Archive of Marcia's Musings December 2-8, 2002Sunday, December 8, 2002
Complete Opposite!
Remember how I was so productive yesterday? Well, today was nothing like yesterday!! We went to a new warehouse club, similar to Costco, that's located here in Bowie. The advantage is that we then do not have to deal with the traffic going to Redskins games. Same prices and products just a whole lot more geographically convenient. After finishing our shopping excursion there, which included walking each and every aisle in the store, we went home and, while I walked the dogs (outside in the back yard), Brian put most everything away. He went back upstairs to continue his computer thing and I made some lunch for myself. Soon enough, Sally and I were on the sofa and Ebony was on the floor in front of the sofa-- all three of us, snoring away!! That was the extent of my day-- that's all I did, all day (besides a couple of phone calls to relatives).
After my glorious nap, I watched a little more television and then, Brian and I began wondering what we were supposed to feed Ebony. Lee had only brought enough food for dinner last night and breakfast this morning-- she had said she would be by to pick him up at 7 or 8. What to do for dinner for him? I tried locating her cell phone number but that didn't work; then I tried calling her daughter but they weren't home. Hmm, what do we do for dinner for him?
And then the doorbell rang . . . boy, was he happy to see his "Mommy"! We had a nice little chat and they went on their merry way-- he'll be back in January. He and Brian really got along well and Sally liked him, too.
Speaking of Sally
Yes, today is the first anniversary of the day that we met her. Its also the first anniversary of the day that the woman from the rescue came to inspect our house and fence to make sure that she could come to live with us and would be safe. Who knew we were going to move across country? I did have email conversations with that same woman when Sally had her surgery-- I know that they check on her website periodically to see how she's doing. I think its neat that they care so much about her-- still.
Anyway, we gave Sally new food and water bowls for her "birthday" present-- we're calling the 9th, tomorrow, her birthday because that's the anniversary of the day that we got her from the rescue folks. She likes her new food/water bowls: they're a pretty blue but otherwise are the exactly the same as the previous bowls. We're keeping the old set for guest doggies, like Ebony and Malcolm, Duncan and Kerry, because its nice to have extras.
More on Sally's birthday celebration and growth tomorrow . . . Happy Birthday, Sally!!
*****
That's all for tonight-- I've got vitamins to get ready for the next week. Have a great night and I'll talk with you tomorrow.
Saturday, December 7, 2002Good Kids
Well, we've got us a couple of good kids today-- Ebony and Sally are getting along really well, all things considered. Ebony is from a one-dog family and, of course, Sally is, too so they are not really great at sharing but they are trying. Sally's been jealous a couple of times and Ebony has been a little down-in-the-mouth a couple of times but all-in-all, we're having a good day.
Speaking of Sally, today is the anniversary of the day that we saw her picture on the internet for the first time. Tomorrow will be the anniversary of the first time that we met her and Monday will be the anniversary of the date that she came to live with us. It has been a year since she came into our lives-- she's such a dear Baby Girl. We'll have more on her birthday celebration as the weekend continues but, suffice it to say, we're all terribly happy about it.
Productive Day
I've spent another day finishing up projects here. First off, I cleared the kitchen table and set up the Christmas table cloth and placemats. No, we don't have any plans for guests-- I just like having it set up for the holidays. Then I cleared the coffee table and end table of excess magazines and junk. With sewing down the binding on stuff, some of the notions tend to stay downstairs for weeks and weeks cuz I "forget" to bring them upstairs.
Once that was done, Ebony came by and then I went upstairs to sew. I'm really close to finishing the last Christmas present!! I was telling my cousin, Barb, who called this afternoon that I will then have no UFOs (UnFinished Objects)!! She thinks that I'll be drummed out of the quilting corp!! It is almost unheard of to not have any projects that have been started but not finished hanging around. I've only got fabric for three projects that I haven't done anything with yet-- when the Christmas gifts are finished, the drapes for the living room are going to get worked on and then, I'll get back to quilting but I need to work on the swags for the living room!!
Anyway, that's all for this report. Its almost time for bed-- hopefully, Ebony will settle down and sleep well.
Thanks for coming by and have a great night!
Friday, December 6, 2002Its Finished-- Done-- OVER!!!
Yes, the "Contract from You-Know-Where" is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I reviewed the contract yesterday and drafted an 11-point email. After reviewing the agreement one more time and drafting a schedule as the alternate, I presented it to the customer in this email with three choices: 1) take the contract as I drafted it; 2) take the schedule and attach that to the shrinkwrap that was negotiated last summer and is in place for the previous purchase or 3) walk away from everything.
From my 11-point email, she asked for two slight alterations: one was an okay replacement and the second needed some language massaging but it got done. YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was finished. She did a good job of "praising" both of us for our persistence-- I was just happy I didn't call her an idiot or a liar but that would've required me to stoop to her level and I didn't want to do that.
Wow!! That was pretty awesome!! I really never thought we'd get an agreement in place but I have a feeling that she was getting pressure. I wasn't-- nobody was hassling me about it so I could've walked away. All I would need to get from her is an email that says that they weren't going to do an agreement and that would be the end of the whole thing for me. I was cool with that even though we did spend an awful lot of time on it. She was being so incredibly rude and demanding that it was ridiculous-- we're not going to change our business model because the way that we license software doesn't match their business model. Some people!! Oh, well, its over and believe me, I am glad!
Other than that . . .
Nothing happened around here today-- I didn't go into the office. I decided I would stay home and, believe me, I cranked it out again! Man, it was a regular contract assembly line here today!! I like it when a plan comes together, ya know?
Anyway, on top for the weekend, we are going to have a house guest tomorrow: Ebony. Ebony is my co-worker's (Lee) black retriever. They're going out of town for the weekend and he's a sweetie so we offered to "sit" for him (as opposed to him sitting for us??). He'll be coming by and then I/we will have the usual errand running to do.
*****
Don't forget to go by my Thanksgiving Report as well as seeing Sally's latest antics over on her page.As usual, thanks for coming by-- always a pleasure to have you visit and hear from you. Take care and have a great evening!
Thursday, December 5, 2002
(Update at 7:15pm)It IS Snowing!!
Brian will have pictures on his site-- Sally doesn't understand why she can't find herself outside-- and it is really pretty!!! (7:09amEST)
Not for me, technically but it was snowing outside-- alot!! Brian took the picture to the left about 10am and there was another three hours of snow to fall!! It is really pretty as evidenced by the pictures below. It was fun to watch the kids across the street play in the snow-- there was a black lab that came by with his/her owner who was playing just about as hard as the kids in the snow!
Snowy Sally
Well, not quite: It turns out that our little beauty hates snow!! She went out this morning because she desperately had to go to "use the facilities". She couldn't figure out where to do her thing however since she was relying on smells to know either where she should or where she has gone in the past and couldn't tell because everything was covered with snow! She obviously didn't like it-- later in the morning, I tried to see if she needed to go outside but she wouldn't leave the house. At about 4pm, I put her out but she stuck next to the house. I have no idea if she did anything or not but, she will have to eventually and it will not be in the house!!
Speaking of Sally, she was able to come upstairs today-- the first time in 8 weeks!! I told Brian that we shouldn't leave her downstairs by herself if we were both going to be working upstairs. He agreed and, the first time that she came up, he carried her-- from that point on, however, she was up-n-down the stairs at will!! She's so happy-- she gets to sleep in our room tonight!! Once upstairs in my office, she was out cold, as she demonstrated for the picture above.
Productive Day!
Man, I got a lot of stuff done! I finished negotiations on one agreement where the customer was only questioning four things in all of the changes that we had both made. I thought that was pretty good-- they hope to sign the agreement tomorrow. The next thing on the agenda was a reseller agreement for a company that we've had problems with in the past. I got that redrafted but now I have to work on the second agreement: Restated & Amended Agreement to the License Agreement. I've never worked one of those before, needless to say so it is quite a learning experience.
Having my headset here was a wonderful help! I was so much more easily on the phone than I have been in the past-- it was great! The roads are plowed for now but I'm still going to work from home-- I believe I was more productive today than I had been for weeks.
By the way, the customer that gave me a document on Tuesday night that was filled with things we couldn't accept, went back through the document last night and gave me a new revision to review. It is a much more tolerable revision but, still not perfect and we will have a time getting it finalized. We may end up adding a schedule to the existing shrinkwrap and calling it "done" if this doesn't work.
Well I've got some more work on my pages to do. The Thanksgiving Report is up and Sally's been wanting to put up a post now that she can get to the computer. It is amazing what I let her get away with, isn't it?
Whatever you're doing this evening-- have a great one!
Wednesday, December 4, 2002Snow Day!!!!
Well, there are huge warnings up about a snow storm headed this way. We're really supposed to get it but who knows what will really happen? I think it would be fun to see Sally's reaction-- to the best of our knowledge, she's never even seen snow! It was so cold out this morning that she was screaming (well, you know how she can do that!!) for me to let her back into the house! She had to think twice about needing to go out a second time before I left for work!
Anyway, it is supposed to snow and so we've declared a snow day at work no matter what-- we're all going to work from home. As a result of that, I brought my spare headset home. A few weeks ago, one of the reps complained about my headset giving off static. I asked for a new headset and got it-- there's technically nothing wrong with the other one except for a little static and, as long as I don't talk to the same rep, he won't know the difference. This will make it easier to be able to do my work tomorrow and any other day that I stay home. I'm okay with making calls on our home phone number (the company will reimburse me for them) as opposed to using my cell phone which is miniscule and difficult, at best, to work with when negotiating a contract. I think that's one of the reasons that I've disliked working from home-- I miss my headset!
Christmas is Coming!!
I've got gifts to wrap tonight and tomorrow night so that we can get them in the mail or UPS or whatever by Saturday. That's just an arbitrary deadline I've given myself-- it may end up being later at the rate that I'm going!
The customer that's been giving me a hard time about the contract (she's the one that demanded that I give her an alternate contact while I was on vacation) has sent back the revised agreement. It doesn't reflect any of the discussions that I've had with her but, maybe she's thinking of other phone calls. One of the new items (yes, at this late stage, she's bringing up new issues) is the warranty period-- instead of being 90 days which is the term for everything other customer, she wants it to go on forever. Oh, yes, she completely understands our business model, doesn't she? We would never be able to recognize revenue on any purchases made under this agreement so, she doesn't get her way again.
Instead, tomorrow she will be getting a schedule from me that adds a few pieces of software that they think they want to the existing shrinkwrap agreement. The shrinkwrap was modified in June as a stop-gap measure until this agreement is finished. If we can't finish it, and we all agree to that on email, then, the shrinkwrap will apply going forward. Since I can't agree to her changes, we don't seem to have any alternative.
This should be a fun time explaining to her, don't you think? Oh, yeah, I can hardly wait!!
The Good News . . .
. . . the one big deal that we closed before I left has high visibility in the company. The big-wigs are in town to take the customer to dinner to say "Thanks for the business!" so it is good for me, too. The sales rep also said something to me and my boss and my co-worker today about how he hoped that they could "do" something for me-- my manager can't (her budget is limited) but John can and the rep is going to talk to him! That would be cool, wouldn't it? I'll have to keep you posted on that one!
*****
Speaking of posts, this is the end of this one-- presents to wrap, don'tcha know? Take care, thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT evening!
Tuesday, December 3, 2002Not Your Imagination
Nope, you're right-- I missed posting yesterday. When I got home from work, I put up my sister's post and then, sent a fax for work and then, went downstairs and made dinner (a turkey pot-pie from leftover turkey-- the first of many such creations, I'm sure). After dinner, I was supposed to call my sister-- we take turns-- but I managed to have it slip my mind until she called me at about 7:15pm. I was playing the tape of "Miracle on 34th Street" in the background as we talked because I was also putting up the decorations on the Christmas tree.
Beside the tree, I am only putting up a few decorations. I'm just not as excited about this house as I was with the last house and, since we don't want to mark the walls with holes and such, I can't put up a lot of decorations anyway. I don't mind, really-- it saves what I've got to take down after the holiday and, since I'll be traveling soon after the first of January on business, that'll make that transition easier, too.
O Christmas Tree
Our Christmas tree this year is uniquely different-- it has only the travel ornaments and candy canes on it! That's all the room that there is for ornaments!! It is a smaller tree but I didn't want to make it too crowded either. I thought it was kinda cool that I have enough ornaments to fill a tree with-- I suppose this means that I need to stop buying the travel ornaments, eh? NAHHHH!! There are all of the old ones that I'll need to replace-- Hah!! Always a reason!!
Anyway, next year we may have to buy TWO trees so that I can put my hand-made ornaments someplace. I've still got a box full of those that I will want to keep for myself. Another option is to have all the hand-made ornaments used on the tree next year and alternate each year's decorations: one year travel and the next year hand-made. We'll have to see how that battle works itself out.
Miscellany
Just what the doctor ordered . . .
Since returning from my vacation, I'm finding that I'm enjoying (yes, actually!!) reviewing and drafting documents again. I don't take horrified offense at changes that customers make (for the most part) and enjoy the negotiations again. Ahhh, its amazing what a few days away can do, eh?
Ergonomics Failure
It seems that my desk at the new office is higher than my old cubicle desk in California. As a result, I'm finding myself putting my neck in a very awkward and uncomfortable stance in order to be able to read the monitor's screen. Not good obviously. Today, I took out the monitor and am using the monitor from the laptop-- works like a charm. I can read and my neck is more comfortable.
Change of Plans
This week was to be a very busy week for me with little improvement for next week. The schedule was intense: tonight, I got my legs
ripped. . . er . . . waxed, tomorrow night, a sewing class on my new machine and Thursday is Weight Watchers. Well, the sewing class was canceled due to a death in the family of the person who was to teach it. Not a good thing for them obviously so it is understandable that the class would be cancelled. I'm rescheduled for January so that should work better.*****
Well, I am thinking that's it for me tonight. I'm tired and I've got some online shopping to do-- one last item.Thanks for stopping by-- I appreciate the patronage! Have a great evening!!
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