Archive of Marcia's Musings August 27-September 2, 2001
Sunday, September 2, 2001
The Morning After
Because it was an "open house" style of party, it started slow but was a rousing success. Brian's gonna have a couple of pictures that I took with the camera-- we were really too busy entertaining, talking with people and providing the "Nickel Tour" to pay much attention to the camera. It really was loads of fun!!
The older neighbors in the 'hood were the first to arrive-- Anita & Angelo have lived here since 1955!! They told us about the neighborhood and how much it had changed in the last 46 years (it has changed a LOT!!). While they were here, my manager, Judy and her husband, Jim, arrived and we all sat down and talked together. All too soon, Anita & Angelo had to leave but, soon after their departure, Vered (another co-worker of mine) and Ido with their daughter, Tamara, arrived. Shortly after their arrival, Myrna and Roger came in-- my office's contingent had made their appearance. Then other friends (Pat & Nathan) came and the neighbors came and it was a really nice afternoon and evening!!
Of course, we have a ton of food left-- that's always the case, isn't it? Well, we'll nibble on it for a couple of days and bring the remaining leftovers to our offices on Tuesday.
And for My Next Act:
Watch Marcia. Watch Marcia Sit. Watch Marcia Sit and Vegetate. Watch Marcia Sleep. Watch Marcia Do Anything That Doesn't Involve Moving or Lifting or Standing or . . .
More this evening if I actually end up doing anything of any value.
Happy Birthday, Robbie!!
Our nephew, Robbie, is two years old today!!! Robbie is Brian's sister's son-- maybe we'll make a drive up to Sacramento?
Have a nice morning.
Saturday, September 1, 2001Happy September!!
(No post-- party preparations.)
Friday, August 31, 2001Short Shrift . . .
. . . to borrow an over-used phrase. Anyway, I'm tired, final preparations for the party are under way because . . . drumroll please . . . the plumbing appears to be fixed!!!!! Yeah!!!!!! I am happier about that than you could possibly begin to imagine!!!
Brian's madly cleaning the remainder of the house and, to my knowledge, he hasn't redone any of the dusting that I did last night!! Yeah!!!! I'm almost as happy about that as I am about the plumbing being fixed-- there's hope for me yet!!! NAH!!!! ;>)
The stats at this site were, once again, astounding and amazing!! A new record high was set by all of the stop-overs y'all have made to the site and I do appreciate it. I've said it before but it bears repeating-- this has been a fun exercise for me and meeting and corresponding with all of you folks from around the world has been a bonus!! Writing here actually helps me release some aggravation at the end of the day and that, as always, is a Good Thing. Thanks for coming by!!
I'm off to pick up dinner and then, Brian's gonna make the salsa. I'll start laying out some plates for serving tomorrow and lining things up with whatever plate they are to go with tonight so that tomorrow, I have fewer things to do-- hopefully!
Probably nothing to report from me until Sunday but, I'll make sure Brian takes pictures and believe me, you'll all be sorely missed if you unable to attend our little occasion here tomorrow. If you can, by all means do-- come by!!
See you Sunday!! Have a nice evening and a nice Saturday, too!!
Thursday, August 30, 2001Space Cadet-- Borg Central
As I was walking into the house tonight, Brian said "Hello, Miss Headset-- how are you tonight?" At first I thought he was referring to the fact that I wear a headset at work. Since we had talked shortly before my departure from the office, I figured he was making a comment about how different my voice sounds in "real life" as opposed to on the headset. He kept smiling at me and repeated it, calling me "Miss Headset" again. I finally looked at him and asked what he was talking about to which, he simply pointed at my head.
I reached up and felt: my Headset from the office!! We laughed and laughed and LAUGHED!!!!!! I had worn my headset (thankfully cordless!!) all the way home from the office!!! I'm quite glad that I didn't stop at the grocery store tonight!!
Because I'm deaf in my right ear, I can pull the headset back from my left ear and have it sit comfortably and be able to hear people talking, etc. Apparently, I can also hear road noises!! I wear it all day at the office, shifting it over or off of my ear depending on if I'm on a call or not. I usually come home and still feel it on my head when it isn't-- usually!! I'm going to have to work on remembering to check the charger-stand before I leave the office!!
Not Pleased
Well, our first encounter with repairs of a major nature in the new house have caused a problem. I'll be showering at the office tomorrow morning and, hopefully, we'll have plumbing capabilities when we return from work. The property manager came in today with a plumber but, instead of fixing it, the problem is now worse. I've already called him but there's nothing he can do to fix it now-- yes, there is but apparently, he's not willing to pay over-time rates for a plumber. We will have to keep you posted on this one-- Yeesh!!!
I just hope we can have our party on Saturday cuz I'm not gonna be a happy camper if I have to cancel it!!!!!
Sit Down!!
Before I tell you this next thing, you need to be sitting down: We've talked before about "cleaning genes" and how I don't have them, right? Well, I'm going to "help" Brian-- if he doesn't kill me in the process-- by dusting. I should be able to handle dusting, right? I think that's simple enough: feather dust the gee-gaws on the shelves in the livingroom, rub down the coffee table with polish-stuff, feather dust everything else and rub down the bedroom furniture. Sounds simple enough and hopefully, I'll survive. After that, who knows?
Have a nice evening!
Wednesday, August 29, 2001Late, Late, LATE!!!
I left work late, ate dinner late, and then, I went late to my chat with my sister for the second week in a row!! Man, I need just four more hours in every day and, of course, the energy to be able to use them properly!!!
I was putting something on the new bookcases "properly" instead of the way that they were thrown together and, then there were the dishes and then . . . its a never-ending battle!!! Oh, man!!!
Preparations are Underway
As mentioned last night, I made the dips-- no comments from the peanut gallery, please!! Onion dip for potato chips and vegetable dip for . . . the vegetables. Tonight I'm making a cheese ball with cream cheese, pineapple and green pepper-- yes, it is delicious no matter how weird it sounds. Tomorrow night, Brian makes the salsa-- no, my curtains haven't gotten hung up yet and no, I don't know when they will get hung up. Someday.
And, for those who care, all of the recipes are being made with fat free, low fat, or reduced fat ingredients. The only "full fat" foods are the chips for the Salsa and half of the potato chips-- the other half of the potato chips are reduced fat chips (and no, they won't be in the same bowl!). Okay, the crackers aren't all low-fat but most of them are-- the cheese? No, there is no such thing as "low fat Gouda" and, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a good reduced fat white cheddar. Ah, well, there will be veggies which will help with pushing the munchies to the healthy-side of things. Just a lot of nibblies until later in the afternoon when a meat/cheese tray will be served with breads for sandwich making.
There are two different red wines and three chardonnays all of which are apparent favorites with the guests that are coming. Do you really think I could get away with NOT serving Coca-Cola? You people are really silly, aren't you? There are three sodas and bottled waters as well to cover all possible thirst patterns.
I'm telling ya: If you can be there, it'll be the party of the century so you should come!! ;>)
Back to the preparations . . .
Have a nice evening!!
Tuesday, August 28, 2001Its a Relativity Thing
Today, while working in my office, I received a phone call from my niece, Natali. She had been "threatening" to come up before she left California to go to Brazil (and, eventually, back to Michigan). Since I hadn't heard from her for about a month, I figured something came up and she wasn't going to be able to stop by. She was, in fact, calling today to arrange what day she would be coming up (turns out to be the weekend of the 8th!!). Yippeeee!! I get to see her before she leaves to go to Brazil!!! I'm really glad about that, needless to say.
Then tonight as I'm coming in the door, Brian opens the door for me as he's holding the phone to his ear and talking on it-- I thought, "Oh, boy, Tom's on the phone again!" Nope, he is saying to the phone "Let me open the door for Marcia so she can talk to her sister, Sue"!! Yippeeeeee!!!!! Sue and I chatted for a bit-- at least 15 minutes-- on the phone. It seems that one of the telephone companies is running a special to call the United States (from Brazil) for $.04 per minute!! Wow!! That's some kinda deal!!!
She had been on the phone with my other sister, Karen and Bill had some people he wanted to call-- the two of them had already called all three of their kids who live in the U.S. When you can get a deal like that, why not?
One of the big things that Sue told me about was that they are going to be visiting California in December and will be stopping by to see us!!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!! We don't have to go to snow and Michigan in December to see them-- Double-Yippeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
And, today being Tuesday, tomorrow night I have a chat session with Karen . . . I think . . . I'm pretty sure, I do. Hey, Karen? Do we? ;>)
The More I Do . . .
I am finding that the more I do at work, the more I have to do at work. The cool part about it is that I'm starting to branch out and do more stuff!
Going forward, I am going to continue to support the Southeast, Maintenance renewals, and State Government deals; Canada is also being added to my plate but the NDAs are going to be removed from my responsibilities. I'll negotiate the ones that deal directly with what I deal with and, a bit of the over-flow and back-log from other areas like our Customer Support Organization and Marketing.
I had someone from the maintenance renewal section request that I be moved closer to their department. My response? "Yeah, right-- can you imagine how Atlanta feels?"
He also asked me how I got started doing what I do but, that's a long story in the naked city of a time when I want to do nothing but bore you to tears.
The good news is that as much as I sometimes complain about my job, I like what I do and I like the people I work with as a department. That helps and certainly makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning!!
Ellis Island
When Brian and I went to New York in April of 1998, we took a ferry ride to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was too cold to get off the boat so we just looked around from where we sat and took the same ferry back to the city. As we glanced around the barracks buildings, I thought to myself: "My grandfather was here..." It was a strange and eerie feeling to have; I've always wondered about it. "It" being what it would've been like to wait until you were cleared for entrance into the country.
A few months back, the record (one of 26 that turned up) which I believe is my grandfather.nbsp The age on arrival and the year of arrival are approximately correct.
Kinda spooky, huh?
*********
Well, I'm either going to make some dips or hang curtains-- I wonder how much help I'll get from Brian? He's getting kinda burned out, needless to say.
Have a nice evening!
Monday, August 27, 2001Happy Birthday to Nina!!!
Our department admin and my friend, is having her 21st birthday today . . . again! We went out to lunch with her to celebrate along with Myrna decorating her cube, etc. She went to the circus (as any little girl would want to do!) for her birthday yesterday and had a wonderful time.
What I Need . . .
Is about 4 more hours in my day!!! I think I've said this before and I know I've been saying it a lot lately! Tonight, when I came home from work, rode my bike (6 miles!), walked the invitations to the Open House on Saturday around to the neighbors, chatted with a neighbor that I hadn't met before, washed/dried clothes (I've still got one load in the drier), made dinner, finished the curtains and, I've still got to take another shower and pay the bills!!! Yeesh!!! There is no rest-- even for people who have no time let alone time to be wicked!!! ;>) Will this pace ever end?
Its late already so, even though this is so short, I've gotta get going-- I've got another load of laundry to get finished!!
Thanks for coming by-- have a nice evening!
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