Archive of Marcia's Musings August 6-12, 2001
Sunday, August 12, 2001
Remind me . . .
Not to move again, okay? We're going to buy this house-- no its not our "perfect house" but I would rather buy it and make it perfect than have to move out of it!!! ARGH!!! I have muscles I don't ever remember being on my body that are killing me!! I was hurting last week but the last two days have been the worst!!!
Okay, to give you a better breakdown of what happened:
Thursday - Sorry, I really don't remember Thursday. Sad, isn't it?
Friday - I left work at 2 shortly after Brian left his work and we started trucking stuff over to the house from the apartment in my truck (Blazer, remember?). About 3:30, I called the truck rental place and they could get us the truck that we were supposed to be renting on Saturday morning. Whew!! Since one of the guys that we had helping us on Saturday couldn't help on Saturday, that was good news!! (I was really worried about Brian having to make another move by himself!!)
Although Scott got home kinda late from work on Friday night, the guys got everything moved over. I had driven a full-of-electronics truck to the house while they were loading the rental truck, emptied it and parked it on the street. I walked back at a brisk pace to the apartment (about a half-mile away!), loaded up the Benz and drove that down. One of the first things off the truck was our bed and, while they unloaded the rest, I made up our bed-- we were going to sleep in our new house!!
We fell into bed before 10pm Friday night and, at about 3:30am Saturday morning, I woke up and started making lists of what needed to be done. Man, I hate when I do that!! Eventually, I either made myself fall asleep doing it or I stopped doing it but the most important part is that I fell back asleep. We woke up around 7am and, after Brian made coffee, we headed off to McDonald's for breakfast and, soon after we finished our breakfast, my friend Myrna came by to help us unpack. She washed dishes while I unpacked and put the clean stuff away-- a long and arduous process!!
While Myrna was here, Brian came back with another truck load of little stuff: pots from the Patio Farm, drawers and shelves-- all of the stuff that never wants to box up properly. As we were emptying the truck, one of the couples that lives across the street came over and introduced themselves. Joan & John seem like a very nice couple and just after we finished talking with them, Angela (of William & Angela next door) came out to tend to her garden. She took Myrna and I on a tour of her garden, backyard and house (they have hardwood floors!). On our way out and back to work, William joined her and I explained that John & Joan had just come across the street, too. William kinda chuckled and said that they probably just came over to make sure we (meaning Brian and I) were "normal". Angela clarified the situation for me "None of the drug-traffic that the previous tenants "encouraged" have been by the house since May so you're probably not going to have any problems." Excuse me???? Yikes, what have we gotten ourselves into?? Thank goodness, Brian'll have that alarm system turned on soon and we'll be okay!
Myrna left around noon, after helping me to get the food from the fridge/freezer at the apartment and I spent the rest of the day continuing to look for the kitchen in boxes. As of this morning, the kitchen is finished-- it looks REALLY nice, too!! There is still one box missing because I can't find the cake pans-- its probably in with the living room boxes!!
In amongst all of this unpacking, we've had a couple of chuckles: Landon Syroid has figured out how to use his Mom's cell phone. Today he was a little more verbal on his call but he doesn't say anything when I pick up the phone right away. So that's my cue that its him and I say "Hi, Landon, how are you?" and he says "Fine" and says "Nana" which is Leah's mother. "No," I said, "Not Nana, Landon-- Marcia" "Ooh, Mar-ciaaaaa". In the background I hear Tom chuckling and saying "Yeah, it was nice to meet Marcia, wasn't it, Landon? Hey, buddy, you need to blow your nose-- come here" and the phone goes dead.
I called Leah & Tom back-- Tom answers the phone: "The keyguard on your cellphone doesn't work very well, Tom." "Huh?? What? That little s**t called you again?" Gotta laugh at that, don'tcha!! Brian and I went out for a couple of hours today to look for bookcases and I was concerned that we'd missed a call from Landon-- we didn't have the answering machine hooked up yet! Cute little guy!!
Anyway, I've finally got computer service hooked up but don't know how much I'll get to writing any updates on it this week. There's still a lot to do around here-- Yeesh, there's a lot to do around here!! Brian seems to never run out of energy while I feel like sleeping from all of the sore and tired muscles!! ARGH!! I'd say its the age difference but he says he's 27 and I'm 26 so that won't work!!
Have a nice evening!!
Saturday, August 11, 2001Unpacking Begins . . .
(Happy Anniversary, Sue & Bill - 28 Years!! Yee-Haw!!!!)
Friday, August 10, 2001No Post . . . Left Work "Early" to get the Truck and get Stuff Moved
Thursday, August 9, 2001No Post . . . Final Pre-Arrangements for the Move
Wednesday, August 8, 2001Not My Idea of a "Good Time"!!
How I started my day: debating and negotiating and trying to avoid flat-out arguing with a customer. I have decided that, while I am a morning person, this is not a fun way to start the day-- at all!! The debating and negotiating bit wasn't so bad but she was a combative sort who apparently "negotiates" by arguing and frankly, I don't see that as productive so I wasn't having a good time buying into it.
She wasn't a lawyer and, obviously, neither am I so when it came to the negotiation of the indemnification, she wants our attorneys to talk. I've got a feeling that if I put in a reservation now, our attorney might be free to discuss this with her attorney by about November. Yes, I'm just going to deal with it directly. I told her to send back her proposed changes and we'd go from there as to who needs to discuss what with whom. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I will probably be the one ending up talking with her attorney-- I decided to let her live in her delusional world. Besides, as it turns out, because I'll be on vacation next week unpacking and sorting and organizing, my manager will probably end up handling it-- I doubt that it'll wait till I get back.
The sales rep had to handle some of the issues in the call and he wasn't used to dealing with several of them so that was also interesting. I love having to train people who have been with the company for six years, don't you? Its like this: one of our AVPs decided that the stress was too much so she left. She had been a very good "hands-on" type of AVP so that when the sales rep brought the deal in, she took over the negotiations with the contracts people (us) and the customer. When she left, her sales reps didn't know how to negotiate (not a Good Thing) and the new AVP doesn't have time to do it (he has two regions to handle now) so they are having to learn (and be taught) how to negotiate. Oh, joy!!
Until we got off the initial call with the customer this morning, I didn't know that since it isn't my region. (In my region, the sales reps and I make the calls together and only call in John when it is a critical issue that he has to make the determination on how to respond to the customer's request.) I even commented to Brian that the sales rep wasn't very good on the call and then, the sales rep called me back and explained why he was so inexperienced. This, of course, makes a huge difference-- I wished I'd known that before the call!!
Anyway, that said and done, I'm on to other things this morning-- more to come? Maybe, after I get home from doing things at the house.
And Later That Same Morning . . .
I'm sitting peacefully at my desk and, at about 10am, one of the sales reps from the region that one of my currently-vacationing-co-workers supports calls. He asks if I can sit in on a discussion about the contract with the customer for aboout a half-hour. "Sure, no problem", says I.
More than two hours later, I begged to take a break-- I'm on Weight Watchers and I drink my water!! We reconvened ten minutes later which gave me time to "check the tiles", check my messages, get a call from our director and eat part of my lunch!! Then the phone rang and we were back in the thick of it for about another hour and a half!! All together more than three hours on the phone and it was an impromptu negotiation!! Yeesh!!
Conveniently (?), I'm going on vacation next week and so is she; we're going to pick up the negotiaton and re-draft when we get back from our respective vacations. I think I'm a sick puppy because I'm willing to take it back when I get back from vacation-- it must be the stress from the move!!
The thing is, I hate to get things from people when its been partially negotiated so I prefer to finish things rather than handing them back. It is easier for the customer and us if I just go ahead and finish it no matter how difficult she may end up being to work with-- she was getting a little edgy toward the end (but then, after nearly four hours, I was getting edgy, too!!).
Anyway, that means I had two heavy-duty conference calls today which is a lot so I left the office at 2 to get some work done. I don't get much done when I'm on a call for four hours-- outside of the document that I'm working on with the customer!! I'm actually starting to get into working at home! I can't wait for my office to be ready in the new house-- I may never go to the office again!! Okay, that's a bit of an exageration but I am getting used to it and expect that I'll probably be working from home at least once a week.
Later Still That Evening . . .
Well, I've just whipped up a double-batch of chicken stir-fry with vegetables-- I'm not cooking again until some time next week!! I didn't want us to have to eat take-out for the next three nights (or lunches at work for that matter), so I made a bunch of it for heating up in the microwave for lunches and dinners. We really should be set until Sunday. Hopefully, we'll have the kitchen unburied some time Sunday so we'll be able to cook, if we feel like it.
Tomorrow night, I'll pack up the kitchen since the dishwasher will be run this evening after Brian finishes the dishes. Everything will be clean so we'll pack everything up for the big move on Saturday.
**********
Brian tells me that he's going to tear the computers down completely tomorrow night so . . . this is my last post until next week some time!! I'll try to remember the details of the move but, in some cases, it may be better if I don't! ;>)In the case of email, I'll be able to get my home email account mail through Friday at work so you can email me but I won't be able to get it after that-- that's okay cuz I think I'll be a little busy after that for awhile anyway.
In the interim, until I can get back to you, thanks for coming by!!
Have a nice evening, a wonderful weekend and take care of yourselves!!
Tuesday, August 7, 2001You Think You're Surprised?!?!?!?
I just told Brian that I wasn't going to write anything tonight-- I'm exhausted!! Nina, our admin/my friend, came over and helped me move my clothes-- her Jeep was FULL!!!! Then, we went and got dinner (KFC) and then she and I ran a few more of the smaller, loose things over. Brian didn't help by this point because he had been a busy boy during the day: my desks are moved over to the house, his desk is moved over, the biggest futon is moved over, and my file cabinet is moved over.
I have new inspiration to stick with my Weight Watchers work though: I found some really cute clothes that I have forgotten about because they were in the back of my closet. Poor Brian, he will find me very dressed up for our date nights when I get into those clothes again!! ;>)
By the way, Lynne, when we were moving my clothes, I found five more pairs of shoes-- they were in a hanging shoe thingy amongst my clothes that I completely forgot about!! That's 61?? Yep. WOW!! Maybe I'll add some to the garage sale stuff?? You can hope, can't you?
The garage sale stuff is completely sorted from what was in storage-- I'm only taking three sets of mugs and some liquor glasses into the house so I'm not doing bad, at all! I've got some stuff to move to it from inside the apartment, too. I already know that!! I'm starting to look forward to it now-- indeed!!
My conference call got moved to 6am PDT tomorrow morning-- yes, I'll be going to bed soon (its 9:03pm now). That's okay-- that's about it for me for tonight anyway. Brian tells me that the computers are being torn down Friday night but I'm thinking mine's going to go down before that simply because I won't be able to keep my eyes open once I stop moving!!
For what's left of it, thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
Monday, August 6, 2001Its Late . . .
We were over at the house tonight-- Brian got the cupboards lined and I started going through the boxes of stuff to sort. Its amazing the things that I've already thrown away and thinking, "Why did I ever keep that?" It is amazing what you keep, isn't it?
We met one of the neighbors yesterday while we were there-- seems like a nice Irish chap. His wife and two seemingly adult-ish children live in the house next door along with two dogs, an Irish setter and a German shepherd. His concern was whether or not we were "normal"-- ah, yes, another one fooled!! No, really, the last people that were there were such heavy partiers that they were grateful to have the noise from construction workers next door for the last six months. Their only hope was that the people who moved after the construction (us) wouldn't be loud and have parties every night. Not a problem with us as we assured him-- that's what we're trying to get away from, too.
What's this?
Okay, so its not end-o-quarter and I'm scheduled for a conference call at 7am on Wednesday. What's wrong with this picture? Hmmm . . . oh, well, it'll make me look good, right? To whom though? No one else is here at that hour-- they're not stupid! If we were in our new house, I'd just take the call from home (and I may still do that) in my new office. However, based on the fact that there's something in the walls at the apartment that makes it difficult to stay connected on a conference call, I may come in and deal with it. Guess I'll have to think on that for awhile before I make a decision.
Feelings
No, I' not Debbie Boone but I am sore!! I'm feeling muscles, joints and moans and groans that I haven't felt for awhile. Some of it feels "good" from the standpoint of knowing I'm alive but, ya know, I never doubted that breathing in-n-out thing that I wasn't alive. It still feels good cuz I know its for a worth cause: US!! We'll be more appreciative of the house with all of the sweat that we're putting into it, I'm sure-- or at least, I hope!!
Anyway, I've got some stuff to finish up around here-- I'm going to be transporting my clothes tomorrow (with Nina's help) so I've got to decide what to wear Wednesday thru Thursday. The worst part is that I can't change my mind like I usually do every other morning!!
Have a nice evening!
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