Archive for September 4-10, 2000Musings of My Mind
Sunday, September 10, 2000
Now what?
Well, let's see: after being up unusually late for us (11:30pm, without the help of our neighbors!), we only slept until about 7:30 or so this morning. We picked up Brian's bosses from the airport last night: Trudy and Jack were flying in from their vacation to the east coast and we offered to pick them up. Not a problem: less than an hour and we were home. It has been almost two years since I've seen them although we do talk on the phone quite a bit so it was nice to have a brief visit. Considering it was 1am in the time zone that they were coming from, they were pretty tired and thus, the need for the "brief visit".
So, anyway, as a result, what do I have left today? Well, we're going to make our usual Costco run and then the grocery store. My friend called last night and we're going to meet at Macy's so I can help her spend her money-- I know of one thing that I need there but, it certainly won't involve the same drama as her purchase (we need an apple corer and she needs a cocktail dress).
When I get back, I'll probably continue work on the Christmas ornaments and go for a bicycle ride. Sunday will be a safer day, I believe.
More later, I'm sure . . .
Saturday, September 9, 2000
(Update at 3:45pm)Up Early
I woke up at about 6:30am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, Brian and I finally got out of bed about 7:30 cuz tossing and turning usually does wake both people completely out of a sound sleep. Oh, well, long day ahead-- he has another chapter to finish but it doesn't look like I'll be going to the Gilroy outlets. I didn't hear from my friend, Pat, so that tells me she couldn't free herself-- not a problem. I'll get my "fix" this weekend-- I have to go to Macy's on Sunday.
Garage?
What garage? No, I didn't get back down to the garage last night as I had hoped or mentioned in my post. So, I've still got the gear to pull together. Speaking of which, I think I'll get started by going cycling-- I've picked out my winter route which will keep me a little closer to home, in right-turn heaven and out of the path of on-coming vehicles.
I'll check back later but in the meantime, have a good one!
I have made a new resolution and most certainly, a mental note: Do NOT ride my bicycle on my usual route on Saturday morning!! Yeesh!!! I ride past three schools: 2 middle schools and one high school. Guess what schools do during the school year on Saturdays? They have all of their sports teams come in for practice cuz they don't care that its Saturday-- there's still got to be a football practice or soccer practice or whatever. There was more traffic on the street this morning at 8am than there is during "Rush Hour" in the evenings after work!!! I was not a pleased person having to worry about defending my life from people who couldn't see around other cars and were, as a result, making turns in front of me. It wasn't as stress-relieving of a ride this morning as it usually is, needless to say. Oh, well, I'll either ride after noon or take a different route, if I can find one, on Saturdays. On Sundays, I've got to watch around churches so everything's a bit risky around here!
Anyway, at 10:15, I came up to the apartment, walked into the office where Brian was working and said "So what am I gonna do the rest of the weekend?" Yep, the camping and fishing gear were quickly pulled into the appropriate spots in the garage today. The only thing left to do is load the cooler (which we won't do until we leave) and the pantry box and that is saying that we're doing really well. The fishing stuff is organized, as well-- there's nothing to do until next Saturday morning now. Obviously, I made better time pulling that together than I expected, too. One of these days I have to remember from one time to the next how long it takes to pull stuff together or tear it down or whatever.
Since I was finished with the dirty stuff of my day, I then went about taking my shower. Pat emailed me to tell me that tomorrow would work for her for shopping but, because of our usual Costco and grocery run, I'm not sure it'll work for me. I went ahead and did the running that I had to do anyway today and, if I have time, I'll go with her tomorrow cuz you just never know. There could always be something . . .
Anyway, the day is still "young" . . . well, sorta . . . we'll see what other trouble I can get into, okay?
Perhaps, more later again . . .
Friday, September 8, 2000THE WEEKEND!!!
Yeah, its here!!! It felt like it would take forever to get here but it is finally here!! I almost hate 3-day weekends more than a 5-day work week!! Making up for that fifth day that's missing can seem like it takes three days to do!!
Watching Over
All of the Daynotes Gang and Netwidows have been put on alert: Barbara Thompson is leaving town. We need to make sure that Bob takes his vitamins, The Boys get fed (properly) and watered, Lenore is taken care of and Duncan gets TWO Pepcid-AC at night. Barbara told me there has been a supply of olives, tuna, anchovies, and mayonnaise laid in to the pantry in addition to the freezer being well stocked with Hungry Man dinners for Bob and Stouffers for Lenore.
In all seriousness, Barbara: GO!! Have a GREAT time!! Bob will take care of Lenore and The Boys. You will be missed but they will be good and everyone will take care of everyone else.
PS: Take LOTS of pictures!!!
Professional Shopping Approaches
A new kink in my plans for the weekend turned up: I have an opportunity to do some heavy duty professional shopping this weekend and, I'm pretty sure that I can't pass it up!! A friend of mine is going to Nice and Paris for 9 days and needs a "Little Number" for a cocktail dress to wear while she's there. Well, Brian and I had talked about going to the Pfaltzgraff outlet in Gilroy in September (i.e., NOW) to get the rest of our dinner ware set (butter dish and pasta bowls) along with the Christmas set that I wanted. I suggested to my friend, Pat, that we combine the two and head to the outlets in Gilroy. Her Significant Other has his kids scheduled to come over this weekend but if she can put off being with them until 5-ish, we can swing a quick trip to the outlets!!
If this is to work, however, and allow me the luxury of getting ready for the camping/fishing trip and shopping, I'll have to start pulling things into place in the garage this evening after my bicycle ride. Not a problem: the garage is cooler than the apartment and, if its hot again, it might be nice to work down there.
If I get the camping and fishing stuff pulled together tonight but Pat can't go, I'll have to wait a few weeks because Brian has decided he wants to go with me but, he is, afterall, working heavily on the book now and thinks he can take a few hours break in a couple of weeks to drive down there with me.
I'll let you know tomorrow how this comes out . . .
Misty's Last Day
Misty's dad is leaving the company for greener pastures (he hopes) at another company. The deal was that he was supposed to bring Misty in yesterday AND today. John (yes, that is his real name), did neither-- he did not bring Misty in to see us and say good-bye to us!! As I said to John upon his parting: "Its a good thing today is your last day-- I'd make sure you'd be fired if it weren't!!"
As a parting gift to us, since he didn't bring her in, we get a picture to keep of her. It doesn't make her look very friendly but it does show her gorgeous coat and big eyes. Misty will be missed . . . Oh, yeah, and John, too! Good Luck!! This picture doesn't show how really sweet her face is-- it almost makes her look angry but she's really incredibly gentle for a Rottweiler. I even had doggie treats in my desk for her!! Oh, well, there's always Joey and Gracie and . . .
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I've gotta get down and get some work in the garage done. Have a good night!!
Thursday, September 7, 2000Nuttin' Much
I am, of course, referring to the fact that I have very little to report. Today was a busy day at work with a few times when it was kinduva drag-- not many but a few. I ended the day with an hour-long negotiation in which the customer found out how much spaghetti doesn't stick to the walls at my company. They threw a lot of stuff up there but, very little of it stuck. Most of the changes that they requested had to be turned down for legal, fiduciary and/or revenue recognition reasons which, because their CFO was on the call, they understood and acknowledged. The sales rep said he thought they were trying to see what they could get away with and they found out, unfortunately, that they couldn't get away with much. I had valid legal or financial reasons for all of the decisions that were made and, when possible, I did accept their changes-- it just wasn't possible very often.
As an example, they wanted to insert language that said that modifications to the software could be made if we authorized the modification. We would never allow anyone else to get anything but object code versions of the software so that modifications should not be able to be made. Beyond that, if there are modifications that are needed to the software, our engineers are the ones that make those changes-- we don't have contractors or "other third parties" make those modifications because it is specialized software that we invented and we are the only ones who work with our software for improvements or modificaitons. Period. The CFO was a little miffed because they didn't have a prepared come-back for that one but, that is something that should have been thought of when the change was made. The interesting thing about working with these legal documents is that often the words that are left for implication, after the document has been changed, can leave too many gaps. If the gaps are to my advantage, fine-- if they aren't, then I don't let the change through the hole.
That's a nice way to end the day at work.
Indian Summer?
I think its a little early but, we seem to be started on an Indian Summer thing over here-- it was very hot when we got home and, while it has cooled off a bit, it is still fairly warm. I've still got some ironing to finish up and then, I'll decide from there what to do. Its a "snack night" because of the heat-- Brian won't get an appetite until around 9pm or so. As a result, I ended up with tuna and Club crackers with a couple of tomatoes sliced on the side. The man does know how to grow tomatoes!!
Have a good evening wherever you are and for whatever you plan to do!!
Wednesday, September 6, 2000Happy Birthday, Barb!
There are a lot of birthdays in September, aren't there? Whoops, I said that already I think. Well, there are!! My cousin, Barb, is celebrating a birthday today along with Danielle Syroid (Happy Birthday, Danielle!) and Keri Beland's father (Happy Birthday Keri's Daddy!!)! See what I mean? A busy month!!
Where to Begin?
Out of the gate this morning, Sjon Swenson writes to complain about the colors of fonts, sizes of fonts, backgrounds and oh, by the way, the name just isn't right. Yeah, well, its Wednesday-- get over it! ;>) Bob Thompson promptly follows with a name-change request for his latest creation; done and you're welcome! In my defense with Sjon, I have to say (and did) it isn't my place to name Lynne Walder's site-- it would be her choice on that one as I point out to him. He takes up the battle (yes, I know-- silly man!) with Bob (Walder) and Lynne and, thankfully, Bob won't budge. Whew!!
Hey, Yo, Sjon: Bob's "Tuna Shock" has been renamed thusly (and probably appropriately) and the fonts have been changed to be a more reflective color on the black background. Is everybody happy? Well, GOOD!!!
Moving On
Work has been a real thrill today-- a sales rep calls to confirm a conference call that has been moved to tomorrow. He apparently didn't check his voicemail. This is the same sales rep that called me yesterday forgetting that the conference call was set up in the first place. My hours are generally 7am to 4pm but, I tend to start winding up business by about 3:30 so I can if I need to finish up anything that may be hanging on by 4:30 at the latest. At 3:15pm, this same sales rep sends me a new agreement; not an unusual thing except that the woman who is usually his contract manager comes back from her vacation tomorrow. Its 45 minutes until I walk out the door; I'm not going to confuse the customer by calling them at 3:15 only to tell them that their deal will be handled by someone else tomorrow. DAH!!!
Brandie from my company's Canadian office (Mississauga?? I don't have the company directory with me so I can't tell you the correct spelling of the name of that city!) has joined the group reading my website. I was just telling her yesterday that I don't go on and on and whine about my co-workers because its dangerous and, there I go. Oh, well! Some things just naturally have to change on their own. She does her job completely and thoroughly so I won't complain about her-- and, yes, I would say that even if she wasn't reading my site.
Cycling
Everything that was installed last night worked perfectly on tonight's ride. The only problem was the excessive temperatures-- we're up in the upper 80s today so I only went five miles. I came home and did my back stretches/stomach crunches though so all is well with the world, I think.
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I've got to do some ironing tonight!! I keep staring at my closet in the morning, wanting to wear this or that outfit but I can't because it would look like I slept in it. I have now run out of clothes that I can wear so I have to at least iron something for tomorrow. I'm really tired, again, too. Don't know why but . . . it probably has something to do with someone sneaking into our bed after I go to sleep and then tickling me!! He'll tell you its to stop my snoring but, since I don't snore, I know its just to be mean!! ;>)
How-To night tonight-- have a good one!
Tuesday, September 5, 2000
(Update at 9:30pm)Webmaster Duties
I've got some things to put together tonight for my sister's website as well as for the Netwidows Recipes Pages so lots to do and not much time, as usual. Susan wants some of the pictures and bio information changed up a bit so I'll hopefully be able to finish that up tonight.
Additionally, I've been remiss in remembering to inform you of Lynne Walder's arrival to the Netwidows forces. Welcome, Lynne!!! Lynne's husband, Bob, is a member of the Daynotes Gang so she has decided to join our ranks as well. There will be a link for her on the Netwidows Recipe Page (although she's not quite ready for us yet).
One of the updates that I've got to make for the Netwidows Recipe Page is a link under Barbara Thompson's for Bob's culinary escapades. He is getting so creative in the kitchen!! From the sounds of her schedule this week, it is probably a good thing. She'll be traveling on holiday in Canada next week but it doesn't appear that she's doing any pre-cooking for him before she leaves. This doesn't bode well for Lenore, the poor dear-- she'll have to eat whatever concoction Bob comes up with but, we have to hold out hope that Bob can find his way to a Burger King if the potato chips, tuna and olives run out!
Well, DAH!!!
I read a brief story about this incident yesterday but there's more info on it today at this site. Is anyone surprised? It had to happen!! He's Republican-- what else needs to be said?
Other Things
Work was busy-- my director, Joyce, has been out on vacation and a couple of sick days thrown in at the end of the trip for jet lag and airline flu. She and her niece went to Italy and, of course, the rest of us are jealous! I've got several contracts that are coming together all at once, of course. Its not the end of the month or quarter but it seems like it.
Speaking of the end-of-month/end-of-quarter problems, I've been approved to get another 6 gigs of memory for my laptop. The consensus among the sysadmins is that the reason that my system BSODs on the last of the month is simply a lack of memory and me taxing it beyond its capabilities. SO, to resolve that, we're going to get me more space!! Kewl, eh? I can hardly wait-- I won't know what to do when I get through an end-of-month/end-of-quarter without problems but I'd like to give it a six month try!!
Well, I'm actually breaking down and making fish for dinner. I had a craving for fish for a day or two now and tonight on the way home from work, I bought some ling cod. That and steamed zucchini and flavored rice makes for a nice dinner for us, especially as it is getting a little late here.
And, by the way, the reason that my post is late is because after my bicycle ride tonight, I put the new speed/odometer and the new head- and taillights! What fun! I couldn't get this one bit of the speed/odometer to go right so I had to ask for Brian's help but, otherwise, I did assemble the lights myself. The taillight is a permanent attachment but the headlight is removable.
Dinner's almost ready so I'm going to dash-- more later as time and stuff permit.
Have a good evening if I don't come back!
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All of the changes are done that I can do: there's a new journal entry on my sister's site here and there's been a couple of updates to the family biographical information pages here.
Also, on the Netwidows Recipe Page, as I mentioned earlier, Bob Thompson sent another recipe my way over the weekend. I apologize to both my readers and Bob that it took this long to get the entry up but, due to the fact that this is his second contribution, I decided to put some work into it and give him his own border and main page so . . . you can find those updates starting at this site. Enjoy! Thanks go to Barbara for the idea of the sub-header-- certainly seems appropriate to me!!
Dinner, by the way, came out wonderfully and that is a recipe I'll be posting-- I had never made the cod dish for Brian before but it is definitely going to be a repeat. Yes, I know that I still owe you the zucchini recipe from last week but good things come to those who wait, remember? Have patience-- it'll get here! Since it got a two-thumbs up from Brian, I'll post the ling cod recipe when I have a chance as well-- next day or two at the lastest, I promise!
Well, I'm really tired tonight-- that's the problem with three-day weekends! Oh, well, take care and I'll "talk" with you tomorrow.
Monday, September 4, 2000
(Update at 7:20pm)Happy Birthday, Ron & Peter!!
Happy Birthday, guys!! Ron is my sister Karen's husband of umpteen gazillion years, and Peter is Brian's brother-- there are sooooo many birthdays to celebrate all the time, aren't there?
Neighbors!
From reading Dan Bowman's post of yesterday I can see we weren't the only ones who had a problem with parties on Saturday night. Maybe there was something in the air? Who knows! Much to our relief, nothing at all happened downstairs last night. I'm not sure that I ever heard the manager over there or not during the day yesterday but, that isn't as important as the fact that it was quiet.
Plans for Today
I'm going to put my plans in writing now and, at the end of the day, come back and hopefully have told you how much I accomplished. Hopefully . . .
1. I want to go for a bicycle ride; my back is somewhat better but I can't help but think it would be a lot better if I went for a bicycle ride so I'm going to go! I know that probably doesn't make sense but I'm going to try it anyway.
2. The housekeepers come tomorrow so I have to organize the finished ornaments and put my "stuff" out of the dining room so that they can clean. I'm thinking I'll take a picture of it before I start to clean it up so you can see what I mean about why this is such a major project.
3. I need to make a list of food/menu things and camping/fishing gear that we'll need to take with us. Our trip is not this coming weekend but the weekend after that-- it was planned before the book that Tom and Brian are working on came to be but Brian says that it can go on as planned. I'm going to eliminate much of the headache for him, however, by doing the organizing and arranging of the camping and fishing equipment. That way, he can keep working right up to the point where we have to leave the apartment and then he'll feel better about leaving for a bit.
4. Either this weekend or next, I'm going to go buy another open-reel and rod for myself. So far, my "second rod" license has been applying to Brian's since he wasn't using it but, that won't be the case in a few weeks and that's the reason that I'll be getting another. I've got a spare closed-reel and rod but I don't like it-- once you do open-reel, it is very difficult to go back to a closed-reel system!
5. I wrote the checks for a couple of bills yesterday but stopped in the middle of it (I think I wanted to run the rent check down when I saw the manager come in from her lunch break and then didn't get back to it); I've also got a couple more checks to write and then the bills are done.
6. Go to the grocery store for vegetables and bread stuff; we went to Costco (again!) yesterday for meats so we're set there. (There are times when I feel like we live at Costco!!)
7. Set-up my vitamin box for the rest of the week-- not time-consuming but if I don't write it down, I'll forget it!
-----Not a bad list of things to do but most of the things that I need to do are time-consuming. I've waited until now to get anxious about making sure that we've got all of the appropriate set-ups needed for the camping/fishing trip so that's good for me. Had this been a year ago, I would've gotten nervous/anxious about it two weeks ago!
TTYL!!
Thank Goodness!!! I've had a busy day indeed! As for my list:
1. Bicycle ride- Done!
2. Christmas crafts put away- Done!
3. List of Food/Gear for Camping/Fishing-Partially Done!
4. New Fishing Rod- Done!
5. Finish writing checks for bills- Done!
6. Grocery store- Done!
7. Vitamin box- Done!I went for my bicycle ride this morning-- immediately after my first post in fact. My back felt better almost immediately but there's still a lingering bit of pain. It flared up when I got home from grocery shopping so I laid down for about an hour. But, the important part is that I got to ride my bicycle!! I definitely was one happy camper!!
It took about 30 minutes, start to finish, which I need to remember so I don't panic and put it away too early next time. Afterall, its 7pm and I have nothing to do for the rest of the night!! Well, not really but that'll wait until later. Oh, by the way, in case you're wondering where the stuff goes when its not in use? This should about cover that . . .
For the fishing and camping gear . . . well, I got to the point of printing out the Excel spreadsheet that I've got for the gear. I've still got two days next weekend to get this stuff organized so I'm not worried about it-- I'm actually surprisingly cool about this trip for some reason. I know that I want to trim down some of the supplies that we carry for camping because we're going to have supplies for fishing that we don't ordinarily carry with us. That is easily something I can do in a day even though I've allotted myself two days to do it in next weekend. Plenty of time!!
When I went out to go to the grocery store, I stopped at SportMart. You've heard me mention them before on this site; I really like that store! There's a lot of selection and stock (most of the time) on stuff in the store and that's one of the things I like. Today, I got lucky on two counts: First, the fishing rod: they were having an end of season sale (I have relatives that would argue that the fishing season never ends) so I got 30% off of a Penn rod-n-reel combination. Nice rod and a really smooth spin on the reel! SportMart loaded the 8lb. line at no extra charge which is another thing about that store I like-- the "Little Extras".
The second lucky count was due to finding the last headlight/taillight set for bicycles! Brian and I had just been talking about what I was going to do in order to be able to ride my bicycle in the winter-- the weather stays pretty good here so that isn't the issue as much as the fact that it gets dark at 5pm or earlier after the time change in October! Not fun!! I wanted to be able to ride but you can't if you don't have a light on your bicycle so now, I will be able to ride after dark. If I think that people aren't seeing me well enough, I'll go back and get a reflective vest but right now, I think that with the lights, I'll be okay-- I'm not changing the time that I'm gong so it should be sufficient.
I finished writing the checks for bills and set them up for Brian to take in the morning to his office. No problem, "piece o' pie".
While in the grocery store, I got the inspired idea of making chili-- Bob Thompson and I had an exchange this morning about a new recipe he wants me to post for him. I'll be doing just that but, its gonna take me awhile to get to it. Anyway, Bob mentioned in one of his emails "Road Kill Chili" and, although mine is made with ground turkey and ground beef (93% fat free), I'm sure that the exchange with him this morning was in the back of my head when I was in the grocery store. Grocery shopping hadn't been done properly for a couple of weeks-- there's always at least a once-a-month trip where we stock up on stuff and that was the way that today's trip went. I always feel guilty spending money at the grocery store no matter how much I spent and I know that we don't spend very much. Yeesh!! That, I am certain, is a childhood thing.
My vitamin box has been re-stocked for the upcoming four-day work week. I take a variety of vitamins and one prescription medication (Synthroid) on a daily basis. I know they're supposed to be good for something but, I have yet to find out what. In the interim, I'm told that if I take my vitamins, I'll be around longer so I take them. I even take the night-time ones most of the time. Those are a little harder for me to remember for some reason but, all-in-all, I get them slammed down the vast majority of the time.
And, to last but not least, an item that wasn't on my list but, as you can see, defnitely needed to be done: My desk is now spic-n-span! I'm so proud, aren't you? Yeah, well, what can I say? I've got to look into the E-Trade software that I found on my desk (in one of the piles) and compare that with what I think I've signed up for at work. Hopefully, they will compute together and work properly and I'll be able to retire next week-- yeah, right!
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I don't have any idea of what I'm going to do the rest of the evening-- I have no crafts to play with and my other chores are finished, too. I'll have to see if I can find my cross-stitch . . . I know its in a basket in the living room someplace . . . the apartment's not that big . . . I should be able to find this, right?
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