Smart watch died, Part 4 - 5 March 2025

After going thru the required communications with Google Customer Service, I was finally able to package up the busted smart watch and ship it back to Google.  I was annoyed that I had to supply the shipping material and take it up to FedEx, but the FedEx process was smooth once I got there.  If I had a routine 9-5 job, it would have been a real pain to get to the FedEx office quickly.  FedEx conveyed the shipment quickly to Google and it has been a silent period.  No news from Google.  I received word today that they had inspected the returned item and were shipping a replacement.  Today's notice included a tracking number, but it seems that only the label has been printed. That is, UPS does not yet have the shipment but will pick up the shipment soon (tomorrow?) and they will deliver it eventually.  Note that this is a common technique - Google "prints a label" to make it sound like they are making fast progress, but the tracking number is not meaningful until UPS actually gets the shipment.

I am glad that Google has finally verified that the failure is a valid failure and is covered by the warranty for replacement, but I am still surprised at how s...l...o...w the customer-service process has been for a $200+ item.  

Smart watch died, part 3 - 26 February 2025

Through the magic of Federal Express, I returned the exploded Pixel Watch to Google for replacement.  

My experience continued the Google strangeness.  I received an email with an "RMA" (Return Merchandise Authorization) code and instructions and a confirmation email from Fedex.  In the RMA instructions, I was directed to return only the watch, and not anything else.  There was also a QR code that Fedex was to use to print the RMA lable.  An hour or so later, I received an email that continued the chain on the original support ticket.  It told me to disregard the directions in the RMA emails, that I should print the attached RMA label, and that I should package up everything (explicitly including the watch, the band, and the charging "puck") and take it all to Fedex to be returned.

After some rumination, I decided to follow the second set of directions.  I printed the RMA label, boxed everything up with bubble wrap, and took it all to Fedex (watch, band, and charging puck).  Fedex was very efficient and I only spent about 90 seconds in the storefront.  My round-trip was 30+ minutes of driving, but the storefront portion was efficient.

The package now goes to Google where they will inspect it and decide, yet again, if I deserve a replacement unit.  I am supposed to get the replacement unit in about five business days - early March.

Smart watch died, part 2 - 24 February 2025

I thought everything was all set to get a replacement for my dead-and-exploded smart Pixel Watch.  

Yeah, not quite.  After supplying my address and the serial number, I received a confirmation email that I would get a return-shipment label for my dead-and-exploded watch.  Overnight, I received an email requesting a photo of the serial number (that I previously copied over).  If you are not familiar with the watch, the serial number is hidden under one of the attachment points for the watchband.  It is embossed on a curved surface in small letters, but I took a photo and sent it back in return email.  Because it is so hard to read, I also took a photo of the serial number on the side of the box (I still have the box).  Google Support keeps asking for the same information over and over.  SMH.

The folks are all nice, but their customer management system is - what is the technical term? oh, yeah - the Google CMS is hoarked.  

Smart watch died - 23 February 2025

It is said that all good things must pass, but this is not that story.  Almost exactly a year ago, I bought a Google Pixel Watch, a smart watch.  I tried it out for a while and, really, there is not much benefit.  Clocks are everywhere including one on the phone in your pocket, so the timekeeping function is not really useful.  Various notifications come up on your phone in your pocket, thus notifications on your wrist are just a minor benefit.  The step-counting feature is wildly inconsistent and the heartrate info is only mildly useful.  The sleep tracking is not particularly reliable, so the inconvenience and discomfort of wearing a watch to bed is not helpful for sleep.  And, finally, you have to constantly charge the darn thing - at least daily - and if you wear it to bed, you cannot charge overnight so you have to take it off during the day but then all the other advantages are shot while it sits on the charger for an hour or so.

In the end, the $200 cost is simply not justifiable.  The $40 smart watches are no better.  And who really needs a watch these days?

With all this in mind, I am sad to report that my Pixel Watch baked itself on the charger:  it swelled up and exploded itself.  It was not a violent explosion, there was no shrapnel, but the watch seal is broken and it is no longer waterproof or even water-resistant.  The guts are just hanging out.  I played 20 Questions with Pixel Watch support.  They have been very responsive, but they only want to ask 1-2 questions at a time, so our email exchange went back and forth over several days.  They now seem to have everything they need, finally I thought, and so they have passed the support case to the next level for a decision in yet another deferral.

I am expecting them to offer a refurbished Pixel Watch as a replacement.  I am happy to return the dead watch to them.  We shall see how this plays out.

Jeff Bezos buys Bond, James Bond - 22 February 2025

With all the other crap going down, this is an issue that we can all agree on.  After a couple years of tug-of-war, it was announced this week that Jeff Bezos had cut a deal with Broccoli et al to take full ownership of the James Bond franchise, probably via the Amazon Studios house.  Of course, we are all excited to hear about this after the enormous success of Amazon Studios with the Lord of the Rings franchise.

For those having trouble hearing in the back - this is satire.  My prediction:  James Bond is now a dead franchise.  Bezos and Amazon will milk it for a few years, then it will decay and fade into reruns of the original films. 

Canal tour in France - 5 February 2025

 We will be touring central-ish France on a canal boat in September 2025.  This is the approximate route from Joigny to Carbigny.  The route is basically:

• Joigny
• Laroche-Migennes
• Auxerre
• Vincelles
• Vermenton
• Chatel-Censoir
• Clamency
• Tannay
• Corbigny

And this is that Google Maps thinks:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/PJ15PVhd8ZhTVqzZ8

Visually, the map is

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Trip to the Canary Islands - 20 January 2025

We have just returned from two weeks in the Canary Islands, one week on La Gomera and one on Tenerife.  These are some of my initial impressions.  

The islands are very different, La Gomera is much smaller but has been more fully settled (in history, that is - today, Tenerife has a much larger population).  The Canary tourism draws two main audiences from Europe, one audience stays by the coast for beaches, golfing, and nightlife, the other is a trekking theme.  We were trekking folks.  The two main groups coming are English and French; there may be Spaniards, too, but they all speak Spanish and are hard to tell from the natives.  There are a scattering of other folks, too, like the Netherlands and Germans, but the English and French are the main groups.  This shows up in the dining - although there are few German restaurants (I do not know why), there are LOTS of English pubs and restaurants along with the local style restaurants.  

I used a tracking app on my phone and added it up - I talked about 150km (93 miles) over 65 hours and climbed 4657m (14000 ft) over 17 days.  Because of flight connections, we spent a night and 19 hours in Iceland, where we did a food tour of Reykjavik in the morning before our connecting flight.  Our sons were able to join us; they walked farther than I did, but I do not think that is a surprise.  

We enjoyed the trip, but the Canaries are interesting islands.  There is not a lot of "there" there - the islands are isolated and volcanic, and they are (overall) very dry.  There is a wet side to each island because they poke up into the winds and the mountains capture some moisture, but a lot of the area of the islands are pretty barren and dry.  There are no native mammals, and the original settlers (c. the year zero) brought goats and lived a subsistence living, isolated for 1400 years from the mainland.  There is not much reason to go to these islands, so no one did.  Because the islands are volcanic, life before the Spaniards was neolithic - no metals, just stone tools.  The Spaniards came around 1400 and pretty much killed or enslaved the populations by 1460 or so.  Columbus showed up several times starting in 1492 and each time, he picked up water, food, and slaves.  Even into the time of Franco, life was brutal and so there was a mass exodus from the Canaries to Venezuela, even by the descendents of the Spanish.  Pretty ugly history.  

Most of the island is covered by lava or scrub (knee-high shrubs scattered rather sparsely).  On the wet sides, there are forests, but the trees rarely exceed 20 feet in height.  These forests are lingering remnants of the forests that covered the entire Mediterranean area about 10 million years ago, and the Canary forests have survived due to isolation. They are pleasant to walk through, but even on the "wet side", the streams are often seasonal, dry most of the year.  The largest continuously flowing "river" on La Gomera is only wide enough to step over.  

I am getting long, so I shall pause. More later.