Archive for July 17-23, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, July 23, 2000
Saturday & Friday UpdatesHome Again, Home Again . . .
Yippee!!!
The director of our department and one of the contract managers had to go on to Dallas; one of the contract managers had left to go home last night because of personal obligations. That left Judy and me-- we were both tired by about 11:45 when they were getting to break off the meetings for lunch. Judy asked our director if we could leave early to try to get on "stand-by" on an earlier flight. (On Friday afternoon, when we registered, we were informed of an itinerary/agenda change that would have us out of the meeting by 2:00pm on Sunday but, with no flights out of the airport until 7pm-- not good!!) The director told us we could go and, we got lucky-- we were put on the plane!!! We were two of the the last four people allowed on and, with several co-workers on the flight, rounds of applause echoed when they saw that we'd been allowed to board the flight!
I did not, however, call Brian to let him know that I would be home earlier. Judy called her husband and, according to her plan, the two of them could bring me home and I could surprise Brian. And surprise him, I did!! I walked up to the door, which is almost always open when we're at home, and simply said, "Thank goodness its nice and cool here!!" (It was actually mid-80s here which, in some areas, is considered hot but, by comparison, it was cool!!) He turned his chair in his office and just sorta sat there for a second or two-- then he bolted for me!! ;>) ;>) ;>) ;>) ;>) ;>) ;>) ;>)
It was sooooo hard to be without him-- I'm used to him being Right There every day, all the time. Man, I missed him!!
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This is actually a longer post than I expected to put up-- I'm probably leaving out some details but, if the details are pertinent, I'll come back atcha another time to update you, okay? Okay!
I'm tired . . .
Saturday, July 22, 2000Not a Good Thing!
Well, what can I say? A few months back, I had mentioned that I could tell you what about my job but then I'd have to kill ya and Sjon Svenson mentioned something about "deceasing readership". Ditto . . . what can I say? The Chief Operating Officer stopped his presentation so that the people who were handling the logistics of the presentation could close the doors of the main facility; when they were closed, he continued. I can't tell ya-- I like you and don't want to see anything happen so . . . trust me-- it was worth a trip to the desert!
Fun Times!
At night, I got a little slack cut for me by my director-- she is a great person to work for-- and gave Keri a call. I had called her on a break earlier in the day to make sure that she was free at night. Then, when I freed up, I called her back to let her know that I could meet earlier than I had expected!
Keri came over to the resort where I was staying-- it was great to meet her! We had so much fun talking and laughing and laughing and talking!! While we were sitting there, several people from my company came up and talked with us but, when the disc-jockey started, she brought me over to their apartment and to meet Matt and the other members of the menagerie such as Daniel and Maggie and Doorstop and the others. My favorite, of course, was Isotope-- a loving Heinz-57 kind of dog-- she was so precious!! I was trying to figure out a way to bring her home with me but apparently, she doesn't like small places very much and I only brought a small purse with me! So I guess it was not meant to be! :( I wish I'd had more time to spend with Keri & Matt-- that's the only problem with trying to cram so much into a 48-hour trip!!
At the end of the evening, Matt and Keri brought me back to the resort and it was still an oppressive 100+F!! It never cools down there, I swear!!
Friday, July 21, 2000Arrival!
I have never felt heat as oppressive as Arizona!! Yeesh!!! I could not believe how hot it was-- even the "breeze" was hot!! The cool bit for me was seeing the desert-- a real desert!! Oodles and oodles of cactus and sagebrush and, thankfully, critters I couldn't see-- too cool, indeed!!
Busses of people from the airport-- check-in was not fun! We went to one of the restaurants and had lunch and then, went back and checked in. After unpacking and showering, we went back to the main convention facility. Lots of people to see and meet! The more intense and instructional meetings were scheduled for Saturday but there were "mandatory attendance" meetings happening on Friday.
Thursday, July 20, 2000Sage Advice
Thanks to Keri Beland, the women of our Contracts Department are a little more savvy about what to wear in extreme heat-- yes, 119F qualifies as extreme heat!! Keri's got some great advice on how to survive the temperatures and I made sure that my co-workers were told about it. Thanks Keri!!
What about the sales reps, you say? What about 'em? They're on their own!! They're sales reps-- they'll be in the desert and very happy, amongst their relatives, I'm sure . . . that was subtle, wasn't it? Yep, I thought so, too!
Deep Breath
Today, about 2:00pm, I was ready to jump anybody with a cigarette-- my stress level was unbearable! The agreement with the "unbearable customer" is finished but now another reseller and channel sales rep on the inside of my company have approached us about doing the deal indirectly. I am so frustrated by all of this!! I called the AVP and told him what was happening, leaving it up to him to deal with it. All of the people involved from my company: the channel sales rep, the direct sales rep, the AVP, the Director of channel sales and me and my director will be in Phoenix this weekend-- yep, the temperatures could really sore there!
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That said, I have to pack tonight and get a bunch of other stuff ready so I'm going to sign off early on this one. I won't be back in the morning so ya'll will just have to take care of each other for me while I'm gone!
See ya Sunday-- maybe Monday!!
Wednesday, July 19, 2000What else is new?
I was drawn to this article online today about the record heatwave in the south. Then, Keri mentions her the heatwave-- 119F in Phoenix! ARGH!! Guess where I have to go this weekend? PHOENIX!!!! Oh, ARGH!!!!
There is a sales meeting this weekend-- sales people from all over the country are flying into Phoenix (if the planes can land!!) for this meeting.
The funny thing: when I negotiated the agreement (yes, that task was given to me!!), I mentioned to the events manager that it was silly to put this meeting in Phoenix in July. It would be too hot-- it didn't make any sense to put it there!! But 119F!!!!!
Oh, man-- this is not going to be fun!
Okay, enough complaining about the temperatures. Yes, I will be gone this weekend, from Friday to Sunday and no, Brian can't come with me. He'll be fine, however, with the new Acer that he's just had delivered. He'll be a very happy man indeed! I'm not sure he'll miss me . . . okay, maybe he'll miss me a little bit! ;>)
The worst part is that we hit the ground running (not literally in the heat but it is close!); the only time they don't have a function planned for us is the time between the hotel and the airport, in both directions. Otherwise every waking moment is planned up until about 11pm each night!
The good news is that it is in a NEW hotel with working air conditioning!! The bad news is that there won't be time to contact the Belands or meet them for coffee or anything-- at least, it is not looking good so far. When I found out about the meeting being in Phoenix, I immediately let Keri know that I'd be there but, at that point I wasn't completely certain about the itinerary. I am now-- we are booked solid for 48 hours!! Then, do we get a minute to breathe (if you can in the heat)? Nooo, we have to go to the airport to go home-- wait a minute! I am not going to complain about that too much. It would be a matter of going home to relatively normal temperatures and my husband who will, by then, hopefully be "over" the newness of his new computer. If I'm lucky . . .
119F??? Yeesh!!
Making Up for Lost Time
It was incredibly busy today-- we were all so busy catching up from the time that we missed yesterday and, true to form, the sales reps trying to push through everything possible before they leave to attend the sales meeting.
The negotiation with the attorney has been going well-- he's finally figured out that he doesn't read our agreement very well. An agreement with a term blew him away because it was "inconsistent with their business practice". He didn't like it much when I told him that making the agreement (the paper on which the license is written) perpetual was inconsistent with our business policies of one year agreements. I believe that made it crystal clear to him. Anyway, we're down to one issue and that's being resolved as we speak so this will hopefully close before the end of the week.
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I'm still not recovered from my activities of yesterday so tonight will be a light evening of PBS and early to bed probably.
Have a good evening!
Tuesday, July 18, 2000Oh, the damage that can be done!
When you put eight (yes, 8) women in the back of a limousine (full stretch, 12 passenger) with two magnums and two bottles of champagne, you are asking, not even begging for trouble!! All things considered, we were pretty good, really-- no legal troubles per se except for the waving out of the sun/moon roof which is apparently against the law. (No sense of humor!!!)
We had our "The Quarter's Done, Let's See How Much Trouble We Can Get Into" Day today, needless to say and, no, we didn't get into any trouble big but we could've . . . it would've been easy enough to do. The director of our department is great and we all had a bunch of great fun!!
Unfortunately, there isn't much to report as a result of that, however. Very little work actually done today although I was the only one in the office at 7 and I was the only one in the office at 8 and I was the only one in the office at 9. That's when everyone else managed to roll into the office but, by that time, I'd done two or three hours worth of work despite the best efforts of some sales people!
Oh, well . . . day is done and so am I . . .
Monday, July 17, 2000And so it goes . . .
I am not an attorney. I'm very glad I'm not an attorney. Remember the attorney that I was telling you about that was making very stupid mistakes in trying to "negotiate" the software license before I left on vacation? He's baaa-aaccckkkk!! ARGH!!! He's worse than ever!! The sales rep thinks we're "close" on getting this closed off; he may change his mind after he reads my 18-point email back to the attorney.
One of the changes that the attorney insists on having is language inserted in the document that allows for "modification of the software". This doesn't work with the language in the document that specifically restricts modification of the software. In fact, the language of the document reads: "you may not modify, disassemble, reverse engineer . . . the software". In my response to him, I reminded him of the language in that paragraph and that if they were to modify the software (which they can't do without our knowing about it), it would be a material breach of the agreement for which there would be no "cure" possible. Translation? That would mean the agreement is breached, they don't get to keep the software and they don't get their money back!
I can see his law school tuition really paid off, eh? Yeesh!!
Meanderings . . .
If you're a weekday rather than weekend reader of mine, you'll be happy to know that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival trip report and pictures are up on my Meanderings website. Brian got some really great shots-- enjoy!!
And speaking of my vacation, I was voted "Morale Officer" while I was gone because it was really quiet and somber while I was gone. The department went to lunch one day last week and were moping about how much they missed me! Isn't it great to be needed? I, of course, demanded a raise with my new position but, my director was not amenable. Maybe she'll change her mind after my next vacation? Hey!! It could happen!!
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By the way, I'm at 9.4 lbs. lost-- without a bike ride in over a week, too! Considering we were on holiday last week and I wasn't overly cautious, I was pleased!
Have a nice evening!
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