Archive for August 28-September 3, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, September 3, 2000
Much to our surprise . . .
. . . the sedate young men that live below us in place of the couple with the screaming babies have finally found the way out of their shells! Unfortunately, they picked last night to have a rousing kegger and so many of us are pleased this morning!! At about 12:20am the noise cut out and that is way past "quiet curfew" time here. Another problem is the unsightly manner in which they keep their patio-- this is the apartment unit that is next to the rental office so I am constantly amazed that they are allowed to keep it up this way. I have an appointment with the manager in about 15 minutes to go discuss both issues with her.
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I went and talked with the manager of the complex. She claims that no one has come to her to complain about the party but, since the keg is still sitting on the patio, along with all of the newspapers, she'll stop by at some point to make sure that there isn't a repeat performance tonight. The cut-off time is 11pm so they'll have a surprise if they try to have another late party!
Fatherly Advice
One tidbit that I forgot to mention as a left-over from the birthday party yesterday: my father-in-law and I got to discussing finances and stock (particularly the finances of Brian and me, of course) and at one point, he stopped and apologized: He said, "You don't need to hear this from me-- I have no right to say this stuff". I corrected him because, as I pointed out, he has every right in the world to say it, just like we have every right in the world to hear him, listen to him and choose to go with what he says or go the way that we want to go. Plain and simple-- that's what fathers-in-law are for and I've got a great one!
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Well, I'm working on ornaments again today-- I've got a few finished (about 10) but I've gotta get some more done. I'm going to go for a bike ride later on and just make it a normal bike ride. I have woken up the past three mornings with a back problem of some sort-- I think I'm sleeping crooked or something cuz it is really hurting!
More later as time and events permit . . .
Saturday, September 2, 2000Happy Birthday, Robert Michael!!
We are home after our brief excursion up to the Sacramento area to celebrate Robert's first birthday! A grand celebration it was, too-- Brian will have pictures running off of his site on this later tonight but, a good time was had by all!! Lots of cutie kids and good times which is always fun!!
Upon arrival home, I asked Brian to make coffee (his tastes better than mine) so I'll have coffee but I doubt that we'll need to eat anything for a meal tonight!
More to follow, I'm sure . . .
Friday, September 1, 2000Out of Mouth, Out of Mind
I forgot to tell you that I've now had all of the stitches removed from the bone graft areas!! Man, I am truly a happier camper for that!! You would think that after all of the strife I've been putting you, my faithful readers and friends through, I would have the decency to remember to tell you a milestone as big as that but NOOOOooooo!!!! The infection is still a little there but, ever so very little and should be gone completely by the time that I finish the antibiotics on Saturday.
Not a pleasant experience by any means but that's why I am now the poster child for quitting smoking and going to the dentist regularly. I've got a cleaning set up for November (which has actually been set up since March). I will be having cleanings every three months (as will Brian) even though our insurance only covers one every six months. It is worth the money NOT to have to go through this AGAIN!!
Barely September . . .
. . . and its raining!! I can't believe it-- to my knowledge this is the EARLIEST that the rain has ever started. There's usually rain by the end of November but September? Man, this is really strange for California!!
Visitor
Today, we had a wonderfully spotted visitor in my office. Her name is Gracie and she's a dalmation! Of course, she has a wonderful personality and was very tolerant of my attention-- we really need to get a house soon so that I can get a dog!!! People know that if there is a dog in the office, they " . . . have to get Marcia!" This is not a bad reputation to have as long as people don't fear that I will actually steal their dogs. I've been tempted but I guess I'll have to wait a bit.
Thinking Happy Thoughts
My friend, Linda, will be going through a surgery in a few weeks. She's really scared because it could be something that turns out to be fairly serious. We're all hoping, of course, that it turns out to be something fairly minor but, we won't know anything for a couple of weeks yet. That's why, in addition to wrapping Robert's gift for tomorrow, it is nearly 8:30pm as I write this-- my post is usually up much earlier but I saw Linda tonight and after my usual nail appointment, we talked a bit. I'll keep you all posted on her condition and situation, if that's okay with you-- she's another friend of mine, just like all of you.
And on that note . . .
. . . not terribly sure about what the schedule will be like tomorrow or if things will or will not get posted tomorrow at all. We're playing the timing completely by ear as far as the to-and-from of the party because of the holiday traffic.
If I don't catch up with you tomorrow, I will on Sunday-- right before my bike ride!! It'll be the first time in two weeks that I'll be able to ride and, yes, I plan to make it a Good One!!
Have a good night and I'll talk with you soon!
Thursday, August 31, 2000Here We Go Again!
Another month has zoomed by!! I used to roll my eyes when my mother would say "My, how time flies!" I thought she was kidding but, at that time, I was about 11 which put her at "ancient" in my years and time was flying by!! So August is done . . . school has started in many areas of the country by now; of course, they've added time on to the school year so that everyone (okay, just about everyone) starts in August now. But, if you think about it, there are three months until Thanksgiving, four months until Christmas, two-thirds of the year has gone by and those New Years' resolutions are still sitting on the shelf! Okay, okay!!! Quit slapping me!!! <G>
By the way, don't forget the "Best Way" to tell what time of the month or quarter it is: my computer blew up!! And, true to form, it again happened today in the midst of attempting to get a time-critical document to a customer, of course. One of the newer people in our group looked at me with total astonishment and exclaimed, "My goodness! You're right, it does it every end of month!!" (Or at least it has every end of the month that she's been here-- X4!) This time the recovered document didn't show up and I had lost some of the edits.
Anglophile
Okay so you know I'm a nut about England but have I ever mention that I was a Royal Watcher as well? That actually started when I was living in Dallas-- I had to wake up at something like 2amCDT to watch the wedding of Diana and Chuck. A few years later, I did the same thing when Fergie and Andy were married.
When I went to England in 1997, I came across a cab driver outside of Harrod's who, after we were engaged in a rousing discussion of the shoddy treatment that the Royal Family was giving Diana, turned off the meter and gave me and another woman that I was traveling and working with, a grand tour of London, including The Queen Mum's residence. It was splendid and we had a wonderful time!!
Nine months later, when Diana was in the auto accident that took her life, I was probably as devastated as anyone living in England at the time. I spent every chance I could watching the news to see what was going on and, true to form, woke up at 1amPDT to watch the funeral and proceedings. The storybook Princess was gone from our lives but her memories live on which is the important part. You always want to leave this world, having made a positive mark on it and, in my opinion, Diana did exactly that through her life, her example and her children. There's a story about the memorials that are being held around England here in case you've missed it.
New Records!!
I gotta say: "THANKS" in a big way!!! To who (or is it "whom"), you ask? To YOU!! My page read numbers went up again this month despite the website being down completely for four days!! My readership has grown to include Australia, Netherlands, Canada, United Kingdom, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Japan, United States, Malaysia, New Zealand, Finland, Iceland, Russian Federation, Bulgaria and France. Now, I don't have as many countries as my husband but I'm pleased and grateful for your presence. Brian mentioned to his readers that he wasn't sure why they came by but he is happy to have them visiting and, I am just as happy (or more so!) to have my readers come by. Its been fun to communicate with people from around the world-- the internet is an amazing thing!!
Considering that this month, you've had to put up with total offline-ness (that's now a a cool word, eh?) and me whining for days at a time, so you've had to put up with a lot and I appreciate it! Keep coming by-- I don't plan to go anywhere since this seems to work as a good release for my daily frustrations!!
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Tonight, because of getting my hair done, I'm already running a bit behinder than usual! Brian cooked the dinner that he was supposed to cook last night and it was just about ready when I got home. Now, however, it is my turn to do dishes so I'd better get to it!
Have a good evening!
Wednesday, August 30, 2000An Evening of Miscellany
- My sisters, Sue and Karen, and I had a three-way chat session going tonight on ICQ! It was the first time we'd done this because Sue, who is getting ready to go back to Brazil in a few weeks to continue their work in Bauru, had just gotten ICQ installed on their computer. With the three of us typing all at once, we kinda wondered who would be reading but, it turned out great and we had a wonderful time chatting away!!
That will be the first of many, I presume because I can hook in from work on ICQ and Karen is in the Eastern time zone which is three hours ahead of me. When Sue goes back to Brazil, of course she'll be on Brazilian time which is five hours ahead of me. Confused yet? Well, hopefully we won't be when we get ready to do it! And, yes, we'll have to bear through my work duties but it is cheaper than calling Sue!!
- Keri Beland tells me she's making the Rosemary Chicken recipe tonight; I hope it goes better than Dan Bowman's taste-test of "The Recipe"! (Ya see, Dan is a meat-n-potatoes kinda guy although he has recently had barbequing added to the menu at the Bowman Abode.) While making the Rosemary Chicken last night, I took pictures of the progress so that a demonstrable example could be seen and, hopefully, make it easier to cook.
- When I got home from work tonight, my husband gave me flowers-- for simply no reason at all (that I'm aware of)!! Its always such a pleasant surprise to find him standing there with one of those grins on his face-- I'm never quite sure if I should duck out of the line of fire or sally forth.
- One of my favorite actors and ST:TNG people, Patrick Stewart was wed over the weekend: Brian found one story on it and I found another. I had heard that he was going to be getting married but wasn't aware of dates, etc.
- Speaking of getting married, my long-time friends Cece and DJ were married over the weekend, too! Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the wedding but they have our heart-felt best wishes. I've known Cece and DJ longer than I've known Brian-- some people take their time about getting married! Two more prime examples of the wonderful people that you can meet on the internet!
- Ornaments to make and PBS to watch on "How To" night!
Success Story
I had a contract turned over to me that the customer wanted a BUNCH of changes to an OLD format that we used-- they didn't have time review the new format. When I finally got ahold of the customer yesterday, I found out that they not only wanted changes, they wanted unreasonable changes!! I was not a pleased puppy to say the least.
Then, I contacted the sales rep to get the quote: $8,000!!! Excuse me? We're negotiating an agreement for EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS?? When did we get desperate? NEVER!!! Why were we doing this negotiation? I'll tell ya why: it would be easier to negotiate the unreasonable requests by the consultant than to have to deal with the State of Texas (and aren't the webcrawlers going to have fun with that phrase??)!!
So, okay, we are going to negotiate the deal so I put a call into their attorney who, first thing this morning, calls and whines at me because I am asking questions that she doesn't want to answer because I may find out too much information and, by gum, then I'd be able to re-draft the document accurately! (Notice a slight attitude problem?) I was nice but she was very whiny and didn't like that I may possibly (not even necessarily) reject some of her proposed language changes. They were asking for the world, which we couldn't give them, of course.
I responded to her 8 point memo with a 9 point email because, in addition to her requests, I had to throw language in to cover us for future purchases since they were using "an outdated form". I sent off the email and the revised, redlined document figuring that I'd end up spending the next two days arguing with her about why we couldn't allow a pro-ration of the fees in case the State of Texas terminated their agreement. Instead, I got a phone call that said she had accepted all of the changes and sent it up for signature!
Color me surprised!!! Now that's the way to end a month!!
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If I missed anything, I'll be back-- have a great evening!
Tuesday, August 29, 2000
(Updated at 9:59pm)Kinduva Drag . . .
The first half of my day just dragged by today-- I looked at the clock at 10am and thought I'd read 1pm which made sense to the way that it "felt" for me. Then, at 1:15pm, it felt like 9:15!! Some of this had to do with the fact that the "fog*" (to real people "clouds") hung in all day-- the "fog" even rained in a couple of places today! It is rare for us to have a rainy day in August; its even rare to have a cloudy day in August!
Anyway, this afternoon things started to pick up a bit and then, all of a sudden, it went a little crazy and I was running around trying to get several documents drafted at once! Suddenly the time began to fly by which is a lot better-- I hate when time drags on!
*Brian calls clouds "fog" all the time-- even when they are really clouds, he will still call it "fog" because there are no clouds in California in August (and other assorted "fair weather" months). Clouds wouldn't dare enter California airspace, don'tcha know?Other than that . . .I've got dinner to make and ornaments to work on tonight. We're having the "Rosemary Chicken" recipe along with zucchini and maybe I can figure out a way to work some fresh tomatoes into the zucchini-- sounds good, doesn't it? While it seems like Christmas is months off, I've actually got a much earlier deadline on a couple of ornaments due to the fact that the Finnish couple is leaving in a little over a week-- I've got work to do!!
Bicycling & Health
You would think that one would automatically go with the other and vice versa. Well, according to my dentist, I can't ride my bicycle until I get rid of the infection because the antibiotics wouldn't stay in my system. SO, I'm patiently waiting to get rid of the infection and hoping that I will by this weekend so that I can go on an extended bicycle ride-- I've got a couple of days to kill after we get back from Sacramento on Saturday so I can afford to get really sore!
We have decided, by the way, that since I'm getting my mani/pedicure done the night before, we'll just be making this a day-trip (up-n-back on the same day). Brian's folks had invited us to stay with them on Friday night but, by the time that we get to their house, it would be 10pm or later so it wouldn't leave us any time to spend with them. We'll be able to spend a lot of time with them and Brian's sister's family on Saturday cuz we are going to be leaving early-- or at least, at last report we were going to be leaving here early on Saturday morning.
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I guess that's all for now-- perhaps I'll get a chance to put more up later but I've got dinner to cook so I'd better get to it.
Tonight while making dinner, I took pictures of the process involved with making the Rosemary Chicken recipe. Since I've got a decent set of pans now (read: presentable that aren't scratched up and, for the moment, shine!), I decided to take pictures of making the recipe so I've managed to put them on the recipe. Enjoy and hopefully, seeing the pictures makes it a little easier to see and put the recipe together.
I just noticed that I don't have the recipe for the vegetable dish that I made on my Recipe Page. I'm sure there's probably a name for it as I doubt that I am the first to come up with this combination. In the next day or two, I'll figure out something to call it and show the pictures in the process of making the recipe on this one, as well.
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That'll take a day or two though because, I've been trying to be brave again and stay up with Brian and his late hours and, frankly, it has caught up with me. I'm really tired tonight and, much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to go to bed earlier than him tonight. I'll call it "pre-warming the bed" tonight since it is a little nippy-- very autumn-like tonight-- and maybe he won't notice . . . yeah, right.
Hope you had or have a pleasant evening as your individual time zone may vary . . .
Monday, August 28, 2000Updates
First, I'm feeling much better although I do still have an infection; the stomach upset is completely gone as it relates to the tooth-stuff, however, and that is really good news from where I sit! Second, work is much more back to normal because my schedule is more normal-- End of the month is coming up, however-- I can feel it in my bones!
Things to do . . .
. . . its quite late here in California already and I've got bills to pay yet tonight. I had some running around to do tonight: another prescription to be picked up and "Eyes Wide Shut" to return; it played for about 16 seconds and stopped-- played no further so that one is still a "Suspense" to me!
Now I've got some bills to pay and hopefuly, have more time and things to write tomorrow.
Sorry so short-- have a good evening!
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