UP | uncultured project

One of the many reasons I came back home for a break was that my LaCie harddrive (the one with all my important footage on it) had died in Bangladesh just three months after being purchased. It was quite an ordeal getting that harddrive to Bangladesh in the first place. I had heard of a professor from the states who was flying into Bangladesh and was wiling to bring some equipment for me. I ordered this drive from Amazon.com and sent it to him and he brought it to Bangladesh for me. Three months later, I was flying back home with it because it died. Epic fail.

You’d think that I’d have that drive fixed or replaced by now. Although I was able to pick up a cheap replacement (a Western Digital MyBook) from Costco – I still haven’t been able to fix my LaCie harddrive. That’s because, even though I’m just a short subway ride from LaCie’s main office in Canada, they won’t just let me drop the unit off for warranty repair. And, as I just found out today, they won’t accept this harddrive for repair at all. The reason? Because even though I’m a Canadian and registered the product with my home address in Canada, since it was purchased outside of Canada, they won’t touch it.

I have a total of four LaCie harddrives and I’m glad to say that this is the only drive of mine that has ever failed. But, after this experience, I wouldn’t recommend LaCie to anyone. If anyone has any contacts or ability to help me with this issue with LaCie – please don’t hesitate to contact me.

The sound of generators now fills the streets of Dhaka – power hasn’t come back since last night. I was kind of hoping that this would be like other blackouts I’ve experienced – where some regions would have power and others not. But, after talking to relatives in Shantinagar, Mohakhali DOHS, Gulshan/Baridhara – it seems like this is a city-wide blackout. That’s a first during my stay here in Bangladesh.

The BBC is reporting that at least fifty people are reported dead in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. Unfortunately, not many people in Bangladesh will have access to news – no electricity, means no TV. The cell phones and celluar internet connections still work though which is how I’m able to post this blog.

I plan on going out later today and hopefully will have some photos that I can share. Apparently, after talking to a relative in another part of town, exploding transformers like that one I saw yesterday was not an uncommon occurrence last night.