Archive of Marcia's Musings February 12-18, 2001Sunday, February 18, 2001
Alright, Already!!
I'm here-- I'm here!! Okay, I'm (on average) two hours later than "normal" but, what is "normal"??? Especially in my world!!
Okay, so we've had a busy day, indeed. First thing this morning (well, okay, 2 hours later again), we went up to Brian's folks. A sunny-ish drive but we watched the fog and rain clouds roll over the Oakland hills while we were there. My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook!! If I've never mentioned this, it was truly a mistake or perhaps, being selfish (I don't want the rest of you to be her daughters-in-law, too!!). She made a leek and potato soup, a pesto pizza with smoked salmon, and a lettuce salad with focchia (spelling?) bread on the side. WOW!! It was really delicious!!!
Before lunch Brian helped his father with some woodworking which, of course, he simply hated doing! ;>) Yeah, right! At least he still has all ten of his fingers!! After lunch, my father-in-law helped Brian with something so it all evened out. All the while, my mother-in-law, a very pleasant woman, and I chattered at and with each other while the boys were playing with their toys. I really am fortunate that I have such great in-laws!!
We came home from there around 4 and, after stopping to pick up dessert, arrived home and picked up the apartment a bit. We met Nathan and Pat for dinner at a Chinese restaurant we all like and after a sumptuous meal of Chicken with Snow Peas, Dry Sauteed Green Beans, Moo Shu Pork, Orange Peel Beef and Hot-n-Sour Soup, we came back to our apartment for chocolate mousse cake.
Yes, we ate really well today. Now that I think of it, I think that's all we did today!!
Tomorrow?
We don't have to go to work. In fact, we don't have to do anything tomorrow. I love those kinds of days, don't you?
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Hope you had or are having a nice evening!
Saturday, February 17, 2001Self-Imposed Boredom
After sleeping in until 8:30am this morning, we set about the long task of waking up. Frankly, it took me until at least 10:30 to feel like getting into the shower but, I did need to stretch my back. I must've slept crooked during the night because my back hurt quite a bit when I woke up and a hot shower always seems to stretch it out really good.
After my shower, Brian took his shower and we started on organizing our tax information. Two hours later, we finished with only a little bit of tense conversation. Not bad, eh? Man, I hate doing taxes-- it is the worst!! Anyway, we're ready now and, as a reward for finishing it, Brian took me on a surprise drive. I had a pretty good idea where we were going but I diverted him for a quick side-trip. We need to pick up a birthday present for his niece before we go to San Diego soooooo, we went to Toys-r-Us. We didn't find anything for Dani but we did find something that I couldn't resist. I can't tell you what it is but it will be a nice birthday present for someone in May; he'll enjoy it alot, too!!
Anyway, I've digressed enough!! We went on across the street to our "surprise" destination, Orchard Supply Hardware. If you'll recall, we usually go to the "How To Faire" that OSH has every year. This year, the Faire is during the weekend that we're in San Diego (figures, eh?) but it'll also be on the weekend of March 24th in San Mateo, not very far and, in fact, I think its closer than the Pleasanton location would be!! I am truly excited!! I wouldn't know how to get through our year if we didn't stop for that Faire!! That's usually when we get started on our seedings and stuff-- its kinda our clue that spring is about to . . . spring.
We picked up a few odds-n-ends for camping and for the house but, no plants yet. That'll have to wait until the first of April-- we don't even have any dirt now!!
Ever since we got home, I've been alternating between playing computer games, watching television and trying to nap. So far, I've not been very successful at any of those things!!
Brian, in case you didn't notice, rearranged our schedule a bit: we were supposed to go to his folks today and our with our friends tomorrow night. Instead of that slightly easier schedule, he's put all of the outside social activities on one day-- tomorrow!! So we'll be very busy tomorrow but, again on Monday, we'll be able to slow down a bit.
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I guess that's about it for tonight-- not much to report, eh? Oh, well, you have a nice evening anyway!
Friday, February 16, 2001Where to start?????
Well, first of all:
Yes, that would be my sister, Karen, folks! It is once again the anniversary on which she received a baby sister for her birthday present!! Man, was she a lucky kid or what? I think so but I may be a bit prejudiced.
And Speaking of Birthdays . . .
Today's loot includes a Soap Opera Digest (I would imagine thatthere's some soap opera that I'm supposed to update them on but, since I never watch them, I'm going to be hard-pressed to figure out which one they want to know about), a ruler with a calculator in it-- it is too cool!!-- a couple of video rental coupons and, last but most cool, a Star Trek: Voyager book!!! Wow!!! What a knock-out week, eh? I thought it was pretty cool anyway but, I have to admit that, at the end of all of this, I caved and told them when it was afterall.
Oh, you want me to tell you? Let me think on that a bit . . .
Rights Denied
As is sometimes the case, the book that I wanted to write a play for my sister has just signed for a screenplay. Following that, the agent has closed the rights to any further distribution which means that I can't write a play about it. Oh, well-- I told my sister, Karen-- the Birthday Girl-- to look around for something else and we'll see what we can do in the future.
Last Minute Details
There were a lot of last minute details to deal with today-- we were working on the eve of a 3-day holiday weekend so lots of last minute stuff is bound to pop up. NDAs done in a hurry for customer meetings and software evaluation agreements done three weeks after the software is supposed to be returned!! (Bad timing on the part of the software user, let's just say.)
I'm ready for the weekend and, we apparently will be riding the social rollercoaster this weekend. Natali, my niece, called to see if she could come up but, we had too many things planned to have it work out adequately. She'll call again though, she promised! :>)
So anyway, I guess that's all for now . . .
Have a nice evening!!
(PS: Yesterday)
Thursday, February 15, 2001What Wuz That??
At approximately 7:25pm, we were hit with a black-out-- nope, not one of the rolling black-outs, we're too close to a fire station for that (I think) but just a plain old equipment failure. The convenience of living in a building with two complex employees is amazing-- you always know what's going on around the complex!! Bill, the painter, came around and told us that connectors were being brought in from the supply office and it would be about an hourbefore everything was fixed. Okay, so almost two hours later, we have power restored but, ya know, its more fun that way!! We (that would be the mouse that I carry in my pocket and me) promptly shut down the computers the "Right Way" and calmly walked to the closet where the emergency flash lights are located. Then, I lit the candles in the candle plate that is in our living room and Brian started a fire in the fireplace. Pretty cool, huh? (Well, no, not really but you get the point.)
Birthday Update
Ya know, this is getting to be kinda fun! There's a part of me that would like them to stop but, by the same token, we're all gluttons for punishment-- and attention-- so . . . today's goodies included:
1. The Department's "Happy Birthday" banner hung in my cubicle.
2. The Department's "Happy Birthday" balloon in my office (mylar on a stick)
3. A birthday bag with a National Enquirer in it (it is vitally important that someone keep abreast of the Kidman/Cruise divorce and update the department!)
4. A birthday bag with a wooden maze which is actually kinda neat!! For those moments in staff when . . . whoops!!
5. Valentine's Day Sweetart hearts strewn upon my file cabinet.Cute, huh? Tomorrow is the supposedly last day for this treatment from which I will be much relieved. Oh, well . . .
Post-Holiday Enjoyment
Brian and I decided to wait until today to go out for dinner for Valentine's Day. We went to Il Postale which is a quaint little restaurant in Sunnyvale. There are a lot of these types of restaurants in the "Town Center" area of Sunnyvale; we'll be going to another on Sunday night, I think.
Anyway, Brian and I both ordered an item from the menu which had veal; his had spinach in it which was really tasty and mine had prawns and mushrooms. Both were delish (yes, we shared a forkful from each meal) except for the Polenta-- Yuck!!! Who invented that stuff? I can take it when its baked but what's the point of the blob on the plate? Yeesh!!!
After dinner, Brian had another surprise for me: when my niece, Natali, was here, we had gone to Macy's and seen that the Winterberry place settings from Phaltzgraff (they match the rest of our Christmas dinnerware) were on sale. I had wanted to get them but, also wanted to wait rather than spending the money. Brian walked me into Macy's tonight and we bought them!!! These are such cool placesettings-- really simple. Thanks, again, sweetie!!!
Think Fast!!
A friend of mine at work came up to me today and asked me a question completely out of the blue: What is the most important thing to you in this world? Without even a nano-second of hesitation, I said: "Brian". He nodded at me and said that he's been checking his friends and those with marital problems hesitate and can't come up with a definitive answer. Then, of course, in the case of one of his friends, she can't figure out what's wrong with her marriage!
It should be noted that if you're in a family situation, i.e., one of you is a mother or father and there are kids involved, your reaction might well be "Family" rather than an individual's name and that's fine, too.
Perhaps, one of the problems we have in this day and age, no matter where we live, is that there are things that we think are important because people around us say that they're important when, as they really apply to your life, they don't matter at all. In order to be in a successful relationship, there is always that core of importance that doesn't waiver whch is either the other person or the family as a whole. That's the important part-- the part that really matters in this world!!
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The good news is that the server recovered pretty quickly from the power outage-- that was nice for a change. If you came back after checking earlier tonight, thanks and I'm glad you did! Keep in touch and have a nice evening!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2001
Do NOT Fret!!!
Noper!! Do not think: "Oh, man, they're home on Valentine's Day and she doesn't get anything"!!! No, No, NOOOOOO-- Noper!!! We have had an absolutely wonderful Valentine's Day: Brian will eventually receive his Agenda
and I'll eventually receive my studs
and, in the meantime, we have had a wonderful dinner this evening, too. I made garlic mashed potatoes, steamed zucchini with a bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled over top and Parmesan Chicken-- it was all very nummy indeed!! It was the first time that I'd made it and, frankly, it was really, really good!! (Highly Recommended)
Second Day of Birthday
Ya know, this could end being very profitable for me. I hadn't thought of it that way until tonight.
Today's gifts were: Ribbons, curling ribbons, everywhere!! I also received a little Ernie (as in "Bert and . . . ") from Nina and from my friend and co-worker, Myrna, I received a Ray Conniff record. Ray Conniff??? Yes, well, a few weeks ago, we were talking about records and music from the 60s, 70s and 80s and I made a comment that I had almost all of Barry Manilow's 70s albums along with the Carpenters and she said she had all of the Ray Conniff albums. Wow!! That was quite a revelation about her-- Ray Conniff???? Yikes!!! I made comments similar to that so, to get even, she has given me a Ray Conniff album so that I'm now an owner of one of his albums, too. The kicker would be is if the one that I have (not any of the ones that she has remaining at home) would be worth about $25,000!! Wouldn't that be cool? Serves her right, eh? ;>)
Kiss of Death
We (the maintenance renewal person, the inside sales person and myself) have been dealing with a particular customer for about . . . well, we figure if you add up all of the time spent on this customer, we've probably spent a total of 160 hours working on agreements, bids, quotes, etc. The problem? The customer keeps making more and more demands and, frankly, he is being very unreasonable. We've also caught him repeatedly lying to either myself or the sales rep. I do NOT like liars-- I believe I've mentioned that before here.
So you ask, what's the deal amount? The current open dollar deal is $1,200.00. Nope, that's not very much money. He wants a volume discount agreement of some sort-- our volume discount agreement starts with a guaranteed $100,000 purchased product in one year's time or your discount goes down the following year. Needless to say, it wouldn't work for them.
Today, however, after two months of this run-around, the sales management told him to get bit!!! I was sooooo pleased!!!! This guy has been lying and pitting one of us against the other for two months (or longer) over what he kept rumoring to be a $200K deal. As it turns out, it is $1,200????? I don't think so, thanks!!
While we think this is a done-deal, he'll probably be lurking and skulking in the background for weeks to come, I'm sure. Frankly, I'm relieved to have the little "You-Know-What" out of my hair-- he's always generally dealt with the inside sales person before he'd talk to me. Why? Because I tell him that I know he's lying and he doesn't like that-- no one likes to have it pointed out that they've been caught in a lie.
If you know me, you know I don't like it when people tell me lies or tell me something and not follow through on it-- I really hate that behavior. I'm not very patient about it either which maybe isn't a good thing to tell people. Oh, well, ya can't say I'm not honest.
Reading Material
The book on which my sister wants me to write a play has arrived; I've got some reading to do, needless to say. I'll let you know how it progresses.
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On that note, PBS "How To" night awaits . . . Thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
Tuesday, February 13, 2001That'll Teach Me??
Oh, yeah, I have now learned my lesson!! You bet!! I'm going to tell our admin my birthday after the treatment I got today-- NOT!!!!!!! What "treatment" did I get today? I got a stuffed duck with curling ribbon. Boy, that's some kinda punishment, isn't it?? And all because I won't tell them WHEN my birthday is-- exactly!!! Wow, I'm just about convinced to give up that info now-- don'tcha think??? They've decided that since I won't tell them whenmy birthday is, they're going to do a little something every day-- not necessarily a nice thing, they've threatened-- they're just going to do something every day!! Well, our admin is too nice to do anything too horrendously mean-- I've already threatened to pretend that whatever they've done isn't there when I get into the office in the morning. That'd be fun-- for me-- wouldn't it??
NOOOO!!!!!YOU don't get to know either!!!
Interesting Day
I had an interesting day at work-- I had a phone call from a sales rep this morning wanting to know the results of a conference call that I hadn't had with his customer yet. I was supposed to have it but, the customer postponed it so there wasn't much to report there. In the interim, he had spoken with the end user, calmed their fears and answered their questions and was expecting that the procurement person would just put her seal of approval on it and be done with it. When the woman from procurement finally did call me, she raised the same issues all over again. I told her that I was surprised to hear her raise those issues since I knew that her end users were comfortable with the software after having talked with the sales rep. She said the end users hadn't told her that they had a conversation with the sales. We decided it was very typical for end users and sales reps to NOT talk with their contracts people. It would just be too easy!!
One of my "co-workers" (and believe me, today I wondered if she wasn't conspiring with the sales reps to make me crazy!!) sent a Word document to one of MY sales reps to forward to his customer!!! ARGH!!! We don't give the sales rep workable Word documents!!!!! "Oh, yeah, I forgot" was her response. Forgot?????? Forgotttttt?????????????????????? I was rather ticked, needless to say.
Then there was a drive-by Tourette's syndrome phone call I had this afternoon. I let the caller vent, didn't take it personally and had a good time laughing-- ya just have to laugh!! (Life is like that, ya know?)
The truck remains an interesting topic on its own-- I'm amazed they get any work done since they've now had the truck for over 24 hours and haven't even begun to fix anything yet!! Our carpooling was an experience-- three years later. It was nice chit-chatting with Brian, even if it didn't help get us into any "Bye-Bye Lanes".
My night is progressing and so is your's, too-- I hope!
Have a nice evening!!
Monday, February 12, 2001This-n-That
I'm actually borrowing that for tonight from an email that Barbara Thompson sent me the other day-- I thought then that it was a great "Subject" for an email and, for this post, as well.
Bits to catch up on include the truck, work, writing project, and, I'm sure, a few other things along the way.
First of all, don't forget that the Yosemite Trip Report and pictures are up on the Meanderings page here. The traffic there has been terrific-- I hope you're all enjoying those pictures. Maybe someday, we'll get a printer for printing photo-quality pictures? Hopefully . . .
The truck is still at the dealership where we bought it-- Brian's been dealing with them and, amazingly, it appears that his patience are wearing thin. They've been asking some pretty strange questions, i.e., "Do you have a copy of the warranty you bought? Well, we can't find our copy . . . " These are mechanics that are not terribly organized since he offered to let them make a copy of the document this morning when he went over this morning. I'm sure he'll have much more to report to you on his page and, we'll be carpooling until the truck is fixed in the meantime. Not bad, that's how we started out so it is kinda romantic to go back to it.
Work was interesting-- particularly when I had to leave!! My stomach became upset and . . . well, trust me it was just easier to go home!! I have a doctor appointment on Thursday so we'll see what he has to say then.
This morning I called and spoke with the agent of the author who wrote the book that I want to adapt into a play. She told me the procedure they want me to follow and so, I'm following that now. Hopefully, I'll hear something soon from them. I've got a TON of time to work on this but I'd still like to get going on it.
I'm sure there's other things happening but, I can't think of them. I am checking my work email again and then, I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the night to make sure that I feel better all the way through tomorrow.
Thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
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