Spring is finally here

OK. I can proclaim it this time. After a bunch of false starts Spring is finally here. One of the lesser known things about Spring is that there is a lot of color. Note the pictures in this post and you'll see. Other than the sudden spurt of green all over the place (literally), there are purples and pinks and blues and whites that make Spring very pleasant (and not just weather wise).

The pink flowers belong to the Pink Dogwood. The white ones are from a cherry blossom tree (Sakura). They are spectacular and trust me, they are much better in person.

Nor'easter, Virginia Tech and Nandigram

The world is changing and nothing captures is more than the events unravelling at this moment. A rare April Nor'Easter hit the northeast of United States resulting in massive rains, snow and the inevitable flooding. Upto 6 inches of rain has fallen in a single day in some places. The picture above is taken at a nearby creek which "barely" felt the effect of the Nor'Easter. If this is barely, you can well imagine.
Here is more info on the Nor'Easter: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/04/16/storm.ap/index.html

Today, a tragedy of unfathomable proportions stuck Virginia Tech, my alma-mater. A shooter (brain dead) armed with 2 guns (where do these people get these guns?) went around shooting students and staff in VT resulting in 33 people dead (as of this moment) and more injured. Why?. My sympathies to the parents, friends of the affected folks and the people of Blacksburg. Sometimes you wonder if there is a sense of justice in this world. For more on the shooting and the developing story, head over here:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html

Finally, in yet another tragic incident of great ramifications, the CPI-M party sanctioned the rape, death and destruction of the town and townsfolk of Nandigram, WB, India. This happened a month back and until now, nothing has happened. I ask the President, what are you waiting for?. Dissolve the Goverment, arrest every minister of the party and launch a high level investigation into this Darfur like incident. Thats the least we can do in response to a "Jallianwala Bagh" event in the 21st century.

For more on this, read here:

http://news.google.com/news?q=nandigram+massacre&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=zcu&um=1&sa=X&oi=news&ct=title

Garden 2007:02: More First Signs

The Magnolias are flowering and so are the cherry blossoms. I managed to get a snap of a magnolia tree this weekend and here it is. I am waiting to snap the cherry blossoms soon.

More on the Magnolia can be found here and here. And if you are a movie junkie, here is the reference to the Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble drama starring Tom Cruise.
My limited understanding tells me that this is a Magnolia soulangeana.

Garden 2007:01: The First Signs

It has been a weird winter with pockets of brutally cold weather peppering an otherwise mild 3 months. It has been worse so for the spring bulbs that have been shown hints of the new season only to be swamped with snow the very next day. I think its finally starting to improve and the spring buds are out now.

I have posted a sample pic here. More can be seen here.

Born again blogger

I am back. I've been away from blogging for a while. Lot of things have kept me busy. It's spring again and what better time to restart. Today there are blogs everywhere. Opinions and thoughts on diverse matters are but a drop in an ocean. I figured I'd do something much simpler. From this point on, this blog will be predominantly focussed on the mundane yet absolutely fascinating world of gardening. There will be other posts of interest but the predominant theme would be gardening, flowers and herbs. So if you are a novice gardener who is trying to make sense of things like bulbs, perennials and hydrangeas this will be a good spot. I hope to trace the evolution of my garden this year with snippets and photographs. More soon.

It's good to be back.

Pause...

Shot earlier in the summer, this was in the middle of a ramp to a highway...for a moment, everything paused for this magnificent scene in nature to unfold.

 

Its Boston, baby !

Shot earlier this Fall in Boston, MA at the Hynes Convention Center (September 12, 2006)

Fall in the Collegeville woods

Shot on Oct 21, 2006 by the Perkiomen Trail in Collegeville, PA.

 

WP: Limbaugh mocks Michael J. Fox ad - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Limbaugh mocks Michael J. Fox ad - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Everytime you think politics cant get any worse, along comes something like this.

Fall Colors - 3

Shot at Valley Forge National Park, King of Prussia, PA on October 18, 2006.

 

Fall Colors-2

This is Fall colors - Pennsylvania style (shot on 10-14-2006 in NorthWest PA)

 

Fall Colors - 1

Here is the first of what I hope will be a series of Fall pics from Southeast PA.

 

Chikungunya and Dengue

Chikungunya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chikungunya has become the next big disease to make a significant impact in India. Thanks to sanitary conditions and lack of proper medical awareness, the disease has claimed many a life and is threatening to cause many more deaths, especially in South India. Read more about the disease and spread the word on how to prevent it.

Recently, Delhi has started reporting cases of Dengue fever. This has also caused several deaths and hundreds of people are in hospitals.
Read more about Dengue, its symptoms and the cure here:
Dengue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Past and present

This picture was taken from inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Specifically, in the foreground is the Temple of Dendur exhibit and in the back is NYC. One if from 15BC and the other is 2006 AD.

Incredible India - in Hamilton, New Jersey

A very gratifying sight. I always felt Indian tourism wasnt promoted as well in the US. Not anymore. This shot taken in the sleepy NJ transit trainstation of Hamilton, NJ confirmed its happening...and I love it. 

The Joy of Gardening - 3

Capsicum, mint, coriander and chillies - All in the comfort of our own garden. 

The Joy of Gardening - 2

A picture of our flowers - in Fall. This year, the flowers have lasted for an unseasonably long time. The flowers themselves give a great sense of accomplishment with regards to our gardening efforts all year. 

The Joy of Gardening - 1

Fresh from our very own chilli plant. More on this in future posts.
P.S. This is a day's worth. 

Why HP Customer Service sucks?

Update on 07/25/2006:
I have now been formally billed 307.35 by HP for what they said will be free of charge. Turns out the person in HP Corporate (do they actually have Corporate folks...seems like they dont) and the HP Parts Store person who took my order (Charles at 1-800-227-8164 x 5559147) didnt promise me anything or atleast there is no record of it. So now HP says pay up or return the product for credit. We hear everytime we call Customer Service about "Your call is being recorded for Quality purposes". If this is not of use now, why have the recording. If HP revisits the recordings of my conversation with them, it should be apparent enough. But no. They wont do it. I am now returning the product. I have also lodged a complaint with BBB (#253027).

Lessons Learned:
1. HP sucks
2. HP Customer Service is even worse.
3. Never buy anything HP.
4. Make sure you take down names of all customer service reps you talk to in any conversation.
5. Request that anything promised by Customer Service immediately be noted in the order Notes section (they have one that they never mention to you about unless asked for).
6. And finally, dont buy anything HP (I know I am repeating this but it should give you an idea of the inconvenience, lost time and effort that went into something that yielded nothing).

After a whole lot of time logged in phone calls with HP Parts customer service I decided to write a post my travails with them. This should tie in really well with how customer perception and the so-called awards and ratings differ and by how much. It also shows how impersonal the company is while touting their "The Pc is personal" compaign.

On the 3rd of March 2006, I ordered a 256MB graphics card for my desktop to play my games better. I got an order confirmation immediately. I waited eagerly for my card to ship. Hours turned to days and days turned to months. The status online didnt change. The seasons did. Winter was over. Spring came and left..and then it was summer. In the meantime, I had called HP Parts Customer Service multiple times (I called them between 5 and 10 times) to be told EVERYTIME that the product was backordered until recently and that it was going to be shipped in the next week. The next week never came.

When I checked status online for the Nth time on the 14th of July, I noticed that my order was cancelled. No warning. No reason. Just cancelled. By this time I had realised how much the company differed from what they claimed to be. HP is just another behemoth that cares two hoots about its individual customers. It likes the money we spend on its products. But just doesnt really care about how we suffer. I called Customer Service immediately and was sent from pillar to post (each pillar gave me a different reason why my order was cancelled - product unavailable to credit card denied) all the way upto Executive office. A lady in the Executive office started asking me stupid questions like what PC I owned and how old it was, that was completely irrelevent to the problem at hand and only outlined how removed the company was from reality. I could use the graphics card to stomp on. Why would the company care as long as I paid for it and knew what I was doing?

Coming back to the story, the Executive office lady redirected me to the Parts Customer Service section to redo my order and provide a VALID CREDIT CARD. Did I mention that I have been using this card for 4 years now and continue to use it on an almost daily basis?. Nevermind. I gave them a different credit card only to be told the product was no more sold by HP. The Parts store "expert" was unable to recommend a viable alternative from their store even after consulting other "parts experts". It took me all of 5 minutes to select an alternative from their store and a "new" order was created. I was explicitly told that HP would NOT be charging me for their repeated blunders. I figured this would be the very end of my ordeal. WRONG.

The new order confirmation came with a bill for 307 dollars. I called back immediately only to not be able ot reach the same Customer Service Rep. The other rep who handled the issue said that the new order or the old order had no notes saying that HP would be taking care of the bill. So now after 6 months of waiting and letting go of innumerable good offers on graphics cards, I am asked to pay 307 dollars for what amounts to multiple critical flaws in the famed and much ballyhooed customer service of HP.

I am at a loss of words. I figured as the helpless consumer who has spent hours wrangling to no use, I need to atleast let others know why companies like HP thrive. Its because suffering customers like us do not make the right kind of noise. The kind that gets noticed. If you have had a similar customer service experience, with HP or any other MNC, I would definitely like to hear about it.

City Hall in Sunny Philly