Monday Meanderings - 10.10.2016

Happy Columbus Day. Sort of a low-profile holiday - no shelves of Columbus-related merchandise to buy. No decorations or traditions to uphold. Not even any greeting cards to purchase. Some marketer somewhere is missing the boat. Hehehe.

Well, StuckhouseATX finally made it's way to its new home in Lockhart. It didn't get there until Friday night, and I understand that another house from the same lot in Austin is scheduled to make the trip to Lockhart. Hopefully, the movers can benefit from their experience - but this is Austin.

A couple of new additions to the ATX "Best Of" awards:

Austin has been named the the most caffeinated city in Texas on a list compiled by WalletHub identifying the “Best Cities for Coffee Lovers.” However, the same list ranks Texas as a whole as a coffee lover’s nightmare. Only 3 Texas cities made the list - Austin was ranked as No. 28, Plano, was No. 27. and Laredo (?) squeaked in at the No. 100 spot, the last on the list. No surprise to hear that Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington nabbed the first and second spots on the list.

And, Austin has ranked second on a list of best cities for “urban hermits,” behind top-ranked Chicago. The calculation was based on Internet availability, stay-at-home workers, and the total number of restaurants offering food delivery and the total number of alcohol delivery companies operating in the city. Do you suppose any coffee shops deliver?

I am a fan of the phone support desks that offer to place you on the waiting list and call you when a representative is available. So much nicer than staying in a state of suspended animation while listening to insipid music. But this approach may have reached a new high (low?) the other day. My Dr. ordered an MRI and said the radiology place would call to set it up. They did. They called and an automated service asked if I wanted to be placed on a call-back list. Uhh, okay. But why not just wait until a representative was ready and call?

Any way, I opted for the call-back and a few minutes later the phone rang, the automated voice said, "Please hold" (!) and after about a 3 minute delay, connected the representative. who asked why I was calling!! Maybe they need to work on that technology a bit.