I apologize for the lack of technical posts here recently.  Most, if not all, of my technical posts have done at the Alagad blog. Be forewarned, this is another non-technical post.

In June, I am speaking at Scotch on the Rocks and will need a passport. The last time I had a passport was when I was in high school (a long, long time ago) and because it has been expired for so long, I needed to apply as if I never had a passport. This is where the story begins...

I submitted my passport application in December, along with the required documents, which included my birth certificate.  Keep in mind this is the same birth certificate I used for many purposes, such as getting my driver's license, getting my original passport and even more recently, getting clearance from more than one government agency.

About 4-5 weeks later (maybe longer) I received a letter for the Department of State that because I was born in Hudson County, New Jersey, I needed to get a 'new' copy of my birth certificate from the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics.  A phone call to the passport agency revealed that, at some time in the past, there was some 'malfeasance' in the Hudson County Registrar's Office, and any birth certificate issued by that office was no longer acceptable for acquiring a passport.

It seems that in order to obtain your birth certificate from the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics in a timely manner, they suggest that you order it through a third party named Vital Check.  This does not come cheap.  it cost me $55.00 for 2 copies of my birth certificate.  it also did not come quickly, it took about 3 weeks before I received the copies.  I quickly sent one of the copies to the passport office as they requested. Basically, it was the exact same thing I sent earlier,  but on different paper.

Fast forward about 2-3 weeks and I get a call from the passport office (which really took me by surprise) letting me know that the new copies were also not acceptable as the date my birth was filed was not legible on the copy. Crap!

So, I ring up the New Jersey Division of Vital Statistics.  I was able to speak with someone who was very friendly and appeared to willing and able to help me.  They assured me that new birth certificates with all the correct information would be sent to me. Surprisingly, a week later, I received the new copies.  Unfortunately, aside from the date they were printed, they were identical to the copy I was already told was not acceptable.

I ring up Vital Statistics again this morning (the office was closed Friday), and after about an hour of trying to actually speak with a human, I get the same person I spoke with last week.  Again, very friendly and very eager to help. They explain that the only thing they can do is 'manually type' the birth certificate and send them to me (which is frighteningly similar to what they told me they were going to do last time). They assured me that it would 'go out in the mail' today. So, heres to hoping that is indeed the case.

All this hassle, and stress of possibly missing my trip, because of a small case of 'malfeasance ', God knows how long ago, in Hudson County, NJ.  This just reaffirms my belief that New Jersey is a great place to be 'from'.

We moved to West Virginia in May of 2003. In September of 2004, my oldest son started kindergarten.  Like most kids, this was a huge change from his routine,and like most parents, we worried about him when he was at school.  See, my son has Cerebral Palsy, a result of a stroke he suffered around the time of his birth.  He is not profoundly handicapped, but he does have some needs that other kids might not.  Having someone outside of our family tend to those needs scared the crap out of us.

He seemed to like it well enough.  I think the sense of independence made him feel good.  Unfortunately, this did not last long. His personality started to change.  He was always very happy and out going and he started to become a bit introverted.  He even started to ask if he could stay home from school.

After speaking with our son, we found out that there was a girl in his class who was constantly picking on him and bullying him. The worst incident was a day that my son asked us if he could buy his own lunch at school instead of bring one.  We agreed and he took some of his own money so he could buy lunch.  At lunch that day, he went and ordered his own lunch and paid for it with his own money.  As he walked away from the cashier, the girl who had been bullying him pushed him from behind and caused him to fall and spill his lunch all over the floor.  This devastated him, and nearly crushed his desire to go to school.

We decided we needed to discuss the situation with his teacher.  Now, I may be old fashioned, but you should get a war and fuzzy feeling form your child's kindergarten teacher.  This was not the case with son's teacher, she was like the Ice Queen.  She looked angry all the time, and was very abrupt when she answered questions.  After discussing this incident and other similar incidents we were basically told, 'Its just kids being kids.' Not something you want to hear when its one of your kids involved.

As is the case with most parents, when we dropped off my son, or picked him up, we would talk with other parents, especially the parents of children in the same class.  Thinking maybe we were overreacting, my wife discussed some of the issues we had (such as the way the teacher spoke to the children).  Seems we were not the only ones who had these issues.  Yet, somehow, the teacher found out that my wife had these discussions and one day was summoned to the principal's office.  She was asked not to discuss this teacher with any other parent while on school property.  She was being treated like one of the children.

The straw that pretty much broke the camel's back was actually behavior my wife mentioned she observed between the teacher, teacher's aide and another child in the class. There was a bot who befriended my son.  It was obvious he came from a family that had a difficult time making ends meet. He is also African-American.  I only mention this because I feel it important to the story.  One day, around Christmas, the school had one of those little 'stores' set up so kids could buy little gifts.  Each class was brought down to the 'store' together, with the help of some 'class moms', of which my wife was one, to buy stuff.  This child could not buy anything as he did not have any money. Feeling sorry for him, my wife let him pick something out for himself that she would pay for.  While the class was lead back to their classroom, my wife paid for the item the child wanted.  

When  she returned to the room, the teacher and teacher's aide were yelling at the child because they assumed he stole the item, even though the child and my son both told them my wife paid for it. My wife was mortified, and even after she told the teacher that she did pay for the item, they assumed my wife was trying to cover for the child.

Even before this episode, we had discussed other options, such as requesting he be moved to a different classroom (which the school was reluctant to do), change schools (which the school board was reluctant to do and the closest private school was about 30 miles away) and homeschooling.  I have to admit, when my wife first mentioned homeschooling, I was against it.  I had know 3 people in my life, to that point, who were homeschooled, and they were all really weird. But, it was still a viable option.

After much debate and discussion we decided to try homeschooling for the rest of the school year and then revisit the issue in the summer.  My wife did tons of research on curriculums, and even joined the TORCH group (a home school group at the church) so we would have plenty of resources available to us.  

In January of 2005, after the Christmas break, we (more accurately, my wife, began homeschooling our son.  Almost immediately, he reverted back to the happy-go-lucky kid we knew and loved. And I think it was more beneficial for my wife than it was for my son.  As part of the TORCH group, he went on class trips, and was invited to social gatherings.  The little experiment was a success, and we decided that as long as it was a viable option (meaning as long as we thought it was what was best for our kids) we would continue to homeschool them.

My attitude towards homeschooling has changed and I have become somewhat of an advocate for it.  it is not perfect, it is difficult and it is not for everyone, but for our children, at this point in their lives, we feel this will benefit them more than going to public school. As a priest, who is a good friend of mine, said, 'During their most impressionable years, you kids will spend all day, every day, in a loving, caring environment.  Nothing else will do more for your children's self esteem and confidence than that.'

One thing my wife and I are very passionate about, but I rarely, if ever, blog about (I should change that), is that we home school our children.  I can get into the why in another blog post, but suffice to say, it has been one of the most fulfilling endeavors of our lives.

I am going to be replacing my laptop and my wife's desktop with Apple products.  I want to get a Mac Book Pro, and my wife is leaning towards a Mac Book.  While I was looking around at prices today, a friend pointed me to the education section of their site. I was stunned to see this, where Apple offers the same educational discount for home schools as other educational institutions.

It is refreshing to see companies like Apple offering discounts like this.  I hope more companied follow their lead.

As I mentioned here, I am speaking at Scotch on the Rocks this year.  I also mentioned that my dad and my brother will be flying over after the conference to play golf.  I was unable to get a tee time at St. Andrew's, but this evening I was able to book a tee time at Carnoustie on the Championship course.  For those who may not know, The Open Championship (The British Open) was played at Carnoustie last year.

I am hoping to add one or two more well-known courses to the list, but to be playing golf with my dad and my brother in the birthplace of golf, I'd play anywhere. 

Once again, if anyone knows of good courses that might not be well known to tourists, please let me know.

I do not think there has even been a more satisfying win as a Giants fan (though, the Cowboys game a few weeks ago is close).  No one gave the Giants a shot, all the hype was about 19-0 and Tom Brady.  Today, during the pre-game, I heard several times that in order to win, the Giants had to play a perfect game, and they did just that. Holding the Pats to less than 50 yards rushing and 14 points (note, they did not even score the 17 Plaxico Buress said they would) was a phenomenal showing. The play where Eli got away from trouble and then connected with David Tyree was awesome, and should be one of the most memorable in Super Bowl history.

After the Minnesota game and the 4 interceptions, I jumped off the Eli bus.  I would like this post to stand as my official request for permission to get back on.

What a great win!!!

As many who know me are aware, I am a big fan of the New York Giants (An American football team for those readers outside the US who may not be familiar with the name).  Tonight, the Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game to make it to the Super Bowl. In the process, the Giants set an NFL record by winning 10 road games in a row.

When we made it to the playoffs, not many gave us a chance to beat Tampa Bay, few gave us a chance to beat Dallas and even fewer picked us to beat Green Bay.  To all the sports columnists, TV analysts and anyone else who makes a living offering their opinions about the NFL, I have one simple favor to ask.  Please, please, don't pick us to win the Super Bowl.  I want every one of you to pick New England.  It seems to motivate the G-Men when you think they are not worthy of beating the 'better team'.

Win or lose in Phoenix, the Giants have given me much more than I could have hoped for during this season. Now, if we can just find a way to ruin prefection.....

When I was a kid, one of the things I really looked forward to around Christmas time was my father getting the electric train set out. We did not have a big elaborate set, but the track was attached to a 8x4 piece of plywood, with lighted billboards and trees.  My dad even painted it green with a 'road' going through it.

What does this have to do with the Wii my kids got for Christmas?  Well, 2 years ago, my parents gave me the train set that we used to have as kids.  Unfortunately, the track was in bad shape, and the transformer plug was so dry rotted, you could see the copper wire.   This Christmas, I was determined to get it running. 

After a trip to a local train shop, I was able to purchase some new track and a new plug for the transformer.  Thanks to help from my father-in-law, the new plug was soldered on (I don't do solder) and the new track assembled and the train was running like new.  When we were looking to see how the wires needed to be attached to the transformer, I noticed the copyright date on the instruction manual, 1971. The trains set is 36 years old, and still running like new, even after not having ANY maintenance in those 36 years. I will say that I plan on taking the train to that shop to get a 'tune up' so that maybe my grand-kids can enjoy the set as well.

This, to me, proves the old saying, 'they don't make them like they used to'.  How many toys that you or your kids got this Christmas will still be operating in 2043?  I would venture to guess not too many.

For the last 24 years, Christmas has been a mixed blessing for my mother.  In 1983 she had to take care of a 17 year old girl, who died, on Christmas Eve.  This year, a local paper where my parents live thought it was a story worth telling.  Check out this link for more on the story.

To everyone who celebrates, Merry Christmas!

For my birthday this year, one gift I was given was a grill cover with the New York Giants logo on it. I had added this item to my Amazon.com wishlist and it was purchased off of Amazon.com.  What I didn't know at the time was that it was actually being sold by a reseller, or whatever Amazon calls them.

When the cover arrived, I thought it was a bit thin.  I have used garbage bags that were thicker.  But it fit the grill and seemed to do  the job it was designed to do, cover my grill.  The last few days have been a bit windy, and as a result, the grill cover has been torn and is no longer usable (see pictures below).  

I phoned Amazon to complain about the cover and try to get a refund.  I was told that because it was sold through a 'reseller', I needed to contact them, I am OK with that.  I asked for the phone number and was told Amazon did not have it. I am not OK with that.  After being transferred a few times, I was finally told that they did not have a phone number for the reseller and that I would need to contact them in writing.  Not ideal, but I was OK with that.  I asked for the address and was told Amazon did not have that information either. I am not OK with that either.

For those playing along at home, I added an item from Amazon.com to my Amazon.com wishlist, the item was purchased from the Amazon.com website and the credit card was charged to Amazon.com, yet, Amazon.com could not tell me how to get in touch with the company that they claim actually sold me the item.  How is it possible that Amazon allows others to sell things through Amazon, yet not have a way to contact them.

After a few more transfers, I was finally able to get the number of the company, and I have called and left a message twice, with no return call yet.   While all this was going on, I attempted to contact the company who sold the item through Amazon.com.  I explained the situation and received an e-mail a little bit ago that basically says, because we did not express dissatisfaction when we received the item, they will not offer us a refund. The irony here is that I was not dissatisfied until the cover was ripped to shreds.  It also says we ordered the 'economy' cover, which is not stated anywhere the description page.

Amazon.com has washed their hands of this situation.  I was told I need to resolve this with the reseller, and their resolution has basically been, 'tough sh*t'. So, now I need to go back to Amazon to complain even more. Should be fun.

I may regret saying this, but part of me hopes we do slip into a recession.  During a time of economic stagnation, companies typically try to lure and keep companies with good customer service.  During a time of economic prosperity, customer service almost seems to become an after thought.

I also learned a very important lesson, make sure you know whether or not an item is being sold by Amazon or by one of its 'resellers'.  I for one will not be buying from any of their 'resellers' again anytime soon.

***UPDATE***

After my wife sent a carefully crafted e-mail to the company, they have agreed to refund the full cost of the cover.

***END UPDATE***

I have always wanted a job related to golf, or blowing things up.  This is about as close as I think I would ever get to both.  

I soooo want that job.