December 29, 1988
Dear Everyone:
Happy Birthday, “Frankie” and Mary Tyler Moore.
Christmas comes but once a year… and that’s probably enough. It was great to have Mother and Dad at my place. And it was just as great to have “Richard” and “Marshall” at “Jeannie’s” place (although “Marshall” might have been happier if the air mattress that he was going to sleep on hadn’t turned out to be in storage in Benecia).
We had a wonderful time, though slightly marred by news of “Georgia Penhall’s” broken hip [our mother’s friend]. Dad got a Pebble Beach golf sweater, just like the one “Richard” was wearing. And I received a pair of opal earrings from several people in what “Marshall” calls a “consortium” gift.
A consortium gift is one where a group of people pool their resources to purchase one more-expensive gift rather than a lot of less-expensive things. (Please note: Lots of less expensive things are nice to get, too.)
On the plus-side, you get really nice things. On the down-side, one consortium gift can generate a whole flock of Thank You Notes. (“Dear Aunt Hildegarde: Thank you for your 1/16th share of my new skateboard. Your loving nephew, Ricky.”)
Everybody brought food. My refrigerator was stuffed.
All of the leftover turkey, of which there was PLENTY. Also some smoked turkey breast that Mother had brought with her. AND the 2-year aged Vermont cheese. AND the ham that “Richard” bought to have for breakfast Christmas morning (this wasn’t even unwrapped). AND all of the candy from the six stockings (hung by the furnace with care – it’s the closest thing I have to a chimney). AND the basket of fruits and nuts that “Marshall” brought from Fresno (raisin capital of the world) – this was OK because I really wanted the basket.
There was NO leftover crab after the second day.
I figure I can bring the candy and dried fruits to the office next week. This group can make short work of goodies.
As for all of the real food, I got out the meat slicer which I haven’t looked at since “Alice’s” wedding and started cutting things down while watching Murder, She Wrote on the TV. It was purely coincidental that Jessica’s murder victim was poisoned. I wrapped everything up in little single serving-size packages. I now have the best stocked freezer in the Greater Bay Area. If anyone needs lunchmeat, I’m the person to see.
Ashland Update…
I made the reservations for “Will’s Place”. “Alice” and “Kelly” will have a room to themselves ($70/night) and Mother, “Jeannie” and I will share a room ($85/night). Don’t send any money. I’ve charged the guarantee to plastic and we can figure how we want to pay when we get there. Also, I went ahead and ordered Backstage Tour tickets, since they’re free. If we decide not to use them, I can always turn them back in.
As for the office…
I’m all by myself today. Everyone else in my department is on vacation.
It’s just me, the IRS and a few ODC people. ODC stands for "Obsession, Deployment and Confusion". (Everybody knows what IRS stands for.) ODC are the people who determine what rank and salary level should be assigned to each job that is done anywhere within the company. The general rule of thumb to use when dealing with ODC is: Let sleeping dogs lie.
They nearly always think that you’re being overpaid, no matter what it is that you do.
I knew a management secretary once who wanted to get her steno pool lead’s job upgraded. So she loaded the lead up with lots of extra duties and called in ODC to re-evaluate the lead’s position. ODC looked it over and said, “You’re right; this job should be re-classified.” Then they DOWNGRADED the lead to the next lower salary level. The secretary blew a gasket.
The lead wasn’t too happy either.
Since I have the place to myself, I’ve been working on some of those low-priority things that you can never get to when there are people around.
I finished re-organizing the vendor catalogs. This was something that could only be done while “Carla” is out of the picture since “Carla” regards the vendors as her personal domain. Every time I would get them in some semblance of order, she would go in and add some and generally mix up the others. She has a strange sort of logic about when a vendor should be listed by the name of the vendor and when by the name of the manufacturer. Example: Steelcase (vendor is Rucker-Fuller) should be filed under “S”; but White Power should be filed under “C” since the vendor is California Business.
But now I have a list of all the binders on a computer file and can print a copy for everyone, including “Alma”, my boss. This will make it more difficult for “Carla” to sneak new vendors in without telling me. If she does, “Alma’s” list will be incomplete and she’ll want to know why.
It’s not that I mind adding new vendors, it’s easy with the computer. It’s just that “Carla” can’t stand telling me when she has a new source of lost time, which is what most of her vendor-contacting is.
Still, this is one project that I can list in my 4th Quarter Status Report as Completed.
Tomorrow, I’m planning on writing the long-delayed final report on the Ventura Project; and that will be another one I can mark Completed.
It’s nice to be able to say I got something done this year.
We’ve been hit by lots of rain (and snow in the mountains) lately, but this doesn’t mean that the drought is over. We got the same weather last year, when the reservoirs were dangerously low. But after the first few weeks, the skies just dried up and it didn’t rain again all year. So keep up the good work: Everybody pray for rain, etc.
Love, as always,
Pete
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