Archive for July 3-9, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, July 9, 2000
Relucant Packer
My husband, Brian, the Reluctant Packer (which has nothing at all to do with Green Bay) actually gave up his clothes to be packed last night without a huge struggle. It was amazing, indeed! I was talking with my friend, Linda, yesterday and decided that if it weren't for women, men would be naked, have bad hair and body odor! We are the ones who pack their clothes (reminding them a hundred times to pick their own clothes out or we'll be dressing them for a week, too) grab their shampoo and make sure to pack their deodorant (that last bit is mostly for self-preservation since we have to share our bed with them!).
NOW, we can have a leisurely morning getting ready to go and finish up last minute details without having to rush toooooo much because someone (Guess who?) didn't remember to grab socks and underwear. (Hint: I'm wearing sandals so I don't wear socks and, yes, my unmentionables are packed.) The best news of all? We get to repeat the entire process in a few weeks when we go to Michigan!! I can hardly wait!! NOT!!!
Memories . . .
In my short story "A Romantic Fairy Tale", I quote an email that Brian sent to me early on in our email relationship where he mentions that he hopes to find someone to go with him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Soon after we met, I remember buying tickets for a Sarah McLachlan concert that was going to be happening a little over a month later and wondering if it was a smart investment. How did I know he was going to be around then?
At about the same time that I was buying those tickets, he was buying the tickets for us to go to the Festival that summer-- months in advance. I remember being scared of a commitment from him and to him . . . I remember worrying that we were going into this thing too fast and then, realizing, that we were there. Yet, there he was buying tickets for plays we wouldn't see for four or five months. How did he know that we would be together then? Did he know that we would be married by then?
I'm sitting here with a smile on my face remembering that first trip and, admittedly, I'm a soft touch for romance but, I've got teary eyes and a lump in my throat and a very full heart . . .
Thank you for a wonderful and happy two years, sweetie-- I'll repeat our honeymoon any time!
Saturday, July 8, 2000
(Update 8:30am)Getting Started
For as tired as I was last night, I've managed to wake myself up at O'Dark Thirty this morning and, unlike some times when I can doze back-n-forth in sleep, I wasn't able to do so. Of course, I'm now yawning and acting like I'm tired which only makes sense, right?
I've told you before about how I get excited about going on trips or going places or doing things. I'm just like a little kid at Christmas-- that's my attitude about a lot of things and, although it would be concerning if I were any older, since I'm only "This Many Years Old" (as Brian says), I'm not too worried about it. Maybe I can get some packing done before I go to my salon appointment later today.
Geographical Impairment?
There was a time when I couldn't find my way around Sunnyvale without getting lost in a huge way! In 1997, I got my first cell phone so that I could call places and have them guide me into the parking lot like an airplane coming in for a landing!
This week though, I've had two "conversations" with people: One was with Barbara Thompson who suggests that if we go to Michigan after she and Bob move to New Hampshire, we should look them up and the second from Jim Crider who is offering fresh sweet peas if we travel to Longview, Washington when we're in Ashland, Oregon. Ya'll need to get out from behind your computers once in awhile! Longview is on the border of Washington and Oregon, true-- but Ashland is on the opposite border of Oregon so we're talking an eight hour drive to get to that neighborhood!! The relationship between New Hampshire and Michigan? No, I won't go there.
At least I don't feel so bad about my impairment anymore!
Clarification:
I re-read what I wrote last night about Brian taking his "new" laptop computer with him on our vacation. I was joking about being thrilled that he got it working-- he is very good about not going off the deep end when we're doing an "away from computers-thang". He had a perfectly-good opportunity to hijack Dan Bowman's laptop last weekend and didn't and, to the best of my knowledge, he's never logged in from his parents' computer when he could've . . . to the best of my knowledge, that is!
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Probably more later but, I've got to dash for now--
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Do you remember me mentioning back in April that I was working on an essay? Well, it was an essay contest from Mighty Words. Unfortunately, I didn't win but the winning essay can be found here and my essay can be found here, if you're interested in reading it. Congratulations to Linda Monk-- she has written an interesting piece!
Friday, July 7, 2000
(Update at 9:30pm)Bragging Rights!
Okay, so the saga continues: This morning, I called the sales rep involved in the negotiation I mentioned yesterday. He had a call in to the customer's end user and purchasing person and told me he'll call when he knows something, anything that'll speed this deal on its way!
About an hour later, he calls me back to update me: The reseller who was giving them "such a great discounted price" was actually leaving a major component of the software out of the bid, thus leaving them with an inaccurate bid from that reseller. When the correct bid was put together, it turned out to be more than our price so . . . they decided they would just buy directly from us, making their attorney happier by getting the direct, "master" agreement.
Miraculously, I received an email from the attorney this afternoon that says he's spoken with the finance people and end user and talked them into going with us directly so that he can negotiate the master agreement. No, you're not reading that incorrectly-- he doesn't know that we've gotten the real story from the end user and purchasing person. I then emailed him to let him know that I got the transferability factor he wanted and included a new, revised, protected Word document.
I fought the temptation to tell him that I "caught" him at trying to bury changes and that's why he's still not getting a workable document but, I didn't. I just highlighted the fact that the transferability language had been included. He emailed me back that one of the finance people would be setting up a conference call for Monday or Thursday of next week and asked which would be better for me?
Next week? Next week?? Oh, NO, and I called the sales rep. We conferred and agreed that I was not going to be making phone calls from my vacation to accommodate this guy not dealing with the situation correctly in the first place. If necessary, the sales rep will extend the quote deadline but, there will not be any conference calls next week regarding this agreement. (A quote deadline is when the discount will expire-- he's going to extend it to the following week to accommodate the delayed time missed from negotiation because of the antics of these people.)
I called and left a voicemail and sent a follow-up email to the attorney reminding him that I told him on Wednesday that I would be out of the office next week. My director and I decided that no one else would handle this project in my absence so he was just going to have to wait for my return on the 17th. He and his end users will not be happy!
The neat part is that not only have I received kudos from my director on this and the way that I've handled it and the attorney but the AVP for the area is singing my praises.
I feel pretty good about going on vacation, needless to say. And, no, I won't be checking my work email while I'm away!
Loose Ends
Other than that, there weren't any other loose ends to tie up before I left work today. A nice feeling for a change! I've already had my bicycle ride for the evening and Brian and I are working on the laundry. Tomorrow, although earlier than my usual schedule, is my nail/pedicure/hair day. I'll be gone for at least five hours for that!! I'd say its a waste of time but its not-- its nice pampering for me!
And, on that note, although early, I'm going to be signing off for tonight-- maybe more later if events and time permit.
Have a good one!
Laundry's done . . . suitcases are out of the garage . . . software is re-loaded so that I can print checks . . . I think everything's done. Oh, no, don't be silly!! I'll be able to find a ton more of things to get nervous and freaked out about tomorrow-- there's no way we could ever actually go on a vacation and not have me be freaked out about something!!
And we're not going for that long and we don't leave for a long time yet!! Brian's going to have internet service, from the looks of it-- I'm thrilled, needless to say. Not convincing, huh? Oh, well . . . I'm all tuckered out!!
Have a good night!!
Thursday, July 6, 2000On the way in to work this morning . . .
. . . I noticed a bit of frustration: That car is in my way!!! Okay, so he was going 70mph, just like me but he was in my way!!!! Hmm, I believe a vacation could be in order, huh? YES!!!!!!!!! If you'll recall, I went from my last job to my current job without a break, per se-- since then, I've only had long weekends if I've taken any time off at all.
I have a hard time taking time off of work-- no one can handle my contracts like I can handle my contracts, don'tcha know?? I will leave a status list and tell all of my customers to contact someone else, secretly hoping that upon contact, they are sworn off the other person immediately and will await my return. Yeesh, I am a control freak, aren't I?
That's the way its been all day: I've got a customer who makes changes to the document, doesn't tell me the "color coding key" (well, afterall, its known to his internal customers) he has chosen to use to make the changes, and then gets ticked off at me when I lock up documents so that he can't manipulate it to make changes to the agreement. Hmmm, rocket science, eh?
If I take a word out using the redlining feature in Word and he "rejects" that change, I think common courtesy would say that he needs to let me know that he has made that change. He doesn't think he's required to do so.
Yep, buddy, you get locked up documents for that stuff! I'm not pleased about the way that this negotiation has been going . . . not pleased at all. He isn't cooperative with me and, it appears, that his end user doesn't tell him everything, either. The end user has found a reseller that will sell the same product to them for less than we will sell it to them. The catch? Its our software but we only allow our resellers to sell under the "shrinkwrap" license. If he buys from the reseller, he doesn't get to negotiate the terms and conditions and he sure does not get a "master" agreement!
We need to get our ducks in a huddle on this one, needless to say-- the end user is the one that's pushing the buttons of their legal people in addition to us but the legal guy has not got my vote of confidence yet. This deal may not go down in the next week-- it is supposed to have a deadline of July 13, 2000 but, I'm guessing it'll be lucky to close by the end of the month.
We'll have to see, eh?
Earlier Post Tonight
Brian has a few things to deal with thanks to Bob Thompson's hints on what may be ailing my computer. As a result, I'm going to put up an earlier post-- or at least earlier than my usual.
Have a good evening . . . have fun at whatever you do!
Wednesday, July 5, 2000Not My Fault!
Its after 10pm on Wednesday evening as I begin to write my post-- traditionally, I write my post between 6 and 8pm but, as I said, its not my fault that I'm late! I asked Brian to copy a CD for me. The MIS department at work managed to "misplace" the original scanning software CD so I wanted an extra copy of it-- one for here and one for the office. (I've got the same scanner/printer here as at the office so I would need two copies of it.) The software worked on my laptop until the viruses hit last week but, since the CD couldn't be found I had to borrow someone else's copy of it.
Okay, the copies were made and I tried the first one-- it worked, no problem. The second? Didn't recognize the CD drive-- didn't even know that it was on the same planet as us!! This started Brian thinking and, three hours later, I have a new hard drive (I think) but, my CD drive is still not recognizing anything. In between times, he's had a chance to upgrade the software so that the scanning software does work properly on it now though.
I sure didn't expect that to be three hours but, I know he didn't either-- and all because of a CD needing to be copied! (The licenses are in place, by the way-- we're not stealing a copy-- we just can't locate one of the many originals that we've got at the office!)
No Rest . . .
What's that line? Well, all I know is that I've got a lot of work at the office for someone who only has two more days before my vacation starts! One new agreement, that I had handed off on Friday got put back on my desk because I didn't remember that I'd handed it off and the second document just arrived with the customer's first comments. This second document set (license and maintenance) was one that I was told about on Wednesday of last week but the customer didn't make getting docuemnt revisions into my office in time to finish in last quarter. The first set of documents is something that probably won't be finished before I leave and may just hang on until I return. That's fine-- at least I know I'll do it right and I don't have to worry about what other people will do with the documents while I'm gone. (Don't ask me "What will they do with the documents?" They'll do stuff that I won't do because I'm not there to do it! Can you say, "Control Freak"?)
We were paid extra kudos by the "C" staff (COO, CFO, CIO, CEO) in a meeting this week-- that's unusual (remember these are cowboys!) even for a good quarter end finish. Another challenge month-end and quarter-end awaits, obviously so it'll just go on again.
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I'm a bit tired as a result of the weird schedule this week-- calling it a night at 10:20pm.Have a good one!
Tuesday, July 4, 2000Happy Independence Day!
That about covers that, eh?
Repairs Are in Order
I did some mending today and a re-style of a dress that I'd bought this spring; it was a blouse/skirt that I didn't like the style of the blouse so I re-designed that and did some ironing, too.
Miscellaneous
We'd slept in fairly late and I've felt kinda groggy ever since I woke up. No bike ride today in fear of drunks who have no control over anything and particularly their automobiles.
So, once again, out of sheer inactivity, there is little to report. I hope you have a safe and happy holiday in whatever manner you celebrate and I'll catch you up again tomorrow.
Monday, July 3, 2000Oh, MAN-- Not Again!!
Yes, I'm afraid so!! Can't help it-- life interferes with the best of us! What am I talking about? The fact that this is going to be a short post, unfortunately! I wrote the trip report for the Cayucos Adventure for the Meanderings page and now, I must go on a bike ride. (I have to go to WW tonight and since I have to hope to "lose" the weight I'm sure I gained eating so well at The Bowmans, I have to go on a bike ride!)
Tonight, after I stop in to be weighed at WW, we're having dinner with friends that we have not seen since January-- way tooooooooo long!!
In the meantime, there is much to do so take care and I'll write again when I get a chance. You know that won't be very long . . . be patient!
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