Here we are again with another article starting off with an apology for the lack of website updates. Let’s get that over with: sorry. Needless to say, we have a lot of things that compete for our limited spare time and over the last few months that spare time has been even harder and harder to come by leaving no time for website updates. Not that it is an excuse, but as Father’s Day came and went, I found myself compiling a list of excuses for not updating the site only to realize that the list provided a good tinkleflick status report.
My list of companies with which I refuse to do business is long and includes many well-respected Fortune 500 companies. American Express, AT&T (SBC merger notwithstanding), Sears (even though I like Eddie Lampert) and many more of the titans of American business are on the tinkleflick blacklist. Over the last six months E*Trade, another well-known company, has been added to the list. American Express literally stranded me in the desert in 1995, AT&T was guilty of sort of the same thing and then for miserable customer service and Sears ripped me off on a Jet Ski battery in 1990 (as you can see, I hold a bit of a grudge). Anyway, all of those offenses amount to minor inconveniences when compared with the hell that we have been through since January with E*Trade. E*Trade bought our prior broker last year and the conversion of all of the accounts was to occur at the beginning of January. They gave us the wrong account numbers, switched off our ATM cards without notice and before sending us new cards just to name a few of the problems. And, when we tried to call to solve the problems, we were on hold sometimes for over an hour! Even the customer service representatives, when we finally got to speak with them, were exasperated from being yelled at all day long for the problems and the hold times. E*Trade just did not execute this acquisition very well and we spent hours upon hours resolving the problems, moving accounts, changing all of our EFTs (which we had to do as many as four times). When I called another broker to inquire about moving assets over, the representative just laughed and said that I was one of many E*Trade customers looking to move away. The service representatives were all very nice and professional (when we were able to get in touch with them) but beware: if you bank or have brokerage accounts with E*Trade or with a bank or broker that they are planning to acquire, expect problems or move your account.
As most of you know, the backhouse/office is now finally completed more than a year after we received the building permit. Not even our worst-case scenario contemplated the delays, overruns and contractor problems that we ultimately experienced. The good news is that the project is done and we are happy with it. The bad news is that is cost us substantially more to complete than we expected and involved a near lawsuit with our first contractor. We did end up finding a great local contractor to complete the project and to help us with other things, so if you need someone, let us know. Anyway, the paint was not even dry on the backhouse when we realized that we were one last push away from finishing everything that we wanted to do. So, we launched what we are optimistically calling “The Last Project”. New furniture, entertainment systems and lighting in the living room, stucco on the side wall and a new front porch and landscaping (including a picket fence) in the front yard are all almost done. By the 4th of July, we should be (finally) completely done with our house (other than another garage reorganization). Whoever says that parents who stay home with their children are not working have not met Wendy. Wendy has become a general contractor (and a very capable one at that) and has been working hard on getting everything done while also managing two small children. It has not been easy.
So, between having our financial accounts in constant flux while living in a constant state of construction, we have not had much time for things like updating the website. Noah and Natalie continue to grow and make us laugh. Natalie is six months old today and is practically crawling. Noah just finished his first full year of pre-school and spends his time negotiating for one thing or another and generally keeping us busy. We really do hope to post more frequent updates. Hopefully corporate America and contractors (good and bad) won’t be conspiring to reduce our website updates any more.