Archive of Marcia's Musings - January 1-7, 2001Sunday, January 7, 2000
Hit the Ground RUNNING!!!
This morning, around 9 when we got up, I read the Usual Suspects of websites while eating my bagel and then, after Brian showered, I did my hair conditioning-thang and then, went to the grocery store. At the grocery store, they had ORANGES!!! Not a big deal, unless you weigh the oranges-- 3lbs for $.99-- but each orange weighs a POUND!!! They are huge and, frankly, the only oranges that I'll eat!! I wait each year for these guys to come in and, as usual, they've showed up in mid-January. They are really sweet and I'm now looking forward to breakfast tomorrow.
I drove the Cavalier to the grocery store-- first time in a week that it had been driven and it started right up!! Not a bit of hesitation and without my foot on the gas pedal-- this really is a good little car. If we didn't need it, I'd keep it but it is pretty excessive to have two people OWN three vehicles!! I picked up a newspaper at the grocery store and checked it upon my return to make sure that the ad did, in fact, appear. Lucky for them, according to my husband's description, it had been entered as promised in the San Jose paper. Anyway, we did receive one call today but they didn't like the color-- I don't know why that was a big issue because Brian didn't push them. MAACO will paint the car for $199-- we'll take that off the price so deal with it, ya know?
Anyway, after I got back from the grocery store, I left Brian to unload the grocery bags and I moved on to Orchard Supply Hardware to buy a couple of "For Sale" signs and then, to Macy's to return some jeans for Brian. It was about 1:30pm when I got home but I immediately started my other chores for the day: Soup and Lunches for me for the week. I made a no-point soup that Weight Watchers recommends and Asparagas and Chicken stir fry (when its cooked without oil, is it still a "stir fry"?) Brian hates any "A" vegetable but Costco had it on special yesterday so I bought some for the sole purpose of making my lunches for the week.
Then, even though it was early, I made our dinner-- I was on my feet from 12:30 to 5:30 with a couple of back-breaks throughout the afternoon. Brian helped me at one point because he knew I had a lot of stuff to make up. It got to the point tonight where I actually had a glass of wine while cooking our dinner and while eating it-- I don't do that very often! I'm exhausted but I feel good because I accomplished so much today.
Tomorrow its off to work again and then, after work, I'm going to try to do a bicycle ride-- its threatening bad weather here but who knows what it'll do. We are technically entering our Extreme Rainy Season but let's all keep our fingers and toes crossed that I can actually ride bicycle tomorrow! (John Doucette went on a bike ride today and had to send me an email to brag about it-- I thought it was supposed to be snowy up there? Well, apparently only in SOME places!)
Once again, I'm tuckered out and on that note, I hope you have a good evening.
Saturday, January 6, 2000Fun Day!
After a bit of a sleep in (8am compared to our normal 5:30am), we made a run to Costco where we were able to find some nice quality sheets-- not necessarily on sale but they are going to be nice. We also did the stock up on candy bars and Cokes for Brian and then, we came home cuz it was too early to go to the movies.
About an hour or so later, Brian suggested we go to downtown Mountain View so we took off again to continue our adventure. We strolled around downtown Mountain View and, as we were passing by a bookstore, I saw a calendar by Susan Sark, whom you've heard me mention on these pages. Once we were inside, I couldn't find the calendar at first but, we found bunches of other things!! There's a Santana double-CD set that looked really good to me and Brian found some SciFi books that he liked. And, yes, finally I found the calendar but, I didn't just find the one-- there were two so I picked up both of them. Afterall, a girl can never have too many calendars, can she? ;>)
We went on to the movie ("What Women Want") and had a good time watching it-- it really had some funny bits in it. There were a couple of parts that reminded me of when Brian and I met but I didn't mention that to him at the time. Later on, at dinner, he mentioned the same memory from the same scene that had made me think of it-- there's a reason we're together!!
Anyway, we were going to go to Il Postale for dinner (I have a gift certificate) but, they weren't open when we were ready to eat so we walked around for a little bit and found another restaurant for dinner. We had Chinese food at Hunan Garden which is a restaurant that our friends, Pat and Nathan, had told us about-- in fact, we've had dinner there with them in the past.
Anyway, that just about covers our day and our "Real Date". Hopefully, tomorrow we'll sell the car which is why we had to do all of that (the movie and dinner out) in one day/evening-- so we could be home to answer the phone when the ad comes out.
I hope you had a nice day, too-- have a nice evening!
Friday, January 5, 2000Catching Up
I realize this morning that I haven't updated you on the status of the documents that were pushed into this year. Mr. 46-Points has decided to understand how we license our software!! The document, a compromise in the areas that were left open last week, has gone to corporate for execution. Yippee!!
Unfortunately, that isn't all of the news that can be provided as an update: Ms. Raise-The-Red-Flag has a bigger problem coming up. This customer wanted all of the licenses that they previously purchased or from companies that they'd bought-out to be transferred to the main, current company. Unfortunately, this request has been denied by the AVP. That means that nothing is going to be "grandfathered" in under this new agreement. It may cause them to not execute the new document but, the individual project managers have told the sales rep that they don't care if there's an agreement in place or not as they are going to buy our product anyway. Doesn't seem to offer her much in the area of back-up, eh? Should be interesting to see how she pulls this out-- especially since I can't give on the areas that she wants to have control over. That's next week though-- she's been on vacation this week.
Same 'Ol, Same 'Ol
Other than that, it has been much of the same ol' thing. One of the sales reps for the western region wrote an email to my director, that region's contract manager and me to thank us for supporting her and her sales team. I was shocked that I'd been specifically listed on the email instead of being clumped in with everyone else. The sales rep mentioned Madeline Albright's "Chicks in Charge" team so . . . guess what the theme for our next sweatshirt is going to be? Yep, that would be it-- well, it works: we are all women and we'd like to think that we're in charge although that can be a false sense of security upon occasion. Whatever we end up with, I'll let you know-- should be fun.
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I've put an ad in the local newspaper for selling the car-- it is supposed to start on Sunday and run for ten days. At $40 bucks for three lines, I just hope it sells now-- that seems like a lot of money for an ad, doesn't it?
Brian and I will be stuck at home on Sunday as a result so tomorrow is going to be movie and dinner out night. Yep, a Real Date! (Yes, with Capital Letters!) Should be fun whatever we end up doing.
Have a nice evening!
Thursday, January 4, 2000'Splain it to me?
Why am I so tired? I snooze-alarmed the clock this morning four times-- I normally only do that three times in the morning-- and then, by 2:30 this afternoon, I'd had it at work. I could barely keep my eyes open!! The reality of it is that a lot of people at my office are sick right now so I went ahead and came home to take a nap. I slept for a little while but traffic outside of our bedroom window was horrendous so it made it difficult. I don't want to get sick!! Technically, I'd already worked a 7-hour day by that time anyway so I didn't miss very much.
Da Move
This is a new record: On the Fifth Move, they did it ALL right!! I couldn't believe it-- everything went soooo smoothly on my move!! The spaghetti wires and cables of my system, etc., are gone and, for the first time since our move to the new building, I'm truly content with being in a cubicle. I'm away from the hustle-n-bustle of the accounting department and it is much quieter where I'm sitting now. (Contracts Departments are almost always inside of accounting departments-- legal is somehow associated with finance in the corporate world.)
I complimented the people in Operations and thanked them for "doing it right"-- they were surprised because it does require the cooperation of MIS in addition. Operations can control Operations but they can't control MIS-- but we won't go there right now.
January Busy-Ness
The winter version of the Phoenix trip I made last summer is coming up in a few weeks. It'll be in San Francisco and for two of the days, I can ride a bus up to the hotel where the meetings are being held. I could also carpool with some of the women from work so we'll have to see how we end up getting there. I'll be attending on Friday, half-day Saturday and Sunday; Monday, Brian and I are taking a floating holiday/vacation day so that we can remember what we look like. I'm actually looking forward to it and, some of the sales reps that have been hired since the July meeting are already talking about wanting to be sure that we all meet up in SFO at the meeting.
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I guess that's about it for tonight-- the connectivity has been a bit rough but, it is there. Be patient and, if you don't succeed getting through the first time, keep trying. I'll be here . . .
Have a nice evening!
Wednesday, January 3, 2000Connectivity Has Returned!!
Thanks for all your patience while the DSL-thang has been working itself out. Brian and the Covad and the Speakeasy people got all of their collective stuff together and we are back and operating at full capacity!! My page reads reflect that all of you have been patient and have come back now that things have gotten back to normal-- I truly appreciate your presence!!
New Project!!
No, no-- I'm not starting that all over again but, I have to show you my latest project: Tiling!! I had so much fun tonight!! In an hour's time, I adhered the fiat glass that I broke the other day to a flower pot and saucer-- here's the end result!! Now, this is not something that I could give someone who has children because, even after it is grouted so that the edges aren't quite as exposed, its still glass and is probably still pretty sharp around the edges. This will inevitably lead me to mosaic tiles that I'm sure I can find somewhere!! This was fun and really fast to work-- I've got the other three pots/saucers that are there to do and then I'm going to see what else is in our stash of pots...I know we have a b'zillion of 'em!!
Party of Two
This is the photo that was taken of us at my company's holiday party-- not bad, eh? We clean up pretty good, don't we?
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I'm all ready for my move tomorrow-- don't know when it will take place during the day but, if my computer isn't up, I'll either come home to work or figure out a way to do stuff there. I don't have much for "fill-in" work right now-- I'll muddle through, I'm sure.
Brian's off to SVLUG tonight so I'm on my own-- my once-a-month-nobody-else-in-the-apartment time. Unusual, if nothing else which is why I appreciate it when it happens. I can't decide what to do first-- I'll have to ponder that for a bit but I'm sure I'll enjoy myself whatever I do!
Have a nice evening!
Tuesday, January 2, 2001
Slow MotionI cannot believe it is soooo slow at work! I've got a couple of things to put together to close out last year's stuff but, so far, there's nothing but a couple of NDAs to work on for this year. Now, I know it won't stay slow like this for long and I should be appreciating it but, frankly, I can't stand not being busy!!
Relocation?
Yes, indeed-- my office is relocating again. This time it is just my cubicle but, nonetheless, it is my fifth move in a little over a year's time. Why? Because they planted the MAIN accounting department facsimile machine in front of my cubicle. So why is that such a big deal you may ask? Because that means that it is the social haven for the entire accounting department. It is very difficult to be heard over the laughter and chatter and even more difficult to hear when I'm on phone calls. This gives me a new opportunity to figure out another way for my spaghetti to work with my computer. Hopefully we can get it right this time. I'm also gaining a real wall and a 2-drawer file and a white board so there are a lot of possibilities that this move will result in a better setting all the way around.
Connectivity
If you've had difficulty getting into my website, don't be alarmed-- everyone (including me) has been having problems. The funny bit is that I'm still (to my knowledge) receiving email. My page reads for yesterday, when we had especially hard times on the DSL lines, were a total of 31 for yesterday!! My average is about 100+ per day so obviously, things are going to be a little weird for awhile. Brian will have it straightened out soon enough, I'm sure.
Speaking of Stats
For the year, February through December only, I had 26,770 page reads on my website. For the Spoelhof's website for the same period of time, there were 5,028 reads and for the last six months of the year, the Netwidows Recipe Page had 2,776 reads. I am truly astounded and flattered and grateful all at once!! Thanks for coming by-- I really appreciate it and the friends that I've made through these postings!!
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Sorry so short-- more tomorrow!Have a nice evening!
Monday, January 1, 2001Happy New Year!!
I hope eveyone is having or has had a wonderful New Year's Day. Me? Well, I've broken some glass (intentionally, with a hammer!!) and cleaned up some plant pots and called my sister who is going back to Brazil in a few days and well, just plain had a nice day off of work.
Why did I break glass you ask? Well, do you remember a few weeks back when Brian and I took a little ride out to Half Moon Bay and we bought the glass? The chunks we bought were exactly that-- chunks and large pieces. I want to "mosaic" them onto flower pots so I needed smaller pieces and spent about a half hour or so this afternoon breaking and sorting glass into plastic bags by color. Should be kinda cool when it is finished. I can't decide if I should go with an abstract design or try to fashion an actual design... I'll have to think on that a bit.
We called my sister and her family to wish them a Happy New Year. Her two youngest kids are moving to southern California next week so I am excited, indeed!! Her oldest son is going to live in the apartment where they are living above my brother-in-law's parents and Sue and Bill are going back to Brazil after their month-long Christmas vacation. They should be back by the end of the week or so with an update for their website.
Other than that, the new Archive Index has been started; if you find a page where its linked to the old index, let me know-- I tried to catch as many as I could find.
Tonight its Rosemary Chicken for dinner and more relaxation probably-- I don't know that I want to get started with the tiling tonight. I don't need to worry about it now-- I'll figure it out later.
Have a nice evening!
