twodoebs

Just got these pics and thought I'd share my cutie little niece chillin with her 'rents on Memorial day.

How funny. I was just poking around some of twodoebs archives today and found this funny posting from April '05 where doebs said he'd rather pay $3/gallon than have the speed limit go back to 55 M.P.H.

Hmm, now that gas is $4, does he still agree????

Boy has it been fun having Doebs here!
As you saw in the post before, I took Doebs on a walking tour around some of my favorite haunts.

We enjoyed a trip through Regent's Park, an all-night long viewing of Stanley Cup, several nice meals (Doebs even said some of his meals were 'delicious' which is saying a lot for England), and a trip to the movies to watch Indiana Jones!

Well Doebs leaves tomorrow, and then it's a while before we see each other again. It stinks, but at least little Weber will be back home in his comfy bed and out of the kennel!

Oh and ps- the bridge is NOT called the Millennium Falcon Bridge.

Me wonderin' in they have reciprocity.

Here's me lookin' pretty rockin' on the Millenium Falcon Bridge.

Well, for anyone who's a fan of American sports and were abroad trying to watch them you know how difficult it can be. Tonight was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup featuring Doeb's beloved Penguins.

We found a "sports bar" (you might call it sports 'club') in the middle of what you would equate to Times Square that had the game. Sure, there was club music in the background, but who cared, the game was on.

We stayed up til 4am (that's 11pm for you East Coasters) just to see the Penguins LOSE. What made it worse was being surrounded by Red Wing fans in this bar . . . three of whom were crazy drunken Russians who got so excited the practically knocked their table over and spilled beer everywhere.

Hoping for better results in game two. On the upside, the bar owner was a Pittsburgh fan, a relatively new mgr of the place and declared it would be a Steelers bar come fall. We liked him!

Now it's time to SLEEP

This one goes out to Jan and John and Paula and T-Diggity . . . pretty much ANYONE who's worried about Kati's well-being over here.

I'm pleased to report that Kati's place is safe and clean. Her neighborhood is downright cute. Yes, the alley in front of her apartment (oh, SORRY!--her FLAT . . . cherry-oh!) looks as if Jack-The-Ripper would have LOVED it, but she promises me that he's been dead for hundreds of years.

She DOES need her Doebers, though . . . when I got here, she was complaining that it was too hot. Come to find out she couldn't figure out to open the WINDOW on the second floor and she had her HEAT on.

Stay tuned . . . I'm getting pulled out the door to go to the Borough Market, so more to come!

(Weber's doing fine, too . . . we called the kennel this morning.)

Doebs has arrived!!

Well, after a far-too-fast weekend at home, I'm back to the sunny streets of London!

My return trip was a little 'bumpier' than my last trip over. My taxi from Brooklyn to Newark took TWO WRETCHED hours. Then it seemed my flight attendent kept forgetting I was there. But I guess if my worst problem on the flight was that I needed to ASK for my water to be refilled, that's not such a bad flight!

The airport however was completely overrun with CRAZY soccer fans. The "superbowl" of European soccer was last night in Moscow. Two UK teams were in the finals and I swear half the population of London went to watch and were ALL in customs at the same time as I was this morning. That poor lot looked hungover and exhuasted!

Traffic and general delays made my travel from the airport back to the flat another 2 hour adventure. Needless to say, it's been a long trip and a long day. I've managed to stay awake all day (though I had some rough spots during a client meeting today).

Tonight I'm super excited because Doebs is joining me here for the weekend!! I'm sure some more fun posts will come as a result!
Travel safe Doebs!!! I'll be the grinnin fool at the airport tomorrow!

It's 8.15pm. I'm coming home tomorrow for a long weekend (and let me tell you, I CAN'T WAIT to see Doebs!) . . . so in preparation I will need to do some laundry and pack up a few things.

So I'm a day late on this one - I meant to post yesterday. Well, Sunday got away from me. So here we are on Monday night.

Ahh, Saturday!! Today I made my way down to the Borough Market, which, anyone who knows me knows- is one of my FAVORITE places! I used to live just down the street when I was here for school, and went there literally every weekend . . . so today, I went back for a glorious reunion.

Thanks for the well wishes and happy thoughts sent my way. I'm not sure how much longer I can stay awake tonight...I'm not as young as I was when I used to do the overnight flights all the time, but I'll keep posting!!

We recently took the pool portions of our scuba certification training with an outfit called Adventure Scuba on New York's Upper East Side. Shortly after the training, we received the following e-mail:

Hi,

Having recently completed Scuba training with us I was wondering if you don't mind taking a few minutes from your busy day to let me know how your experience with us was.

Your feedback will help us to make changes and improve our services in the future.
Please feel free to speak your mind whatever the topic. From your experience in the
classroom to the pool facility that we use, to your in water instructor, without
your help we are never positive that everyone has gotten the most out of their
training with Adventure Scuba. Both positive and negative feedback helps
us to do our jobs better.

Thank You
Again,

Seth

Adventure Scuba
1737 York
Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212-876-DIVE(3483)
http://www.adventurescubany.com/
"Adventure awaits you"

"Seth" is presumably Seth Orenstein, Adventure Scuba's owner.

ANYWAY, since he ASKED, we felt compelled to reply. ACTUALLY, I had written a much stronger letter the day after our training, but we opted not to send it 'cause it . . . well, it wasn't very nice. But--as I said--he ASKED.

So Kati sent him THIS message:

Dear Seth,

I'm glad you wrote us as I'd already been planning a note for you. For a
summary response, I'd say our experience was mixed.

On the positive notes:
The Asphalt Green facilities are just
beautiful. It was a great place and I'm glad we got the chance to use it.
Addison Chappell, our teacher, was very patient, helpful and efficient.
I
appreciate you making the one day course available. While it was a long day, and
we do have some negative feedback, it would have been very difficult for us to
do in multiple sessions. Even in retrospect, we wouldn't have done it any
other way.

The Negatives:
1. The group was just too large. We were 3-on-1
in class and that ratio was perfect. Considering the group at large however,
there was not enough space . . . we were literally on top of each other. Addison
had to make adjustments to his plans a few times to accommodate the large number
of scuba students in and around the pool. As two people who weren't originally
in the April 26 class, I couldn't help but wonder if it would have been better
for all if we were told that the class was too crowded to join that day. In any
case, it just felt like too many people were there for it to be comfortable.

2. Following on the idea that class was too large . . . there was no back
up equipment because of the number of students. It seems incredibly dismissive
of the cost and time expenditure not to ensure there is back up equipment if
it's needed.

3. Faulty equipment lead to my tank running out of air completely at the
bottom of the pool. As a result, I had to make a Controlled Emergency Swimming
Ascent. Throughout the day, my SPG was malfunctioning, causing air to leak
from the tank. When I noticed the air leak during the morning I showed Addison
who indicated it shouldn't cause any real trouble but to watch it. At our lunch
break, my SPG indicated I'd used more air than my classmates which we all
attributed to the leak. After lunch we were supplied new tanks with dust caps
on. When I attached the regulator and checked the SPG my reading did not
indicate a full tank. Assuming the dust cap was errantly put on a partially full
tank, Addison opted to get a new tank. That, however, yielded the same atypical
reading from my SPG, only about 1000 psi.

Addison took the SPG and regulator to the equipment room and inspected
it, presumably with the other teachers. When he returned, he said that the SPG
worked, it just didn't give accurate readings. Since no back ups were available
we continued the dive with the faulty SPG. Another instructor even checked in on
the situation, also calling the equipment "diveable". So, we continued. After
only a few skills underwater my SPG was reading low, 500 psi, and I showed
Addison who indicated I should continue. Very shortly thereafter, my SPG
read zero. I showed Addison who again indicated I should just keep an eye on
it.

During our next task my tank ran completely out of air, and I had
to make a CESA This tells me that while it was clear that the SPG was faulty, it
was also highly likely that the tank was faulty as well—if the tank was full at
the start of the dive, it couldn't have been empty halfway through the
afternoon. Obviously, I had to end the dive while my classmates continued; I
watched from the surface. Once they completed their skills, we switched tanks
and regulators so I could complete mine.

My chief problem with this experience is that it was completely
avoidable. With too many students booked and no back up equipment I was left
with malfunctioning equipment. Compounding this disappointment is that from the
first entry to the pool, our teacher knew the equipment was faulty and, although
there was a store full of equipment across the street, no replacement was made
available. The final shocking bit about this is that with Adventure Scuba
holding themselves out as one of those "reputable" dive shops where divers
should have their equipment serviced, it doesn't appear that much care is taken
for the life support equipment used in class. Not to mention, this apparent
blase attitude about faulty equipment runs in direct contrast to the very
principals PADI aims to teach, and undermines their emphasis on checking your
gear, ensuring it's working properly and caring for it meticulously.

My secondary problem was that later that evening I experienced chest
pains and great discomfort, enough so that it even caused us to call DAN for
medical advice. We can't help but wonder what role, if any, the malfunctioning
equipment and apparent use of an entire tank and a half of air in one day may
have played in that experience.

All in all, we did enjoy our class and I regret any indication that
Addison is not a competent and caring teacher. I felt he was
genuinely interested in our learning. However, we were disappointed by the
quality of the equipment provided, especially considering it likely could have
been a contributing factor to a rather scary post-dive experience.

I expect a PADI approved shop to treat its equipment and students with
greater care. And, in case reparative measures have not yet been taken, it was
regulator number 3.

Many thanks to your attention to this serious matter,

Kati

And a scary situation it WAS. No response from Seth or Adventure Scuba, yet . . . stay tuned and we'll update you if there are changes.