Paresh’s Blog

ummm, read this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5831747/

oh boy, i could have a field day with this, but i’ll just leave it at: outsourcing at its finest.

so i came across this just now: http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=144008&st=0

i don’t know if this real or just a very good photoshop job but its kinda eerie either way. kinda reminds me of andy’s story a while back about finding that skull while he was hiking in the sierras. andy, maybe you can post a link to that entry from your blog in the comments.

you ever seen those time life music compilation commercials? you know the ones like “best of the 70’s” or, my personal favorite, “monster ballads”. i figure there are 2 essential songs that anyone who claims to be a rock fan should have: “turn the page” by bob seger (though really any and all bob seger will do) and “blue on black” by kenny wayne shepherd. the lyrics:

so i just finished watching the opening ceremony for the olympics. overall i was pretty impressed considering how horribly behind the greeks were just a month ago. but the one thing that really struck me was the olympic cauldron. first, its not really a cauldron as it is a big torch. second, its not really a big torch as it is a ginormous joint. for those of you that didn’t see it, check it out (to state the obvious, the cauldron is the thing with huge flame coming out the top):

i mean, did no one at any point in the design process say “hey, you know what looks like?” i dunno, i thought it was prety funny.

some of you may have read a previous entry i made about a rather unpleasant call to the 1-800-inkjets customer service line (btw, the ink cartridge sucks about as much as the customer service people). so this should come as no surprise that i absolutely loathe calling any kind of support line. but i have to say, tech support lines are the absolute worst. here’s a non-exhaustive list of reasons why:

1. after waiting 3 days on hold to actually talk to someone, they usually don’t tell me anything i don’t already know. for example:
ME: yeah, hi, i think my dsl is down. i pinged my DNS server and my gateway and got nothing. how long is this outage going to last?
THEM: [after 5 minutes of typing] oh yeah,looks like you’re in an outage area. you should just check back in 12 hours or so.

2. its always something they are ill-equipped to answer. for example:
ME: yeah, i’m trying to use the infrared on my laptop to sync my palm pilot. my palm pilot’s instruction book says that its only compatible with a certain infrared standard. what standard does my laptop use?
THEM: i’m sorry sir, we’re only trained to answer questions regarding hardware issues. we aren’t given the hardware specifications.

3. its always my fault for not completing some completely mundane task.
ME: hi, i had a question about my video card options.
THEM: have you submitted an online helpdesk request?
ME: no i haven’t. those are for hardware problems, my video card works fine, i just need to know about a couple options.
THEM: i’m sorry sir, we can’t answer you question unless its gone through the helpdesk first.

4. last but certainly not least, would be the situation i encountered today–its never their fault. for example:

now i realize that most of these tech support operators are probably at some call center in india and i’m not blaming them. they are just following the moronic procedure the company forces them to adhere to but wold it hurt the company that much to be just a little bit helpful? am i being greedy by wanting results the few times i even bother calling the tech support line? apparently i am.