Archive of Marcia's Musings September 2-8, 2002Sunday, September 8, 2002
No Play Day Afterall!!
Oh, well-- we needed to do several things today, none of which really involved "playing" in the truest sense of the word. We went to the farmers' market around the corner-- it'll only be there for another few weeks but, I've been craving some _real_ fresh produce, as opposed to the withered specimens that are in the grocery store produce department. After picking up some unwithered zucchinis and gorgeous green beans, we found a rosemary plant that we can keep in our kitchen-- cool!! Next it was on to Costco to stock up on bottled water and paper products-- I also picked up a couple of movies and some chicken brother so I can make some chicken soup this week one night.
After dropping that stuff home, we went out to the seafood place where we bought the lobsters last week-- what a selection!! Everything from perch to scallops which was what we picked up for dinner tonight. Brian's going to sautee some scallops with garlic and scallions and, frankly, I can't wait!! Nummy!! Then, on to the grocery store for some quick stuff that we weren't able to catch at either Costco or the farmers' market.
Back home and we did some online shopping for somethng that I'll save and let Brian tell you about another time-- it'll be fun and interesting, whatever it ends up being! We'll keep you posted.
Not Quite Saturday Night
Quite often on our Saturday nights in California, we'd meet our friends Pat and Nathan for dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant: Hunan Gourmet. Well, I had a hankering for Chinese food and, even though we've tried another restaurant around here for the food, it was pretty pricey for just plain eating-- it'll be great for when Pat and Nathan come to visit though!! Anyway, we found a place that had tasty take-out and not too far away, too. Of course, the ultimate advantage is that they will deliver, on the off-chance that's needed as well but, it is just nice to know its that close and that good, too!
Its just not the same as Saturday night at Hunan Gourmet with Pat and Nathan-- we'll have to save that for a visit there, I suppose.
Quilting Progress
I've started to work on the quilting process of Robbie's quilt (Just Clowning Around). I was going to use free motion but I've got to work on the freeness of my "free motion" quilting because I'm not comfortable with that yet. I did some stitch-in-the-ditch instead and along with that, some tying so it'll be nice, I'm sure.
Short, I know but you know how it is! Have a great afternoon, evening and night!!
Saturday, September 7, 2002
Update at 11:32amHappy Wedding, Barb!!
I'm sure she's too busy to read this today but, when she catches up to herself, I wanted her to know that I was thinking of her, my dear cousin, and wishing we could be at her wedding today. Barb is happy and that's what counts in this world-- finding a soulmate to be with is certainly "up there" on the scale of Important Things in Life.
Best wishes to Barb and Leon-- happy life together always!
The Down Side
Maybe that explains why I slept badly last night?? That certainly could be considered a contributory factor as I'm sure missing her wedding is on my mind. I had maybe four or five hours of sleep all together. It seemed like something was on my mind but I couldn't put a finger on it. After tossing and turing from 3 to 4:30, I finally got up and played a computer game for awhile. Then, I went back to bed at 6 only to be woken by Sally at 7-- combination of squirrel siting and morning bathroom break. When she was finished, I snuggled up on the sofa with her and got another hour of sleep.
Oh, yes, today will definitely be a Nappy Day for me!!
Cacti and Other Succulents
I've been putting off re-potting some of the cacti that our neighbor in Sunnyvale sent me to Maryland with-- it just wasn't a high priority and they are some of the few plants that can handle a little abuse. I even tried to get to it last weekend when Barbara was here but thenit rained and it was too wet to re-pot them.
So, today I'll do that and have a nap from about 11 to 4?? Sounds good to me!!
More to report later if interesting things occur!
Have a nice morning, afternoon, and evening but not night-- yet-- until I'm sure I'm not coming back!
I'm talking about the temperature and the cactus spines! Even with the leather gloves I was wearing, I still ended up with a bunch of cactus spines in my hands and in my clothes!! I had sprayed "Off" on my legs and arms before going out and now, its all over me because of the heat. I'm really glad I started early in the morning!!
And by the way . . . I forgot to mention this in my earlier post, this is true-- I can verify flights at 3am this morning!
More later? We'll see!
Friday, September 6, 2002Real Time Negotiation
That's what I'm calling living in the same time zone as my sales reps: "Real Time Negotiation". Its an interesting concept talking to them at "the same time" as they are instead of three hours behind them. I don't have the three hour advantage time at the end of the day anymore-- all negotiations and drafting and calls and whatevers are done at the same time that they're doing them.
While on a call with a sales rep, a customer called to complain that I sent them a document that had been changed-- actually, I had modified a document that they had changed when sending it to me after the negotiation had supposedly been completed. They sent the document with hand-written changes in three places, two of which I could accept and one which I could not accept so I had to re-do the document with an alternative to the one that I couldn't do. They called complaining because _*I*_ had changed the document (!!) and then dropped the Addendum that they had added again after the negotiation was supposedly complete. The Addendum negated the confidentiality of our software, documentation, etc., so yes, I was going to drop it from the agreement.
Then, I have another customer complaining that I have a one year term on the agreement when the license is for three years (And why is the license limited to three years?? Cuz that's what your folks asked for!!). After letting her talk me into a three year term on the agreement, she tells me that she wants to make it perpetual-- nope, sorry, we don't do perpetual agreements. "Oh, so you're going to make this difficult, then!" Excuse me?? I said, "Look, I've given you the three year agreement that you wanted-- when do you give me something back?" She was a bit taken aback by that direct question, let me tell ya!!
The third thing that I'm juggling is a Non-Disclosure Agreement wherein I made two changes that were significant: 1. Governing Law-- We never take Georgia as Governing Law (they don't have enough software litigation) and 2. Assignment-- they wanted to be able assign the NDA whenever they wanted-- I don't think so, Tim!!
So I call the customer and get the "I guess you don't want to do business with us" threat. Yeesh, I hate that!! I've composed an email to send to the sales reps to let them know what their alternatives are-- they aren't going to like it.
The worst part? I called my "other" management to see if there was something we could do and the previous instructions not to take any law beside California or New York was changed again. Yeesh!! I need a score card to keep up!!
Highly Recommended!!
When we moved into this house, the refrigerator was broken; the "property manager" told us that he'd talked the owner into buying a new one for us. When we spoke to the owner, she said she'd never agreed to buy us a refrigerator. Yes, we were thrilled too, needless to say.
Anyway, since we're going to buy a house in the next year or so and there's a likelihood that the refrigerator that's in the house, if there's one there, isn't going to be one that we like, we decided to buy our own refrigerator. We went to Sears and there was the exact same model that we'd had in California-- on sale-- but a little thinner (by 3"). We bought it and had it delivered the next day. We got the refrigerator on sale and were feeling really good about it because the delivery charge was also a rebated charge-- pretty cool!
Well, back a few weeks before we left California, we had been notified that our Sears credit card was being upgraded. Cool-- that can't hurt. When we got the new credit cards, there were coupons inside the envelope: 5% off an "on-sale major appliance"!! Man, if we'd only known . . . wait a minute, do you suppose? I went to Sears tonight on my way home, found the department manager and yes, we got our extra 5% credit! There's just nothing like buying from a reliable source, eh? That's one of the reasons that we bought the refrigerator and the lawn mower and the grill there-- they can be counted on to stand behind their product, their price and their coupons!
Pounding Headache
Well, I've been remiss of late, I admit: I've gone "off Program" from Weight Watchers, pretty much all summer-- it was just too hard to figure out "good" food on the road and all of the various trips. I tried to "do good" but, basically failed. I gained back 7 pounds which is NOT good, needless to say. Last night, I started back at Weight Watchers-- I found a meeting that is priced the same as the California meetings which isn't "average", let me tell ya. I enjoyed the meeting and am enjoying getting back into the swing of things with one exception: Brian gets home later and I waited too long to eat today so I now have a pounding headache! ARGH!!! I hate that!!!
With that said, I had a good day today-- plenty of water and I didn't feel deprived of food which is always a Good Thing in my book.
The good news is that I went to check out the points for lobster: for a 1-1/4 lb. lobster, its 3 points! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're going to be having lobster frequently, I can tell!!! ;>)
And with all of that said, I'm off for the evening-- before my head is entirely, anyway! Have a nice afternoon, a nice evening or a nice night, wherever you are!
Thursday, September 5, 2002The More Things Change . . .
Here it is Thursday and I'm exhausted!! I went to bed early on Tuesday night simply to catch up from all of the shopping over the weekend!! :>) Now, already, I'm tired out again and, looking forward to what we're going to do on the weekend. If it rains, maybe a museum? If it is sunny but not too hot, maybe a Rennaissance faire?? Hmmm, so many options!!
Trip Report
Barbara Thompson's Trip Report from their visit here to Bowie, MD is up! She did a great job and I just love all of the pictures of the dogs that were taken!! Those kids were sure cute together!! Sally seems to be settling down a bit more today-- I swear I put her outside six times last night and she did a full backyard patrol with each trip. I think she was looking for The Boys!!! She's downstairs now and so far, no barking . . . we'll see how that progresses!
New Veterinarian
Tomorrow, by the way, is a follow-up visit for Sally to her new Veterinarian. Nice guy and office staff and she appears to like going but doesn't like it when I talk to other doggies in the waiting room. Sally tends to get a little jealous!!
Sally has a confirmed case of hypothyroidism, just like her Mommy and a pretty good case of arthritis happening. We're going to talk with the doctor tomorrow about getting rimadyl for her-- it will sure make it easier for her to up the stairs at the house!
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I know-- this is a sad excuse for a post but I'm tired!! Early to bed tonight and then I'll be in better shape tomorrow night, right? Right!!Thanks for stopping by-- glad to have you back and to be back!! Have a great afternoon, evening, and night-- or whatever!
Wednesday, September 4, 2002Happy Birthday to My Brothers-in-Law!!
Today is my brothers-in-law, Ron and Pete's birthdays. Ron is married to my sister, Karen-- the teacher and Pete is Brian's brother! How cool that they both have the same birthday, eh?
The problem?? Well, we discovered tonight that in all of our busy-ness with moving, unpacking and entertaining, we managed to let Little Robbie's birthday pass by without so much as a phone call!!! ARGH!!! What a horrible Aunt and Uncle we are!!! SOOOOOOO . . .
Belated Happy Birthday, Robbie!!!
BAAAD Influence!!
Barbara Thompson is working up a trip report so I'll link to that when she's finished it up and let you know how are weekend went with them.
It needs to be noted however that Malcolm is a bit . . . cute and as a result, he's a bit spoiled. (He is such a cutie, though-- let me tell ya!!) If he isn't getting enough attention, he'll bark at you to pay attention to him. When he did this, we all did our appropriate "OOOoohs" and "AAaahhs" as were befitting of the tilt of his head or the smile on his little face. Well, someone was watching him.
Last night, I had left to go to the grocery store for a few minutes-- Brian heard Sally bark so he went to let her outside. She stepped out onto the patio and looked at him like he was nuts. Hmmm. Later, we were both upstairs and I heard her bark so, I went back downstairs to let her out. She stepped onto the patio and looked at me like I was nuts. Hmmm. Later still, after I had gone back upstairs, she barked again-- this time, we both came downstairs. She looked at us like "Oooh, did that sound come out of me?". She wanted attention and, as she had learned from Malcolm, barking was how you got it!! Hmmm.
The Good Thing . . .
The good thing about their visit is that it has gotten her inspired to do a little exercise-- she's come up the stairs three times tonight to be with us!! (No barking tonight, eh?) We're going to talk with her vet on Friday about some arthritis-type medication for her to help put a little pep back in her walk but, if in the meantime she's willing to struggle up the stairs, I'm all for it!! It keeps her by us and I like that part myself!!
Something New To Update
I realized that I hadn't gotten back to my list of things to update you about: Another on the list is my office, both description and atmosphere. The Maryland office has about 20-30 sales reps and systems engineers in it at any one time. Additional to that is an administrative assistance and us negotiators, my manager and the negotiator for the "Tri-State" area of the Northeast (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania). My office-- yes, I have an OFFICE, not a cubicle!!!-- is not very big but it has windows and a door. During a negotiation, I can close the door and shut out most of the outside sounds as well as shutting out my voice to the rest of the world. I don't have anything up on the walls yet but, I'm thinking about what to bring there.
Atmosphere is interestingly different from being in a corporate setting. It is, in some respects, more rigid but in other respects more relaxed. The sales guys that are commercial and in the Southeast region are friendly but we don't co-mingle at the water cooler much. That's just as well-- I need to keep a certain amount of space to allow for the distance that we need to be kept impartial. I've actually had more co-mingling with the federal sales reps than with my own-- interesting, eh?
All-in-all, I like it alot more than being in the corporate office. I'm actually learning more than I have for awhile which is always nice. Should be fun as of course, we're now in a quarter-close month and I'm sitting in the field-- that should make a difference.
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Sally's decided that she needs to go downstairs and get more attention from me so she's started growling at me to move in that direction. Hmmm, we're going to have to work on this, I think.
I have to work on my crocheting for awhile tonight anyway-- take care and have a nice evening!
Tuesday, September 3, 2002So NOW You Can Know!!
Because of concerns that George might really have to attack someone, Barbara and Bob Thompson didn't want us to tell anyone that they were here over the weekend. Well, so I only told Leah & Tom Syroid but other than that, I didn't make any major announcements on my page as to their whereabouts. Yes, indeedy-- that's who we had visiting us over the weekend along with Malcolm and Duncan. Kerry, whom Sally will enjoy meeting another time, wasn't up to the drive so he had to stay home but was well taken care of with their friend, Jody.
Malcolm is full of mischief and spit and vinegar all rolled into one! He's a cutie but knows he is, too. Duncan is much more mild-mannered and, in some respects, reminds me of a bear cub. Sally had an adjustment time getting used to them but, eventually, she got not only used to them but, frankly, I think she's going to miss them!!
Of course, now all the shopping makes sense, doesn't it? Just like our trip to Atlanta last year, Barbara and I had a good time discovering a new mall together. The best part is that we also ended up at the Bowie Town Center which is just down the street from where we live on Monday. A girl can never get too much shopping!!
It was great to put a face with the voice and writings of Bob after all this time, too. He's a great conversationalist-- I expected a weekend of political debates but he's a pussycat in "real life".
Anyway, it was tons-o-fun all weekend and, from steak to lobster to homemade chili, good food and fun were had by all.
More about the house . . .
Okay, so I've told you a little about the house already with the decor of the master bedroom. The next most significant space to me is my office/sewing room/exercise area.
It is approximately 2 or 2-1/2 times the size of my previous office. I actually have to stand up and walk to my sewing table chair as opposed to bumping into it with my office chair. There's a closet in this room as well and it houses my off-season clothes and shoes.
Brian has rebuilt the legs of the sewing table so that it is much more sturdy than the first rendering. This week, however, is the first chance that I'll get to use it-- we're finally finished unpacking!!
My exercise bicycle is in this room, as well and, although I haven't used it, Barbara has and she tells me that it works quite well here. I'm going to get started on that this week, now that I don't have anything to unpack or sort through for a change.
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I know this may seem short but, I've got some things to do on my sister's website tonight, too. If you haven't been there in awhile, come on over and check it out.Thanks for stopping by, as usual and have a great evening!
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