The Bau Family |
Anthony asks: "Who are you?"After an absence of five weeks, Grandpa Paul, went to carry baby Anthony. Squirm, twist, squirm, twist... he wanted his father to carry him. As soon as Anthony was safely in his Daddy's arms a big smile flashed across his face. Anthony had forgotten who Grandpa was. How sad!That night at 2:30 AM Anthony awoke crying. Grandpa went to his crib and picked him up. In five minutes he was back to sleep and in his crib again. At 3:30, he awoke again. Faithful grandpa was there to save him once again. Again at 4:30 he was crying and needed someone. Who was there? Why Grandpa of course! So, by 7 AM the next morning, Anthony had remebered Grandpa or at least Grandpa had re-established his credentials. No more squirming or twisting to get out of Grandpa's arms. The little Tiger remembers the kisses or the smell... anyway, he remembers. Kevin's Sneak PeekKevin visited New Haven, Connecticut to interview for a spot in Yale's MBA program. The interview went well, and Kevin stayed on for several hours afterwards to sit in on information sessions and classes.Although all these activities were interesting, none were more informative than what was to follow. The receptionist had stashed Kevin's coat and bag in a room adjoining the reception area that was also attached to a number of other offices. Kevin found his coat and threw it on, but had to venture deeper into the room to find his bag.... where was it? Is it underneath the coffee table? No. Is it near that wire inbox with lots of manila folders in it? No. Is it... wait a sec.... inbox with manila folders? Upon further inspection, Kevin saw that the top folder had his name on it! Not wanting to tempt fate, Kevin declined to open the folder, but not before taking a closer look at what was written on the folder. Below his name, someone (not Kevin, we're assuming) had written two messages: "Interview Pending", and, in black marker, "Likely". Likely? What does that mean? Likely to get in? Likely to not get in? Likely to smell funny? Likely to spontaneously combust? We'll keep you updated as further events transpire. Grandpa Paul "flies" to PhiliPaul was excited about his trip on Feb 25th to get his "booster shot" of Mr. Cutie Pie in Philadelphia. At 5:30 AM he awoke to a telephone call telling him to tell Rachel that there would be no school in Weston today because of the snow storm decending on New England. The radio announced that all flight were delayed 3 hours at Logan and that many were being cancelled altogether. "Phone your airline before making the trip to the airport", they advised.Paul was booked on a small regional carrier called Eastwind. Each time he dialed he got a busy signal. This was unusual as normally, when one called Eastwind, the call would be answered by an answering machine and one would go into the que. With no exageration, he called and received "busy signals" at least 100 times on Thursday, the 25th. On Friday at 3AM in the morning, he called again and got the answering machine with the message;" Please don't hang up, your call will be answered in the order in which it was received. The average wait time is 3 minutes" Two hours later, still no answer! The same routine was followed at 6AM. Still no answer! Great! no what? I had a non-refundable ticket and a great urge to see litlle Anthony. So at 6:45 AM, Paul and Rachel headed for Logan to see what the folks at Eastwind's ticket counter could do for us. Would they give us a refund? Would they get us on the next flight to Phili? Traffic was light to the airport and by 7:20 AM Paul was in Terminal E heading straight for the Eastwind ticket counter. Guess what? That's right, no one at the ticket counter. No one in the back ( where the signs read "Authorized Personel Only"). And no Eastwind employees upstairs in the secret lounge. My goodness, is this frustrating or what? So, Rachel and Paul drove off to South Station and Paul caught the 7:55 AM AMTRAK to Philadelphia for $54.00. Nice ride, lots of leg room, big restrooms, and a clean club car that Grandpa Paul used twice for refreshments. Upon arriving at David and Heidi's new home in the burbs, Paul decided to try Eastwind again on the telephone. Dialing (1-888-eastwind) I got thru to the answering machine and was told:".... the normal wait is 3 minutes". After 35 minutes , Steve came on the line. Could I get a refund? No, the flight was canceled because of the weather and there would be no refunds. Could I still fly my return portion on this coming Sunday a week from now? Sure, what's your confirmation number? I gave Steve my confirmation number ( with electronic ticketing, that's all a passenger has) and of course, they couldn't find me in their computer. After giving my name and birthday, etc. , it turns out that they still couldn't find me as their computer went down a couple of days ago!! But don't worry, they have a back-up" and if I'd call back next Tuesday, they would certainly do everything to take care of me. Yeh, right! Dear reader. I put their telephone number in this article to give proof to the veracity of this crazy story. It's not intended as an advertisement for flying Eastwind Airlines. Duh?! |
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