It seems that over time credit is starting to build. More specifically, credit card companies and insurance companies now have our address and are bombarding us with junk mail. So far capital one has sent out 8 letters in 6 weeks. That is just taking the piss.
Luckily there is an unsubscribe number you can call to stop them sending this crap in the mail.
I rang it to unsubscribe and I was told that it was a voice activated out of hours automated system.
"Hello, Press one for English ... Para Español, por favor, pulse dos." - The voice says
"1" - I Press
We have detected you are calling from a land line. Would you like us to look up your address based on your phone number? Say press “1” or say “Yes” alternatively say “no” or press “2”
Yes
I didn't catch that
1
Your address is xxxxxxxxxxxx
Say yes or press 1 to confirm
1
Stay the name you wish to unsubscribe followed by the spelling, for example for John you would say John – J. O. H. N.
Sarah – S. A. R. A. H.
Sharron ?
Sarah - es - ay -are - ay - haytch
Sorry I didn't catch that
Sarah - eeesss - aaaaayyy - aareee - aaaayyyyy - aych
Sarah?
Yes... Get in!
Gretchen?
No no no - it was fine before.
Gretchen spelt – G. R. E. T. C. H. E. N.
NO - it's Sarah
Sharron spelt – S. H. A. R. R. O. N. is this correct? Press 1 for yes or say no.
No -
What name please.
Sarah - es - ay -are - ay - aytch (without the h sound. Remember they say herbs like erbs here)
Sorry I didn't catch that
Sarah - eeesss - aaaaayyy - aareee - aaaayyyyy - aych!
Sarah?
Yes
Thank you.... Sarah has now been unsubscribed.
Have a nice day!
Click
Job eventually Done
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
You can hear it in my accent when I talk… I'm an Englishman trying to rent a property
On my run around Carmel at the weekend I found a little house that looked, well, ok. There were some bits that needed fixing up bur I figured it was worth give the number a call. Last Monday I rang the number to see what the deal is. The voice on the other end of the phone was a Hispanic lady who said it was a three bed house with a rental price that was in our budget.
Result! I arranged to see it on Tuesday. Before going around I rang her up to be told that she had to go to hospital with her kids and she couldn’t make it. Fair enough let's do Thursday at seven.
Today we went around at seven and it was hammering down with rain. Not a sprinkling, but rather a full on down pour. I kind of figured that this is the best time to go because if there are leaky roofs or things wrong with the property, today would be the day that they would show up.
The first thing we noticed was a lack of drainage in the garden and the four of us found ourselves jumping on these raised stepping stones to get to the main porch. I thought to myself “it’s a bit odd them leave all the building equipment on the porch in the rain, but there you go I guess.
Ding dong - WOOF bloody WOOF.
I turn to look at my darling daughter looking into the window as a Great Dane dog slobbers all over the window that she is standing next to. "Come away, too don't want to scare it" I say to K to distract her as the drool from this huge animal slides down window.
" sí" says the little man who answered the door
"Hello, I'm here to look at the property as we are likely to rent it out" I say
“Er, I am laying floors at the moment and it is a real mess in here.” Says the man.
Well we have an appointment with Daniela at seven... don't worry I'll give her a call.
I ring her number while stood in the pouring rain to be told that she has rented it out to her brother.
Great! Thanks for the heads up on that one... Silly cow.
I have to say this is becoming a bit of a common theme here. I ring up an agent or private owner and they take my details and don't get back to me. I'm starting to think it is due to the way I talk.
I think I might have to get one of my coworkers to ring to pretend to be me to get me the appointments.
I guess in hindsight it was a good job that we didn't go for this house. I mean if she is this scatty before anybody moves in, can you image the trouble we would get in if we had moved in and we were unable to get hold of her if there was no hot water or a flood.
Result! I arranged to see it on Tuesday. Before going around I rang her up to be told that she had to go to hospital with her kids and she couldn’t make it. Fair enough let's do Thursday at seven.
Today we went around at seven and it was hammering down with rain. Not a sprinkling, but rather a full on down pour. I kind of figured that this is the best time to go because if there are leaky roofs or things wrong with the property, today would be the day that they would show up.
The first thing we noticed was a lack of drainage in the garden and the four of us found ourselves jumping on these raised stepping stones to get to the main porch. I thought to myself “it’s a bit odd them leave all the building equipment on the porch in the rain, but there you go I guess.
Ding dong - WOOF bloody WOOF.
I turn to look at my darling daughter looking into the window as a Great Dane dog slobbers all over the window that she is standing next to. "Come away, too don't want to scare it" I say to K to distract her as the drool from this huge animal slides down window.
" sí" says the little man who answered the door
"Hello, I'm here to look at the property as we are likely to rent it out" I say
“Er, I am laying floors at the moment and it is a real mess in here.” Says the man.
Well we have an appointment with Daniela at seven... don't worry I'll give her a call.
I ring her number while stood in the pouring rain to be told that she has rented it out to her brother.
Great! Thanks for the heads up on that one... Silly cow.
I have to say this is becoming a bit of a common theme here. I ring up an agent or private owner and they take my details and don't get back to me. I'm starting to think it is due to the way I talk.
I think I might have to get one of my coworkers to ring to pretend to be me to get me the appointments.
I guess in hindsight it was a good job that we didn't go for this house. I mean if she is this scatty before anybody moves in, can you image the trouble we would get in if we had moved in and we were unable to get hold of her if there was no hot water or a flood.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
jumping from pad to pad
The plan was to get a short lease for say 6 months then we would have a chance to look around and find something with maybe more rooms and space for the kids to run around in. Where we ended up was no accident. It is in the school boundary for Carmel Elementary school. From what I have read this is one of the top elementary schools around here. The only thing is that our lease for this apartment is coming to an end and we need to find somewhere else. A great opportunity you may think. I thought the same until I stated getting into logistics and the reality of it all.
Carmel is (dare I say) quite an exclusive location and the school boundary for the school is quite small. To find a 3 bedroom property that isn’t double what we are paying right now is quite a challenge. I have been looking at websites like “For Rent” to see what we can find. A few are just outside the boundary, and few are really expensive. I short listed a few and rang them up earlier in the week but only one has come back with any kind of decent response. We look at this on Tuesday.
In the meantime I have taken up my new fitness routine that involves running around stereotypical American neighborhoods looking for rental signs and using my phone to take pictures of them. I don’t imagine it will be too long until the Police are called as it must look quite odd seeing some bald bloke taking a photo of a house then running again.
If that did happen I kind of see a faulty towers moment where someone says “It’s ok… he’s from England”
It has been a really nice day today and now I am back from my run, I now have found that I have sunburn on my head.
Warning glow in the dark Brit approaching!
Carmel is (dare I say) quite an exclusive location and the school boundary for the school is quite small. To find a 3 bedroom property that isn’t double what we are paying right now is quite a challenge. I have been looking at websites like “For Rent” to see what we can find. A few are just outside the boundary, and few are really expensive. I short listed a few and rang them up earlier in the week but only one has come back with any kind of decent response. We look at this on Tuesday.
In the meantime I have taken up my new fitness routine that involves running around stereotypical American neighborhoods looking for rental signs and using my phone to take pictures of them. I don’t imagine it will be too long until the Police are called as it must look quite odd seeing some bald bloke taking a photo of a house then running again.
If that did happen I kind of see a faulty towers moment where someone says “It’s ok… he’s from England”
It has been a really nice day today and now I am back from my run, I now have found that I have sunburn on my head.
Warning glow in the dark Brit approaching!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Today is St Patrick’s Day and there are few “Irish” traditions that I had no idea about. I’m sure if someone came over from Ireland they wouldn’t know it either!
I work up this morning to hear the news that they have put green dye in the Chicago River.
It is really weird as, when I had the padding pool back home I would spend most of my time trying to stop it from being green.
I was told (although it fell on deaf ears) that on St Patrick’s Day it is traditional to wear something green. I thought that one or two people might join in, but as it turns out that EVERYONE wears green. Colleges, bosses, friends, police officers, strangers… EVERYONE! … except me (as it turns out). I found myself in a meeting today feeling a bit left out and ended up tucking the green dry wipe board marker in my shirt so at least there was something green on me.
At lunchtime Dan and I went to an Irish pub called Claddagh to have a pint of Guinness. It was packed full of jolly Americans wearing green and having ginger beards. I was a guy wearing a t-shirt that say 0% Irish.. 100% drunk, which I thought summed up the atmosphere quite well. It looked like quite a few people had taken the day off. I have to admit that after a pint I was more than willing to settle in, but thought better of it and go back to the office.
There were quite a few people walking around in kilts. I am gutted that I didn’t wear the kilt I have with me. I know it doesn’t have green on it, but next year I am definitely wearing it.
Before you ask, the answer is not I won’t!
I work up this morning to hear the news that they have put green dye in the Chicago River.
It is really weird as, when I had the padding pool back home I would spend most of my time trying to stop it from being green.
I was told (although it fell on deaf ears) that on St Patrick’s Day it is traditional to wear something green. I thought that one or two people might join in, but as it turns out that EVERYONE wears green. Colleges, bosses, friends, police officers, strangers… EVERYONE! … except me (as it turns out). I found myself in a meeting today feeling a bit left out and ended up tucking the green dry wipe board marker in my shirt so at least there was something green on me.
At lunchtime Dan and I went to an Irish pub called Claddagh to have a pint of Guinness. It was packed full of jolly Americans wearing green and having ginger beards. I was a guy wearing a t-shirt that say 0% Irish.. 100% drunk, which I thought summed up the atmosphere quite well. It looked like quite a few people had taken the day off. I have to admit that after a pint I was more than willing to settle in, but thought better of it and go back to the office.
There were quite a few people walking around in kilts. I am gutted that I didn’t wear the kilt I have with me. I know it doesn’t have green on it, but next year I am definitely wearing it.
Before you ask, the answer is not I won’t!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Oh its date night... oh what a night
Sarah and I always relied on Mum & Dad to look after the kids so we could have some “US” time. As a result, we have never needed a baby sitter. We have been here since the 20th of October 2010 and haven’t been out together as a couple since arriving. Last Friday I got a baby sitter. It was the daughter of Dan my co-workers friend from his church. (I feel I should say twice removed somewhere in there).
After finishing work I picked her up and took her back the apartment to meet Katie and Zack. She was good and Katie liked her a lot (although Zack slept straight through and didn’t even know she was here).
We decided to go to the Old Library, also known as Woody’s. Upstairs there was a restaurant and downstairs there is a bar.
We went up stars and asked for a table for two.
“Do you have a reservation?” asked the hostess. What’s the big deal, there are only two of us. How difficult can this be?
“No” says I
“I’ll just check the book at see if we can squeeze you in… ah yes I think there is a space” She says opening a book that is 3 inches thick.
We go around the corner to find out this place is really tiny inside. Really small, but very VERY nice. The whole restaurant is laid out like a library with table tacked on to bookcases, and enclosed dining table surrounded by books. The hostess then presented the menus to us in inch think books. I thought that these menus have far too much selection for me to pick something to east. I than realized inside the book there were plastic menus inside. It was all just to keep the theme of the old library.
The food was fantastic! I got the Fish n Chips.
This always amuses me as in America they call Chips “fries”. They call Crisps “Chips”. This is fine except when they refer to Fish ‘n’ Chips as this means chips. Not knowing I was English I asked if the Chips were like the Tangy Cheese Dorito Chips or the Cool Ranch Dorito Chips.
“No Sir, it’s not Fish ‘n’ Chips it is Fish ‘n’ Steak Fries”.
“Oh I’m sorry I was a little confused as it said chips” I say
I know it is petty but it really amuses me.
After we ate we went down stairs and sat at the bar for a bit. It was a very nice place and I look forward to having a beer or two in the garden when summer finally get here and it warms up a bit.
We got back to the apartment and Abby the babysitter had an easy time with the kids. She said they were really well behaved and Zack didn’t even wake up. (Next time I will make sure the kids are loaded up with sugar and make her earn her money! :0) Muhahah)
On the way back to her house, I talked about when my brother and I used to be babysat and the things that we used to get up to. I remember my brother Damian loading an umbrella with confetti and persuading our babysitter to open it while I dropped things down from the top landing. I remember there being a lot of laughter (by all three of us) but I am pretty sure it was our babysitter who had to clean all the mess up while we slept.
Great days!
After finishing work I picked her up and took her back the apartment to meet Katie and Zack. She was good and Katie liked her a lot (although Zack slept straight through and didn’t even know she was here).
We decided to go to the Old Library, also known as Woody’s. Upstairs there was a restaurant and downstairs there is a bar.
We went up stars and asked for a table for two.
“Do you have a reservation?” asked the hostess. What’s the big deal, there are only two of us. How difficult can this be?
“No” says I
“I’ll just check the book at see if we can squeeze you in… ah yes I think there is a space” She says opening a book that is 3 inches thick.
We go around the corner to find out this place is really tiny inside. Really small, but very VERY nice. The whole restaurant is laid out like a library with table tacked on to bookcases, and enclosed dining table surrounded by books. The hostess then presented the menus to us in inch think books. I thought that these menus have far too much selection for me to pick something to east. I than realized inside the book there were plastic menus inside. It was all just to keep the theme of the old library.
The food was fantastic! I got the Fish n Chips.
This always amuses me as in America they call Chips “fries”. They call Crisps “Chips”. This is fine except when they refer to Fish ‘n’ Chips as this means chips. Not knowing I was English I asked if the Chips were like the Tangy Cheese Dorito Chips or the Cool Ranch Dorito Chips.
“No Sir, it’s not Fish ‘n’ Chips it is Fish ‘n’ Steak Fries”.
“Oh I’m sorry I was a little confused as it said chips” I say
I know it is petty but it really amuses me.
After we ate we went down stairs and sat at the bar for a bit. It was a very nice place and I look forward to having a beer or two in the garden when summer finally get here and it warms up a bit.
We got back to the apartment and Abby the babysitter had an easy time with the kids. She said they were really well behaved and Zack didn’t even wake up. (Next time I will make sure the kids are loaded up with sugar and make her earn her money! :0) Muhahah)
On the way back to her house, I talked about when my brother and I used to be babysat and the things that we used to get up to. I remember my brother Damian loading an umbrella with confetti and persuading our babysitter to open it while I dropped things down from the top landing. I remember there being a lot of laughter (by all three of us) but I am pretty sure it was our babysitter who had to clean all the mess up while we slept.
Great days!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Cincinnati Zoo & Ikea
I have been working long hours. For 3 weeks now I have been working very hard on the new Rice-A-Roni website. It has been a very good learning experience and I have learned more CSS tricks and tips than ever before. I would have been done in a week if it wasn’t for Internet Explorer 6. DOWN WITH IE6!
Anyway, I wanted to make it up to Sarah and the kids for not being here so much and decided that we should go on a trip. While we are here I want to visit as many states and places as possible. We have been to Illinois so I thought that today we could visit the magical state of Ohio and go to Cincinnati. I don’t know much about Cincinnati other than it has a Zoo, an Ikea and an Amrican football team called the Cincinnati Bengals.
I find it is always good to go out with a game plan. You get up early, you make sure that the kids have got something to do in the back of the car while you are driving, you have an overnight bag and a change of clothes just in case… and you bring food with you for the journey.
It took around 2hours 45 minutes to get to the Zoo from our house and was quite a nice journey. The roads were smooth and clear while the sunshine shone the whole day.
Central Indiana if flat… very flat! In fact I can’t remember the last time I saw a hill. Imagine East Anglia, but patted down with a huge spade followed by a lawn roller. It comes to something when you get vertigo from going over speed bumps, but that is how I am starting to feel.
The first obvious different is that in Ohio, it is about 10 miles an hour slower on the roads. The second is that they have a hill.
The zoo is on the west side of the city so it didn’t take long to get to. To get to the Zoo you go through a neighborhood that has quite unique looking houses where no two are the same. I really liked them. It kind of reminded me of the buildings you get in San Francisco going up the hills.
The zoo was modern and the kids really loved it. When I asked what Zacks highlight was, he replied watching that penguin squirt its poo where that other penguin was swimming. “My Boy Everyone!” I’m so proud.
After we were done with the zoo (and by that I mean “done in by the zoo”… It was on a hill… I forgot what they were like!) we went to the Ikea. It was only 10 minutes away.
Back in the UK we used to take our kids to Ikea for a treat. (Go with me here because it’s true). There is an indoor kids area called “small land”, where you can dump the kids off and you pick them up after you have been shopping. From the kid’s point of view, this is an extra special treat they get for being good. From our point of view, it is an hour off, while basically sit on the furniture and get our breath back.
The main difference between Ikea in the USA and Ikea in the UK is…. Bugger all. In fact, (dare I say) it reminded me of home and was very comforting. The best bit was that they do the mini dime bars covered in milk chocolate. You need to understand that chocolate here is, well, crap! It says milk, but it tastes bitter but not like dark chocolate. It’s horrible in my opinion. This was the first time that I had descent chocolate since I have been here.
On the way back Sarah and I took it in turns to drive back. I am so glad we could do it in shifts, as I could really feel my eyes getting heavy.
A good day was had by all. I’m gonna stuff my face with “milk” chocolate now!
Anyway, I wanted to make it up to Sarah and the kids for not being here so much and decided that we should go on a trip. While we are here I want to visit as many states and places as possible. We have been to Illinois so I thought that today we could visit the magical state of Ohio and go to Cincinnati. I don’t know much about Cincinnati other than it has a Zoo, an Ikea and an Amrican football team called the Cincinnati Bengals.
I find it is always good to go out with a game plan. You get up early, you make sure that the kids have got something to do in the back of the car while you are driving, you have an overnight bag and a change of clothes just in case… and you bring food with you for the journey.
It took around 2hours 45 minutes to get to the Zoo from our house and was quite a nice journey. The roads were smooth and clear while the sunshine shone the whole day.
Central Indiana if flat… very flat! In fact I can’t remember the last time I saw a hill. Imagine East Anglia, but patted down with a huge spade followed by a lawn roller. It comes to something when you get vertigo from going over speed bumps, but that is how I am starting to feel.
The first obvious different is that in Ohio, it is about 10 miles an hour slower on the roads. The second is that they have a hill.
The zoo is on the west side of the city so it didn’t take long to get to. To get to the Zoo you go through a neighborhood that has quite unique looking houses where no two are the same. I really liked them. It kind of reminded me of the buildings you get in San Francisco going up the hills.
The zoo was modern and the kids really loved it. When I asked what Zacks highlight was, he replied watching that penguin squirt its poo where that other penguin was swimming. “My Boy Everyone!” I’m so proud.
After we were done with the zoo (and by that I mean “done in by the zoo”… It was on a hill… I forgot what they were like!) we went to the Ikea. It was only 10 minutes away.
Back in the UK we used to take our kids to Ikea for a treat. (Go with me here because it’s true). There is an indoor kids area called “small land”, where you can dump the kids off and you pick them up after you have been shopping. From the kid’s point of view, this is an extra special treat they get for being good. From our point of view, it is an hour off, while basically sit on the furniture and get our breath back.
The main difference between Ikea in the USA and Ikea in the UK is…. Bugger all. In fact, (dare I say) it reminded me of home and was very comforting. The best bit was that they do the mini dime bars covered in milk chocolate. You need to understand that chocolate here is, well, crap! It says milk, but it tastes bitter but not like dark chocolate. It’s horrible in my opinion. This was the first time that I had descent chocolate since I have been here.
On the way back Sarah and I took it in turns to drive back. I am so glad we could do it in shifts, as I could really feel my eyes getting heavy.
A good day was had by all. I’m gonna stuff my face with “milk” chocolate now!
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