Archive for July 31-August 6, 2000Musings of My Mind
Friday, August 4, 2000
Update at 4:00pmMy long-time friend from Cincinnati is having a birthday today and, I thought I'd start my day by letting her know that I was thinking about her!
More later . . .
Less than an hour til the shuttle comes to pick us up. I actually slept a little less than an hour but before that, I finished up the last of the packing and got the apartment picked up so that the housekeepers could find their way to the dirt. A few loose ends to tie up and we're on our way.
Earlier I called my sister, Sue, to confirm that they, too, were going to meet us at the airport tomorrow-- I like being met at the airport by people! That makes it worth looking forward to the whole trip.
Work got tied up and sent packing about noon today even though I was really finished hours before I left. Its that conscience-thing . . . diligent . . . dependable . . . pain in the you-know-what sometimes! Anyway, I'm out for a week and relieved for it as well as I know that I'll miss it.
There probably won't be any further updates tonight . . . I'll be a little out of pocket but, with tomorrow's Family Reunion, you never can tell.
Take care . . .
Thursday, August 3, 2000Email and Postings
Well, when I opened my email this morning, it asked for the password and, upon giving it the password, it promptly told me that it wasn't the correct password. Oh, yeah??? It never would let me log into email so I figured that it would be better to post the email was down rather than take any chances. Of course, when I went in to look at the PBI site, it says that there is nothing wrong as of 7:45am but, what about 6:15am? I couldn't get into the website-- tells me something now, doesn't it?
Posts for the next few days may, at best, be sporadic. We are flying out tomorrow and hopefully, I won't have time to post before we leave. If I do, it means that I'm going to be panicking all over the place so whatever I could possibly post won't be coherant anyway so...better not to post anything! I'm going to do my usual "Trip Report" at the end so even though we've got the laptop along, I may only do short posts while we're gone anyway. Of course, then there's the thing where I have to rip the laptop out of Brian's hands in order to be able to get to use it but, we won't go there right now, okay?
What a DAY!
Out of an 7 person department, I was the only one there: 2 were working at home, 2 were on vacation, and 2 were out sick!! ARGH!!!!! Somewhere in the midst of all the mayhem, I got a chance to go wandering through Keri's site and noticed that she had a picture of Doorstop up (cuz he was sick) and E.T. (cuz it was his bazillionth birthday!!) but NOT picture of Isotope ("Issy"). I promptly scolded and told her she was a "Bad Keri" to which her reply was to send me my very own picture of Issy so, here she is:
Isn't she cute? Yes, you're right, she is!! And talk about a pleasant demeanor!! I realize that she's Keri's dog but, since Keri didn't post a picture of her today, I figured it would be okay if I did cuz Issy loves her Auntie Marcia!!
Tomorrow is supposed to be a "Dog Day" for me at work, too. "Joey", whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet, is going to be coming into work with his Mom, Irina. Irina wanted me to work on a contract when I got back from our last vacation. Of course, that was not to be without a bribe . . . bring in your dog or no contracts get processed!!! Well, no, I don't say that but I'd like to be able to-- I'm gonna need to have a dog to pet tomorrow, too!! I'm stressing big time trying to make sure that I get everything done before I leave for the week. ARGH!!!
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Its 6:04pm as I write this and "The Reluctant Packer" has already given up his clothes-- Ahhh, we are almost completely packed!! What will we do tomorrow? Albert, the housekeeper will be in while we're gone so we have to get ready for him to come in-- can't have a mess for the housekeeper can we? Oh, and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to relax!! Wouldn't that be nice?!?!?
Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Font Size
Ya see . . . what I did was try to print an email message but then, everything was HUGE when it printed. As a result, I reset the fonts in Netscape to a different size so that it would fit the email on one page and apparently, that affected all of the fonts everywhere on Netscape. Since I use Netscape Composer for updating my site, the changes to my site incorporated the change in the font size as well.
I've heard from several of you (including having screen shots sent to me-- thanks, Jan!) that there is a difference and that it is a good difference. So, I've changed the font size again at home but not back to the original setting. Let's see how you like this one and, maybe we'll leave it the way it is tonight or make changes again . . . you never can tell!
Tonight . . . Tonight!
Last night, while we were doing laundry, I panicked myself thinking that it was Wednesday (instead of Tuesday) and Brian had forgotten that he wanted to go to the SVLUG meeting. As I was about to holler across the courtyard and up the stairs for him to go to the meeting, I remembered that it was Tuesday so, I swallowed my heart and went on about the business of folding and hanging clothes.
TONIGHT Brian was going to go to the SVLUG meeting and where he could've been sitting in air conditioned comfort BUT he decided he'd sit there feeling guilty anyway so why bother? He's trying to finish another chapter before we leave so I can't blame him-- I'd rather have all of him on vacation with me-- it tends to work better that way!
Me? I'm going to be slaving over a hot iron and ironing board. I'm also going to start my packing tonight so that I don't have to do packing for both of us tomorrow night. The Reluctant Packer will, no doubt, not want to pack until ten minutes before the shuttle picks us up for the airport on Friday afternoon but, he will again learn otherwise tomorrow night.
I'm also going to try to finish the book "Welcome to the World, Baby Girl" that I've been reading for what seems like an eternity. I'm tired of transporting this book everywhere: It has gone fishing with me more times than Brian has this year, its gone camping with us several times and it also went with me to Phoenix. Its not that it is a long read but it is a bit of a struggle to get into it. Now that I am there (into it), I'm going to finish it so that I can bring along some of the newer books that I have to read with me on the trip to Michigan. There are about ten hours of flights and airports to and from Michigan along with hours at night waiting for Brian to get off the computer. I'll be glad to have a new book or two to read in this one's place!
Its also "How-To" night on PBS and, yes, its all repeated shows (PBS takes a summer hiatus, too!) but its good repeats so I don't care! I've got the air conditioner on and the fan blowing so hopefully, I'll be able to stay relatively cool and get some sleep tonight-- wouldn't that be refreshing??
Have a good night everyone!!
Tuesday, August 1, 2000Another Month is Upon Us
Where does the time go? It really does seem like yesterday was July but, then it was, eh? I'm kidding really but the time seems to be flying by, doesn't it?
Conventions
Traditions? No . . . well, maybe. Every four years, since the Sixties, there is nothing on television except election coverage and the conventions. I have always hated the conventions because I think they are a waste of time. For the public, we have inflicted on us for two weeks out of the summer, every waking minute of coverage because the media, for some reason, thinks we need to see it. We watched about ten minutes of the Republican convention last night and the thoughts that were running through my head was: "Deprogram them!!" "What are you doing there Woman?!?!?" You get the drift . . .
This is the first convention and presidential election season that Brian and I have been through together. The good news is that, politically, we're very much in agreement about the government and the way things should be run. A couple of years ago I joked with him because, we were sitting across the table from my sister and her husband (from Michigan) and I said: "Honey, look: those are the votes we will cancel out in the 2000 presidential election." A truer statement has not been spoken!
Once the conventions are over the true mud-slinging starts and then its "High Season" until November-- I really hate our political process. The good news is that I don't watch much television to begin with so I'm not missing that much and, I've got a book that I've been working on for a month and a half that I want to finish so . . .
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Something interesting happened to my fonts when I changed the font size for email-- let me know if this appears different to you now than it did yesterday or if it is the same size font (or close to it). Truly strange.
BTW, given time, I'll be able to keep my updates current while we're traveling, because of the new laptop that Brian has to play with while we're gone. Of course, having the energy or inclination after a full day's activities is another thing entirely!
The laundry's done, folded and hung and put away so tomorrow night I've only got the ironing left to do. That should be a lot of fun considering the heat that we've been suffering through again . . . 94F when we got home from work!! Yikes!! The good news is that it is hovering between 75F and 85F in Michigan-- a downright decent temperature!!
Gonna go read my book some more . . . have a good evening!
Monday, July 31, 2000Loose Ends
Today, we finally received the purchase order for the contract that I thought was going to be a problem. All along, the customer has been saying that they might want to do the deal through a reseller but we don't do agreements with customers on an indirect basis so they said they wouldn't go that route. Since it was taking forever (okay, maybe only a week) to get the purchase order, I thought they were trying to say that they really weren't going to issue the order directly to us. I guess that's not the case as it is in and has our company name on it which means we can do a direct deal with them.
And, of course, today was the end of the month so my computer went south on me-- what else is new? No BSOD but it wouldn't let me into the servers for about a half-hour when I had a contract for a new deal that had to be done ASAP!! It was READY to go except for a few clauses that I needed from the server but my login wouldn't allow access so I literally hunted down the sysadmin and started ranting about the stupid computer! (Yes, you can guess the rest!) He never did figure out why it wouldn't let me into the servers but I finished the document by sending the paragraphs that I needed to myself-- I could get email. I sent the contract out to the customer ten minutes before our next conference call but about two minutes after I hit the deliver button, I got a call from them asking where it was-- Yeesh, I freaked again thinking that the mail servers were now down as well. However, while I was on the phone with the attorney his email came in and so all is well.
Numbers!!
Brian was talking today about his page reads and hits being up and I thought I'd mention it, too. My page reads and hits are also up and I am totally AMAZED!!! Every month I'm surprised at how many of you come by and I'm grateful-- its so nice to make so many new friends.
Miscellaneous
We were able to buy a set of luggage yesterday-- fairly good quality stuff-- at Costco and I was able to find some shorts, a top, and an pants-outfit for fall as well as a few personal items (online) at the JC Penney sale that I went to last night. I didn't do as much damage as I could've done but I did enough for me.
While I'm still fairly tired, I do feel a whole lot better today-- my cold did manage to leave the rest of me behind totally in tact and ready for travel! Well, okay, I still have to pack but how long will that really take me? (No, do NOT go there! Yes, that was a rhetorical question!!!)
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That said, thanks again for stopping by and have a good night!!
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