February 2009 Archives

My Mama, Inez Hinson, was born today in 1924. What a fitting time of the year for her to have been born: she really seemed to relish this time of year. The passing of winter was certainly her least favorite season--and it would have been your least favorite season too if you lived in a house with as little insulation as our house in Octagon had when she was growing up! The first signs of spring are already bursting forth into bloom. Camilla's blooming everywhere, the bulbs of thousands of daffodils in full bloom--this is the spring Mama loved. Green starting to dot the landscape with color for the first time in months; spring in Octagon was always a special time.

I got to visit with my cousin Kevin "Chunk" Mitchell over the weekend (he came to help us with doing some renovations on our house--very excited about that, but more on that in a later post). Getting a chance to visit him and talk with him about family, to catch up, to hear about everyone, really drove the point about that strong Hinson gene and the power of family. Mama was a firm believer and I'm sure she would be delighted to know that Chunk and I were reconnecting!

Okay, I don't really know the history behind any of these, but liked them. Anyone have any comments?

Sadly, this isn't tonight's dinner. I cooked it several weeks ago and just now got around to pulling it off the camera. It was very tasty, though. A very light dusting of flour on some thinner than normal grouper filets. Served with some nice mashed potatoes and steamed green beans.

I know it isn't, but spring sure looks like it is right around the corner. The weather has been stellar here for  the last week. Best of all, my daffodils and jonquils are up and blooming. My hyacinths are up and just starting to bloom. The bulbs from all of these come from our family home in Octagon, Alabama (I can only imagine the thousands of blooms there right now). The hyacinths actually came from my grandmother's family yard, I'd guess in the early 1920's. Bulbs are a wonderful thing to really tie you to the past. Easy to grow (just dig a hole and wait), beautiful and low maintenance!

 

Had a very productive week this week. Lots of work on Brombergs website, most of the way done with the Tyler Eaton website, setup of the Mid-South RC&D website, a trip to Bibb and Perry County to do some work on a couple of tourism websites, the Highway 14 Antique Trail and even got to meet with a couple of potential new clients, including someone that raises all natural, grass-fed beef on their family farm that somehow they've managed to preserve as a family since the early 1800's. It was a really nifty place with a good supply of historic old buildings, a general store (long since closed for business) and a house that they are considering turning into a Bed and Breakfast--something the Black Belt really needs. Did not have as much time as I would have liked to snap photos, but plan to go back to the farm and Highway 14 in the coming weeks for some more photos. Here's one of Judson College, where several of my sisters attended.

Ever wonder if in the age of the internet, the role of customer service matters? I did a little experiment a few months ago--mainly I was irritated beyond belief at my ex-favorite store, Alabama Outdoors. I had what was one of those classic bad experiences with two--not one, but TWO--defective pairs of Grammici shorts. I went to return them, wanting simply to exchange them for a batch that were of a higher quality. I didn't know then what I know now: that Grammici pants went WAY down in quality very, very quickly.  Anyway, I went in to exchange the shorts and was told that I wouldn't be able to do that. Instead, they would send them away to be repaired. Mind you, the shorts were brand new. One pair had been worn for one day and washed. The other pair had only been worn for about 45 minutes. I was livid.

So what did I do? I came home, sent an email (that they never bothered to reply to) and steamed. I was frustrated, so I blogged about my bad experience. (You can read my posts about my experience with Alabama Outdoors in this link) And I blogged again, mentioning Alabama Outdoors with some degree of regularlity. I provided a link to their website: www.alabamaoutdoors.com. I referenced outdoor clothing and Alabama and outdoors withsome frequency.

Several weeks later, I went and picked up my "new and improved" shorts. The exact same thing happened again. I called them, livid again, and this time the person I talked with was very polite and apologetic. I brought these shorts back as well and exchanged them for cash back. I consider the issue settled and no longer have very hard feelings towards AO (Alabama Outdoors).

Why relive this experience again? Mainly to prove a point. It has been nearly a year since this happened (May 2008 or so). It is only in the last month or so that my article didn't appear very near the top of the search engine findings for Alabama Outdoors. So always treat your customers with respect--and realize that every dissatisfied customer has the potential to really hammer you on the web--and reach more people than ever before possible. Customer service is critical, as much now as ever before.