It has been a bad day

Try to top this for a bad day, this morning I was head butted by a burro (and I mean the burro tried to push my nose through the back of my head), I fell of my mountain bike into a mud puddle (not a small one), spent four hours planting native shrubs and trees only to come in and have someone ask me if we had planted all 350 plants yet (we only have 43 in the ground) and then on the way in tonight I get kicked in the knee by the same burro that head butted me.

It was a good day in that we got a lot of work done around the rancho but I can leave this other stuff out of my normal day.

We love carnitas

Last night we went to the Fiesta in La Palma, the small pueblo near our rancho. I will have a further discussion of the fun we had at the fiesta but first I must let my taste buds proclaim one of new finds. One of our friends in La Palma took us to this small carnitas shop that is off the main road, or should I say the only road in La Palma, to introduce us to the lady who runs this shop.

She gave some samples of the carnitas, and it just melted in your mouth. Of course we had to purchase a kilo of it for dinner last night, and a kilo was only 100 pesos, amazing.



The store is only open on Saturdays from noon until she runs out of the carnitas. We were told that she buys one pig for the carnitas and if it sells out, then for the next week she can buy two. If she only has one pig that week, the carnitas can be gone by 1p, so come and shop early.

It is such a joy to find a jewel like this store and to meet people who enjoy their occupations so much.

Desert Flowers

Today was a beautiful day here in San Miguel de Allende, the weather after last nights storms was most enjoyable and there was a calming sense of tranquility on our rancho.

So I decided to pull out my camera and put on my Lensebaby 2.0 lens with one of their extension tubes and go shot some macro shots today. It was a wonderful time to go out and just walk through the fields and the cactus, looking for colors and scenes that I have not shot before.

Because I was using the extension tube, my camera lens was about two inches from each of the subjects so when you see some of the images with thorns and stingers, please know that I escaped unharmed.

Below is one of my favorite flowers that we had in both Southern California and Northern California, Mexican Sage is so colorful and really easy to grow.



I found several stands of different cacti, each which had it own unique message. I thought that the following image was extremely interesting with the thorns but also the defect in the plant that looks like an eye is staring at you.



All of the cacti shrubs are now full of berries, and these look so inevitable, except for that darn thorn sticking out from the top.



Even though we are past spring, some of the Napali cactus are still flowering and the one below was only two days or so from when it first opened it's blossom.



Of course the bees are always out and about, today they seemed extra busy. No matter what I did the one below did not care that I was only an inch or so from where he was doing his business.

The Vonage Saga Continues

So this past weekend my friends who went up to San Antonio Texas to scout out some real estate for Sensual Chocolatiers picked up a new Vonage router for me. On Monday they gave it to me and I was most excited to try to get back on line to communicate with the world again. Well I obviously set my expectations too high, thinking that it would work out of the box.

After five hours of working with the Vonage technical staff in India and the Linksys/Cisco technical staff both somewhere in East Asia and Irvine, they came to the conclusion that this router was not functioning properly and I would have to return it to the retail store where I bought. No they can not just send me one from Linksys the manufacturer, I need to go back to CompUSA in San Antonio to return it. Well that sure is not very convenient as it is a nine hour drive each way.

At least I talked with CompUSA in San Antonio and they will mail me one and will credit me when I finally get to return the non-functioning one to them. I guess this is what has happened to our technology companies, they treat customers like dog poop and now turn out commodities and not quality products. As someone who has spent over 15 years in the software industry, I am ashamed and embarrassed that these companies call this "service" customer service, it is a dis-service. I remember when you use to be able to call Dell, Microsoft and other major companies and actually talk to someone and get a problem solved. Not any more you now talk with a junior tech rep living somewhere in Asia who has less knowledge of the product that I do, how can they help?

And the problem is not just software, I also recently purchased a Epson RX600 printer and the printer jams about every fifth page. I can see what the problem is, there is a small piece that has a slight bent to it and catches the paper when it runs through the printer. So when I call Epson they tell me I need to send in the printer as they can not send the small part. However when I explain that I am in Mexico they say I need to return the whole printer to them but they can't return it to me as they can't ship to Mexico. This is an unworkable solution as the cost of all this shipping will cost me more than the entire printer, again they just don't get what it takes to give quality customer service.

Good Morning San Miguel

Last night we had some rain together with thunder and lightening, however, this morning the skies are clear and the colors vibrant. I just love the mornings here with the sounds of the chickens, burros, and birds waking up and of course the joyous cries of the children. This is a wonderful place.

Vonage Customer Service Sucks!

I know that the purpose of this blog is to present visual images and to describe the joys and difficulties of living in Mexico. So this one may be a little off base, but Vonage provides us our telephone service with a US number so friends and family can call us regularly. I have been a
subscriber of Vonage for almost three years and have been happy with the service. In fact, I would say that I have recommended five to six people to become subscribers of Vonage.

However, over the past week I have been ready to scream at them. Last weekend my Vonage router started to fail. I spent almost all day Monday on the phone with them talking to their
customer service group in India but could not get anywhere close to getting the service back up and running. Then at the end of each call, the tech rep would try to sell me more services, phone lines, new products, etc. I could not believe what I was hearing. Here I was a customer with a non-functional product and they want to sell me more and new services, I am sorry but I don’t get it.

Then twice I was able to getthem to transfer me to Level Two service, and both times I was on hold for overan hour, once someone picked up but then hung up on me and the second time I just gave up.

Finally I sent an email to them asking for a new router or to have someone call me who could help me fix my problem. Guess what response I got (yes I did get one) your equipment is out of warranty, you must buy a new one at a retail store and then we can help you.

This is the type of support that you give to a customer who has expanded your customer base and supported the company. No wonder the company’s IPO has been one of the worst in the history of stock offerings. This company just does not get customer service 101.

As a friend asked me, how I would compare their service to companies in Mexico and I have to say there is no company in Mexico that provides worse customer service than Vonage.

Another Friday Night and we ain't got no power

Last night we had a wonderful rain in San Miguel.  It was steady but not too hard.  The gardens cried in happiness and I am sure the farmers were rejoicing in celebration as it has been unusually dry this summer.

However, for another Friday night (well this time it was a Saturday evening) we lost our electricity. This time it came back after about 15 minutes so it was not like last weekend when we were out of power for over 12 hours.

But after a rain like last night, we get a morning that is just spectacular, the sunrise, the clear vista and the clouds.  I just wish I sit here all day and enjoy this view.



By the way, the reason that my posts lately have been so sparse and infrequent, is that I have become a partner in Sensual Chocolatiers (www.sensualchocolatiers.com).  This is a very exciting opportunity as the company has built a factory in Jalpa, outside of San Miguel de Allende and we are expanding into the US.  We have just raised a equity round from some angel investors and over the next couple of months will be opening retail stores in the US and implementing a internet store front and a chocolate of the month club.  If you are interested in receiving more information on Sensual Chocolatiers please send an email to info@sensualchocolatiers.com.  I do hope that I will be able to get my posting frequency back up to two or three posts a week, but now they will include updates on the progress of Sensual Chocolatiers.