Archive of Marcia's Musings November 4-10, 2002Sunday, November 10, 2002
HOT!!!
I was upstairs about 3 hours ago (5pm) and was sewing on the last quilt that I need to finish for Christmas. I was printing the label and waiting on the ink to "dry" when I realized that my office was extremely hot!!! Man, these storm windows really keep out the cold air!! Bring on the cold-- we're ready (and hopefully it'll hit soon at this rate!!)! Yes, feel free to remind me of that when I'm complaining about the cold-- it'll be your pleasure. ;>)
Finishing Touches
Yes, that's right-- I finished the afghan (picture to follow by Friday-- Debra reads my site!) and will get it shipped out on Tuesday. Her baby shower is on Friday so it'll be in California in plenty of time. That done, I started working on the aforementioned last Christmas quilt but, then the heat in my office got to me and I had to leave!! Yeesh!! I hope to work on it some more later tonight or, if not, certainly throughout the week to come.
Two More Weeks!!
Yep, two more weeks and then I get a vacation for a week (and only taking 3 days off, too!). I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off and, even though its the last week of the month, John approved it so he's gotta work with it now.
I'm looking forward to doing much of nothing during that week except maybe a little sight-seeing toward the middle or end of it. Of course, we'll have the traditional Thanksgiving (I'm sure) but, you won't hear about it until after I'm back to work-- I'm going to be taking the week off from posting, too. I decided I needed a break again even though its only been a short while-- it'll be easier to "be on vacation" from every day life for a whole week if I change everything I do during that time.
Brian, being at a new job, doesn't have vacation time yet-- I'll have 20 days per year with the time that'll be added to my PTO time on the 3rd anniversary of my hiring at the company!! Yes, it has been that long already!! As a result of that though, I've got time to burn-- literally in my case-- so I might as well take advantage of it. That'll clear my head for the upcoming end-of-fiscal year/end-of-quarter month that December always is for us. Yep, I need the break but that's two weeks away!
Sally's Progress
Thanks to those who keep asking about our Sally-- she's such a dear but she is getting tired of being in a cast as evidenced by her attempts to chew it off of her! There've been more times that we've had to stop her from chewing at the part of the cast that's wrapped around her tummy!! Overall she's doing well and only plays up the limp when she's looking for some sympathy.
Busy Day Overall
After a rousing trip to Costco and Safeway, Brian settled upstairs and I settled downstairs to work on finishing the afghan. I also called my sister and my friend, Pat-- had wonderful chats with both of them. I actually call my sister every other week, alternating with my oldest sister (the teacher in Michigan). Pat and I, for whatever reason, have only started phoning each other. It is weird-- even when we lived near each other in California, we spent more time on email than on the phone. While we still email each other a lot, being on the phone and hearing her voice is really a wonderful change!! For the next 10 to 15 years, we'll only have email or phone calls so it'll have to do for now!!
*****
Well, the heat up here is getting to me again-- gotta go downstairs to cool off!
Take care and thanks for coming by-- have a great evening!
Saturday, November 9, 2002Nothing much . . .
. . . happened around here today. I went to have my hair done early and came home to find Brian vacuuming the window sills and putting the storm windows down in the upstairs. Tomorrow he'll finish up with the downstairs-- man, it really makes a difference on the warmth in the upstairs!!
I finished up the laundry-- I was sure there'd be six loads but it was only four and that was finished by mid-afternoon leaving the balance of my day to crocheting and napping. I am finished with the afghan except for the edging-- I'm working on that right now and will be able to have it packaged up and sent to California by the end of Sunday. Its been a long time since I've made one of these baby afghans-- I forgot how pretty they are!!
Other than that though, its been a pretty calm day. I figure we'll do the same for tomorrow but maybe next weekend, if the weather holds, we'll be able to do some kinda sight-seeing thing in DC. Who knows? We could get lucky!
Sorry so short but there's not much happening-- have a great evening!
Friday, November 8, 2002Hit the Ground Running
Well, I did that at work anyway. I got in and got two voicemails from a sales rep who was trying to reach me the night before so the first thing I did was call him this morning. I revised the document that he needed revised and sent it off to him.
Then, it was on to the next and the next and the next. It was another busy day with a nice little break in between for the three of us. Judy, Lee and I went to the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market in Annapolis. Originally the plan was to have lunch there but that turned out to be too busy a place so we went to TGIFridays' across the way instead. We did end up back at the market where Judy picked up a number of things for her dinner tonight as well as food for over the weekend-- she and her husband will be eating well!
Then, we went back to the office but there wasn't much of anything happening there. Another revision or two but then I was done for the day. I ended up leaving about 4:15 which is a little earlier than normal for me. I came home and had a little snooze with Sally-- she almost jumped herself onto the sofa which is a definite "No-No" for her knee still. We slept for about an hour and then I watched the news while waiting for Brian to come home.
Another weekend is here and we'll probably end up inside, trying to nurse ourselves into better health. It is really frustrating for both of us because we want to go see things but are being stymied because we don't feel well. Bummer! Brian's still fighting whatever it is that he's got and I'm trying to fight off whatever it was that I caught back from him.
Sleep and rest sound like the order for our weekend-- except for all of that laundry! We haven't felt well all week so its been hanging around for a LONNNGGGG time now-- too long and we've got to do something about it!
*****
Back to my crocheting-- it really is almost finished!!Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!
Thursday, November 7, 2002Busy Day
I don't seem to remember too much of my day so that must mean it was busy, right? That works for me in my weird form of logic somehow. Anyway, I had both of the local sales reps in my office at one point or another and a couple on the phones at different times, too. I started my morning off reviewing a document that I hadn't reviewed since August-- talk about brain-warp!! I couldn't remember what was discussed in that last call but I know that there were things that were changed on their version of the document that weren't discussed on our last conference call in August. People shouldn't be allowed to revive negotiations three months after the last phone call-- they should just shut-up and sign the document, right? Sure!! That makes sense to me.
So I sent them back another revision with what we had really agreed to-- we'll see where it leads to after they've had time to review the document. Incidentally, the person that I negotiated the document with back in August is on maternity leave so the person that I'm now working with wasn't as deeply involved as she was. Needless to say, all of this leads to a very interesting NEW negotiation since, in this case, familiarity is something that they're lacking.
Revving Up Plans
We've been given our marching orders for our January trip to California. Our dates of arrival have been given to us and instructions on how to make plane arrangements. The first 3-1/2 days (Sunday thru Wednesday nights) will be spent with our friends Pat & Nathan. They've generously offered to put me up (or should that be "put up with me", eh, Pat?) so I'll get a car and commute to the office in Sunnyvale every day for "Worldwide Staff Meetings" (that sounds impressive, doesn't it?). Yeah, right.
Then, on Thursday, I'll return the car rental at the San Francisco Airport and take the shuttle to the hotel that we're staying at in the City for the sales meeting. I won't need a car from that point on. My only other plans are to go to Chinatown at some point and, of course, have lunch or dinner (or both?) with my in-laws at some point.
I'm already looking forward to seeing both Pat & Nathan and Brian's folks! It really will be gun to "travel" to see them!!
*****
I've had my Sally-cuddle-time already tonight but-- go ahead and say it for me-- the afghan is calling for me. I've either got 6 inches or 12 inches left to go but I can't seem to decide. Yes, you'll get a picture when its finished.As always, thanks for coming by and have a great evening!
Wednesday, November 6, 2002Banking Update
Besides doing my job, a lot was accomplished today: Give me a couple of hours and I'm sure I'll remember some of it but that may not happen soon.
ANYWAY, remember me telling you about our bank account closure problems back in September? Well, it turns out that they really didn't close the account.
Nope, they charged us for the two phone calls that I had to make to tell them that I was closing the account and to tell the online banking people that we were closing the account and then charged us for the statement that followed. We know this because we received a statement with a -$7.00 balance on it late last week.
Well, thankfully, I had the names of the people with whom I'd spoken and the dates on which I'd spoken to them written down. When I called this morning to speak with "Susan", I was told that the $4.00 of the charges were phone calls that took place on September 23-- the only problem with that is that the last time I called was on September 18. Hmmm, quite a dillema! I had my records and the name of the person to whom I'd spoken. The balance of $3 was the charge for the statement that they had to print to notify me of the $4 in phone calls for which I was being charged. WHAT?????
Thankfully Susan agreed with me and, once again, we've closed out our bank account. We should be receiving another completely zeroed out statement... do you see what I mean about this bank???? Yeesh!!
Planning WAYYYY Ahead of Time
Well, we received two invitations for holiday parties already-- so that's two weeks in December that are wiped out!! Of course, the good news is that we won't be homesick then, right? You bet! One of the invitations was from a sales rep that I work for so, of course, we have to go to his house. The other is from the VP that works in our office-- yep, I'm thinking that would be a good one to attend as well.
Now, so long as there are no conflicts with Brian's work . . .
Such Sweet Sorrow
Unfortunately, my co-worker's husband was unsuccessful in his bid for a Supervisor seat in San Francisco. That's too bad-- of course, the biggest reason that he didn't win is because he isn't weird or corrupt and, in San Francisco, that's a not a Good Thing. Oh, well, they have a little bundle of joy coming their way in a few weeks-- Debra is my co-worker that's pregnant and due in December!
"Little Sweetie", as I like to call their new baby girl, will still be extremely proud of both of her parents when she's old enough to realize what great people they are! She may have a better childhood because her dad's not out doing two jobs (day job and supervisor) while she's growing up.
*****
Gotta get to it-- speaking of the afghan-- much to do before it is finished!
Have a great evening!
Tuesday, November 5, 2002Election Day, 2002
I don't know why it is but, every time that Brian and I vote someplace (Maryland and California), the election people are always surprised to see that both of us are voting. Whenever we voted in California, if we walked in together or if we went separately, they always acted surprised and commented about how we both came out to vote.
Well, apparently this is a sentiment that is shared by the voting employees in Maryland-- it was pointed out to me that Brian had come in before me when I voted. The lady smiled when she said that like "How sweet that they both vote". That's a big "Dah" for me-- I seldom don't vote except when there's nothing but state assembly persons on the ballot (like the case of the last election in California that I didn't vote in). I haven't figured out the system here in Maryland yet but, when you vote on the off-year elections, that's when they get their jury pools. If you don't vote then, you don't get called. Its worked for me every time!
Hopefully, I'll figure out the Maryland system before it finds me!!
You Would Never Know!
If it weren't for the fact that my interstate passport says "Born-n-Raised in Podunk, Michigan", you would never know that I was born-n-raised in a COLD climate! The worst part is that the "cold climate" of which I speak, is not the out of doors here in Maryland but is in fact, my office at work! I do not have a thermostat in my office and, frankly, we have yet to figure out which of the surrounding thermostats controls the temperature for my office!
It blows so much cold air that people and sales reps who come into my office complain to me about it and then, follow that by dashing around trying to find the correct thermostat to turn up the heat in my office. Beside the cool temperatures, I've had things that are firmly pinned to the walls blow off the walls from the velocity of the "wind" that is created by the blower.
When I moved this summer, they let me bring my space heater with me from California and I am finding that I'm extremely grateful that they did!!
Work:
We haven't talked about this for awhile, have we? Well, it is . . . work. It is decidedly more convenient to get the work from the sales reps in their time zone-- there's a big deal that we're working now which would've had the sales rep screaming at me at 7:30amPST if I were still in California. There are lots of good things about being here, needless to say.
Search Engine Stuff
I haven't talked about this lately either because I had some very strange email as a result of someone conducting a search on my site. Brian "took care of it" and the guy hasn't written back since. ;>)
Anyway, here are some of the highlights for the month of November-- and its only just begun!!
in a shark's mouth - What would have possibly possessed me to write about this!?!
bowie town center - Yes, my new favorite place!!
can i take valium and vicodin at the same time - Yeesh!! Why would you need to?
potatoe chips - Dan Quayle's been here!
kitchen sayings - I wasn't aware that kitchens spoke!*****
Okay, I'm outta here-- its shower time and I've got an afghan to work on!Have a great evening!
Monday, November 4, 2002Asleep at the Keyboard
As Barbara Thompson points out . . .
> "To TheraFlu doses later,..."
>
> I know you must be sick to miss that one.
Yep, I was feeling mighty poorly!!I do feel better but not 100%-- probably around 90-95% if the truth be told. I'm pretty tired cuz I'm not sleeping well but we'll see if that improves any over the week.
I ended up leaving work at around 2:30pm, came home, changed my clothes and laid down on the sofa. At 5pm, I finally woke up and have eaten a light dinner. This is just a really weird "flu" bug-- my boss had something similar over the weekend. I'm sure it'll pass but will continue to plague me for a few days until it does!
Time is Short!
My co-worker's husband's campaign (as noted above) is running short tonight as it draws towards a close in the San Francisco City Council race. Good Luck, Michael!!!
Also, I realized yesterday that time is also short for the afghan that I'm making for Michael and his wife (my co-worker), Debra, who are expecting their first child, a girl. I've got a week to finish it which technically should be enough time but, you know how I am about these things! I've got to worry about it and write about it here rather than actually working on it-- heaven forbid!
Well, perhaps on that note, I should get back to it-- Have a great evening!
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