Archive of Marcia's Musings May 14-20, 2001
Sunday, May 20, 2001
Gone are the Links
The myth will stay with us and, in a way, still teaches us several things: 1) that we can unite as a community, even in a virtual world; 2) that we care about people, even in a virtual world; and 3) that we need to care and trust that things are real in a virtual world. That last one may be the hardest of all of them to come to grips with as the evening draws to a close.
The principles were there and are accurate. However misguided, the fact is that if we had been told it wasn't completely real, how many of us would've cared? How many of us would've gone to the website to read on a daily basis-- to care about someone else, outside of our community, on a daily basis? The fact is that we were touched and this is a good thing-- it means that we are human, as we sit behind these computers and let the computers plan our lives and live our plans.
I'm disappointed but, I also know that the donation that we made will still be going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (which is very real) and that donation will help somene who is also very real. That may be the most important part for me-- to touch someone who is real as a result of something that is not.
Pleasant Is Inadequate
At about noon today, Brian and I went to his folks' house to meet (for me anyway) some friends of his parents. Robin & Lorna were married ten years when Brian's parents met them in Heidelberg on their honeymoon. I don't know why they were there but they were on holiday from their home in New Zealand. After spending time with my in-laws and the four of them developing a friendship with each other, they offered accommodations when my in-laws came back through London on their way home to the States. So, on their return to London, the newleyweds stopped by and, 41 years later, they've shared many vacations back-n-forth between New Zealand and the States and at other locations around the world. Lorna and Robin are wonderful people and a lovely couple!!
Another fun part of the afternoon was meeting all of the couples that hang-around with my in-laws. They had five or six couples over and, with us and them and my sister-in-law and Alexandra, we had quite a lively afternoon and evening!! Really nice people and a good time was definitely had by all and, it was a lot of fun to meet the friends of my in-laws.
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It is very late as I write this-- we returned home much later than I expected. We'll be turning in as soon as we finish checking email and setting coffee-- off to work for five days and then another three day weekend. Something nice to look forward to, again.
Have a nice evening, what's left of it!
Saturday, May 19,2001Flexing my . . .
Yes, it was embarrassing and yes, I know the difference: You flex your musCLEs and eat your musSELs!! Brian had a goodlaugh and, as much as I'd hope that everyone else probably thought I was being poetic or taking dramatic license, I'm sure everyone else caught it and had a good laugh. Yes, I know the difference-- I can only attribute it to being in a hurry at the time that I was putting it together last night.
The trip report from yesterday is up on my Meanderings page and can be found here-- wonderful pictures of the ocean crashing and rolling and doing its ocean-thang. Enjoy!!
Clean, Clean, CLEAN!!!
As Brian told you last month, we decided to have Brian do the housekeeping around here again. It saves us money and after the IRS wiped us out, its nice to try to save somewhere. Brian cleaned today while I went to get my nails and pedicure done-- that way I'm not under foot. I tried to hel but I got a feeling I'm more trouble than help so I left early to get out of his way. I came home and the apartment was spotless!! Smells like pine everywhere and glistens everywhere else!! Thanks, sweetie!! I tried to take him out for dinner but he's too tired so that'll have to be next week's date instead.
On the Agenda for this Evening . . .
Nothing!! I've got a couple of bills to pay this afternoon (I've been waiting for these to arrive) and then, I expect I'll be working on the play for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
If anything else happens, I'll be back to tell you about it-- if not, you have a nice evening!
Friday, May 18, 2001Short Report
We had a wonderful day!! When you woke up two hours later than you normally do, you call it "sleeping in" and so we did. After coffee and breakfast, Brian started the laundry and we finished that up in time to get to the ocean just as the fog was peeling back. We went to the area of Half Moon Bay, seven miles south on PCH-1 off Highway 92 there's a beach that's privately owned. They charge $5 to park and as you drive in, you realize that not one dime has ever been put into the surface of the road. Still, the views at Martin's Beach are spectacular and well worth the five bucks.
We walked for over an hour and played in the surf-- man, was it cold!! We picked up shells and stones and glass rubbed smooth with the motion of the waves and sand. After eating our picnic lunch, we went back through the town of Half Moon Bay to visit the antique store that we frequently stop at and had fun walking through the "junk" (sorry, none of it is precious enough to be anything else) as usual. One more stop on our way home landed us at an artsy-craftsy set of stores that we also enjoy walking through when we go to the area. Beautiful stuff but no empty walls to put it on in this apartment-- we'll have to go back again next year when we have a house!! The pictures are up here-- Enjoy !! (What is it about the ocean that just makes you feel so peaceful, even after just seeing photos of it?!?!?!?)
Date night is getting ready to start-- On the agenda for tonight's viewing is "Deep Impact" with Morgan Freeman. A very good flick, indeed!!
You have a nice evening, too!
Thursday, May 17, 2001Strawberry Fields Forever
My siblings will be pleased to know that I still know how to grow strawberries. I remember-- I just don't want to practice it for myself. I also remember how to clean strawberry plants and weed the rows of strawberries and pick the berries and plant the runners and snip the blossoms and bake Mom's "Secret Recipe" Shortcake but, that doesn't mean I want to do it for myself. Instead, by proxy, I am helping Ann Dominik grow strawberries-- she's starting out with three plants which will never give her enough of a yield this year to feed four people but, next year, if she does it right, she could actually have a couple of desserts! Brian and I prefer chocolate but, hey, each to his/her own!!
Its amazing what you think you block out but really don't, eh? Yeesh!!
TGIF-- Yes!!
Yesterday, I came home from work and said to Brian "Thank goodness its almost Friday!" He looked at me as though I had just arrived from the planet Venus by train and hadn't been informed that it was, in fact, Wednesday. "Well, its our Friday" I said. "No," he started slowly, "No, honey, it isn't-- its still Wednesday and tomorrow will be Thursday and then, on the day that we don't have the alarm set, it is then Friday." Men can be so literal, can't they?
Today, in Brian's post he says: "TGIF!" Excuse me? If it is his "idea" on his page, then its TGIF but if its my idea, its Wednesday? Oh, yes, he got an email fired off at him but his only excuse was that he hadn't had any coffee at the time he'd written his post!! Yeah, right!! Men!! ;>)
Speaking of which . . .
We are out of work for the weekend-- man, do I need a day off!! We're almost into another quarter-end-month and I am feeling burned out already!! I had to speak to the world's most insulting customer today because I had to ask a question-- she was all over herself being nice to me and asking if there was anything more I needed to get from her. Just dripping with niceness and it was mostly because of her nastiness from last week.
Let that be a warning to you: Things that aren't good to do in any setting but particularly a professional setting include (1) yelling at people, (2) insulting people), (3) lying to people, (4) yelling at people, and (5) insulting people. Yes, I know but those bear repeating!!
Plans for tomorrow . . .
It really depends on which of us you ask as to what we're going to do tomorrow. My intention was for us to just go and do something toward the coast-- I'm feeling the need to see the ocean so I thought we could go to the beach for a picnic and a lazy day. (The beaches up this far north are WAAAYYYY too cold to actually swim even if I had a swimsuit!!) Brian thought he could switch stuff on me as though it were part of his anniversary surprise. I didn't think that was appropriate because it is still so far in advance of our anniversary.
Anyway, we'll have to see what we end up doing tomorrow, on tomorrow. I know its going to start out with laundry but that's only because we get up so early on "weekends" anyway.
I hope you have a wonderful day at work and, no, I won't be thinking about you because I will be having fun NOT being at work!! :>)
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Prayers, Happy Thoughts and Whatevers go to Bob Walder's father and family again-- a surgery took place a few days ago but his dad appears to be on the mend.
Kaycee
You'll notice that Kaycee's site is still at the top of my page-- its going to be there for a long time to come. There are a couple of reasons for that: 1) I have found that Debbie, her mom, is never far from my thoughts and 2) because I think Kaycee said things in such a way that I want to be able to keep a record of it on my site as reference for anyone else who may need inspiration on a day-to-day basis.
Its an amazing thing that we've created in this virtual community-- I feel for Kaycee's family (and this community) in the loss of Kaycee but, I am in awe of her mother!! Her mother has been able handle what life's deck of cards dealt them with the same grace, intelligence, and loving kindness that, when you think about that and the way that Kaycee wrote and lived, you have to see that Debbie raised a daughter with the same grace, intelligence, and loving kindness. That takes a very special person. So many times during my day, I'll stop and think about her and my heart goes out to her and a silent prayer for her to carry on as she raises Kaycee's sister and brother crosses my mind.
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Have a nice evening!
Wednesday, May 16, 2001Welcome Back!
I don't think I said that yet this month-- I appreciate all of you coming around even if it takes me half of the month to get there. Some of the search-engine hits this month range from:
"big chief notepads" - My favorite writing tool!
"chef robert bruce" - Oh, no!! We're not going there again, are we?
"pictures of the green show oregon shakespeare " - Yes, indeed, the tourist season is picking up again, isn't it? And no, this is not our year to attend however my in-laws have recently been there.
There are also four or more references to writing and screenplay writing. Send those option offers to marcia@dutchgirl.net!!
I'm trying to get several deals closed up before the weekend and I'm getting no assistance from the attorneys, procurement and other personnel on the other side. I had one document done and the customer decided they wanted to reword the language that was in one particular section-- they sent me the language and, it is the exact language that I have in the paragraph with the exception that the redlines have been "accepted" so they don't show up anymore. There is one sentence that has to read the way that it reads in order to protect us but they had managed to review that. Upon receipt of the email from the procurement guy, I picked up my phone and called him. I asked him what he was doing by putting the same language in-- this guy is SOOOOO amatuerish its ridiculous!! He has no idea what he's doing and no one is showing him how to do anything. He had to stop and read what he wrote to find out that I was, in fact, correct: it was the same language, sans the redlines.
Well, after that, needless to say, I didn't trust him to have the document right so I told him to send me the document he was calling final to make sure that it was accurate. It was but, I have to admit that it didn't hurt to double-check his farcical behavior!
Other than that, however, it was a normal day. I am so grateful to have my bicycle to ride when I get home-- if I were still smoking, I'm sure out of frustration, I'd be up to three cartons a week!! ;>) Yeesh!!
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Anyway, the day is done, dinner is on the stove and, it is PBS night-- have a nice one for yourself, too, okay?
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
The Warrior, Kaycee is resting now . . . her battle is over but her sword has left a lasting impression on those who are left behind. Her presence will not be missed because her presence will always be with us.
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Soon after I found out, I started looking around and found the website for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and specifically, the donation site.
If you're interested in making a donation in her name to them, I know she was from Kansas so, when you're prompted to specify the location of the donation, choose the Kansas Chapter.
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Kinda makes everything else pale by comparison, doesn't it?
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What else is happening today? Hmmmm . . . oh, yeah . . .
Happy Birthday, Landon!!(I borrowed the graphic from his e-birthday card on Blue Mountain.)
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Work went well today-- I only had one live negotiation. We had a meeting with the database builder we're going to use-- that's going to be a fun project!! (NOT!!!) Actually, there's going to be a lot of work involved in it, indeed!!
I went to the dentist after work for a post-surgical visit and I am confirmed as doing well. Yippee-- I don't have to go back unless I have to go back, if that makes any sense!
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No plans for tonight. There's always a little bit of everything to do-- have a nice evening!
Monday, May 14, 2001Caught-Up!!
For the first time since my vacation at the beginning of April, I feel like I'm "caught up" on my work at the office!! It isn't very often that I feel overwhelmed but, I have been lately. My region's been getting busier and busier every quarter and this quarter will undoubtedly be the busiest yet!
The good news is that people are acknowledging that I'm busy, I'm professional and that I know what I'm talking about: the sales rep from the conference call on Friday called today and apologized for the customer being so rude! He told me I didn't deserve the way that she treated me and he was, I believe, sincerely apologetic. The ironic part? This is the same sales rep that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar writing documents and putting his name on them! He has been very nice to me ever since he got caught and for him to tell me that I didn't deserve the treatment that she gave me made me feel good. Maybe I am getting through to them. No, you're right-- now I am reading too much into this!!
Other than that, however, I can't think of anything else that happened today! It was one of those days where I hit the ground running and other than having a little light banter with the CFO when she came by my cubicle, I don't remember anything significant that happened. The scary part is, I'm not sure that's a good thing or if its an age thing-- No, I'm not going to go there either!
I went for my bike ride tonight and followed that up with a phone call from my cousin, Barb-- she's a neat lady! As I believe I've mentioned, she's planning a trip out here in October and has received her e-ticket from the airline. She's very excited now!! So am I but, until she comes out here, Brian and I will make our own entertainment starting with this weekend since we're going to take a three-day weekend for no particular reason. I can't wait for that!!
On that note, Brian's not feeling well but he's doing dishes anyway-- I may work on the play a bit but whatever you do, have a nice evening!
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