yadda yadda. I told him we had lived here almost ten years with dogs and no security company, and that the only problem we’d had during that time was the alarms of our absentee neighbors’ systems going off at all hours for no apparent reason.
Still, I asked him about what they had. And whether they were local.
No, not local, he said, but they have detectors with cameras, and when they pick up a signal, an operator checks the camera and calls the police if things look suspicious. I asked enough more to determine that dogs and cat would set off the alarm continuously, and his solution for that was to keep the animals in a segregated part of the house, and … ¡chau! Mr Security Man.
Though of course the idea of giving complete strangers the ability to activate cameras inside my house at any time … how could one not feel warm and fuzzy and secureabout that?
