Archive of Marcia's Musings June 25-July 1, 2001
Sunday, July 1, 2001
Here We Go Again!!
Another month has come and gone . . . five months, twenty-four shopping days until Christmas!!! Yippeeeeee!!! I wonder when (and where?) I'll be starting my Christmas ornaments-- not in the mood for it yet so we'll have to see how things come together.
Anyway, it is now JULY and the summer is in full swing around us-- it is starting to heat up here again. Expected highs in the 90s this upcoming week which I could've lived without having for awhile. Oh, well.
A Different Voice
There was a different voice on my phone this afternoon-- Brian wasn't allowed to tell me who it was but, instead, brought me the phone and told me to dry my hands (I was cleaning peppers for grilling with the steaks). He handed me the phone and I had an idea of who the voice was but, wasn't sure and didn't want to guess for fear I would be wrong-- it was my sister, Sue!!! Calling from Brazil, of course, is not cheap but they have a way of doing it that saves them a few bucks so it helps a bit. She and I talked for a little bit but, of course, she wanted to talk to her daughter, Natali, who was napping on our futon at the time. I monopolized her for a bit and eventually woke Natali so she could talk with her mother. It was really great to hear her voice!! :>)
Pretty Standard
Other than that, our day was pretty much our usual: The Costco run (Brian had to buy Coke at the grocery store this week cuz he ran out!!), grocery store run and, a Target run added to the mix. Natali and I watched "Cast Away" since she hadn't seen it before and then she napped until her mom's call. Pretty standard for us but, she needed it, I guess.
Anyway, that's about it for tonight-- I'm pretty tired yet from last week, I've noticed. This week appears to be a little less stressful and a little more leisurely at pace, hopefully.
Have a nice evening and I'll catch you tomorrow night!
Saturday, June 30, 2001So Much To Tell You About!!!!
Where to start?? Well, my day started at the office at 6:15am again talking with the sales reps and then, from there, we conferenced in with the customer at 7am to finalize the contract. By the time that we finished that call, we had three issues left open which is avery Good Thing. I was getting really sick of this agreement but we had agreed to reconvene at 11am to finalize the three issues that were open and, finalize them we did. I brought the agreement over to the corporate office and had it executed. Then I drove back to get it faxed to the customer by noon. Then we had to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. While we waited, we tortured each other by calling between our offices to see if the other person had heard anything-- at 2:15, I received the executed document faxed from the customer.
IT WAS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SIGNED!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS BOOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Screams of Joy were literally heard from coast to coast on this one, let me tell ya!!!!!!!! We had a tense moment when we realized that there was a problem with the language in one area but by getting the document signed, it was a moot point so we didn't care anymore.
IT WAS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SIGNED!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS BOOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The guys raved at me and I raved at them and we all raved at John, the AVP about how great we all were and what a great team we made, etc., etc., etc.!!!
What I didn't know then (I found out later) is that we are all going to be able to meet up in a 10 days in Atlanta to pat each other on the back and congratulate each other in person!! Yes, that's right-- corporate is sending me to Atlanta for the quarterly sales meeting!!! YEAH!!!! It will be really good for us all to get together and compare notes and work on stuff together and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm beginning to feel like they (the sales reps) are interested in pursuing a working and making sure that we work well together. That is a long time coming and really important!!!
We moved on to our celebration after work was finished including the general counsel, her paralegal and our new negotiator. We have a new negotiator starting on July 10 and this negotiator is very unique-- he's a guy!!! We needed a new negotiator because one of us is going to move to Maryland to handle the federal sales and negotiations (and more power to her!) so we're doing a bit of a shift so that Cindy is now going to be covering the West and Mike is going to be handling the Northeast. He's a nice guy for an attorney!!
Anyway, Natali (my niece) came with me to the celebration, leaving Brian to fend for himself for dinner-- I think he had mint chocolate chip ice cream so he was happy, don't worry about him-- and we had a nice time chattering amongst ourselves. We all brought something and had a great variety of munchies, too which was really nice-- good food, good wine and good people makes for good fun!
As tired as I was, however, I didn't sleep very well because my mind was churning and churning on ideas. I was told Friday night that I needed to get myself invited to the Atlanta sales meeting which, since I had to call the admin for Atlanta anyway, I have already found out is July 10. Okay, so that's a Tuesday-- how terribly inconvenient and, of course, with ten days left to go before I had to be there, I'm supposed to find a cheap ticket to get there. I thought about it and, if they are willing to put me up for a couple of extra nights in the area, I'd be willing to sacrifice a weekend with my husband and travel out on Saturday, the 7th so that the ticket would be a little cheaper.
Well, of course, I can't check any of that until I get to work on Monday but, someone I know told me that it was a four-hour drive to Atlanta from Winston-Salem so maybe she and I could get together while I'm there-- wouldn't that be fun!!! I have a few ideas about how that could work so we'll have to see if it'll work out, too. Yeesh, that'll mean I have two trips in one month again since Brian and I are taking a holiday later on in the month. It'll be busy but fun and I am, as usual, looking forward to it.
Anyway, that brings us through yesterday and up to this morning. I spent the first couple of hours making all of our "Opt Out" calls. Not a fun thing and, yes, you can rest assured that I'll be paying more attention to the inserts in our bills from now on!! I was told by all of our creditors that I called that their lines were extremely busy with calls about this very topic so mine was just another in the stack of thousands that they received. I counted them off and there are a couple more I need to make when I get to work on Monday: insurance companies are not open on Saturdays and Sundays. There were a couple that I'd already taken care of earlier in the week so we're set, I think. I guess we'll know best when and if we ever get any phone calls that we shoul.dn't get!!
Professional Shoppers Club
I found out from Natali that at one point, her mother (my sister) was concerned because she didn't like shopping. Sue was probably concerned because it just wasn't natural or normal for someone who is a Dykstra although, I'm pretty sure my other sister, Karen, doesn't like shopping either (she'll correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure). As a result, I feel it is my responsibility to bring Natali into the fold of Professional Shoppers that we Dykstra's are by making sure she brought her credit cards with her on her trip.
After returning a purse that broke on me long before it should have, we shopped and shopped and shopped. We were gone a total of two or three hours (which is minimal for any shopper!) and came back with bags and bags of things!! My shoe count is up to 57 (these are the cutest orange Chinese Laundry shoes!) but I think I'm going to give Natali another pair of shoes from my stash so that'll put me back to 56. My title is safe for awhile yet, I think.
Site Stats
My site's stats were up a bit this month from last-- thanks for coming by as always!! The searches were interesting as apparently there are a high number of people in search of the perfect philly cheese steak sandwich and, having mentioned Barbara's on my site even though the recipe is on her recipe page, I've gotten nailed for it on the web crawlers. As I've said before, thanks for dropping by and writing and corresponding-- Richy, I hope you have a wonderful day at Martin's Beach!! Its a lot of fun for me!!
That's it for me for tonight-- I'm tired all over again from re-living the last 48 hours here!! I'm not sure what we're going to do (a movie or a game) but I'm sure we'll have fun-- hope you have a nice evening!
Friday, June 29, 2001Very Long Day . . .
. . . into night. Whew!
Thursday, June 28, 2001Beyond Short
Shorter than short-- less than miniscule-- can't be helped! I'm exhausted beyond exhausted-- what's left?
I got to work at 7am and was on the conference call at 8:30 and, technically, it ended at 2:30 with two 15 minute breaks during which I was required to do other conference calls to discuss the issues that arose from the main conference call.
My kidneys are killing me!!!!
Then, I worked the document from 2:30 to 3:30 when I left to go to my 3:40 dentist appointment. I thought my appointment was for 4pm but I turned out to be wrong-- thankfully, they are a wonderful group (as has been mentioned before) and, not only were gracious about it but got me in the chair immediately upon entering the office and out within a half hour. Quick stop at the lab to get a blood draw for my endocrinology appointment (which I'll go into the logistics of later) next week and I was back at the office. The customer has finally sent me the language that needed to be included in the document from their requirements. As a result, I was able to blend the two documents and, finally, at 6:33pm, I left the office.
I'm going to go lay down to sleep-- this starts all over again for me at 6:30am tomorrow morning at the office. I will be glad when this quarter-end is ended!!
Other Bits
A friend of mine gave me his picture-- this is Laddie. Cutie, huh?
My niece is coming up for a visit-- I'm hoping to get some much needed R&R when she's here but of course, we have to do some shopping!!! ;>)
I'll be back late tomorrow from our quarter-end celebration so no post tomorrow night but maybe I'll do two on Saturday and catch you up on some of the news.
Thanks for coming by and tolerating my oddly short post!! Have a nice evening!!
Wednesday, June 27, 2001First off . . .
Maybe because of the hour (I was at work at 6:15am) or because of the weird turn in the weather but it was down-right COLD outside this morning. Terribly strange, needless to say-- we don't usually have temperature swings THIS bad in Northern California!!
Did You Check Your Watch?
Of course, once again, the clock on the wall asks: "What time is it?" Why its "End of Quarter Time", don'tcha know? My keyboard wouldn't respond this morning when I got in to work-- I spent the first 20 minutes running trying to find a keyboard that I could steal that wouldn't be missed until much later. Yeesh!!! The purchasing person came into the office about 7:30 or so and gave me a "spare" keyboard that was laying around so I could give my co-worker her keyboard back. The reason that the third keyboard (my regular is Keyboard #1 and my co-workers is Keyboard #2) is a spare is because it doesn't work.
About once a minute, the Scroll and Print Screen keys would flash and when they did that, my keyboard would stop transferring the keys onto the "page" in front of me whether it was Word or Outlook or whatever. Not a Good Thing. At the speed at which I type, if a word or words in a sentence don't get put on the screen in front of me, by the time I realize it, I have probably long since forgotten what I was going to say in the first place. I can't have a keyboard that doesn't type everything that I type onto the screen!!! So, I was on to Keyboard #4 which is also a split-natural keyboard but it was the cheaper version of the IntelliSoft Pro that I use; both are made by Microsoft. This keyboard, when I hit the space bar, would actually insert an Enter command-- lots of fun but really stupid looking documents and emails-- trust me!!
SOOOOOOOO . . . by this time, I give up and call my trusty MIS person because the
idiotssysadmins at my office haven't got a clue. We decide I should uninstall the IntelliSoft software and maybe Keyboard #4 will work correctly. I do that, reboot but no joy-- the sucker still types Enter's instead of spaces!!So you know what I did? I called my director and asked if I could expense a new keyboard-- she is a smart woman (as I've mentioned before) and has said that it makes sense since I have to be able to do my job. Well, dah-- that's certainly more than my sysadmin figured out!! Off to Fry's I went and, feeling a little geekier than normal, I strolled in and up to the stock of Microsoft IntelliSoft Natural Pro keyboard, snatched one off the shelf, threw my credit card at the cashier's (which has gotten considerably faster than it used to be) and, in less than an hour, I was back at work. Yippeee!!!
I unpacked the keyboard, installed the software-- no joy. The sysadmin has called and given me a revelation: it is my laptop and the porting system and the IntelliSoft keyboard ALL not working together. Wow-- that is rocket science, isn't it folks?? It is so flagrantly obvious that you don't NEED to have a college degree to be a sysadmin, isn't it?? (Yes, you do detect that note of cynicism and skepticism in my voice as I write-- it gets better.) I restarted my computer, the guy was "rushing" over to bring me another keyboard and when I restarted my computer, the keyboard worked. I have no idea what I did differently but it worked. By the time he got to my office, I was happily flailing away at the keyboard, ripping off another email to a customer.
He and I discussed that since I had a similar problem with the HP and the IntelliSoft keyboard at home, it probably was a keyboard "driver" problem of some sort. His supervisor wrote me an email and said that they don't have to support products that they don't buy-- I don't have a clue who he thinks bought the first keyboard but, frankly, I don't have time to deal with him right now. He'll get a scathing email response next week, when I have time to run up one side and back down the other of him.
Negotiations Move SLOWLY Onward
This customer has gone into picky-mode. I have never seen anyone ask so many negative scenario questions in my life.
Customer: "So, if you give us an upgrade and it isn't marked that it is for an infringement replacement, how long do we have before we have to use it?"
My response: "Under paragraph 2.c it states that you have six months to put it into process."
Customer: "So, if you give us an infringement replacement, how long do we have to implement it?"
My response: "In paragraph 5.2, it states that you must install that immediately."
Customer: "So, if you give me an upgrade, how long do I have to implement that?"
My response: "The same time frame as I pointed out for the upgrades, updates, bug fixes, patches, new versions, etc., as I stated under 2.c: you have 6 months."
Yes, this went back and forth, in actuality, two more times: she was bound and determined to confuse herself, I swear. There were a number of bombshells that were dropped on us today, too-- things that they failed to mention that they need from us and, oh, yes, they do affect many, many things with the license. Off-shore developers, acceptance clauses . . . such is the fun life of a contract negotiator.
So I only had two phone calls today with them: one for 1-1/2 hours and the second for 3 hours. When I got off the phone, I had 9 voicemail messages. I worked until 4:30 tonight and, yes, I am exhausted. This document is still a long way from being finished but, if they give us a purchase order by Friday, we'll be able to count it and finish the document next week-- hopefully.
There are many other incidences that occurred today with regard to this deal; it would take volumes to tell you the horror stories!! I believe, or maybe I should say that I perceive, that Brian enjoys hearing the stories-- his eyes get big when I tell him a REALLY bad thing that the sales rep did or the customer did or whatever. This job is a constant learning experience, not only about contracts but also about life and people-- after today, I'd definitely have to emphasize PEOPLE!!
******
I came home for a power nap, had a light sandwich for dinner and a chat with my sister and I'm back to really needing to sleep-- really badly!!!Well, I'm slammed-- hopefully, you're not so have a nice evening!
Tuesday, June 26, 2001This is it!!
Remember last week when I told you to remind me that I was a little bored? Well, this is the time!! You need to remind me-- NOW!!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!
I spent 1-1/2 hours on the phone with a customer this morning. Then, I worked on the document for her, including drafting new language for a couple of clauses. Then, I had another conference call with her-- for 2-1/2 hours! Then, I had to re-draft the language, talk to the sales reps and the AVP and re-draft more language, email the document to her, re-work and revise another agreement for the same company for a different transaction and email that out and let the sales rep know that the documents (all SIX of them) are in the customers' respective hands!!! All togther, I spent 11 hours working on that ONE customer and that one customer alone!!! ARGH!!!!
I got to work at 7am and left at 6pm. I went over to Weight Watchers (lost another 1.5 pounds-- thanks!) on my way home and stopped at the gas station to fill up the truck (I know-- I've gotta pump my own gas!). Yes, I am wound-up pretty tight right now-- adrenalin is pumping but, I'll crash soon. I have to because I have to get to sleep early since I've got a 6:30am conference call with the customer again!!! Yes, this is going to be going on indefinitely for the next two days.
We have what we call an "order letter" which allows for us to be able to take the dollars in this quarter, even if the agreement isn't finalized until the early part of next month. The customer that I've been dealing with asked me about this letter from the standpoint of if they sign the letter, what's the motivation that WE have to finish the agreement? I simply responded to her: "I haven't spent 8 hours (at that time it was only 8 hours) on this document and conversation to have it go by the way-side without finishing it. I always finish the documents that I start. I do not leave things unfinished-- EVER." That was the end of that discussion-- she got my point.
Anyway, not much else to report because that's all I worked on and I pretty much stayed inside my cubicle all day working on it. Boring, I know-- how do you think I feel?
Yikes!! I've gotta find a way to burn off some of this energy before the rain comes or dinner is finished, whichever comes first!
Have a nice evening!!
Monday, June 25, 2001A Little Slack, Please!!
I know I missed yesterday but I had good reasons: My headache is persisting however I do get breaks every now and then when I don't feel anything. This is a Good Thing, needless to say. I've found that ibuprophen does more than aspirin (or acetaminephin) does for it so I'm learning. It could be that this is an end-o-quarter headache but it doesn't really feel like it so, I guess I'll tolerate it this week and see how it goes until Friday. Then, it definitely needs to go away.
Who is Teasing Whom?
Well, now, didn't that just turn out entirely HORRID?? Yesterday Brian and I went out to look at a couple of homes in the area that have been for sale for a long time-- there's a 2,600 square foot 2-story that's entirely too large but, hey, that price has dropped another $20K so why not go look to say that we did? Then there's the house around the corner that has been for sale for a long time and their price just dropped another $25K so we can go look, too except for that new "sale pending" on it-- oh, well.
Then, there's the house that I saw on the web-- I didn't know the street address, I just knew what it looked like on the inside. BIG MISTAKE!!! That price has been dropped by $60K and it has everything we want in a house-- we wouldn't need to do a thing, except move in. No remodel needed for a long time-- we could go with it "as is" for several years before we have to do the kitchen re-work that would make it an ideal house for us. A breeze-way in the back for "George" to stay during the day so he's not cooped up in the hot, window- and air-less garage without windows and air. Only three large bedrooms but, hey, how often do we really have people staying over night anyway? Two bathrooms that are also ready-to-move-into and . . . I'm sorry, who was it we were teasing????? ARGH!!!! I liked it on the web and I liked it even better when we toured it!!
That's it!! Until we've got the money IN HAND to go house-hunting, we're not going to go again because this is just making me crazy!! Its not even a matter of the downpayment-- its the mortgage approvals and other stuff that it would take to get into a house now. I don't know if we could with Brian's present work situation but then again, who knows if it would really be a problem? ARGH!!!!!!
No, no-- not until we're absolutely, positively SURE we are not going!!! I say that now but, in a few weeks, I'll want to go again and then there are the "First-Time Homeowner" deals that are available . . .
At The Movies
Finally!! We had our "date night" movie last night-- "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which turned out to be a lot of work (subtitles are like that for me) but it was really worth it. Now that I know the story line, I'll probably run through it again soon so that I don't have to read it but just watch for the scenery, sets, etc. It was done really well and was easy to follow-- I can highly recommend this movie!!
Are you believing this?
It is RAINING in California in June!!! It doesn't do that-- I've lived here 13 years and I don't ever remember it raining in June!!!! My mother-in-law called awhile ago to tell us it was raining by her, too-- she's been here a couple of years longer than me so she should know! ;>) The temperature has dropped to 64F which is down-right frigid compared to last week!!
Ah, yes, that's what I love about Northern California!! The variety of it all!!
Have a nice evening!
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