I wonder how a child sees my business . . .

My kids tend to get very excited about my job. I guess they are feeding off of the energy I get from what I do. Sometimes I am intrigued by the ways they show this excitement.

My son has a bit of an artistic - or creative - or expressive - side. I came home one day last summer and was presented with this creation by my fourth grade son.

Allow me to explain the intricacies you see above. The roof is made of shingles from a dollhouse my wife had as a child - or maybe they were some of the new ones we got to replace a few of her busted shingles. The door is made of popsicle sticks. Now, in order to understand the picture as the artist intended it you have to view it one side at a time. Imagine the picture divided in half from the top to the bottom in the middle of the door. The right hand side, as described on the post-it note is "other co.s" or other companies. The left is Hardwick Window Cleaning (the H is made of yarn or a pipe cleaner taped to the post-it).

On the right we see that the "other co.s" have broken a window (symbolized by the jagged lines). The quote says "Sorry, we have to leave." The company broke a window and is now abandoning the job site. Yuo can see a very unhappy home owner in the top right window.

On the left side, the Hardwick Window Cleaning side, the quote says "Your windows will stand out." Notice the left top window. My son made this window "stand out" about half an inch from the surface of the paper. Not really sure whose legs those are dangling, but you have a 3D window, so why not some legs sticking out?
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My first grade daughter in May or June of this year drew me this beauty.

This home or business has dirty windows, no; make that filthy, black windows. The little girl with pig tails and a squeegee in her hand is helping her daddy clean the windows. She informed me that this is a self-portrait. She is standing in the basket of a boom lift like the one she saw when we cleaned the windows of a couple very large office buildings off of Hwy 316 in Athens by using an 80 foot boom lift.

The little yellow bird reminds me of how happy my little girl is all of the time. She has lots of hugs and kisses for her daddy.

"I want to see myself"

Short blog post today.

Each month we clean the windows at a men's clothing store in Athens. One of the managers loves to see me come in and always says, "Hey. I want to see myself in those windows." I love that. I assure her that indeed she will be able to see herself in the windows is just a few minutes when I finish.

CJ&L reaction to my blog post

A few months ago I posted a story about a local realtor who found room "at the top", even in a crowded marketplace. The realtor is Ceci Churchwell with Chastain, Jenkins and Leathers. Read CJ&L's reaction to my post below.

"Ceci Churchwell is a top agent in our office, and we are so thrilled to have her as part of our team. Read the blog below written by one of her clients, Steve Hardwick with Hardwick Window Cleaning Services (who we also think does a great job and is at the top of his field as well!). You can contact Ceci at 706-247-2682 or 706-559-4520 or ceci@cjandl.com."

Here's the link to my original blog post. http://hardwickwindowcleaning.blogspot.com/2010/04/is-there-room-in-your-market-there-is.html

Check out http://cjandl.wordpress.com/ for CJ&L's blog and poke around a bit.

Beautiful building, beautiful couple, but . . .

This afternoon the love of my life and I attended a wedding in Athens, GA. The location was a chapel, rather than a church, and it was beautiful. Well, let me be a little more clear, the wedding ceremony was beautiful, and so was the bride, but if I may be so bold, I am referring to the building itself. The building was created from wood and stone native to Georgia. Top quality craftsmanship was evident and the emotion I felt simply from being inside the chapel made me feel close to heaven. The windows were not clean.

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Oops, did I say that out loud? It seems that all of the air just got sucked out of the room. Guess I have some explaining to do.

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The windows were structurally appealing. Nonetheless cobwebs, smudges, and that almost foggy look that windows get when not maintained regularly were evident. I am a fan of wasp nests as much as the next guy but the largest wasp nest I have ever seen was outside of the window calling my name and distracting me during the service. The wedding service went off without a hitch. However, now I feel obliged to figure out with whom to speak and offer to help this chapel maintain the look and cleanliness of the windows.

Private Gallery - New women's store in Athens

A few months ago Athens got a new women's clothing store on Clayton Street. In the space previously occupied by a shop called Mary, Private Gallery opened. Fran Hughes is the manager. This link is the writeup from the Athens Banner Herald article.

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/041110/bus_604493607.shtml