Adopt a Lab/American Pit bull terrier mix

Name: Silas

Age: 6 months

Sex: Male

Breed: Lab/American Pit bull terrier mix

Location: Flushing, Animal Haven Shelter

This guy is beyond cute and looks like he needs a good home with kind owners. Please consider adopting your next pet. There are way too many animals in our city pounds and local shelters. To adopt Silas please visit the website: http://www.animalhavenshelter.org/. If you aren't ready to take an animal home just yet, consider Animal Haven's Sponsor A Pet Program.

Contractor Crapola (Service Magic)

Way back in the early days of this blog I talked about using Service Magic to find someone to fix my bathroom tiles. We need to have the whole thing re-wall boarded and tiled. Everything else in the bathroom is in fine working order, but the tiles are original 1950's tiles and the wall is starting to give way.

Well the first try with Service Magic was fruitless. No Contractors that seemed well qualified applied. We had someone else in who we got from a friend but they seemed to being going for the hard sell trying to get us to put in a new tub etc. Sorry .... not in the budget.

I tried Service Magic again a few weeks ago and found someone we liked and the price was right. After meeting a few others we called him last week and left a message to say we'd like to award him the job. I could not believe this was the same guy who came to our house.

Here is what I wrote on the Service Magic feedback form:

We did not book the job with XXX-XXXXXX Construction for four major reasons:

1. Three weeks after receiving our original quote the owner was unable to recall any of the information he gave us in his proposal. Having taken two days to respond to our call awarding him the work he seemed to try and bluff his way through the entire conversation.

2. He was unable to provide a committed start and finish date for the job. He basically gave a vague answer saying sometime next week, but he'd let us know on Friday about working next week. Given our schedule it is next to impossible to arrange to have this kind of work done in our home without a committed start date with at least 1 weeks notice.

3. He finally admitted that he did not know how long the job would take and how many workers were required. For a professional contractor, we could not give work to someone who could not accurately estimate a very simple job.

4. Rather than apologize for not having notes or not being able to recall the details of the job, he adopted a "take it or leave it" approach and blamed us for taking three weeks to make a decision. This attitude in the end made us conclude we did not want to work with XXX-XXXXX Construction. Surely it wouldn't have hurt him to ask for a follow up visit to refresh his memory of the work rather than trying to guess?

This Joker basically called us without any notes on the quote. He didn't even remember how much he'd quoted us. When he was here he told us it would take 3 days and 1-2 workers depending on the day. He knew everything that needed to be done then... but because he seems to have no record keeping methods whatsoever he has now lost the work. We might not have been so aggravated if he had just said, sorry I lost my paperwork on the job, can I come back out and have a look the job again. That we could have accepted. We will not accept him blaming us for taking 3wks to make a decision. Like everyone just decides to spend $$$$$ just like that.

Today we were expecting yet another jackass to come and quote the job. Guess what??? HE NEVER SHOWED UP. It's Sunday afternoon and we sat around waiting for another contractor to show up. He didn't even Bother to call. I'm guessing these guys must be raking in a fortune and can afford to treat potential customers like crap. What is the world coming to???

You know you're from New York When....

Just got this in an e-mail from a friend. Thought it was amusing enough to post:

1. THERE IS NO NORTH AND SOUTH. IT'S "UPTOWN" OR "DOWNTOWN." IF YOU"RE REALLY FROM NEW YORK YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONCEPT OF WHERE NORTH AND SOUTH ARE.... AND EAST OR WEST IS "CROSSTOWN."

2. YOU'RE 35 YEARS OLD AND DON'T HAVE A DRIVER'S LICENSE.

3. YOU RIDE IN A SUBWAY CAR WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE SEATS AVAILABLE.

4. YOU TAKE THE TRAIN HOME AND YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE ON THE PLATFORM THE DOORS WILL OPEN THAT WILL LEAVE YOU RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE EXIT STAIRWAY.

5. YOU KNOW WHAT A "REGULAR" COFFEE IS.

6. IT'S NOT MANHATTAN; IT'S THE "CITY".

7. YOU CROSS THE STREET ANYWHERE BUT ON THE CORNERS AND YOU YELL AT CARS FOR NOT RESPECTING YOUR RIGHT TO DO IT.

8. YOU MOVE 3,000 MILES AWAY, SPEND 10 YEARS LEARNING THE LOCAL LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE STILL KNOW YOU'RE FROM BROOKLYN OR THE BRONX THE MINUTE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

9. YOU RETURN AFTER 10 YEARS AND THE FIRST FOODS YOU WANT ARE A "REAL"PIZZA AND A "REAL" BAGEL.

10. A 500 SQUARE FOOT APARTMENT IS LARGE.

11. YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALL THE DIFFERENT RAY'S PIZZAS.

12. YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE MISTAKEN IMPRESSION THAT ANY HUMAN BEING WOULD BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND A P.A. ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE SUBWAY.

13. YOU WOULDN'T BOTHER ORDERING PIZZA IN ANY OTHER CITY.

14. YOU GET READY TO ORDER DINNER EVERY NIGHT AND MUST CHOOSE FROM THE MAJOR FOOD GROUPS WHICH ARE: CHINESE, ITALIAN, MEXICAN OR INDIAN.

15. YOU'RE NOT THE LEAST BIT INTERESTED IN GOING TO TIMES SQUARE ON NEWYEAR'S EVE.

16. YOUR INTERNAL CLOCK IS PERMANENTLY SET TO KNOW WHEN ALTERNATE SIDE OF THE STREET PARKING REGULATIONS ARE IN EFFECT.

17. YOU KNOW WHAT A BODEGA IS.

18. SOMEONE BUMPS INTO YOU, AND YOU CHECK FOR YOUR WALLET.

19. YOU DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE LADY WALKING DOWN THE ROAD HAVING A PERFECTLY NORMAL CONVERSATION WITH HERSELF.

20. YOU PAY "ONLY" $230 A MONTH TO PARK YOUR CAR.

21. YOU CRINGE AT HEARING PEOPLE PRONOUNCE HOUSTON ST. LIKE THE CITY IN TEXAS.

22. THE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT IS A MAJOR TRAFFIC JAM, NOT AN HONOR.

23. YOU CAN NAP ON THE SUBWAY AND NEVER MISS YOUR STOP.

24. THE DELI GUY GIVES YOU A STRAW WITH ANY BEVERAGE YOU BUY, EVEN IF IT'S A BEER.

“Well, Excuuuuse meee!”

Being that I'm still heavily pregnant and going stir crazy waiting to give birth, we decided to take in a film last night. We went to see Shopgirl starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. The film was only half the entertainment. Being that I'm a bit wiped out etc. we figured we would go out early and see the 5:45pm viewing. BIG MISTAKE.

Our first tip off was the huge line of sluggish seniors at the sales booth. Being technologically able, we dashed off to the side where two automated sales machines are located. My husband waited patiently on line behind one person using the machine on the left. As that customer stepped away my husband stepped forward for his turn. Apparently there was a problem with the machine on the right and "bitchy hemorrhoid harboring Long Island Lady" literally BARGED in front of him without so much as a word. My husband pointed out that "excuse me" or other such niceties would be in order. He is always a gentleman but is know to point out when people are just damned rude. The "lady" got in quite a snit and bitched that the machine was not working and he noted that it was fair enough, however communicating that in the 1st place would have been much more appropriate than her aggressive and rude behavior. HRUMPH... and all this bitchiness directed at a man supporting a HUGE pregnant woman.

After our ticket purchase we proceeded to purchase the popcorn and soda, which is being sold to us at a 40,000% mark up from the actual cost of corn and soda. Even though we got there at a reasonable time, hardly any seats were free. It seems all the old-timers had come to see this film and they like to get their seats early. I really don't have a problem with old people, but this bunch was really uptight. They're definitely an older crowd than the baby-boomers. I like most baby-boomers.

I never saw so much seat-saving, seat-switching and general maneuvering in a theatre before. We must've seen about 3 different couples sit down in front of us and then get up and go somewhere else. Finally the film began and after the 1st ten minutes, the grouch behind us said "I don't like this movie". His whiney wife said, "YOU picked it!" The whole time this dumpy duo continued to bitch about the film. It was PATHETIC. They should have gotten their dusty asses off their seats and out of the theatre. BUT NO, we had to listen to their ongoing commentary.

We ended up with 6 elderly people in front of us who also bitched through out the entire movie, but it was harder to hear what they were saying because they were in front of us.

I think these guys were all so pissed off because they failed to read the movie review. The film is a DRAMA and I think most of them presumed that because Steve Martin starred in it, that it would be one big laugh after another. It wasn't. It was also probably depressing to them because the 60year old Steve Martins character gets to hit the sack with a pretty 20-something girl. Certainly not a possibility for any of the crowd in the theatre last night.

I thought the film was great. Really great. It was very nicely filmed and totally captured the weirdness of how life turns out and how certain moments in your life can imprint on your brain forever.

Once the film ended it was yet another drama exiting the theatre. These old timers seem to think the aisle is a place for socializing, not a path to exit. They lingered and chatted and dawdled and lingered some more. Grrrrrr! At least the grouch behind us wasn't in the way. He'd jumped out of his seat and left his wife in the dust long before the 1st credit rolled.

Be warned, don't go to an early viewing of a film starring a baby-boomer actor/actress unless you're prepared to cope with any of what is mentioned above.

You've got to love one of these guys!

It looks like Animal Haven has just brought in a litter of puppies!

Names: Yukon, Rosebud, Bonsai, Polkie, Zippy, Vaughn, Peyton, Wranger, Eli
Born: 9/19/05
Breed: Shepherd/Husky mixes
Location: Flushing branch

To adopt one of these pups, visit the website: www.animalhavenshelter.org. If you aren't ready to take an animal home just yet, consider Animal Haven's Sponsor A Pet Program.