Archive for October 9-15, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, October 15, 2000
Whew!!
I've had a busy, busy day!! First thing, I slept in later than Brian-- not "late" per se but just later than Brian. Then, when I did get out of bed, the first thing I noticed was that I slept wrong. No, I haven't completely messed up my back entirely all over again but, it is not great and I am not pleased. No, I didn't go fishing-- didn't think it would be a good idea to do so with my back in aforementioned condition. (Man, I am not pleased about this, let me tell you!) I've been alternating icepacks and actual walking around freedom as much as possible today and, at this writing, my back is better.
A few weeks back, I mentioned that the produce at our local grocery store was looking a might bit out of its best possible form because of a trucking strike. I decided to check out a produce stand to see if it was any better or if it was too pricey or whatever. Turned out to be fairly good both in quality and cost-- so I've loaded up the fridge and fruit bowls for the week. Looks great!!
After I finished the produce run, I went on to the grocery store and did the week's grocery shopping. Brian, being a bit under the weather, doesn't feel much like having me cooking at night (I'm hoping that'll change this week) and with my back being out, I easily backed out of the kitchen duties-- no problem. However, we haven't been getting as much vitamins, etc., that one typically gets when you've got fruits and veggies in one's diet so, next week we're going to get real food. Should he decide not to what I've cooked, I bought the makings for Boboli pizzas for him (pepperoni, mozzarella and green pepper) so he can make his own pizza if it strikes his fancy. I also bought pitas and fat free mozzarella, artichokes and I've got some olives (black and green) to make pizzas for me, too. Ya never know!
I put two hours of the book "If You Love That Lady Don't Marry Her" on tape for Grammy and ran the tape over to her this afternoon. She wasn't there but I left it in her door for her. Coincidentally, as I write this, Grammy called to say that she got the tape and she was so pleased by it! She was out for dinner with Tom Buckley, the author, and his father. When Tom saw the tape and heard from Grammy what I was doing, he asked her to save the tapes. His father is blind and can't read the book at all so he will greatly benefit from hearing the book on tape, too! That's great-- I can help two people with this project!!
No, my day isn't over yet!!
I went from Grammy's house to the new office building. The director of Operations had told me that the lockers were going to be in the women's lockerroom by 5pm today so I drove over to slap a lock on one of the lockers. No such luck-- they hadn't been delivered yet; I'm not pleased but I'll put an email into him tomorrow to get one reserved since I tried to do so today.
Finally, I came home and, for the first time in three weeks, made a real meal for Brian and me! We had turkey breast, fresh green beans and a rice mix! It was delicious and it did feel good to get back into the kitchen! As I said, I've got some meals planned for this week so it should be a fun experience of getting back into the kitchen!
While I was cooking, Brian got me set up on the Daynotes Gang's SETI@Home site-- it makes sense to me that I should help Brian find his home planet, don't you agree?
On that note, gotta run-- Star Trek Voyager's on NOW!!!
Have a good evening!
Saturday, October 14, 2000Uneventful day . . .
It has been a restful and uneventful day-- and it felt good being that way. I had my nails and pedicure this morning and then, I took a nap this afternoon. That has been the complete extent of my activities-- I know, I'm horrible but, I am rested and relaxed and contented after a stressful week at work. Just what the doctor ordered, I would say . . . Yupper, it feels good! Of course, it does leave me very little to tell you about but there could be worse things.
I've been re-thinking the idea of going fishing tomorrow mostly because the idea of sleeping has definitely begun to appeal to me more. When I awoke this morning, my back felt the strain of going 10 hours without an icepack yesterday and that has caused the biggest part of my reservations on fishing. I want to be "over this" back-problem by the time I go to my appointment on Monday afternoon; if I'm still struggling a bit with the pain, I'm not going to be done with the chiropractor and that is not my goal-- at all!!
While I was out at my nail/pedicure appointment, Brian went to Fry's and got some UPSs (which have nothing to do with shipping) and an Intellimouse for me. I'm so excited . . . thanks honey! Now I've got an excuse for taking my Star Trek Deep Space 9 mouse pad with me to work!! Cool and just in time for our office move, too!!
Oh, I haven't mentioned that, have I? Our new office building, located approximately two blocks from the original corporate headquarters, is finished and ready for move in this weekend. Operations and Customer Support for E-Services is being moved this weekend and Finance and Contracts next weekend. I get my own cubicle again!!! I am so very happy about that!!! This means I can put up all of my Star Trek posters again and have privacy when I talk with people on the phone and have no one breathing down my neck in the morning and can get up and go someplace (anyplace) in the building without having someone else, i.e., in praticular my cubie-mate, knowing where I'm going!!! Oh, yes, I am excited!!! Next Friday, I need to work from home cuz that's when we'll get moved and then Monday, when I go to work (23rd), I'll go to the new building. Yippee!!!
Other than that, there hasn't been anything exciting happening around me-- at least, it wasn't exciting enough to roust me from my nap so it can't be worth reporting, right? Right!
Have a good evening and we'll see tomorrow what trouble we can get into, eh?
Friday, October 13, 2000End of Week
Yippee!!! I thought it would never get here!! Our office is swamped right now-- the director is on a much-needed/deserved vacation in Cabo San Lucas (lucky!) and one woman was out in the morning due to the illness of one of her kids. Yeesh-- it gets worse! The director comes back on Wednesday but, in the interim, one of the negotiators goes out on sick leave because of gall bladder surgery on Monday. She's not expected back for two weeks!! Of course, she's a workaholic like the rest of us and is hoping to get on email, at the least, by Wednesday! I like being busy and today, I was swamped!! I enjoy it though and kinda thrive in the environment. Its unfortunate that not everyone can handle it and that flows down to others. Bummer!
Book In Progress
A couple of interesting things about the book that I told you about last night: first of all, the book's compilation and editing took eight years to complete!!! I only met Tom Buckley two years ago and, at the time, I was under the impression that he was nearly finished with it. Obviously, that was an inaccurate impression!
Last night, when I started to read the book, a thought struck me: The book is thick and heavy and the print is small. How is Grammy reading this? I decided to give her a call and, as I suspected, she's having difficulty hanging on to the book (its 900+ pages/3" thick) and the print is difficult for her to read. That clinched it: she's going to finish reading Part One of the book and, by that time, I should have most, if not all, of Part Two on tape for her. This is not the kind of book that is going to get put on tape from the publisher so, since it would help her, I'm going to read aloud and record it for her.
Yes, this helps her but, more importantly, it gives me an excuse to drop by her house and see her every now and then-- I'll have to bring by tapes so that gives me a wonderful "excuse" to see her! I'm really excited about this project-- I'm going to take my time with it but still we're going to try to get it finished in a reasonable amount of time. I know it'll slow down my reading to read aloud but, I'll get more out of it and, obviously, she'll get to finish it in a quicker amount of time.
So, with that, I'm off to continue my read of "If You Love That Lady Don't Marry Her"!
Have a good evening!
Thursday, October 12, 2000Oh, ARGH!!!
This morning, after reading Barbara Thompson's post, I immediately rushed over to read Lynne Walder's post. Yeesh!! Lynne had read my paragraph about the "word-economical" English and feared that she sounded pompous.
As I wrote in my email to Lynne this morning:
"You do NOT sound pompous!! You are not pompous (or any synonymous word like it) in the remotest sense of the word-- Hyacinth Bucket' is pompous while YOU are wonderful!! "
Oh, ARGH!! What have I done??? Being word-economical is not a bad thing-- I'm sure that many people wish that I were more word-economical from time to time. Lord knows I'm not but, people can still hope and wish. Miracles could happen-- well, they could but this one won't . . . I'm pretty sure!
On the topic, Barbara mentions in her post that she almost always understands me-- Hmm, maybe she could give Jan lessons?
Finland?
Finland just showed up in my website statistics . . . Marko? Christina? Is that you? Our neighbors from across the courtyard returned to Finland last month. We knew that they had new jobs to start and housing to find and were hoping to hear from them when they did. Perhaps the Finnish visitor(s) I had on my site today were them-- if so, welcome back!! We miss you-- there's a really weird LOUD guy living in your apartment . . . hurry back??
Speaking of European countries, however, it appears the entire population of Netherlands that reads my posts (no, not the entire country!) have become incredibly shy. Yes, that does include Jan for a change-- not being so literal, eh? Hmmm . . .
New Book
I'm going to start reading a new book: "If You Love That Lady Don't Marry Her" is a compilatiom of letters from the courtship of Sally McDowell and John Miller from the time of 1854-1856. Why is this so special?
Well, its like this: Right around two years ago, I went to Brian's Grammy's house without Brian cuz he was sick. Grammy and I were talking and the doorbell rang so I answered the door for her. There was a gentleman standing there with white hair that she recognized as her nephew, Tom. Grammy introduced us and the three of us began talking. It seems that Tom had just come back from Virginia where he had had a sabbatical to do some research. While in a library in Virginia, he discovered letters written between Sally McDowell and John Miller. We talked for more than an hour about the intentions that he and a friend had of writing a book about the letters. It sounded interesting to me and I was fascinated, especially since Brian and I had just met and married based on the modern-day version of these type of courtship letters, i.e., the internet.
Last weekend when Brian was visiting Grammy alone because I was sick this time, Grammy mentioned that Tom had finished the book. I spoke with Grammy on Sunday to get the title and today, I hold a copy in my hands and am about to go start reading it. Thomas E. Buckley, S.J. was the gentleman that I met on the Sunday afternoon at Grammy's house-- I'm really excited to begin reading these letters!!
Have a good evening everyone!
Wednesday, October 11, 2000Things You Can Count On In This World
You know it had to happen: Janhad to comment on my Marcia-isms Dictionary:
Subject: under-stand
From: Jan Swijsen <qjsw@oce.nl>
To: <marcia@dutchgirl.net>>Sometimes Brian doesn't understand me so I ....
Wow, that implies that he sometimes does!!!!
>BTW, it looks like I might be able to go fishing >this weekend!!! Talk about happy!!!!!
I'm not sure the fish will be happy as well. Though maybe you could serve them with some of that Riesling. Just to make them happy of course <g>Not falling for the height joke, I responded with:
> >Sometimes Brian doesn't understand me so I ....
> Wow, that implies that he sometimes does!!!!Ya know, there are just things in this world you can count on, Jan . . . YOU are one of them!! ;>)
Yes, sometimes Brian implies that he understands me-- then there are times when he just doesn't get it at all!!
> >BTW, it looks like I might be able to go fishing
> >this weekend!!! Talk about happy!!!!!
> I'm not sure the fish will be happy as well.
> Though maybe you could serve them with some
> of that Riesling. Just to make them happy of
> course <g>Nope, but I might drink some of the Riesling when we eat the fish on Sunday night!! For me to eat trout, it would have to be with a Riesling!
And of course, Jan then reminds me of an "Old Belgian Kitchen Saying":
"Vis moet drie keer zwemmen. Eerst in water, dan in boter en dan in wijn."
(Which translates from Dutch : "Fish must swim three times. First in water, then in butter and then in wine.")First in water, that is of course while living.
Then in butter, that is while baking.
And then in wine, that is while being eaten.But, of course-- silly me! Why didn't I remember that one???
Which leads me to the question: Why are the Dutch translating Belgian sayings? I would think that we would have better things to do... there has to be a dyke made of straw (hmmm, I wonder where I got that from . . . ) that has a hole to put our thumbs in somewhere in the Netherlands, right?
SO? All of my Netherlands readers (and I know there are a lot of YOU!), why are you translating Belgian kitchen sayings? Tell me about it!! I thought they spoke French in Belgium? Are there different regions in Belgium that speak Dutch instead of French?
Inquiring Minds Want to Know--
or at least, this inquiring mind does!!New Season
I'm posting a little early tonight because . . . tonight . . . [drum roll, please] starts the new season of "How To" night on PBS!!! I am so excited!! Of course, Barbara Thompson reminded me that "West Wing" is on Wednesday nights, too and, after seeing the filming this summer on our vacation, you'd think I'd watch that but, I'm really partial to my "How To" night-- I can catch "West Wing" in reruns during the summer!! (BTW, Barbara told me that the episode we saw being filmed at LAX was shown last week-- missed seeing it already, huh? Me too!)
The first hour is usually cooking: "The Two Fat Ladies" (which must be a limited engagement since Jennifer Paterson has passed on into chef heaven) and Jacques Pepin. The second hour is DIY stuff: This Old House (a venerable favorite of mine-- I subscribe to the Mag, too!) and Hometime (we met Dean Johnson & Robin Hartl a couple of years ago at OSH Home Show). The third hour that used to occupy true "How To" stuff now has its interpretation of "How To" stretched into "Building Big". I watched an episode on bridge building and it is pretty interesting stuff. I don't usually make it for the third hour anyway so this is something that I can give a miss and not miss, if ya know what I mean!
**********
Anyway, I'm off to have a chat with my sister (I think?) and then there's dinner to be had although Brian's not feeling especially terrific so we may just do soup or something. The weather has finally chilled down here a bit-- the temperature is in the mid-60s so soup is a nice meal on a cool night.
If something else develops, I'll be back. In the meantime . . . Have a good one!
Tuesday, October 10, 2000Marcia-ism Dictionary
Similar to Lynne Walder's Pants Reference Page, I've decided to start a dictionary page based on some of the terms I use. Sometimes Brian doesn't understand me so I thought if I put a separate page up, encompassing the meanings of some of the terms I use, the rest of you can figure out what I'm talking about, too. If, over the course of the past year, you've heard me use a phrase or a word that you didn't understand my implied meaning, please let me know and I'll add it to my page. This could be a phrase regarding a description of a personal comment or perhaps, something about my business updates to you-- whatever you may be wondering about, feel free to let me know. As I add things to that page, I'll highlight them here in my Musings so that you know there's a cross-reference someplace that you can look it up.
Improvements all Around!!
Because I wasn't able to attend the offsite last week, I received a bottle of Johannisburg Riesling (Kendall-Jackson) 1998 today. Hmmm, sounds good to me. I really wish I hadn't missed the offsite but this is a nice consolation prize!
My back is greatly improved and my cold appears to be going away as well-- enough of that train wreck, eh? Yeah!!!
Happy Thoughts Needed
And speaking of Lynne Walder, her mum is "in hospital" and undergoing surgery that will require a fairly long recovery. (Don'tcha just love the English way of saying that? So word-economical, eh?) My cousin, Barb, will also be undergoing surgery in a couple of weeks, as well. I'll update you as it gets closer to Barb's surgery and, I'm sure Lynne will keep us posted about her mum, too. Our Happy Thoughts are with you all . . .
*********
I'm almost finished with my book, "The Samurai's Garden"-- I've literally got only about 20 more pages so I'm going to go finish that and, who knows from there?
BTW, it looks like I might be able to go fishing this weekend!!! Talk about happy!!!!!
Monday, October 9, 2000Happy Birthday,Susan!!
My sister, Susan, the missionary in Brazil is celebrating a birthday today-- I can't tell you how old she is and she's glad!! They've moved into their new apartment after arriving in Bauru last week. There's an update on their website if you're interested. I've long since given up sending her a birthday card-- it takes forever for the post offices of the U.S. and Brazilian governments to get together and exchange mail hard copy but, I'm sending her one electronically as soon as her email is up and operating! I've just got to find a way to remember to do that . . .
Busy Monday
Agreements coming at us from all directions!! ARGH!! The nasty one from last week has been moved over to one of the contract managers that is used to working with "engagement grant licenses" into which the document has managed to work itself. But, there are a dozen or more lined up behind it, waiting to be worked. I have one customer who is trying to use veiled threats of time constraints to "make" us accept the changes as she's written them. Ya know, I don't care how long it takes to get a document right: you can't rush it. I'd rather take more time and get it right than have to revise the document next week. I don't think she appreciated that in my email but, sometimes the best intentions are lost on those that are trying to shove their ideas down your throat.
My Health . . .
My cold is better, thanks-- hardly any sniffles and no sneezes today. I feel great in that regard. My back is better, too-- this morning it didn't hurt at all when I woke up and I was relieved that it was on the mend. Of course, my first thought was "Oh, boy, now I can ride my bike!" but, I know I can't yet. I was reminded of that this afternoon as, by the time that I left work, I was starting to stiffen up. I'm back on the ice packs tonight and hoping for much relief again by morning. I can use them at work but I walk around a lot and as a result, there is as much aggravation at being up and walking around as there is relief when sitting with my ice pack. It is on the mend and that's the important part!
Boredom has driven me to our library . . . actually, the borrowed library of my mother-in-law: I'm reading "The Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama. This book has gripped me from the moment that I picked it up yesterday and I don't know why. I'm enjoying it as far as the readability goes and the plot is engaging. Highly recommended!
**********
Don't know that there's anything else to report tonight. Thanks again to all those who have sent emails concerning my back-- much appreciated as always!!
Take care and have a good evening!
Archive