Archive of Marcia's Musings October 21-27, 2002Saturday, October 26, 2002
A Fine Night
My manager and her husband and my co-worker and her husband and our real estate friend all came over for an "end-of-season" barbecue tonight. Fired up the gas grill one last time (probably) for the season and fixed us a mess of burgers and hotdogs! We had salads and wonderful desserts, too-- numminess along with good company and lots of laughs!
Tomorrow is a much-needed recuperation day-- nothing major planned except sewing or crocheting or something to pass the time.
You have a good time passing the time, too, okay? Thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
Friday, October 25, 2002Fun & Relaxing Day
Its nice to wake up and not have to wonder where the next shooting will be-- very relaxing indeed. I forgot to mention yesterday that when I got in the car to go to work, the gas tank was "glowing" at me-- wasn't that sweet? Brian left the car virtually empty the night before and didn't mention that it needed gas. Oh, well, at least I was early for work.
While all of the arrests and goings on were happening during the night Wednesday night/Thursday morning, the police had still not said that "These guys were the snipers" so, I have to admit to a bit of trepidation when pumping gas. I slid my card in and out of the gas pump charger, put the nozzle in the car and slid back into my car seat to "put my card away". Okay, so I stayed in the car after that-- I didn't know for sure that they were the snipers and I wasn't going to take any chances. The thing is: I wasn't the only one who did that at the gas station. I saw a couple of people doing the same thing: I wasn't the only one being cautious!
Another Reason . . .
. . . that it was a fun-n-relaxing day is that we had our "spa day" for the end of the quarter today. Judy suggested that we find a place and I immediately volunteered my regular haunt for the expedition: Robert Andrew's Salon & Spa! I scheduled Lee and I for a facial and Judy for a massage, after we had lunch at Italian Garden restaurant. Great food and wonderful service, too!! While in talking about how we ended up there and what a faithful customer I am, I mentioned that I had attempted to wax my legs last weekend. Wendy, my aesthetician, said she could do my upper legs for me in 20 minutes-- why should I hassle with it. I decided she was right so off she went! She also cleaned up what I had missed on the lower legs and still had time for a facial-- it was great!
Lee and Judy enjoyed their services, too-- it was really neat! Lee even scheduled a follow-up facial for herself and her daughter for a few weeks from now and, of course, I scheduled a follow-up waxing appointment with Wendy, too. I'll do a facial again soon but I want to do the waxing more right now.
Tomorrow I go back for another nail appointment-- my nails have held up well as my new nail technician, Jennifer, did a great job on them! I saw her today at the salon, too but, unfortunately, because of a screw up with scheduling, I won't be getting my fill from her. Next time and the next time and the next time X infinity, I will be getting the appointments with her. Thankfully!
*****
So all-in-all, it was a good day in the middle, bookended by work on either side of the relaxation. It was really nice and, really I got a lot accomplished from the work side of things, too.The Weekend Ahead
As much as I'd like to go touring, after my nail appointment, I'm going to the grocery store. Since Brian did most of the cleaning last weekend, we'll be doing a little bit of picking up before our guests arrive tomorrow night. We're going to have one last barbeque of the season with my co-workers and their husbands and the real estate agent that helped us find this house and her kids. Should be a lot of fun!!
Have a great evening and night!!
Thursday, October 24, 2002Posted Late . . .
. . . as in the next morning!! Oh, well, at least I'm posting, right?
Yesterday afternoon, we took a late lunch and went over to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. We went for the sole purpose of seeing the "Here is New York" display which is a gathering of photographs from both New York and Washington following 9/11. It is a very moving experience and, if it comes to your town, I highly recommend seeing it.
On the way to the Corcoran, Judy (my manager), drove us past the White House (!) and the Executive Office Building and a whole bunch of other places. It isn't as open an expanse as it appears to be when the news or television and movies carries it but it is interesting, nonetheless.
After the gallery, we went to the Mayflower Hotel for our lunch of appetizers-- lots of fun was had by all!
And now, on to the day that's really at hand!
Wednesday, October 23, 2002Exciting Day!!
Well, the morning was exciting anyway . . .
I left the house at 7:30 to drive southwest to get to Arlington, Virginia. The directions that I had were from one of the various online services that either give you too much detail or not enough. The worst part is that they give you street names that don't exist in the real world: they kept telling me to take George Washington Parkway-- I never saw one sign for that street! Yeesh!!
As I was headed south on Highway 50, the directions said to follow the signs to Arlington Cemetary. Frankly, the concept of seeing that many graves scared me-- I didn't want to see it but, I was told that my route wouldn't take me close enough so I didn't need to worry about it. As I approached the exit, I saw a HUGE building to the right in front of me and I started seeing signs that said "Pentagon" . . . Omigosh!! That's the Pentagon!! (Yes, I said that out loud to myself in the car-- people tend to stay clear of those who talk to themselves in rush hour traffic!) I followed the signs that I thought my directions indicated for me to follow but, as I was going across Memorial Bridge, I had the sinking suspicion that something was wrong because my directions didn't say "Turn right at the Lincoln Memorial"!!! That's the Lincoln Memorial!!! Omigosh-- that's the Washington Monument!!!!!!!!!!!
Once I realized that I was there, I determined that I had made several wrong turns and asked another driver for directions. His reaction when asked where Arlington Boulevard was? "You're in DC-- that's in Virginia-- you're really lost!" Like I didn't know that already!!!
He directed me back to the Virginia side of the world and I promptly found myself at the gates of the Arlington Cemetary. The kind gentleman that helped me there told me I wasn't lost-- afterall I found his co-worker, I couldn't be lost! Nice guy but, following the directions he gave me, I found myself driving by the white headstones of Arlington Cemetary which was exactly what I didn't want to see. Man, that is a stark awakening, ya know? Very moving, even at 35 miles per hour.
The guard at Arlington Cemetary told me to drive back to I-395, make a U-turn and come back at my route again staying to the right of where I had been so that I didn't go over the Memorial Bridge. I did that and, finally, was successful in reaching my destination-- ten minutes early, too!
I'm really glad that I didn't believe the directions and allow only 45 minutes for my trip-- with getting lost, I was an hour and twenty minutes driving there! At least, once I got past the DC area, I had no problem finding my way the rest of the route and, the return drive was even easier yet. It seemed like I only had four turns on the way back although I'm sure there were probably more but it only took me twenty minutes to get to my office from Arlington which I thought was handy.
Brian and I had made promises that we wouldn't look at any of the historical places without the other person in the car and, I think that's what nailed me when I got lost: I stopped look at everything to avoid the monuments and memorials. I can't wait to go back down there with him, though-- that'll be soooo much fun!!
When I got back to the office, I was full tilt all afternoon including a training session, by phone, for the maintenance renewal folks. I tried to answer some of their questions-- most of those sales reps have been with the company for under six months-- and give them a little confidence in their abilities. Hopefully, that'll cut my workload if they learn to trust themselves and their knowledge.
Exhaustion!!
After the day that I had, I'm exhausted!! Its a good feeling! Thankfully, because we both got up early, Brian, too, is tired (plus he's not feeling at his best because of flu shot hangover) so it'll probably be an early night for us. We'll probably go to bed a little early tonight-- we need the rest!
*****
Well, Sally's howling so I'm going to go down and appease her with my presence.Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!
Tuesday, October 22, 2002Be Careful What You Wish For . . .
. . . Yep, like me, you'll get it! Just last week, I was telling my sister that I wished I would have a "Boring & Dull" week and, guess what? I've got it!!
Work is work-- nothing major happening other than the customer site visit tomorrow. I'm excited and, of course, a bit anxious about that but the scariest part is not meeting the customer but getting to the customer site! I've only been to Virginia once and that was last April but someone else was driving so I have no clue where to go or how to get there-- well, okay, I've got a clue cuz I've got a map but, other than that and you know my sense of direction! I'll be lucky not to find myself in West Virginia!!
I'm sure it'll be fine-- really! And, yes, I'll update you tomorrow about the meeting and the drive to and from there. Should be tons-o-fun!!
Early to bed . . .
(Man, if that worked, I'd be rich by now!) Because Brian has one of his early dentist appointments tomorrow and I have to go to Virginia, its going to be an extremely early night for us. Man, I'm already having a hard time keeping my eyes open!! At any rate, that also leaves us limited amount of time to spend with Sally who has been extremely needy lately-- we've been having to have a lot of extra Mommy-Sally cuddle time which, of course, I love! She's a greedy one though-- she trades off cuddling with Brian and I so that she's almost always cuddling with one of us!! (No, we're not complaining-- at all!)
Once again, this is short but I'll make up for it tomorrow-- promise! Have a great evening and night!
Monday, October 21, 2002Travels Ahead
Well, beside the client call on Wednesday, that is...yes, as a matter of fact. Rumor has it that we're all heading west in January for the annual worldwide sales conference. Well, I'll be able to see some friends and family but, as Brian and I decided when this first surfaced, it doesn't make financial sense for him to go with me since he'll lose "on-the-job" time and we're going to try to buy a house next year. Oh, well, I'll hurry home and tolerate being away from home as best as I can. I've got some shopping to do in Chinatown, too-- he hates shopping in Chinatown!!
Wednesday I have a customer call to make with a sales rep-- its been about 5 years since I've been on a customer call but I think that audience was tougher: it was in South Africa!! This shouldn't be too bad; its awfully hard to be rude to someone's face, ya know?
This'll be my first venture into Virginia however-- yes, I'm going to go overboard and allow about an hour and a half for "getting lost time". I've done an internet map for there and back and I will bring the map books with me. It should be interesting to see if I make it back, don'tcha think?
Sally's Covered!
Well, almost-- in three days, Sally will be covered on her insurance. She may need it if she keeps pulling Malcolm-isms!! She's downstairs, as I type, because I've been up here for 14 minutes and she's been left alone. Silly girl!! Oh, well, other than a little loneliness when left alone (literally) for a few minutes, she's doing well. She's back to taking her medicine with cheese-- don't ask me how many sandwiches it'll take to use up the turkey I bought for her!!
*****
I know this is short but so is time tonight-- thanks for stopping by and have a great evening and night!
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