Adopting a small family business means adopting certain traditions.

Traditions I uphold from Hank’s tenure:

• typewriter & facscimile machine: I feel like a dinosaur typing away on my electric typewriter, but I love the fact that it’s a lost art. I never charge friends for using my fax machine, but usually it’s just entertaining seeing what police reports get lost on their way to the Oakland PD.
• loyalty to our oldest customers: Most of our customers’ names and phone numbers are engrained in my memory. I know who is related to whom, and whose hobbies (catfishin’) that cause people to leave the office early on Friday afternoons.
• annual vacation time: Growing up with an emerging chuck warehouse in our garage, I remembered watching my dad sell chucks and conduct business from his home office. He was always busy and gabbing away with his clients friends on the phone about machines. I was busy enough being a student and teenager, so our paths rarely crossed. The only time we shared together was our annual family vacation, during school winter breaks between Christmas and the New Year.

This Christmas season, I took off for New York City. My redeye flight was painful landing at 5:10am, but I hustled on the LIRR and Subway in record time to Manhattan. I love sunrise in Central Park on the Upper West Side.

Having only visited Manhattan and Brooklyn, I was pleased as punch to spend New Year’s in Astoria. Here is Hell Gate Bridge as seen from Astoria Park. This was my first time exploring Queens, and I had a wonderful tour guide and new friend showing me around.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and New Years’ celebrations! Happy New Year, and here’s to an amazing 2012 ahead!!

— Chief Chucker, Annie