Saturday

Christmas fever reached my house. Being the perfect "babysitter" that I am I suspended all my disagreements with Abigail while my wife is away.

The word is suspended not discontinued.

Anyway I am trying to be the perfect gentleman/dad/friend to her. Every night we eat whatever she desires and I told her we could go Christmas shopping on this weekend.

And today was the day she made me keep my promise. I tell you honestly it wasn't that bad. We drove out to Long Island to Roosevelt Field and spent about four hours buying presents to her siblings and friends.

Abigail saved a nice amount of money and with contributions from her sucker "father to be" she made out pretty good.

It was funny that when we went into any particular store she made her selections very quickly. When I inquired how come at this time she could select so fast but when we shop for her she can never make any selection so fast. She replied that buying for her is a lot more important thing than buying for her friends.

Fortunately we were able to do all our shopping today and we will not have to face the throng of people anymore.

Friday

Yesterday I criticized the idiots that work on help lines and are forcing us to turn to them for assistance.

Well, here is one for today.

In New York traffic lingo a gridlock is when automobiles and other motorized vehicles get stuck in a  four-way jam and totally block intersections. In Midtown Manhattan this is a fairly frequent occurence.

Nobody really know how to fix it and during the year the City is not doing anything to alleviate the problem. But during the Christmas season they declare gridlock alert days. This means that any vehicle caught inside the gridlock can and will be ticketed.

New York City has miles and miles of parkways and highways. On these roads there are these huge overhead electronic signs These signs convey various traffic related messages to the driving public.

Today on all New York City's roads this was shown on these signs: "Today is Gridlock Alert Day. Take Public Transportation"

Now, think for a moment. The thousands of motorists who saw this message were already in their cars and obviously not using public transportation.

What was the point in making such an announcement? Did they expect people to feverishly abandon their cars and rush towards buses and subways?

There are stupids everywhere.

Thursday

It is unbelievable how difficult it is to find a living and breathing person on a so called help line. Today I had the bad luck that I needed to call such companies. In each time it took about four minutes to reach a person.

Without exception they all read off a long story that has nothing to do with the reason of the call. I always find that my reasons don't fit into any of their categories. So I just scream or wait patiently until that stupid robot realizes what I want.

Once the person comes on the line it happens more than once that he or she transfers me to another person who might have more inkling about what to do than the previous one. Several time I was transferred four or five times in a row and each time I had to start from scratch.

What really bugs me is that at the beginning of each call there is an automatic announcement saying that this call may be recorded for quality control purposes.

Why don't they record the first five minutes for quality control? And, what do they do with the idiots who work there and who are being recorded? Do anybody recognizes how unqualified the people who are on the help lines are?

Maybe stupid has a grade and if they are not stupid enough they are replaced with a stupider.

Wednesday

My wife and I speak several times a day. Technology is wonderful, there are no distances in this world that a simple cell phone could not bridge.

I remember that many years ago I called the operator and made an appointment when I wanted to call my Mother in Hungary. The operator had to make the connection across the world and when everything was ok they called me and than we were able to speak.

Today I call my wife on her US number and she answers like she were a block away. The only problem we are having is the time difference. They are six hours ahead of us. Meaning that around midnight when I'm getting ready to go to sleep they just getting up over there.

But I don't care. As long as I hear her voice, regardless of the time I'm happy. I really miss her.

Abigail and I are getting along fine.  Two nights ago we had Popeye chicken for dinner, yesterday it was cheeseburger and today we bought burritos from Chipotle. Tomorrow remains to be decided. But it is certain that we will not be undernourished.

My wife wa telling me the good stuff she was eating there already: Szeged fish soup, cold cuts, warm home baked bread and other selected goodies. I gained five pounds just listening to her.

I know that a week from today she will be back but at this moment time just don't want to fly.

Tuesday

As I mentioned it earlier my wife went to Hungary. Actually, she arrived at Budapest Airport around 10 am this morning. I spoke to her a few times since and she told me the trip was pretty uneventful except a bumpy ride over the Atlantic and crappy food on the plane.

She already met her family and the reunion was anything but dry eyed. Everybody was happy to see her and none of them wanted to let her go. But she has business to take care of, family to see, places to visit and the time is not that long. But I'm sure she will smartly manage her time.

I have an observation about the airlines. They are all gangsters! None of them is better than the other. And Lufthansa, a proud German airline is just as crooked as the rest of them

We spent hours and hours to find a good fare for her trip. When we found what looked like a good and reasonable fare with good connection times we or I made the mistake not claiming it immediately.

We left the web page and when we went back on it it was gone. We tried several time but it just disappeared like it never existed. The bastards took it of because it probably was just a come on.

I do not believe than an offer disappears in five minutes because it just suddenly is not available. They are all crooked and they are proud of it. Why should they help the traveling public when people will fly regardless of the cost and inconveniences.

We went to to the airport and found both the arrival and departures crowded. People are traveling no matter what the problem is. Might those be the cost of it or the inefficient TSA people who are jumping all over each other trying to look knowledgable and important.

It is a good hing that when I get into my car I don't have to go through all that TSA security.

Monday

I have a veri logical explanation why I abstained from writing for all this time.

I was busy.

If that is not an acceptable explanation here is the long version of it and I will be going backwards.

Today at 3:55 pm my wife left for a visit to Hungary. This was a momentous event for us since she has not been there for twelve years. The decision was made very quickly like middle of last week.

We spent several hours trying to find an acceptable airline with a reasonable fare. And, since that idiotic Hungarian airline went bankrupt it is not easy to find a good trip to Budapest. Finally we selected Lufthansa and that is the one she is flying now.

Being her first trip back in such a long time you can imagine how much preparation and excitement went into it. I think I was more excited than she was.

I volunteered to stay behind and babysit Abigail. I may get sainthood by the time she returns but right now we are getting along fine.

The thing that made the trip such an urgent necessity is that my wife's Grandfather is very ill and she wanted to see him before the unspeakable happens. Her Grandfather and Grandmother raised her and understandably she is very close to them. I honestly hope and pray that she has time to spend with her Grandfather.

My wife has been away only for a few hours and I already miss her. I hope I'll survive the week.

Wednesdayy

My wife's son has a dog who responds to the name of Carlo. Carlo is an American Terrier but looks almost like a pit bull.

He is the most gentle and lovable dog I have ever known. He is huge about 80 pounds.

He spends his days sleeping and playing. There is also a beautiful cat in the apartment and Carlo and him are like brothers. The just get along perfectly. They sleep together and play together. Like with kids there is a little jealousy between them but nothing serious.

Carlo sleeps on the bed and if it is not warm enough he must be covered. He eats dog food  if necessary but prefers people food. He snores like a person and sleeps on his back with his face on a pillow.

He hast be taken out for walks a few times a day and because they live right across a large park he just loves being there. He has several friends (dogs) and when they meet they just go totally nuts playing. They like to roughhouse but never too rough.

He loves to ride in the car mainly in ours because ours is an SUV and he sits in the back in the cargo area that's very comfortable to him..

He doesn't bark and makes friend with everybody he meets. The other night my wife and I went over to their house and while my wife and her son were working on the computer I was with Carlo.

I lied down on their bed and within minutes he was lying next to me, on top of me, his head on my shoulder on my arm and in the process was licking me like I was an ice cream cone.

He was so adorable that I couldn't get angry at him for all the attempted and half successful licking.

He is not a slobbering type of dog. Very clean and cute.