Sunday, April 23, 2000

Happy Easter!

Good morning and happy Easter to all!  No Easter Bunny visitors last night-- the closest we came was to the putz that pitches the newspaper over our second-floor balcony.  The hefty newspaper sections (two of them) landed smack-dab in the middle of Farmer Brian's green beans-- he is not happy!

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Last night Brian knocked off of work early and we finally saw the movie "Blade Runner" from beginning to end!  We had started it several weeks ago, in fact, so long ago that I couldn't remember it so we started from the beginning again.  This morning, I think he's in the writing cuz he's typing pretty fast (for him) but later we're going to have to knock off so that we can go to Grammy's for Easter.  Then we'll be back at it, I'm sure!

When we get back, I'm going to continue working on re-formatting my pages.  I've given up on Front Page-- maybe its too simple and I'm making it harder but I don't understand the premise-- html I understood but I can't understand Front Page.  I guess that's why someone needs to write a book, eh?  In the interim, however, I've gone out on the web and found some backgrounds and borders that I like so I'll be introducing a new format tomorrow-- come by early and often! ;>)

Have a great Easter!

As strange as it may seem . . .

I have decided that I am way too normal to write screenplays!  I've just returned from seeing "American Beauty".  A very twisted movie with twisted plots and plot twists that make me wonder what the fabric of "Hollywood" is made up of these days.  Do I want to write for an industry that heralds dysfunction as something worth heralding?  Good question, indeed.

And on another note . . .

My sister, Sue, wrote the following email to me today:

Dear Marcia,

Got your e-mail and wandered through your web page.  I'm home alone as everyone else went to a movie and I have already finished my house cleaning and ironing so was able to take some time to read on the internet a little.  Anyway, I enjoyed your Morro Bay stories and Hearst castle too. Fun to read you--sounds just like you.

Thanks, Sue!  I'm gonna quote you on that, y'know?  I hope that's okay . . .

By the way, have you ever read the story from Christmas that I told about you and Bill?  If not, here's the URL so you can find it a little easier: http://www.DutchGirl.net/archive/musings-19dec99.html

Yes, I know-- you thought I was never going to go back and work the rest of the Hearst-thang in my "Meanderings", didn't you?  Well, you were wrong!  I worked on Part 3, The Art & Acquisitions, this afternoon and its up on the net-- enjoy.  There's only one part left and that's the discussion about the guest list. That's fairly interesting, too, so I'll try to do some work on that soon-ish (or RSN, YMMV).

Tonight?

Brian and I are baking up a ham that we got for half-price.  I've got some ironing to do tonight and he, of course, has the book to work on-- big surprise, eh?

Finally!

I had to get my nails done (yes, I know-- no one has to get their nails done but, I did, really!) and, at 9:15pm, I'm finally putting my post up.  Normally  I have a Saturday appointment for my nails and pedicure but, Linda is picking up her Harley-Davidson tomorrow so, all of her usual Saturday clients were re-booked to other days.  By the way, you'll notice that I did not say Linda and her husband are picking up their Harley because it isn't their Harley-- its HER Harley!!  She has wanted one for a very long time and Tim, her husband, has his own so he doesn't need a second one!  Last weekend, they both went to classes offered by the CHP for safety and defensive driving so they are almost all set to start tearing up the road!  I'm really excited for Linda-- she's been wanting this for a long, long time!!  She is an incredibly interesting young woman with all kinds of goals still set out for herself in this world.  Because she is still alive and growing as a person, it makes me glad to have her as my friend.

Office Move

With a couple of hitches, my office got relocated today.  Apparently, the Zircon connector to the network got smashed by someone (there were only two people handling my computer and neither of them was me!) so I got a new connector.  The problem is that the new one doesn't want to let go of the card that it plugs into which is really fun for me!  I have to unplug it from the net to bring it home every night so hopefully, it'll get loosened up quickly.

Weekend Plans

While I have waffled quite a bit about what to do this weekend, I've finally made a decision:  I'm going to go fishing next weekend and plot a little calmer course for this weekend.  Last weekend, we were rushing around to and fro Sacramento so it didn't feel like we really got any rest.  If I go fishing again tomorrow, I'll feel like I have to rush, too, so I won't feel rested by Sunday night.

This morning when exchanging emails with Barbara, I had this huge plan of what I was going to do to go fishing tomorrow and, by the time I told her (on email) and Brian (in another email), I was exhausted.  The plan I told them about was:

put the bicycle rack on the back of the car
hook my bike onto it
drive out to Lake Chabot at 0-Dark-Hundred (I decided I needed an earlier start from 0-Dark-Thirty)
take my bike off the bike rack
put the bike rack in the trunk
put my fishing gear in the basket or in my backpack
ride my bike to a fishing spot near the dam (taking me up a hill called "The Burner"-- need I say more?)
fish for three to four hours
ride my bike back
put the bike rack on the car
put my bike on the bike rack
drive home
clean the fish--

So, now my plan is to go to Costco in the morning and in the afternoon or evening, I'll go catch a movie.  Of all of my friends, I'm the only one that hasn't seen "American Beauty" so that's one I'll have to see by myself anyway.  I don't know if it'll be the movie I choose to see tomorrow or not but, I'm definitely going to take it easy and maybe even follow some of my advice to Barbara!!  ;>)

On-Line-Ness

It is good to be back on-line again.  It seems weird when we're "cut off" from the rest of the world without our DSL.  My sisters have just given up emailing to my home account, I think-- it seems like lately the only email I've gotten from them has gone to my Yahoo! account tbe b me aiintstali.&sp more certain intynb; tability.  The fun bit, of course, comes from being on my work account on the computer next to me as I type this update-- two computers at once!  That is really "On-Line-Ness"!!

If you can see this . . .

Then our DSL is working and we don't know it!  Somewhere around 3pm PDT the DSL service from PacBell went down around the entire Bay Area.  So far, its not fixed so, although I can write this, save it and publish it, I can't see it.  If I understand what Brian is telling me, you are only going to be able to see it when DSL comes back online; if that's in the middle of the night then, at least you'll get to see this before I do!  I am checking my email by way of dial-up service which seems to be working but, I can't do anything to help Brian get his email.  Bummer!

Bicycling . . .

I rode 9 miles tonight!  I'm fairly sore in my leg muscles but my back is what's really killing me!  My lower back is acting up and, even though I have already changed the saddle on the bike once since owning it, there is one other part of my anatomy that is really hurting!!  Boy, they don't make bicycle seats like they used to, do they?

We are going camping in early June and I thought it would be fun to ride bikes on trails in the campground-- turns out that there aren't any trails in the campground so that's out.  Oh, well.  I think we'll be able to find something to occupy us for a couple of days.

Moving on up . . .

At some point tonight or tomorrow morning, my office cubicle is being relocated . . . again . . . This is the second time in four months that I've moved.  We had some of our people (the director and admin) move away from us about a month ago so in an effort to reunite the department, we're being moved over to the area into which the two of them moved.  As much as I'd like it to be the end, it isn't.  Our company acquired a new building to locate other employees into and that means yet another move, hopefully the last for awhile, in September.  I've done more moving here than I did in the first four years at Sun!!  Oh, well, they do things in a fairly organized fashion so it won't mean a lot of down time for me.

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With all of that said, although this is short, I don't know if you'll even get to see it so . . .

Correction:

Before I proceed with anything else, I've promised my sister, Karen, the following post:

Date:     Wed, 19 Apr 2000 20:00:21 -0400
From:    Karen
To:  mlbilbrey@yahoo.com
Subject: dirt

I OBJECT!!  I DO see dirt.  I just prefer to do something besides cleaning up after other people.  There are so many more interesting things to do and read---so there!

And speaking of bicycling . . .

I'm over 5 miles now-- that may not seem like a lot to the likes of John Doucette but, for me, that's major and I'm going to start adding time and distance to the ride tomorrow!  I'm really surprised at how I'm not bored and not looking for excuses to get out of riding.  I'm really enjoying myself!

Updates and Upgrades

Sue and Bill are back from a recent trip to several cities.  As you may or may not know, they have to go around and renew the support that they from the different churches that have agreed in the past to sponsor them in Brazil.  Apparently, they were really successful on this most recent trip and a number of things have come off of their "Special Needs" page.

They've also received the scanner that we sent to them so hopefully they'll get that installed and be up and totally ready to join the Year 2000 soon!  They're getting better at operating their computer and, of course, it really helps a lot when you have a son that's studying to become a computer geek, too!  Aaron, their youngest, is going to the local community college and studying computer sciences so he's a big help for them right now!!  He's also really excited to "play" with their new computer!  Uh-uh, Aaron, that's for Mom & Dad!!

I've got some work to do on their website tonight so, I'll sign off for now.  Catch you later.

What Can I Say?

This morning, after I read Barbara Thompson's website, I had to laugh: My sister, Karen, and I are both gene-deprived when it comes to being able to "see dirt".  My sister, Sue, can see dirt, Barbara can see dirt.  My sister, Nancy, just thinks its funny that I'm "gene-deprived" and, as she says, Brian "buys" it.  The last time we talked about it, she said "You go girl!"

As I told Brian today: Having Albert come to do the cleaning at least makes it so that we (okay, yes, I meant "I") pay attention to leaving stuff laying around.  This is a good thing.  Otherwise, I have to admit, I took advantage of Brian in that he always knew where stuff went (yes, honey, I'm admitting it!).  If I didn't put "stuff" away in a closet or a drawer, he would because he knew where it went.  Albert doesn't know where my stuff goes (and I'm glad!) so, at least for me, I'm picking up after myself better.  Albert is still there to do the deep-cleaning of the dirt-- which I do see (sorta), say "Yuck!!" and walk away, knowing that someone else will be "taking care" of it.

Life Insurance Physicals - Done

The woman from the health testing office came for the insurance company physical exam tonight-- we're one step closer to getting our life insurance-- oh, boy!  Just what I always wanted . . . yeah, right!!

Sorry so short . . .

 . . . but maybe that's a good sign?  It means nothing horrendous is happening in my life right now.  This is a good thing.

And, on that note, have a good night.

Not a Good Day, Sports-Fans!

Well, its not that it was particularly bad either it just wasn't much of a day.  I worked.  I came home.  Day is done . . . that is about it.

Picking Up the Pieces

The company that I work for isn't all that young per se but, they are still learning that they need someone who understands contracts to negotiate sales contracts for them.  As a result, we're still fumbling our way through agreements that should never have been drafted let alone executed-- at least not executed the way that they've ended up.  Eventually, someone has to realize and figure out that just because an agreement amendment was approved once, doesn't mean that it is written in stone.

I've got an agreement that was written with a government agency (not the U.S. Government!) that shouldn't have been executed the way it was executed but, now that it has been, we have to live with those terms and conditions.  Either that or we have to talk them into re-negotiating those terms and conditions-- but why would they?  The terms and conditions that we don't like favor them so, of course, they aren't going to want to change them!  They may be a non-U.S. Government agency but they are not stupid-- entirely!!

Odds-n-Ends

My sister Karen sent me a little email that was very touching . . . I thought the first paragraph was particularly meaningful for me so, I thought I would share it with others on my "Incoming!" site.  This can be even more effective than sending out a mass email to everyone I think should see it.  If you haven't been there in awhile, you may want to check it out-- I added something last week there, too.

The christening pictures are still linked up top and here so there's plenty of opportunity to see Robert being christened-- he is a sweetly dispositioned child.  Hugs-n-kisses to him and Alex for bedtime from both of us, Barb!

Weight Watchers wasn't too bad this week considering that I really only steered away from carbohydrates while gone this weekend.  I tried to eat a lot of salads and veggies but, I have to admit that if someone tells me they've got a cake called "Euphoria" around, I have to try a piece!  It was a reasonably-sized piece-- not a huge piece of the cake like someone had-- who could that have been?

I'm going to work on the essay-- thanks again to Barbara Thompson for taking time from her incredibly busy schedule to help me out.  She's been great, as usual!  Thanks again, Barbara!  I hope to have this out this week and hear positive things back by July or so-- will keep you posted.

With that said, no, I don't have to clean up before Albert comes tomorrow-- I did the picking up when I did the unpacking yesterday!  If there's anything left, Brian's gonna have to do it cuz I just can't see it!!!  (Yes, that is one of the main reasons that I don't do the cleaning-- I just can't see dirt!)

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