Have you noticed that almost all consumer products have a helpline number in their boxes? Colgate toothpaste carton had 1800 number on it and said that it is available 24 hours a day for concerns and questions about the toothpaste. Excuse my ignorance. But who in heck would be calling them? I feel sorry for the person working in the help desk eagerly waiting for a call. Maybe they would explain us proper techniques of brushing.Whatever it is 24 hr hotline is a little too much.
I was on a 2 week long vacation in Boston and Connecticut. I am back in Michigan. We had lots of fun and my kid especially had a lot of fun with his cousins and family. It kind of reminded me of my childhood days when I used to visit my Cousin's house every vacation. We used to have a lot of fun. Their house was located near the Besant Nagar beach in Chennai and we spent most of our time in the beach. We also used to play a lot of cricket.
I can't get back those days even if I wanted to now. Now it's my turn to provide my kid the same kind of fun I had when I was young. The most precious thing we can give our kids is memories and we hope to give him as much happy memories we possibly can.
There is a new security check in place at all airports that we are not allowed to carry water with us in the aeroplane. Atleast it's new to me. I went through the security check and then stopped by the food court to have some grub.As usual I asked for a cup for water. But the person at the desk said that they have stopped giving courtsey water. This is ridiculous. So i had to pay $4 to get a bottle of water.
It's atrocious that these shops take advantage of this already uncomfortable situation for the air passengers. They know that we couldn't get water anywhere else and the only option is to pay them and get it. I dropped in a complaint about this.
One aspect of internet shopping I really hate is the idea of putting the merchandise in the shopping cart before you can know the price. I don’t understand why the websites want to make the customer go through that extra step of putting it in the cart, knowing the price and incase they don’t like the price (which is the case most of the time!) remove it from the cart.
Wouldn’t it be easier for everybody if they can just display the price? I guess there is a valid reason for it. But whatever be it, it irritates me.
Buying gas is like trading stocks these days. I am always looking for the price to come down. The other day I went to Costco to fill up gas and it was $3.19. I thought it was very high and decided only to fill up half my tank with a hope that it’ll come down in the next few days. But alas it keeps going up like Apple’s stock. So I have decided that I am just going to fill gas whenever it is needed irrespective of the price per gallon and hope that Dollar cost averaging works in my favor just like how it works for stocks. Just trying to save some money here.
I am sure you must have all seen mails floating around about the one day boycott of gas stations. Personally it doesn’t make sense to me. There are so many better ways to do this. Buy energy efficient vehicles, carpool if you can, don't overspeed, walk wherever you can etc. The best way would be to come up with an efficient alternative for gasoline.I am sure that the day is not very far when this would happen.
Today I saw a man driving a big gas guzzling hummer with a yellow ribbon on it in support of the troops. Seeing it I wasn’t sure what to think. He should realize that he is indirectly helping the hegemony regimes in the Middle East and ofcourse the big oil companies by driving that hummer. I guess he would look a little more patriotic if he put in on a hybrid rather than on a hummer.
P.S I am feeling guilty typing this. I own 2 SUV’s! But my next vehicle would deifinitely be a hybrid.
Spring is the most confusing time of the year when I am not sure whether to turn the A/C 'on' or heat 'on'. If I keep the A/C turned on all the time, it becomes very cold in the night and if I keep the heat on all the time, it becomes very warm during the day. So everyday I have to keep changing between heat and A/C at various times depending on how the weather is. I am sure most people here in Michigan go through this at this time of the year unless they have something to automatically switch between heat and cold depending on outside temperature.
Don’t go to a retail store wearing the same colored outfit as their official uniform. I went for shopping yesterday and since the store was being remodeled, I had to ask for help to locate various items. So I asked for help from one of them wearing the same exact outfit as the store employee not knowing that he is also out there like me shopping. The man was so upset and said that he did not work here. I could see that he was furious as soon as I asked the question. But it wasn’t my fault that he happened to wear an outfit that looked exactly like the store uniform. I simply apologized and walked away.
If you guys have been following Master card which IPO’ed last year, you would have noticed how the stock has jumped almost 250% in a matter of months. This leads me to the question as to the credibility of the people pricing these IPO’s. It’s just stunning that this IPO was priced so low ($39) especially knowing what a mammoth MA is. Now the entire sets of analysts are coming out one by one with an upgrade saying how mammoth MA is.
What were they thinking when an IPO price is set? Or is this a Wall Street ploy to reap huge profits that an individual investor like me cannot understand?
The most disturbing thing about the drug industry is the fact that it pays doctors incentives for prescribing their drugs to patients. Granted the industry helps the masses by researching and creating a cure for different kind of diseases. But for it to survive, it has to market like any other company that markets consumer products. I am not sure how much federal help is lent to these companies. But based on the aggressive marketing, I can conclude that it is either very less or none.
The negative side to it is the fact that consumers may end up taking medicines that might be unnecessary for them. Even though it is not harmful, it may still be unnecessary. So ultimately we end up being the losers. But this is the reality and we have to put up with it.
Every time I go to Indian grocery store to buy stuff, I always feel good seeing ‘export quality’ label on the merchandise. Recently I read that most of the goods that are imported into US do not require a quality check to be performed in the originating country. Also only a very tiny percent of what is imported is sampled and checked by FDA for quality and assurance here in US. FDA attributes it to usual complaints like lack of resources, funding etc.
So essentially most goods we buy here that are imported is not assured to have good quality. After knowing that piece of info, ‘export quality’ label doesn’t make me feel good anymore. In fact it makes me very nervous now.
It’s a well known fact that most Indians in America buy Japanese cars. Just go to any Indian party or gathering, you’ll know what I mean. Just the other day I was talking about this to my American friend and he remarked that it would be unimaginable for him to possess a foreign car. He said that his neighbors and friends would make fun of him if he owned a foreign car and there is no way that he can even think about buying a foreign car even if it is more reliable than the American counterparts. (FYI - I live in a conservative Republican city.)
That’s when I realized how I can make any decisions I want here, not minding about what my relatives or neighbors think about it. Being away from home does have its advantages.
This morning I saw a trouble desk record in my email saying that ‘Level 5’ Report has failed. My mind almost immediately remembered the movie ‘Office Space’. Many times I have laughed thinking about the movie 'Office Space' and the significance of ‘TPS Reports’ in that movie. If you are in software and haven’t watched the movie ‘Office Space’, I suggest you watch it. It’s a funny movie and you can very easily relate to it.
Yesterday after dinner I was sitting in my living room which doesn’t have a TV. My son looked at me and said ‘No TV. You cannot turn it on.’ I was so embarrassed. I guess I am watching too much TV in front of him. It’s probably because of all the world cup cricket I have been watching the last 2 months. Now that the world cup is over, I hope I can change his opinion.
I am always intrigued by the kind of creativity most comedians are bestowed with. Most of them have this ingenious capability to take ordinary things that unfold in front of their eyes and make it into something very funny. These are mainly what I would call ‘Jerry Seinfeld’ kind of comedians. It’s a clean comedy which usually does not get into other people’s nerves or senses. It’s something you laugh about and forget when you go back home. No nonsense comedy.
There are many out there doing comedy by making fun of people and their feelings. Some are no doubt very hilarious. But what seems hilarious to me may not be the same way for somebody else.
So personally I don’t rate them as much as ‘Jerry Seinfeld’ kind of comedians. Many might disagree. But this is what I personally think.
