Please hold for a brief survey.....

Not sure if it is just me but having recently moved I've had the unfortunate need to speak, chat online or swap emails with a large number of "customer service professionals" to solve a variety problems in the new house. Once in a while something good happens (eg TiVo) but on most occasions these have been very painful experiences. Public enemy #1 right now is Cablevision followed closely by any company that operates an overseas call center (specifically Sears, Dell, Sony).

What really gets my goat is that after completely failing to understand or fix my problem(s) I am asked to hold complete a survey to rate my experience. What a joke. I actually try to preempt this now by suggesting that, as the call has not gone well, it might be in their interest not to have me do a survey.... this really throws them for a loop though but doggedly they soldier on through their bullet points, ending of course with, "Thank you for choosing XXX, please hold for a survey to rate my performance......".

Goodbye to Morningside

This time I have a valid excuse.... Well, kind of, we moved house a month or so ago so I've been very busy - that accounts for some of the gap at least. Anyway, we were all sad to leave Morningside Drive, unbelievably Jo & I had been there almost 10 years. Considering we arrived on these shores in 1998 with a couple of suitcases we accumulated an astounding amount of junk. 2 large skipfuls (aka dumpsters) to be precise.

We moved to a new place about 3 miles up the road. The garden here is amazing, full of beautiful shrubs etc. I should enjoy it while I can as it will probably all be dead this time next year unless it turns out that I have some hitherto undiscovered talent for gardening. I've taken the essential first step though and acquired a large selection of powertools for the task at hand :-)

Goodbye (for now).....

We lost a little sunshine from our lives this weekend when Hyeonsik returned home to Korea with his family. We met him at the school bus stop a year ago bundled up against the cold and he (naturally) looked a little bewildered by the whole experience. However, he & Elliot became great friends, as we all did, and his cheeful smile and disposition will be missed. Even Molly misses him and looks hopefully at their now empty house when we make our daily rounds.

I don't think Elliot understands fully that he has gone to the other side of the planet and what that means in terms of their friendship. It might be many years but hopefully they will stay in touch and get together again sometime.

I'm back....

Due to popular demand from all of my avid readers (thanks mum) - watch for more frequent posts in this space. When I say more frequent, I mean more than once per year which was my 2007 average....

Fishy Business

Elliot had the honour of having his "Fish" sculpture included in a recent exhibition of art by Greenwich school kids. Here is said fish whispering in our budding artist's ear.

Better than Andre's Equivalent VIII (aka "The Bricks") in my opinion but maybe I'm biased - eye of the beholder etc etc. Still, if anyone from the Tate is reading, I'm sure Elliot would consider any reasonable offer.

So much for global warming...

We had our first snowfall of the winter this week, a modest dusting which was gone the next day. Prior to this, we have had some bizarrely mild weather. No snow in Central Park in December for the first time since 1877. A couple of Saturdays ago it was 72*F (22*C). I took Molly for a walk on the beach (dogs are only allowed there in the winter) and there were actually a few people sunbathing. Now it seems it is snowing in most parts of the US, even in southern California where it hasn't snowed for 20 years.

Inevitably, the doomsayers have been out in force blaming these events on global warming. I'm sure our planet's atmosphere is messed up but in ways we don't fully understand yet. However, if it means I get to play golf all year without having to move south I'm all for it :-)

Happy New Year for 2007

Art Direction by Jo Hubbard.

Sunday Snaps

A few images from our visit to the park this afternoon. Jo and I had a very busy weekend tidying up largely unseen areas of the house (closets, drawers, cupboards). Specifically, I did the basement and Jo did the rest of the house. At first reading you may think this an unequal split.... and you'd be right, she's such a slacker :-)
Although the work was necessary and long overdue I have my Mum to thank for the motivation, she arrives for a visit next week.....





Anyway, the sortie "through the gate" provided a welcome break from the monotony of the task at hand.