Archive of Marcia's Musings April 22-28, 2002Sunday, April 28, 2002
By All!!
This morning, we went to Myrna and Roger's so the Kids (Laddie & Sally) could play and get to know each other better. We had a really fun time with the two of them (Laddie and Sally) walking up to the school with Brian and Roger. Since my knee wouldn't carry me far walking that far, Myrna and I drove up. We all had fun playing with Sally and Laddie and the other dogs that were there, too ranging from a bassett hound (with the most adorable ears) to a Perinese (huge)!! What fun everyone had!! All kinds of things to explore and chase-- just too much fun for our little Sally though. She's been napping all afternoon to make up for it!
Other than that . . .
I've spent the majority of my weekend sewing-- Christmas is coming so there aren't going to be any pictures for the website yet but, trust me, I'm having fun! I'm trying to get "little projects" finished so that I've got hand-sewing to do while I'm down after a surgery. The good news is that I hopefully won't have to worry about not being able to quilt-- I'm almost as much of an optimist as another one amongst us!!
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As usual, thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
Saturday, April 27, 2002Hmmmm . . .
Friday, April 26, 2002O-kaaaaayyyyyyy . . .
Its like this: I wasn't going to put up a post but then I decided I should tell you about last night and the MRI. It was done in about 30 to 35 minutes and, by the time that I finished, my knee really hurt quite a bit. No, certainly not from moving it inside the tube but from the lack of movement-- not moving at all really hurts when its for long, extended periods of time!!
Have I ever mentioned that I'm claustrophobic? Well, I am-- apparently it runs in my family, too. Well, there's a questionnaire that they have you fill out and the last question is "Are you claustrophobic?" They only give you a little-bitty blank to put your "X" into so, I wrote my "X" and I wrote it again and again and then, I circled it. Oh, yeah, I am waaayyyy claustrophobic!!!
Needless to say, they put me "feet first" into the tube and then, raised it and slid me toward the opening. I had a total of two panic attacks last night and one of 'em happened when the tech was sliding me toward the tube opening. I suddenly became afraid that he was going to put me all the way in which, he wasn't but, you know how the mind works!! Anyway, the second panic attack hit during the second or third test-- I suddenly felt very trapped. While trying to catch my breath, I figured out that watching the clock/timer on the machine was not helping me-- I think he pointed it out hoping it would but it actually made things worse!
Soooo, I survived but am glad that's over-- its next Thursday before I get the results but, I've gotta tell ya: there is something really wrong with my knee. I was waiting for the test and I looked down at my knee-- it looked like something was sticking out sideways!! Brian agreed with me that that is definitely not a Good Thing!
We'll keep you posted . . .
Tonight, Tonight
More quilting and then a little tube-- it turned nasty cold here today so we're going to have a fire in the fireplace tonight. Its been a long week at work so I'm glad to be done with it for two days!
Once again, thanks for coming by and, have a nice evening!
Thursday, April 25, 2002MRI Night
First, I think its really cool that this place is open until 10pm to allow for people who work during the day to get done the things that they need done. I had my choice of several appointments, too so that was also nice. Second, I'm apprehensive about the situation. As Brian will tell you, I am really looking for most any excuse for this NOT to be a torn meniscus but, the MRI is the deciding factor. It will, once and for all short of surgery, confirm that it is or is not a torn meniscus and therefore, will then require surgery to repair it.
Yes, I'm hoping that it is something else-- who wants surgery?? Although I'm being told to "get good with it", I am not finding that an easy thing to do. I'd rather find out that it isn't anything that requires surgery and, get good with that!
Next Thursday is the doctor appointment at which I'll find out if it is or is not a torn meniscus. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not gonna be able to know anything definitely until then. The good news is that althought for the last few weeks I haven't been sleeping well due to the pain in my knee, I'll probably sleep through the pain tonight-- they've got me on Ativan for a muscle-relaxer for the MRI!
Grinch in April
I've gotta tell ya: it is no fun (sometimes) to be married to a year-round grinch! Argh, in December, I can joke him around it but, in April? Yikes!! He didn't like that I tried to give him his birthday cards (of course there were two!) in the restaurant and kept giving me questionable looks until I put them back in my purse!! Yeesh!! Well, no, we won't be planning that big blow out at the half century mark for him now, will we? Yeesh!!
Instant Messages
We've started using AOL's Instant Messenger for negotiation calls with the sales reps. So far, the only people that have contacted me using it are the people sitting in my office in cybersales-- effective tool, eh?
Not a Good Start
(I'm writing this from work, in case you couldn't tell.)
Upon arrival this morning at work, I discovered that the customer with whom I've been negotiating in good faith on an agreement did not re-send the documents to me in a workable Word format so that I could run a comparison on them to see where he had made changes. Not a good thing so I had to waste my time printing the document and then scanning and then comparing the document only to find that he had made changes but did not work them through the document appropriately. By that I mean, he eliminated the term "Statement of Work ('SOW')" but then, left a later reference to "SOW" in the document. If you're going to edit, do it right! So, I fixed the document and returned it to him on email, in redline, without it being "locked up" which is not what he did for the last revision sent to me. I wasn't happy about that?
Another one? I think I told you about the sales rep who decided that he would do his job and my job? Yes, well, the problem is that he did my job wrong (so it makes you wonder how he does his job, doesn't it?) so I have to fix what he did. I asked him for the workable Word version of the document he drafted incorrectly but did not receive it-- big surprise. This morning, I scanned and then fixed the document that he had sent to the customer and then, I re-sent it to the customer explaining that it was wrong and the one I sent was now right. I implied to the customer that the reason that he signed the first document was because it wasn't run through our office first. I believe that will be the last time that the sales rep does that or at least, the last time the customer takes his word for it.
Then, there's the vendor who flat-out refuses to negotiate on a software license where we are licensing the software. Oh, yeah, they want to do business with us, don't they? Among other things, they don't have a warranty or indemnification for infringement clause and, according to what the sales rep told me, will not be putting one in for me. Well, as I explained to the guy who wants to license the software, this is not a good thing. He stated that he agreed and would be looking into other tools to use instead of this software.
Okay, so the day starts out crummy and will hopefully go up from there, right? Then that includes the MRI being something other than a torn meniscus, too-- see, there's a method to my madness!
A Couple of Good Men
It would've been my father's 81st birthday today. Its funny the things you remember and the associations you make with it, eh?
I spent more than half of my adult life trying to get away from my father. You know the old saying that you marry someone like your father? Well, I fought that as hard as I could for way too many years making all the wrong decisions based on it.
Four years ago, I stopped fighting it: I found, fell in love with and married Brian. Brian is so much like my father. There is barely a week that goes by that I don't think to myself that my father would think he was looking at his twin when it comes to carpentry and garden work when he looks at Brian.
Okay, so I spent the first half of my life being stupid-- at least I came around eventually, okay? I found someone EXACTLY like my father and, I know that my father approves-- they are . . . A Couple of Good Men.
Have a nice night!
Wednesday, April 24, 2002Short Bit
Because of the fact that we're going out to dinner for no particular reason tonight, this post is exceedingly short. In fact, its virtually non-existent. Sorry, not enough time so I hope you have a good night-- we're off to not celebrate anything!
Tuesday, April 23, 2002Busy Day-- You like to hear that, don't you?
Lord knows that I do!! Well, it was full of a variety of different things-- mostly administrative. Because of the business travel, vacation days and work load, up until today, I hadn't had a chance to sufficiently catch up my desk from the end of the quarter until today. That's a long time after the quarter, ya know? Yeesh!! Its been that kinda 23-days!!
I also had the unenjoyable task of once again training a new sales rep as to what we do: I write the contracts and addenda and he sells the software. That's so hard for some people to comprehend!! I copied my director on it since we were all wondering where the Addenda #6 had come from-- none of my co-workers or myself or she had drafted it. I asked the sales rep where it came from and he told me "We drafted it..." Oh, yes, I had to ask: "'We' who?" His response? "Well, me really." Yes, you're right, that's when I lost it!! ARGH!!! He apologized but then, because he's on the east coast, promptly left for home. Unfortunately, there's a problem with the document (which the customer has already signed-- the software has probably shipped, too!) so it needs to be re-drafted but then, that's why I don't sell software, right?
(Yes, every time I think of this, my eyes roll to the back of my head as I shake it in disbelief!!)
Nope, Nothing to See Here
Move right along, there-- there are no birthdays happening in our house tomorrow. There's no particular reason that we're going to dinner tomorrow night-- nope, there's no celebrating cuz you can't celebrate birthdays that don't happen, can ya? Well, that's what I'm told anyway-- I like the gifting part of it (both giving and receiving) but that's already been handled a couple of times this month: a jacket re-line and a new desk chair for his office. Whoops!! I said "his" office-- er... um... nope: No, there's no birthday happening around here. Nothing to celebrate, nothing to see-- move along now (and email him here!).
Banks
If you know anything about WeightWatchers (and I know there are several of my readers who do), you'll appreciate it when I tell you that I had a 16-point bank on Monday morning when I weighed myself!! That's a huge number of points. That "bank balance" is one reason why we didn't end up going out for dinner (and I haven't gone shopping for my new jacket yet)-- I didn't want to blow all of my points in one sitting! Tomorrow night, when we go out to dinner, I will have (already!) an 8-point bank!! That's a huge number of points to have at one meal-- something like 28 for one meal!! That is extremely good but I still hope not to screw it up all at one sitting.
As you can tell, I'm feeling extremely excited and encouraged about my progress on my "Independent WeightWatcher Program". (So far as I know, they don't have an official name for it so I've named it myself.) Iwatch myself but most of it is becoming second nature very easily-- in fact, much more so than when I was going to the meetings. If I start feeling down about it, I'll let you know and then you can pep me up again, okay?
Netwidows Moves Forward
Because of technical, computer problems, etc., that I am not familiar with, we've had to re-up the Netwidows site without doing a complete ownership transfer. The way that we had to do it is to have Matt Beland set up the renewals for the next five years and then, we sent him the check to cover that expense. For some reason, it isn't possible to transfer the ownership (which I don't understand but that's really nothing all that new!) but, the important part is that it is renewed. Thanks for your help, Matt!! Now can someone tell me if Outlook will let me schedule a renewal notice five years out? ;>)
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Quilting progress is made: the quilt squares from the very bad place are finished!! I'm trimming the sides to get them evenly sized right now so, if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to it. Have a nice evening!
Monday, April 22, 2002Bad Things Happen in Two's, Right?
Please tell me that's how it goes-- if not, I'm headed for real trouble!! As you all know from reading my posts last week, I've got a torn meniscus in my left knee which is my Item One. Well today, Item Two happened: I was happily eating my lunch when I suddenly crunched on something. I was quite perturbed because the first thought that ran through my mind was that the quality of the Healthy Choice lunches that I eat have never been bad before-- how did that bone get in there?? Well, it turned out not to be a bone but, instead, the crown from my one and only crowned tooth!! Oh, argh!!! I fumbled around trying to find the dentist's phone number and upon finally reaching them, flew out the door yelling something at my co-workers about being back as soon as I could as I hobbled out the door to my car.
Please tell me that's the last of it, okay? I don't think I could handle continuing to fall apart at all of the seams in my body!! Yikes, what's left?
Speaking of things a-changing . . .
Today was another weigh-in day at the scales of non-WeightWatcher Meeting: A total of 6 pounds lost since I've been doing the "independent" plan!!! Yeah!!!!! (At least for the time being, you're going to start getting a new number for the total lost in my independent program as opposed to my overall total.) That's two weeks on my own and I've lost weight both weeks!!! Yeahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I am a happy camper about that one and, of course, extremely encouraged to keep it up! I was talking to a woman today who is in pursuit of her "Lifetime Achievement" at WeightWatchers-- she mentioned that she's having a hard-time trying to figure out what to have for lunch because she just doesn't have time to cook anything for herself. As mentioned above, the Healthy Choice entre that I most enjoy is a whopping total of FOUR POINTS which, when served with a generous helping of ZERO POINTS asparagas, makes for a very satisfying lunch!!
Disgustingly enthusiastic, aren't I?
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I'm back to the quilt blocks that won't be finished no matter what tonight-- my only alternative is to write a couple of checks for bills but I decided to put that off until tomorrow night. I was going to blow it off and work on a different project but decided that I would give it one more try tonight and see how it goes. If I don't have to rip anything else out, I'll be a happy camper!!Have a nice evening and, thanks for coming by!
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