What a difference two weeks makes

 Nature.......ah-mazing, nature, how you wonder and delight at the most unexpected of times! While 9:30 at night after a 2 day car journey is the perfect time to do so, doubling down the next morning is even better. 

We recently returned from a couple of weeks away from Maryland to an unexpectedly amazing sensorial experience - as expected, there was a new sound ie the chirping of cicadas but in addition to that we got a wonderful aroma from our blooming snowbell trees and the sight of blooming roses and catmint. This experience melted away our weariness from 17 hours of driving over 2 days.

We woke up the next morning to this lawn.

We explored further to find a completely changed landscape to the one we had left behind only a couple weeks ago with blooming flowers, lots of fresh leafy veggies and cicadas aplenty.......and yes, the lawn looking like a wheat farm.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes!

Starbucks Discoveries - A marketing question

I recently read about Starbucks launching a new blended beverage, Starbucks Discoveries, in a trade publication that is read by those in the food industry. I was interested in trying it out (this is from a couple of months ago). I checked that it was available at the local Wegmans grocery store and went searching for it. It took me a while to find it after the following steps
1) I looked for it in the likely aisles (dairy, rerigerated, bottled drinks and coffee) and could not find it.
2) I then asked a Wegmans Associate (typically very very knowledgeable about locations of products on their shelves as compared to any other grocery/big box store). The associate pointed me to the bottled coffees section as the only location that could have it.
3) Not finding it there, I asked a manager and was told that they do not carry it.
4) Not wanting to give up, I walked up to the customer service desk and asked about it. The person had never heard about it and I had to pull up a google search of the product for him to believe that it existed.
5) He then looked it up on his system and found it to exist in the refrigerated dairy section. He called the associate in charge of the section and asked where I could find it.
6) The refrigerated dairy associate had no idea that such a product existed at which time the customer service person said "Funny, it shows up on my system in that location. Must be a glitch".
7) The associate checks back and lets the customer service person know about its location.
8) I walk back and the associate is just putting the packs in the location (right below the milk, which is where it still is located - funny position for such a drink).

So, if you read in the near future that Starbucks decided to discontinue its Discoveries beverages and the Starbucks rep talks about how it was not something customers wanted, ask the question, how are customers supposed to find it if
(a) The product is not advertized and no one knows about it and
(b) The few random folks who hear about it cannot find it in the stores?

Double D movers - detailed review

This is a detailed review of a recent (8/24/2012) move of ours. We used Double D's moving for it and were extremely disappointed with it. Unfortunately, the website we used to find the movers allows only 200 character reviews (that's right, we have to tweet a review). Therefore, I decided to post a detailed review here. The review follows:

We were very disappointed with the services of Double D. Be very careful if you are planning to use them as movers. The two movers they sent did not have the ability or the ethic for the work required. We complained to the management and they told us that they would set up a conference call with the actual people involved and us to figure out what happened. Twice they set up appointments for when they would call and both times we waited and waited but never got the call from them. It is now 2 weeks from our move and we decided to write this review without waiting for them any further.

Let me start with the good though. We had a wet carpet when we moved in and requested them on the day of the move to delay their arrival by one hour. They were gracious about it and agreed to come an hour later. We were very happy with them for doing that.

From that point onwards, however, it was all downhill. They took 4 hours to move us from a one bedroom apartment to a 2 bedroom place in the next building (less than 50 paces away)  within the same apartment complex. We had a furniture dolly to help. A friend of ours and I helped them carry several things and I still had to carry a few things after they were done. We had moved about half of this stuff in to this apartment about 5 months ago and the two movers then required just 45 minutes! I would have expected these movers to get it done in 2 hours. 3 hours would have been ok but 4 hours to move 90% of it with help from 2 additional people is unacceptable! Here are some of the reasons why we call out their lack of ability and work ethic.

1)  They were unable to lift a loveseat (and not a heavy one but one from IKEA) by themselves. It needed help from my friend and they almost tore it once

2) We kept our sofa in the original packaging it came so that we could assemble it in the new apartment and not be worried about it being damaged during the move (and it was delivered to us by two people). I am glad we did so because these movers could not pick up the sofa. They ROLLED it for almost the entire distance

3) They broke two of our plants (we moved the rest ourselves)

4) They were insanely slow in going from one apartment to another even when they had nothing in hand

5) As time ticked along, they were taking the smallest things even after we told them to take the big ones and leave the small ones to us – at one point, one of them carried only one lamp in a trip

6) They tried to double team for the lightest of things – I had to tell them to pick some things up in solo that I could hold alone (and I am as skinny as it gets)

7) They told us (repeatedly) that our time started at 3:45 because that is when they got out of the car. Well, they did not call us when they got here, neither did they knock on the door. My wife called them at 3:54 (we checked in our phone records) and they told us that they were waiting downstairs. We asked them to come up and were waiting for them. A few minutes later, I decided to go check and they were downstairs in the car smoking. I should not be paying for that!

8) We had a mattress cover on top of the mattress protector (which they grumbled about) for the move. I am glad we did because they dragged the mattress almost the entire way and have torn the mattress protector through the cover. If we would not have had it on, they would have soiled the mattress protector and damaged the mattress

9) A couple of our cabinets have scratches from the move.

10) During our previous moves (and we have used a couple other movers in the past year and been very happy with them), we had laid out furniture pads on the carpet to prevent staining/damage to the carpet without any issues. However, these movers were grumbling about them, tripping on them and moving them away so we decided to not use them.

11)  We paid in cash for the extra hours and asked for a receipt. We were given a handwritten note (on a regular sheet of paper) acknowledging the receipt of money. When we called management, we asked for a formal receipt and were told that it would be emailed to us. Two weeks later, we are still waiting for it.

Due to all these reasons (and more), we are very unhappy with Double D. We have seen them negate other reviewers by posting comments after the review and have therefore posted an extensive review. Use them at your own risk (especially if you get the same people as we did)!

A letter from the Queen

I just recently learnt that my great grandfather had received a commendation letter from the Queen for his service in the Indian Army during WWI. Now, typically, this would not be a matter of great pride since the Indian Army really meant the British army in those days and working for the oppressive rulers, let alone being commended for it) was not a badge of honor. However, it is the deed not the result that makes me proud. Apparently, back then, the British gave his regiment just one set of uniforms. Since the soldiers had no change of clothes, they got various skin diseases. His repeated requests for at least 2 sets of uniforms that could be washed were denied. So, he got his whole regiment to strip during an important parade and burn all their clothes. This got him suspended and led to an inquiry into his act which brought forth the truth about the horrible conditions these soldiers faced. The soldiers were given two new sets of uniforms. For this bravery, my Great Grandfather got a commendation letter from the Queen which my mama recently found amongst his possessions. Such strength of conviction. Such courage to do the right thing. I am so proud and hope that I will have similar courage if and when the time comes. The letter from the Queen is just the cherry on top of this cake but it is the cake that is the key. I salute thee Great Grandpa, I salute thee!

Proof that my blog is famous!

I mistyped the address to my blog recently and typed http://sparstgo.blogpot.com/ instead of http://sparstgo.blogspot.com/ and was surprised on seeing a Christian website turning up. My first thought was that my account must have been hacked but then I realized that I had mistyped. This brought me to the realization that my blog is a popular website. People are registering websites with minor changes to the address just to get website hits when someone is trying to access my blog. Finally I had proof of what I knew all along that Shriram Paranjpe is the great one (S Par s T G O).

PS: To be honest, I never did think that my blog was hacked because I know people have better targets and the first thing I did once I saw the spam site was to check blogpot.com and sure enough I got the same website (I call it spam not due to the content but because you get the same website for abcd.blogpot.com irrespective of what abcd is. This would not happen for a regular website). So, it is blogspot that they are trying to imitate, not my blog. But hey, it makes for a good story so why let it off.

Job creation 101

The recent debt debate in the US congress had several interesting viewpoints and many funny moments. I do not want to get into the minor details . I write because I got an excellent lecture in job creation through a comment on some news outlet by someone to the effect "The Government should shut down agencies like the EPA which do nothing but sap jobs". I began thinking about that statement and had a light bulb moment. Of course the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is job killing.

Think of all the jobs that could be created if the EPA were shut off. As with all great job binges, there would be a lull before the storm as some people will lose their jobs (EPA employees, private sector employees who ensure clean emissions and the like). But imagine the possibilities. As water bodies get more polluted, a huge industry will be created to purify water for human consumption. Tons of jobs will be created as there will be an immense demand for pure water. As fish in the water die, the demand for farmed fish will rise and jobs will be created in fish farming. Moreover, as water and air gets polluted, doctors will get richer and since the new term for the rich is "job creators", more jobs will automatically be created. Imagine the brightness this abundance of jobs will bring! I am sure I must have missed several other ways that closing the EPA can create jobs so feel free to add on to these in the comments section.

While we are at it, we should also shut off other job killing bodies like the OSHA (only the weakest would die due to bad working conditions - it is natural selection / survival of the fittest), the FDA (they are a drag on the food and medicine job market) and all other regulatory bodies and go back to the good old days of the robber barons. Ah! Those were the days when human productivity was at its highest.

PS: All of the above was an attempt at sarcasm. Please do not consider these to be my views.
For all my management friends, don't go wild with the comments on the economics behind the job losses that regulation brings. I do realize that regulation adds cost on industries and thus limits the money they can spend on investments that lead to job creation but we have to realize that they are externalizing the costs of taking care of the environment and when we buy a product that is cheaper but pollutes the environment (or is made with lead paint), we are paying the price for it (often much higher than the industry would pay since it will buy in bulk). It is important that this cost be internalized for them. We have to know where to limit the regulation and that is an area where everyone will have their opinions but to say that bodies like the EPA or the FDA do nothing is a disgrace.

Friday, the 13th - Part 3 - "Saturday the 14th"

The next day after a very pedestrian ceremony, we called up Enterprise to check if Andrea (we might have to convert the cameo to a credited role) could rent out an SUV to drive us to our car and return back to Amherst to return it. Since she was under 25, Enterprise told us that they could not do it. However, if I could be the primary driver, she could be added on as a secondary. We agreed to that on the phone and drove down to Enterprise. The agent checked our licenses, called her insurance agent and got insurance info, did the same for me and asked both to fax our insurance details to him (this is the first time I have seen any rental agency do this). Then, he started filling out the paperwork, gave me the keys and told me "You can drive, she cannot"!!! Then why is she the secondary driver!!! We did not have time to waste on him and recruited another person (in came Byron the Texan-cowboy-researcher to the rescue) to get his car so that we would have two cars to fit all of us.

But by then, Amherst was becoming a jail. The undergrad commencement was about to begin and all roads out were closed. We pleaded with cops, drove through strip malls to get behind them and raced against time to reach the repair shop just before it closed. A few hours of driving later, we reached home and Friday the 13th finally ended.

PS: To seek commercial rights to this thriller, contact me by commenting on this series of blogs.