Sunday, March 26, 2000

I Caught One!

And that's the whole story!!  There was one fish that decided (after a bit of a struggle) it wanted to come
home with me-- he was a little over a pound in size but, nonetheless home he came!  Of course, there
was a guy about thirty feet down the bank who decided he had to make us all look inadequate and
brought in a 10lb-10oz fish!  (It was huge!!)  I had a good time but it was weird not having Brian with
me-- I've gotta re-think this to decide if I want to continue to go by myself as he won't have a lot of time
over the next few months.  Hmm . . . I'll let you know how that comes out.

Aftermath

Upon arrival at home, I ordinarily would've gone right to bed for a nap (I did get up at 0-dark-thirty!)
but, instead, I went to J.C. Penney to look for some shorts and an iron and then, on to Target-- haven't
been there in a long time! Then to Safeway to get fresh produce to start the week and then, I came home
and took my nap.  Brian cleaned my fish while I was away; I would've but I've managed to run out of
my plastic gloves.  I'm thinking about going to the store that I need to get those from tonight or I wont be
able to cook dinner tonight, either (unless we choose a different recipe).

And Tonight . . .

 . . . I know it sounds horrendously lazy but I'm going to play it cool and watch the Oscars and do some
cross-stitch tonight.  I've got a wired week ahead of me and just want to take it easy.

Hope you have a good one . . .

Morning Update

We've only had two phone calls from my sister and her husband-- the rest of their time has been spent
trying to figure the comuter out!  They were supposed to help their son, Joel (the oldest) move to a new
place today but, I'm thinking they're going to be a bit distracted.  On the second phone call last night,
besides talking a lot about different options with regard to their new choice of ISP, they were talking
about how they were looking through all the different applicatons, etc.  They're going to have fun and in
no time, be up and operating like a pro, I can tell!

We Open With . . .

A step in the right direction from the catholic church!  (I wonder if the boys from V.I.S. had anything to
do with this article?)  They never have resonded to my last email of that series so I don't expect I'll be
able to ask the Pope the question that I wanted to ask him.  Then, again, at least this diocese has figured
out what needs to be done.

Another New Recipe

I've got a "Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole" that I made up last night and will bake this morning.  The
pizza turned out pretty good the other night (even Brian agreed!) so I'm curious to know what this will be
like.  Of course, I don't own a small baking pan so we've got enough for a small army to share with us so
that should be interesting-- Brian won't eat the "fake" eggs that are on the market but we've got a freezer
and I know how to use it!!  From the size of this pan, that's a good thing!

Today . . .

We're both going to do our running/bicycling thing and then get ready to go to Oakland/Berkeley area to
see the play "The Alchemist" with Brian's folks.  That should be great fun, indeed! If time permits, more
will follow later . . .

Friday, March 24, 2000

The jig is up . . . the cat is out of the bag . . . and the ship has sailed!

What is going on?  Well, as I write this post, it is actually Wednesday night but, because the
"conversation" just ended, I wanted to write this while its fresh in my mind.  You see, Karen, my sister
and I have been plotting and planning and planning and plotting for several weeks now.  Over what, you
ask?  Remember me telling you about my sister, Sue and her husband running on a ten year old Mac and
not being able to see their own website?  As of this evening, that is no longer the case!!  They are now
the proud owners of an HP Monitor, CPU, and Printer!!!

The fun part was that Sue called Karen while Karen and I were chatting on ICQ-- I was not being a nice
person and was harassing Karen about not telling Sue what was happening.  The really fun part was
when Sue asked Karen if she could borrow Karen's computer to do some prep work for their next trip . .
. that was too funny!!  Brian and I were both laughing at that one:  "Don't you dare say anything,
Karen!!"  "Don't start laughing!!!"  "SHE WANTS TO BORROW YOUR COMPUTER???
HAHAHAHA!!!!" I typed at her in the ICQ chat window-- she had to have been laughing but gave no
indication to Sue of our little plot.

On Friday night, Sue and Bill are having Karen and her husband, Ron, over for dinner.  After dinner (on
Michigan time), at about 7:30 or 8:00pm, Brian and I are to call Sue and Bill's house.  When the phone is
answered, Karen is to hand them a "greeting card" that we devised this evening: "Welcome to the New
Millennium!!"  In the meantime, Ron is going to go to the car to get the first of three boxes containing the
computer, etc. . . . and Brian and I will be on the other end of the phone hearing their reaction as they
see what Ron is bringing into the house!!!

(As I write this tonight, I find myself grinning at the thought of seeing their faces!  Karen and I were ":>)"
and "LOL" and "HAHAHA" all over the place during our plotting chat session!!  Oh, but we do enjoy
being sneaky!!)

I wish we could be there . . . but that's the problem with living 2500 miles away from family-- you miss
out on some of the physical things but, that's okay cuz we will see them later this year, before they head
back to Brazil.

For the Friday night AFTER phone call update . . .

The Plan

Tonight at about 4:15pm PST, I'm to call Sue and Bill-- Sue had a minor medical procedure done today
and, even though I know the outcome (it was negative!!), I'm going to call to "see how she's doing".
When Karen, who is having dinner with them, knows its me, she's to nudge her husband, Ron, to go to
the car and he'll bring up one of the computer boxes.  (At this time or maybe earlier, I signal Brian for
him to pick up the phone in the other room.) When Karen hears Ron coming back into Sue & Bill's
apartment, she is to hand the card (Welcome to the New Millennium!) to Sue and Bill.  Then, Ron will
walk through the door . . . with one of the computer boxes!!!

Well, that's the plan anyway . . . we'll see how it works out.

How did it work?

Well, Karen and Ron made a slight change in The Plan: when the phone rang and Bill answered, he and I
chatted a bit and Karen and Ron got up and walked out of their apartment!  Bill handed the phone to Sue
and she and I chatted for awhile longer and then, Karen and Ron came back in to their apartment.  In the
last minute, before they came back, Sue was a little distracted because Bill kept saying things like: "They
went to their car . . . "  and "I don't know what they're doing!"  Sue and Bill were both absolutely quiet
when Karen and Ron walked in and set the computer boxes down in the living room.  Sue said to me in a
very hushed voice, "There are boxes with pictures of computers on the sides in my living room."  That
was immediately followed by about 15 or 20 (in varying tones) of the assorted "Oh, my goodness!"-es.
Finally, I said to Sue "Tell Karen to give you the card."  Sue said to me, "Do you know what this about?
Are you a part of this?"  "Us?  All the way from Silicon Valley?"  Karen handed her the card and it was
at that point that I thought I heard another "Oh, my goodness" but I couldn't tell because Sue's voice was
cracking-- she was crying from happiness (and frankly, that's okay!).

As we hung up the phone, Karen and Ron and Bill were unboxing the computer and Karen said she'd
help them set it up tonight before she left so that they could get their email on it right away.  They're a
little concerned about not knowing very much about computers and not knowing where to start to learn
but, I'm pretty sure that they'll get the hang of it in very short order.

It sure is fun to surprise somebody, isn't it?  I've been excited all day-- well, okay, all week.  Thanks for
putting up with my earlier posts this week but I hope you enjoyed this almost as much as we did-- Brian
and I were both beaming from ear-to-ear so I don't think you could be as happy as we are tonight but,
hopefully, you'll enjoy the story.

Welcome to the New Millennium, Sue and Bill!!  Enjoy!!

I know! I know!!

It was horrible to put that post in my update last night-- I realize that but I am soooooooo excited!! Look
at it this way:  You've now got less than 24 hours to wait it out.  Then I'll be able to tell you everything!

Another day . . .

It is getting close to end-of-quarter and I can tell cuz I'm getting phone calls from the Area VPs acting
and sounding like I'm their long lost best friend in the whole wide world . . . it really doesn't matter how
friendly they are to me: I'll push to get the agreements done before the end of the quarter-- that's my job
and that's the way I operate.  The problem is the cooperative spirit of the negotiator on the other side of
the table!  I spoke with a guy on Tuesday that was going to send me "Assignment" clause language-- one
clause-- with the implication that that was the only open issue for him.  I received his language today: on
SIX pages along with about twelve other changes he wanted!!  Oh, yeah, next week is going to be a very
long week!!

A Different Kind of Update

Yesterday, when I spoke of William Shatner's birthday, I mentioned that I have a website that I use to
check those sorts of things but didn't have it with me:  I do now!!  The website is run by Scope Systems
and has some really interesting stuff associated with it.  A fun read when you have a ton-o-time!!

For the evening . . .

I've already done some work on the essay so I probably won't go back to it . . . tonight-- more another
time.  I haven't felt like I've had anytime to work on fun stuff this week so I'm going to fix dinner and
then go back to my cross-stitch for the evening.

Hope you have a wonderful one, too!
 

Wednesday, March 22, 2000
(Update at 7:30pm)

A rose by any other name . . .

Well, it says that all systems are go . . . what are the systems and what is go?  The systems are the email
system for PBI and it says that there are absolutely no problems with email, being sent or received.
Well, the problem with that theory is that I have sent several emails to myself to remind me to update
Quicken on a couple of things or to do this or that on my website or my sister's website and, although
they were sent many, many, MANY hours ago, the fact that these emails and however many others that
are out there, have not yet been received.  I've got a feeling that this particular rose does have a
particularly different name, don't you?

On the Star Trek front . . .

First we have a report that says that Voyager is being cancelled after the 2001-2002 season . . . I was an
avid viewer at the beginning of the little "trek" through space but, I think I got bored with discovering a
new species trying to kill them off every week.  At any rate, they'll be gone and, according to the article,
with a "surprise ending".  With our luck, Janeway will marry Chakotay and the whole ship will start its
own new version of Star Fleet in the Delta quadrant that is a parallel dimension to the real Star Fleet.
Hey, it could happen!!

Second, I have a Star Trek:TNG calendar on my cubie wall that shows Majel Barrett's birthday, Gene
Roddenberry's birthday, etc., but NOT William Shatner's birthday!! What a travesty!!!  How can this be
remotely considered a "STAR TREK CALENDAR"????  I know this because someone in my office,
knowing that I am an avid fan of Star Trek:TOS and TNG (they know this because of the posters,
calendar and assorted items of memorabilia scattered through out my cubicle), stopped by to wish me a
"Happy Birthday to William Shatner Day"!!  I was mortified-- I hadn't had a chance to check my
calendar but, as previously stated, it didn't matter since it was missing anyway.  At work, I have
a website 'marked and sure enough, I checked it and there it was!!  I just couldn't believe that my
calendar was so grossly inaccurate-- it must be a mis-print . . . I think that this is the calendar I got from
Amazon.com so, that probably explains the "factory seconds" theory in this birthday being left off, right?
Right!!  (It works for me, okay?)

Later that same afternoon . . .

Well, I'm home from work and reading through my email . . . yes, you heard it: my email is here.  It
turns out that the PBI system was "Okay" but I had a "ghost" email window open on my computer
open.  (Pardon me, geek-boys-- don't know the terminology and am not concerned with learning it . . . )
The little box on the right side of the Start/Taskbar on Windows 98 had an envelope in it but there wasn't
a window actually open.  Just last night, Brian had asked me how long it had been since I re-started my
computer and, admittedly, it apparently had been too long.  So, I did a re-start and everything is, of
course, operating according to specs.  I guess I was a little hasty in my condemnation of PBI but, the
track record . . .

For the evening's entertainment . . .

I believe I heard that "How To" was back tonight so, after I make my spinach/pepper pizza for my
dinner (Brian's comment was that if it smelled "good enough", he might try some . . . Oh, yeah??  Well,
maybe I don't wanna share!! ;>P ), I've got some work to do on the essay and I'm still trying to figure
out Front Page which appears to be one of the bigger mysteries of life . . . I've also got my chat with my
sister set up . . . so it will, again, be a full evening, it appears . . . hope your evening is equally interesting.

7:30pm

I can't say much-- but I'm starting to draft a post that I'll be putting up on Friday evening!!  Mark your
calendars to come back and read my Friday, March 24, update.  It'll bring a smile to your face, for sure!!

Its a slow week . . .

 . . . there isn't much news to report today: the webcrawlers are back and the search engines are here.  I
can always tell when I've been hit by them . . . I think its wonderful and interesting and wonderful that I
have four or five regular readers from The Netherlands!  (Thanks for coming by!)

Even at work . . .

 . . . things are slow for end-o-quarter although there seem to be hints of the fires heating up . . . I got so
burned out by the twelve hour days last quarter, I just have to hope it isn't that bad again!!  I've got two
agreements (one I was supposed to get today) and another that I'll get on Monday that have to be done
by the 31st . . . another half-million in sales . . . oh, yeah, things will definitely be heating up.

Things to try . . .

Did you know that they put anchovie paste in tubes?  Squeeze tubes, no less!!  Modern chemistry at its
finest, I guess!  ;>)  I've got some new recipes that I want to try out for Weight Watchers food, including
one of my all-time favorites: Caesar salad dressing (thus the need for anchovie paste)!!  Another one of
my favorites is macaroni and cheese and, although that is also a favorite of Brian's, it won't be this time
since the recipe includes some cottage cheese and sour cream.  (Gasp!!)

Agenda

In order to leave Brian to his project, I've taken over the laundry for the night (no, I didn't get to it over
the weekend!) so my night will be full as usual . . . more updates as possible.

That's more like it!!

Good news tonight!  First, my thyroid has decided to settle down (or up) to a normal pace.  Its getting
into a more normal range for at least this week-- give me a couple of weeks, I'm sure it'll change
AGAIN!!  But, on a continued good note, I've also lost a pound!!  Yippee!!  That leaves me a little
behind the game of where I first started out three weeks ago but, three weeks ago, my thyroid wasn't this
stable and I didn't have my newly reconditioned bicycle to ride every night after work!  Yep, I did
another two mile run tonight and, I must be doing better cuz my throat doesn't hurt and I'm not
coughing!  Always a good sign!!

Other events . . .

Its John DeLancie's birthday today: You remember him, don't you?  The original "Q" on ST:TNG and its
the first day of Spring!!  So, let me ask the question:  When do you think you can begin to wear
spring-like colors and fabrics after Easter or after the official day of Spring has arrived (today, March 20)
or April Fool's Day????  What is your opinion??

I had always been taught that you can wear warmer-weather fabrics, weather permitting, anytime after
March 20 but NO WHITE SHOES before Easter.  All I know is that I've got a couple of weeks to work
through my nervousness about being "the first" to wear brighter Spring colors-- which I prefer greatly
over the blah-colors of Winter-- but by the time I get over it, someone else would've broken the color
barrier on this one and worn something Spring-y ahead of me.

There is one outfit that I bought this past winter that I've not had a chance to wear even once yet-- I was
hoping to wear it this weekend when Brian and I go to see "The Alchemist" with his parents.  Its a winter
color and fabric so it does need to be a little cool to be comfortable.  Considering that I also want to go
fishing on Sunday, I do not want it to rain-- just to cool down a bit.

Here's a thought . . .

I've been re-thinking the concept of re-designing my website for two reasons: 1) its been like this for six
months (that long already!) and its due and 2) because Brian has given me Front Page to play with-- so
far, I'm not pleased but then, I'm used to one animal and the second animal may be more difficult to deal
with because of this "ol' dog, new trick" thing.  (No, Delanae, do NOT go there!!)

Any suggestions?  I've got a few thoughts but I'm not sure how many are really printable-- even for a
grown-up (well, occasionally I admit it, even if I don't act it!).

**********

So for tonight, the activities are playing with my website and playing with Front Page and playing with
pictures and playing with graphics, etc.  Isn't that what all so-called "grown-ups" do when they aren't
working?  I thought so!  Have a good night!! 

Current "Musings"

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