On the PeiRoll..

I've moved the boys blogs and postings to their very own domain name and space... as I wanted to keep them separate from my own blog. To see updates and photos, scoot on over to:

http://www.alexandmarcus.com

Currently it's still under construction as I'm learning how to use Wordpress... so you'll see some changes in the site. In the meantime, enjoy.
x

Posted at 23:52 PM
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I was out of ideas for Christmas gifts, especially to my in-laws. Then, it hit me. Cheesy as it may sound, a personalised calendar with pictures of the boys would go down really well because (1) They would love it, and (2) I don't have to get anything expensive that they wouldn't use.

So when I purchased something from Amazon, an offer from Vistaprint.com fell out. It was something like £9.99 for 4 wall calendars which I thought was a great deal so I went ahead and painstakingly chose 12 cute photos of the boys and uploaded them, ordering calendars, mugs and keychains (ok ok I know how cheesy that can be but wait until you have your own kids whom you think are the cutest things in the world!).

The items arrived on 22 December. I was blown away by the quality of the calendars! Beautiful prints and we were so very impressed, but one of them was missing the final sheet for 'December', so I lost no time in getting in touch with customer service about it. I must admit that I wasn't hopeful of getting a satisfactory outcome (based on my experience with various customer service departments) let alone getting a replacement in time for Christmas Eve.

However, they were so incredibly helpful that they sent one out immediately (although warning me that it might not arrive until 27 Dec). Again, my expectations were blown out of the water because it arrived on Christmas Eve!

I don't normally have great things to say about retailers but Vistaprint.com seem to have a lot going for it:

Prices - Incredibly reasonable, if not one of the cheapest around (and I did shop around!)

Quality - As mentioned above, the calendar prints were amazing (make sure to use 'card stock' so that the sheets have some weight on it and doesn't curl). The printings on the keychains weren't that great though - a low resolution image was printed on a flexible rubber piece. I had expected high res image between clear plastic casing.

Website - Easy as pie to use, very very user friendly
Customer Service - What can I say? Professional, courteous, helpful and they fixed my problem on the spot. No excuses. They just fixed it.

Not only that, but they were careful to set realistic expectations (e.g. about delivery time) and made sure they smashed it. I complained on the 22/12 (Tuesday), they said it would arrive 28/12 (following Monday - 8 days later) but instead it arrived on Christmas Eve two days later!

THe only thing is that I've been receiving marketing emails every day, which isn't the greatest thing in the world. That's about the only thing annoying me, and I've said so in their feedback page so I hope they do something about it. I mean, they've made me a loyal customer already, I'm sure they wouldn't want to piss me off with daily spam emails. Anyway, based on my experience with their customer service, I believe that they will probably listen to their customers.

I think that every company which deals directly with customers and who have a customer service or after-sales service dept should look at this example and learn from it. If a customer is in pain and you fix it, completely, immediately, happily, then you will have bought yourself a loyal customer. And it probably won't cost you that much either.

Big big thank you to Vistaprint Customer Service agents: Devin Gardner and Shellian Simpson for making my Christmas (and my in-law's!) a wonderful one!

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Anyway, here's the email transcript of my communication below:

Dear Pei:

Thanks for contacting Vistaprint, where it’s easy to make an impression for less.

We are expediting the replacement order at no additional cost to you for the Calendar that did not meet your expectations. The order number for this replacement is 39550-10051-2S9 and will arrive within 7 days.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment you may have experienced. Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions or concerns.


Thank you for choosing Vistaprint!
Sincerely,

Devin Gardner
Vistaprint Customer Service

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Date Sent: 12/22/2009 19:00

Hi Shellian

Thank you so much for the prompt reply. I guess I have no choice, will have to make my apologies to my in-laws for their late xmas gift. :( Please can you resend it out to me soon as possible, am hoping it will arrive sooner (my original order had an expected delivery date of 23 Dec but arrived one day earlier).

Many thanks
Pei

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: UKCustomerCare@vistaprint.com
Sent: Tue 22/12/2009 23:13
To: pei@peiroll.com
Subject: RE: VistaPrint Inquiry Response


Dear Pei:

Thanks for contacting Vistaprint, where it’s easy to make an impression for less.

We can have a replacement order done for the Calendars unfortunately if a Rush delivery is done that would be 3 Business days, so the Calendar will not arrive until December 28, 2009 if the order is done today.

Please respond to this email if you would like us to proceed with the replacement.

We do apologise for any inconvenience caused. Feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions or concerns.


Thank you for choosing Vistaprint!

Sincerely,

Shellian Simpson
Vistaprint Customer Service

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Date Sent: 12/22/2009 18:08

Order ID: 04180-68841

Hi there - calendars arrived sooner than scheduled, quality impeccable thank you very much! However, out of the four calendars, one is missing the last page, i.e. December is missing. The other three are fine. Please can you rush one out to me as soon as possible to arrive before Christmas as it is meant as a present for my in-laws. Many thanks Pei



Posted at 00:10 AM
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Since I blogged. I'll blame it on being tired while pregnant, then when the boys came, being incredibly busy and tired all the time. What a great Get out of Jail card :)

I love being a mum to little Alex and Marcus, they are both so incredibly fun and delightful. Of course the night shifts are pretty hectic and it's very exhausting being so sleep deprived. Especially since I am one of those people who previously cannot exist on less than 8 hours (unbroken) sleep a night.

Mum, Jenny and mum-in-law have been fantastically wonderful and helpful in so many ways, and I'd probably just keel over and pop it if it weren't for them. In any case, I still have some semblance of sanity left.

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking. I've spent a lot of time last year writing my MSCRM 4.0 book, and there isn't any way I am going to get it published now that I am out of the game ... perhaps for a year or so. As such, I will post the chapters here and share it to everyone so that they don't go to waste. At the moment it's lying in a network drive on my server collecting proverbial dust. Don't want my efforts to go in vain, so I shall be posting a lot of MSCRM 4.0 stuff soon.

Posted at 23:33 PM
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It's been awhile since I blogged - maybe because I didn't have very much to say, or that I was lazy.

I've started my short term contract at Touchstone - they have a much larger MSCRM team than Aspective, and although the aren't as polished in terms of their policies and procedures, their fundamentals appear strong.

I miss my team - the magic we had and the seamless way we communicated and got things done. It felt a bit like a 'hive' in terms of how they knew what I meant, and would sometimes even pre-empt me. I don't know if I will ever encounter such a magical team again, but feel incredibly priviledged to have been part of it.

I thought of starting a separate baby blog, to journal my feelings and the experience of being pregnant so the twins would have something interesting to read when they grow up, but then I thought that I'd just blog it here - there is no sense starting something else. I also wondered about actually writing a journal as opposed to typing one out on the blogosphere - but my handwriting has become more atrocious through lack of use, and my typing skills are far superior and quicker than I could ever write.

Which sometimes is both a good and a bad thing, especially since my fingers sometimes move a lot faster than my brain, and make the freudian slip before I am even aware of it.

It's week 18, and I am getting quite big. Most of it blubber I think. I haven't felt any kicking yet although Jeff has been trying to feel for them every chance he gets, and he places his ear against my belly in the hopes that one of them will say 'Hello!'

I am tired easily, and I feel like a whale sometimes. It is very easy to over-exert myself, and the other day when I went to the post office to post the very large and heavy tape drive that we sold on eBay, I almost passed out. Jeff had put it in a suitcase so that I could drag it along but even then I couldn't seem to do the approximately 50m from Sainsbury's car park to the post office.

My heartbeat is incredibly quick - about 120 at rest and about 140 or so when have walked up the stairs or something. I'll have to talk to Dr Tam about this tomorrow when I go for my first ante-natal appointment.

People ask about the gender - the last scan we had in Malaysia was a bit too early to tell. At our next scan - the 20 week anomaly one at Watford, apparently they will not tell us because of the high Asian population in the area who appear to be quite fond of accidentally 'losing' their baby whilst on holiday in Pakistan once they find out that they are having a girl. How sad. I think that a healthy baby is all that we can ask for. I don't mind what we have, although a girl and a boy would nicely balance the family out. And I'd like a bigger family - perhaps 4.

I'm currently on my way to a Project Board Meeting in Mornington Crescent, so have time to do a bit of writing on the train. Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough 'quiet time' such as this todo it. But that's my own fault - I really don't have to work but I got bored easily, and the money is nice. Especially since we will have quite a large expenditure when the twins arrive.

I'm looking forward to mum coming in May - mostly so we can spend some time together. It will have been 10 years since I left Malaysia, and while I do get to spend some time with them when I go back, this will be different as I will have her to myself.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Posted at 01:11 AM
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Lots have happened.

Stopped work.
Started ivf.
Been stressful.
Got 'stabbed' with hormone syringes.
Awful mood swings.
Not working driving me up the wall.
The awful awful waiting.
The positive result!
Tried to get book published.
Sybex was interested, but I didn't quite like the acquisition editor (blame it on the hormones).
Didn't think I could stick to a timetable any way.
Christmas and New Year holidays and stuff.

I felt that the whole process was a bit too personal to blog, on top of feeling depressed about not working meant that I didn't feel like sharing very much.

This will be it until I feel like sharing some more. But the positive result was pretty cool though :)

Posted at 19:14 PM
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I've been super busy. Project just completing systems test cycle 2, which has been a monumental effort by both our and customer's team to get it here - man years' worth of work as Nick would say. It's looking good, although the BI part of the project has been having some challenges of its own.

Next Friday is my last week at work, and there will be no let up. Tomorrow I will be doing a 1-day trip to Manchester, returning on Monday to complete a high level discovery of their MS CRM roadmap.

This Saturday, I'm organising a scavenger/treasure hunt of sorts for some friends to celebrate my birthday, I will probably post pictures and news about it later.

Just wanted to do a quick update, as I will probably have more time for blogging after I've finished. That's about it for now.

Posted at 21:42 PM
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I've been following the US campaign quite closely, especially the Palin GOP pick. The machinations of American politics astounds me sometimes, as does this exchange from Couric's Palin Interview:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.


She can't even name any magazine or media she's read? That's such an obvious answer that she hasn't read any. She sounds like me when I was questioned about homework I hadn't done. It's mind boggling how juvenile that sounds.

Posted at 08:38 AM
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It's been awhile since I've blogged properly, with the exception of the odd piece of news, such as the Nike Human race.

I've actually got exactly 1 more month before my last day at Aspective, where I will have worked for more than 2 years. Jeremy was quite sad and disappointed when I handed my notice, and I was also trying my best to hold back the tears.

Why did I decide to leave if it was such a great place to work? Well, I left for personal reasons, which I am not quite ready to share with the blogosphere, but I have no fault with the people, the team, the company or even the work. Anyone who has been following my blog will know how very much I enjoy what I do, and the company that I keep.

I'm not leaving for another company, although I've had no shortage of job offers from headhunters and recruitment agencies. I had a very defined career path, which was actually quite exciting. To walk away from that was quite scary, although I tell myself that I can always go back. Jeremy would probably take me back if there was a place for me when I was ready.

What am I going to do then, when I leave? I'll start with taking some time off just to relax, read a few books, really visit London and do the touristy thing, do some writing and explore my life and my options.

Granted, it is not a great time to do this, what with the credit crunch and the state of the world economy, but I have to do this. And maybe it is a good thing.

Well, I've got that book you see, and I have not had much encouraging responses from publishers. Saying that, the editor at Wiley was really nice and supportive, although he apologised for not being able to take on my proposal due to the fact that it did not fit his budget and publishing portfolio.

I am not discouraged, as I have an idea of what to do with it. I will probably publish it on the web for awhile before I think about self-publishing it. We'll see.

I want to read a lot more as well, non work related. I have started getting into business books not because I had to (such as during my mba period), but because I am genuinely interested.

I've missed writing things as how I did it when I first started. I think I was more interesting then, and then work got in the way. I missed having a life outside of work. I truly did enjoy my work, and the strength of relationships and connections I made really enriched my life. But I made it the only thing in my life by banishing all the 'time bandits'. I was no longer fun outside of work. I lived for my projects.

This break will be good for me in more ways than one. But Jeff will have to shoulder the single income situation for awhile, until I can generate income myself through some means. Thankfully I don't think he has my restlessness, and therefore his chosen path, while currently stressful, does not cause him too much angst.

Lehman Brothers employees had a job last week, but walked into their office, only to walk straight out again in shock, without a job. I'm guessing that most do not have a Plan B. Those interviewed in the news were in shock, disbelief - some were even hysterical.

I think that the advice to initiate change in your life, as opposed to having change forced upon you - is the best advice I've heard in a long time.

Jeff and I have always been an advocate of this, although Jeff's probably more risk averse than I am in terms of life choices. In return, he tempers my impulsive enthusiasm and provides grounding for my pie in the sky ideas.

But this is good - not in the way that lots of people losing their job and money good, but good in the sense that it shakes up people's faith in the status quo. Life shouldn't be just about existing, it should be about living, experiencing, touching, tasting, feeling, loving, seeing, growing, expanding and just knowing that even if you lived a thousand lives, you will never taste everything there is to experience.

The change that I have initiated in my life is both a bit scary and new. But isn't that what life's about?

Posted at 13:20 PM
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So on 31 August, I did the Nikeplus Human Race at Wembley. It was really quite cool, as we started with a concert gig thing at about 7pm with Moby and Pendulim - with more music along the way. The atmosphere was great, very buzzy, and I got Jeff and Waz tickets to the gig. It rained though, but that just made it more fun.

However, I only finished 1:15:13, which was quite poor, but when I found out how the rest of the world did, I just realized that I was average for the 'chinese' population so I wasn't that upset! :)

Here are some photos of the day.



Posted at 23:43 PM
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GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.



Posted at 15:16 PM
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