Archive of Marcia's Musings May 21-May 26, 2001Saturday, May 26, 2001
Talk about NOTHING!!
We slept in until 9am this morning-- that's very late for us! Then, after breakfast and reading everyone's websites, I took my shower and set off in search of Brian's anniversary gift. I have no idea where it is-- yet!! I don't know what to get him but I never do, do I? He is very difficult to buy a gift for any occasion so not being able to find something for our anniversary is not a surprise. I did manage to find a few things for myself that were needed but, I'm quite certain that that wasn't what I set out to do!
When I returned home, I had lunch and sat on the sofa-- that's the last thing I remembered doing anyway . . . two hours later, I awoke and, here I am writing a terribly boring post! Yeesh!! Sorry but its difficult to come up with stuff to make an impression on people when the only thing you've done all day is memorize the inside of your eyelids. Oh, well, must've needed it for a reason, right? Right!
Tomorrow evening we're going to our friends', Pat & Nathan, for a barbeque and to check to see how their master suite renovation came out. Brian's changed our plans with them twice just to see it-- he's not going to be happy until he does. So I don't bore you to tears twice in one 3-day weekend, I'll put a post for tomorrow night up on Monday morning and then update that after the activities of Monday are finished. That'll work and, hopefully liven things up around here.
I guess that's all for now-- I'll try to stay awake and you try to have a nice evening.
Friday, May 25, 2001And then there's This about That
Shortly after I posted last night, Don Armstrong from Down Under wrote this in reply to my post about the guy asking for my address:
[SNIP]Thanks, Don!! Its really a scary thought when you put it that way, ya know? He is right though-- this world is still very weird in ways that I don't want to be reminded of sometimes.
I suppose they thought it was worth a try. By the same token, that is why people who have their resumes posted on their web sites should NEVER include enough information for people to certainly identify their residence (address, or phone number if their address is listed in the directory). Wouldn't have to be about possessions either - it could be some whacko who's formed a great passion for Dutch girls (and knows her husband is out to a Linux user-group meeting that evening), or ailing young mothers, or fit strong librarians, or British girls who are into pants, or Canadian blondes, or...In other words, the world knows enough about you already without having it spelled out how to find you too.Feel free to circulate this as food for thought in the appropriate quarters, if you think it's justified.
[SNIP]As a matter of information, Brian said I should write the guy and to find out why he was asking. He responded by telling me that he was an agent (or that equivalent) contacting me for a friend of his that I had contacted a few months back about a role that I had available for her. Nope, I wrote back, not me-- I'm a screenwriter and playwright, I haven't contacted anyone about anything.
Its a little freaky though, ya know? Bad timing, I guess.
Change in Plans
(This was written during the course of my day.)Well, the 8am call didn't happen. The 9am call happened for about 20 minutes and then, in on-going conversations over the next two hours with the attorney, things got resolved for the licensing document. Then, there were the maintenance issues. For some reason, the attorney's email wasn't working so we were dealing with hard-copies of redlined documents-- not exactly the easiest thing in the world to read. Then, we just ran out of time. My 11am call was about to start-- or at least, it was supposed to start. As I type this at work, 11:16am and, although I called them at 11am sharp, they weren't ready so I'm waiting for them to call me back. In the interim, I've called the 12Noon call and told him I may be late because this is starting late and, I've gotta meet up with the attorney from 9am at 1pm this afternoon, too.
Oh, yes, it is definitely turning out to be an interesting day.
The 11am call putting me off may be a strategic ploy (they think) because I had to put them off yesterday. It isn't working because I don't care. I'm going to give them another fifteen minutes and I'm going to go get some water and call my Noon call when I return. The urgency has just been confirmed by the district manager for the area-- it could be money but if they don't call me back, I can't do anything about it.
Later that same morning . . .
There comes a time when you have to say "Nope, this ain't working." That time came for me this morning with the 11am customer who didn't want to change their Non-Disclosure Agreement but required us to change our Non-Disclosure Agreement. I finally gave up and gave it to someone else who had a clear head and open mind to the ideas that "negotiator" (and I use that term VERY loosely!) had and that was the best thing I could've done. I had to walk away or I was going to scream at her and that wouldn't get the deal done, needless to say. I gave it to my regional manager who, after a month ago telling me not to make certain changes, went ahead and accepted those same changes! But, hey, its done and what do I care? My regional manager makes the big bucks so that she can take the fall for a bad document-- I don't so that makes sense.
I went on from that call to two more calls resolving the issues of the next two parties without any problems at all. In fact, by the time that I got to the last call (from the 9am call), both the other attorney and myself were so tired, we were punch drunk but the deal is done and done well-- that is never compromised.
Now, I just need my weekend to start-- NOW!!!
Headache!!
Brian thinks we've got a virus because I've had a headache for three days or more; he's also had one so that's where the virus theory comes in to play. I came home from work and layed down for about a half-hour before he called, waking me up but I think my headache is a little less intense than it was before I layed down so that's the good thing about that. Brian and I usually go out for dinner for our Friday night date but, I've kinda nixed that idea tonight. I pulled steaks when I got home and they're marinating as I type.
PrimeTime
Did you watch PrimeTime last night? If you did, you caught a good piece about the missionary couple associated with the same group as my sister-- ABWE. The story from the ABCNews website is up here. One of the interesting facts that I learned from that piece last night is that 130 missionaries (out of 420,000) are killed every year by violence in the country they are working. I worried about that with my sister and her family when they were in Sao Paulo because of the high crime rate and, prior to that, when they were in Manaus because it wasn't as "civilized". Its not something that any of us likes to dwell on or think about when it comes to their safety. There is a requirement to "trust" in something that they'll be safe and, if not, that there's a reason for it. Jim Bowers said the same thing last night: he doesn't like it, he questions God, but he knows there's a reason.
That leaves a lot open to speculation and, his position is not one that I would envy him of in the days to come.
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We'll have to play the evening by ear but, hopefully, you'll have a nice evening!
Thursday, May 24, 2001I am Humbled
A few weeks back, when we were doing the Shoe Queen exercise, a woman I work with was equally challenged to count her shoes. She has two teenaged kids and, unfortunately, doesn't have the time to literally count for us the number of shoes that she has in her possession. Instead, she described it for us:
One shoe rack with three levels, about 10 feet long.
One shoe rack with two levels, about 10 feet long.
Two rows of shoes in front of each of these shoe racks.
Cindy (her name) wears about a size 5 shoe so you can probably guess how many pairs of shoes that she owns-- when your feet are that small, you can stack a lot of shoes in that kinda space!! I am humbled-- I don't even begin to cover the number of shoes that she has so, the next time you think to yourself, "Marcia has way tooooo many shoes", remember Cindy. Cindy, in fact, has so many shoes that the greeting card to the left was put on her desk the other day. I think I've decided to adopt it as my motto, my credo . . . my mantra. Anybody wanna go shopping??
What's Next?
If you're 16 and scale Mt. Everest, what's left? There are no great worlds left to conquer-- you've done it all by 16. Unless of course, you're Nepali in which case, survival will be the next big trek this guy's got ahead of himself. Yeesh!!
Do I Really?
(Back to Top)As usual, when I get home from my bike ride (yes, I'm still cycling 5 miles a day), I downloaded my email. I usually get all my email through Yahoo! at work but every now and then, from the time I leave work to when I get home, there's a new one that sneaks into the hopper. There was a new one tonight when I got home; the subject line said "address" [lower case-- everything was lower case].
I opened it (there were no attachments to worry about viruses) even though it wasn't from someone whose name I don't recognize. The body of the message read: "Do you have a mailing address?" Gee, I don't know-- lemme check . . . yep, I got one of 'em.
Do I really look so stupid that I'm going to give a COMPLETE STRANGER my mailing address???? Oh, PULLLLEEEEEEEEZZZZZE!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, like I'm just gonna fire that one off atcha-- right!!
The sad thing is, there are people that will write back to that person and say, "Yes, I do have one and it is . . . ". Then, when their identity is completely robbed from them, they won't understand why it happened or how they got the information that they had to do it. Yeesh!!!
Tomorrow's Plan
This is how my Friday is shaping up: I have a conference call at 8am; I have a conference call at 9am; I have a conference call at 11am; and I have a conference call at 12noon. I really can't drink a lot of coffee in the morning, can I?
As a group, we went to lunch today because one of the women that we work with is going to be out of the office for a month after a surgery. I came back and although I had no messages, within fifteen minutes, I had three phone calls from people I'd been waiting to hear from for over two weeks!!
Its going to be a crazy day tomorrow-- indeed. If I can remember any of it, I'll let you know. Usually when its that busy, I have a tendancy to forget what happened since it all ends up as one giant blur!
Because of tomorrow, I'm going to take tonight very low keyed . . . man, I don't wanna havta think, ya know? So, I'm going to veg by watching two (2) hours of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Talk about fun!! Just what I need, let me tell you!!
Off to make dinner-- You have a nice evening, too!!
Wednesday, May 23, 2001Thoughts from the Day
- Didja notice how now that we all know its a myth, we're still propagating that myth by continuing to talk about it, link to it, and eat, sleep and breathe it?? Every now and then, we have to learn something new and this is it from this lesson, folks: LET IT GO PEOPLE!!! Move on with life-- there's a whole lotta livin' to do!!
- One person's viewpoint is only as strange as the way its been described to him by another person who has a skewed vision of the situation.
Opinions Count
Last week, Shelley mentioned how funny "Miss Congeniality" was so I thought: "This sounds like a movie that I could watch once in awhile for a good laugh, I'll go ahead and get it on VHS instead of DVD." I picked it up on our regular Costco run on Sunday and finally popped it in the VCR last night. NOW, I wish I'd bought it on DVD!! I laughed REALLY REALLY hard and, at one point, drew Brian out of the office to replay a scene for him. After playing the scene I said to him: "She's the Chevy Chase of female actresses"-- who else could do prat falls like that and make it look soooooo REAL!!! Laughed and laughed and laughed-- thanks for the opinion, Shelley-- you were right!!!
And speaking of Netwidows opinions . . .
Our new Special Interests page has been brought up-- this is the page that grew out of being simply book reviews. It is now our collective intention to link to the pages that we want to put up that reflect the various interests of each of us. We are all distinctly different so it makes sense for us to have a variety of interests and hobbies and things from those interests and hobbies will develop into full blown lists of recommendations, reviews, how-to's and the like that we'll want to share with our reading public. I would highly recommend bookmarking that page directly since it is likely to change fairly frequently!
As a sidenote, the Recipes page that's been "housed" on my system is going to be directly moved and linked on the Netwidows sites now, too-- or at least, as soon as I can get to it!
Crooked Line Straight
When I was in junior high, the class three years older than me came up with a phrase to describe someone: "He could argue a crooked line straight". That kinda stuck with me and, I believe, they ended up putting the same header on my picture when I graduated. Today was a day when I can tell you that it fit perfectly, too.
I had a customer arguing with me about when the invoice that we send them is received and thus, the invoice is due 30 days later. I told him that I have a sister in Maine; it takes four days to get stuff to her from California so if I allow five days for delivery of an invoice, that's an extra day. He didn't want any limits on when an invoice would be received. We have to have some limits since the due date of the invoice is measured by it. He didn't like that and kept saying the same thing over and over and I kept responding by saying the same thing over and over. Finally, he gave up. ;>)
Have I mentioned that I'm a sick puppy and really do enjoy my work? Yeah, well, what can I say? That's what makes me, me.
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Thanks for coming by but I think I'm going to call this a "Post" and put it up early. Its How To night on PBS and I've got some things I want to do before that starts so, I'll have a nice evening and, as usual, I'm sure you will, too!
Tuesday, May 22, 2001
Update at 10:35pmNew Moon
It took until about 3 this afternoon, but I finally figured out what is happening with all of my customers and everyone else: There is a New Moon today. Man, does that make for weird people!!
There were a couple of documents that were signed today but it is very frustrating to have everyone uptight at the same time. I've got one customer that has decided that ignoring me will get the document they sent to me signed. They're wrong but they'll not be able to figure that out until Thursday or Friday at which time it will be too late. I can't sign the document with the changes that they want so it'll either not get signed their way or it will get signed with the changes that I can give them. We'll see how that one goes tomorrow.
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I went to Weight Watchers tonight: chalked up-- No, DOWN-- four more pounds!! Yeesh, this is really turning into a long process!! Oh, well, its worth it . . . eventually!!
I was going to save "Miss Congeniality" for the weekend but, I think I'm going to call this a "Post" and go watch it-- I need something that's going to divert my consciousness for awhile.
You have a nice evening!
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Yes, I know there's a problem with my background-- Its a problem and I'm working on it. Bear with me-- it'll be tomorrow before its fixed.Now the backgrounds fine again-- who knows?? Yeesh!! Gotta get some sleep! G'night!!
Monday, May 21, 2001Not Ready!!
I was still not ready to go back to work today-- I really relaxed over the weekend. When I got to work, I had two customers from different schools in the same state wanting the same changes to a document. They both said that the state code required it since they were publicly funded through state funds. I said it probably wouldn't be a problem but I needed to have the state code sections faxed to me. Boy, you would think I was asking for a million dollars in small bills!! They said I may have to talk to the Attorney General for the state and if we wait too long on this, they may not be able to buy the product by the end of this week and that's when their budget runs out. Dah, boys-- d'ya think maybe you need to get off of your you-know-whats and get me the section codes then? I hate being threatened with stuff-- it doesn't change the facts: I cannot change state law without a good reason and, a state section code is a good reason if it is in writing!! By 10am I was ready to start screaming at people again!! So much for my day off!!
3-Way ICQ!
I'm excited-- my sisters, Sue and Karen and I are going to have a 3-way conversation on ICQ. Its the first time in a long time that we have been able to do that not because of inability of Sue's computer (nope, we solved that one about a year ago, remember?) but because of the time differences between where she is (Brazil) and where I am-- Karen was always kinda in the middle. We're going to start making our sessions earlier in the evening and, with me on daylight savings time and them (in Brazil) not on daylight savings time, Sue can join us for a chat!! Should be fun!!
Other Good News
Do you remember me telling you about my co-worker's husband who was hit by a bus? This was back in January-- he spent a week or so in the hospital in Los Angeles and then the came back up here to San Francisco where they live. He was off of work for a couple of weeks but then gradually went back to work. Debra (my co-worker) and Michael went to France at the beginning of May-- they had a wonderfully relaxing trip but, apparently, upon arrival home, Michael was given some excellent news: He was released from doctor's care entirely!! He has always been a runner including entering the Boston Marathon a few times but he hasn't been able to run because of possible re-injury to his spleen. That is no longer a worry and apparently, he's now regained his obsession with running!! Good news, indeed!! Yeah, Michael!!! I was so pleased to hear of his full recovery-- I know that takes a load off of their minds!!
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Okay, that's it for me for tonight-- I've got some work to do on a website or two (of the five) so I'll catch you tomorrow night.Have a nice evening!
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