I had a belated birthday celebration yesterday thanks to Mom and Dad. They had kindly sent me a box of presents for my birthday earlier this month, and I had put it aside to wait until I came back from London to open.

[And promptly forgot about it.]

So when I got home last night I called home and opened my box. They gave me a pair of slippers, a nightgown, a pair of socks, a Home Idea Notebook, a cute set of matching kitchen towels and a pillow that reads "It's a cat's life...adjust." What fun!

Speaking of Home Ideas, I had a meeting with an attorney on Tuesday to see what to do about The House. Oscar has done two days worth of work in the last five weeks and finally just stopped showing up at all. My attorney, Mike, said that the main focus should be getting the house done, after which we can discuss what sort of action to pursue with Oscar. He also said that if Oscar showed up or tried to contact me, I should just tell him to call my attorney and give him Mike's number.

Unfortunately at this point in the project, it will be difficult to find a GC to come in to take on the repairs and additional work. So I think that the best option will be to have Richard increase his scope to function as the GC for the remainder of the project. Most of the major sub-contractors were already under his direction, and he arranged for the stucco work to begin this week, so it makes the most sense.

He thinks that it will probably take about 2 1/2 months to get the warehouse completed. It doesn't look promising for Thanksgiving, but we can hope.

I spent Wednesday up in New York. The President of my company, Sal Zaffino, was receiving an honor from the Boy Scouts of America, and several of us went to the presentation luncheon. That evening, a reinsurance company hosted a wine tasting at the Morgan Library. It was very beautiful - they have a great atrium room where we were able to taste four different wines:

Cakebread Cellars 2000 Napa Valley Chardonnay
Patz and Hall 2000 Dutton Ranch Chardonnay
Duckhorn Vineyards 2000 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc
Schramsberg 1999 Cremant Demi-Sec

They were all quite tasty, and since they weren't allowed to serve red wines in the Library, they gave everyone a bottle of Fife 2000 Napa Valley "Scarlet" Red to take home. It was a fun evening, and I got home around 9:15.

Today I stopped by the warehouse in the morning to meet with a potential carpenter for the job. My attorney, Mike, had recommended him, and while I think he would be fine to work with, we both agreed that it would probably be difficult for him to come into the project at this point. But I think that if we need someone else for finish work, he would be a good one to call.

I have to start packing again. I leave Saturday for Europe for a week, and it's a pretty brutal trip. We fly to Cologne, Germany, and have a meeting and lunch there before taking the train to Hannover, where we are meeting a reinsurer for dinner. The next morning we fly to Zurich for a meeting and lunch, then fly to Paris. More meetings and a lunch, then the Eurostar train to London. We have a day and a half of meetings in London before we are finally allowed to go home on Friday afternoon.

[Who says business travel isn't glamorous?]

Quote du jour:

"To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am."

-- Bernard Baruch (1870 - 1965) US businessman, statesman

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