(Updated below)

Complain about those insipid, vapid, and idiotic commercials by Grey Power and its mother company, Trafalgar, here:

• feedback@greypower.com
• trafalgarinsurance@intact.net

Or better yet, write them a letter.

Trafalgar Insurance Company of Canada
700 University Avenue, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A1

Toll free: (866) 464-2424
Local: (416) 227-6740

The Trafalgar Insurance Company is yet again foisting upon us the screaming ninny characterized with such zeal by their Grey Power television commercials. I would have thought that by now, enough people with grammar skills, as well as women and men who take exception to being zealously characterized as horrible, screaming, angry and incompetent drivers, would have registered enough complaints that Grey Power and its grammatically challenged advertising agency would have been banished to the dustbin of bad television commercials.

Not so.

Thankfully, the television remote has been designed with not only an off or a mute button, but also with the ability to change channels to one that does not feature the Trafalgar Insurance Company and its ear-splitting, grammar-challenged Grey Power commercials.

Link to my previous entry on Grey Power and Trafalgar here.

(Update)

Chicken Little - how appropriate

Can someone explain to me why women haven’t stormed that corporate bastion of female empowerment known as Grey Power to protest the vile, insipid and disgusting characterization of a female driver flopping her head around her vehicle like a screaming, adult-sized bobble head doll?

Some of the comments I’ve received on the ever-popular Grey Power television comedy of errors:

I hate the Grey Power ad… – Penny

…cheesiest, most irritating advertisements ever produced!!! – John

This TV ad has driven me to the point of smashing my remote control! – david1006

I absolutely HATE this commercial. – Baz

I am so sick of that ad… – Steve

I can’t stand it. – Mark

…annoys the hell out of me! – Kenneth

Updated below

I had a Vonage dial tone, but every time I tried to dial out, the dial tone would continue on through the number-pad entries, and the dialed number would sound busy. The dial tone continued sounding in the background. I was unable to connect to any dialed number.

I rebooted my modems and the Vonage modem, but still the dial out problem persisted.

As a last resort, I unplugged the power supply from my telephone, and then plugged it back in. That solved the problem in it’s entirety. I’m not sure why that solution worked. Possibly the problem had something to do with the phone’s circuitry when I turned off the power via the fuse box in order to install a ceiling fan.

All in all, I’m happy with my Vonage account. It’s much cheaper than a regular land-line telephone account and includes all the features in Vonage’s basic fee that would be cost-plus with other providers. Vonage is also much cheaper than those solutions sold by cable television and internet providers.

The only other issue I’ve encountered is the caller id time-set problem, which I covered here.

Update: I’ve had this dial tone problem occur one more time. Rather than reboot everything, I merely unplugged the phone’s power supply from the wall socket power outlet, plugged it back into the power outlet, and everything was good to go one more time. Why is it happening? I don’t know, but I consider it to be a minor annoyance.

Update June 25, 2009: I picked up a new Vonage V-Portal to replace my old D-Link VTA adapter. Upon installation of the V-Portal, I discovered that the modem’s internal time zone was set to Alaska time. I called Vonage customer support and had them reprogram the V-Portal to the Mountain time zone and I was good to go.

The Vonage customer support numbers can be found on Vonage’s home page, at the bottom. Click on the “Contact Us” link.

*     *     *

I was having the usual trouble with my caller I.D. time being reset every time I received a call. I searched the internet for the obvious cures, but none worked. Why do people who have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about profess to have solutions to problems?

Here’s why some Vonage customers have that time resetting problem with Caller I.D.: each Vonage telephone modem comes pre-set with a default time zone.

Now here’s the solution: call Vonage customer support and ask them to reset their modem to your time zone, and voila! Problem solved.

Don’t bother trying the internet solutions that you find should you search online for answers to the problem. None of those work.

(updated below)

Has anyone seen the Grey Power automobile insurance commercials recently showing on Canadian television? A smarmy male introduces an incompetent screaming ninny (usually female, but more recently male) who is behind the wheel of a vehicle by saying, “You don’t drive like her (sic).”

What he means to say is this: “You don’t drive like she does.”

Well, all right, I admit that I don’t know what the announcer really means to say, since he can’t speak English. He appears to be babbling some form of grade-school fractured english, most notably spoken by those of us who cut a lot of classes and who thought we were the brainiacs.

I queried Grey Power on the use of “their” English, and here’s what I received in return (paraphrased for simplicity, of course):

English teachers are not in agreement on the subject.

English and its usage is constantly changing.

At least that was grammatically correct.

If appealing to the lowest common grammatical denominator is good for business, then I say more power to Grey Power! As for me, I’ll continue to amuse myself with a company and its advertiser who doesn’t know how to use English, and to question how their written agreements might be drawn up.

“If you drive like him/her does, and never aks us no questions, they’ll be shure to have no claims, EVAR! Shut up.”

After all, English is in a constant state of flux.

UPDATE: Complain about those insipid, vapid, and idiotic commercials by Grey Power and its mother company, Trafalgar, here:

• feedback@greypower.com
• trafalgarinsurance@ingcanada.com

Or better yet, write them a letter.

Trafalgar Insurance Company of Canada
700 University Avenue, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A1

Toll free: (866) 464-2424
Local: (416) 227-6740

Update: I searched around and found some welding caps that I wear under my helmet. They’re made of cotton, cost about the same, and you can buy them anywhere. I turn the peak around and it shades the back of my neck. Added bonus: the welding cap seams are sewn flat, and thus don’t feel like they’re cutting into your head after a couple of hours of wearing one under the helmet.

If you do much long distance riding, the thick seams on the front of the silk or cotton helmet liner will dig into your bald head like a knife after a couple of hundred miles. Unlike welding caps, the silk or cotton liners aren’t stitched with flat seams, thus making such seams too thick to be comfortable over the long haul, which is what I do a lot of. On the other hand, if you’re doing short rides around town, you won’t notice a thing.

Helmets are a great invention. The keep your head warm when it’s cold, dry when it’s raining, and sweaty when it’s hot. Thus was invented the silk helmet liner, an accoutrement that makes a rider look like a dork when he puts it on, but quickly turns from a fashion nightmare into an item that makes for a more comfortable helmet. Added bonus: the helmet doesn’t stink up as fast.

If you’re going to get a helmet liner, buy two. That way, you can switch them out on a ride and one dries in the wind while you wear the other. I prefer welding caps, since the seams are sewn flat and won’t cut into your head after a couple of hours.

cyclegadgets.com can’t seem to get it right, though. I bought their silk helmet liner product because the last two I owned became indispensable to me. They work so well that it’s just plain silly to wear a helmet without one. This time, the liner they sent me shredded on two of the seams after the first washing. So much for ingenuity and marketing.

It’s not worth it to send it back to cyclegadgets for a replacement. The cost of postage will only add to the cost of the item, thus making an already useless item that much more expensive.

It seems one just can’t win any more.

Now that I’m finished with my rant, here’s a tip on helmet sanitation: When the old brain-bucket does begin to get ripe – and it will – put it in the dishwasher, without soap, and run it through a wash cycle. Just remember to take the helmet out before the heat cycle comes on. Let it air dry, and voila! Good as new.