March 16, 1989
Dear Everyone:
I keep looking at the date and thinking, “There’s something significant about this date. What is it?” Then it hits me. Today I am one year older than I was yesterday.
38. Grim. With 40 lurking close by.
Then I think of Joan Collins.
It’s not everyone who celebrates her 50th birthday by gracing the cover of Playboy Magazine; but Joan is clearly not yet an old bag. And if she’s not over the hill yet, then neither can I be, right?
(Hang in there, Joan. We’re all counting on you.)
Things are picking up here at work. “Rowena” and I are working on an Active Files system for "CUSA Political Manipulation". These are the people who try to get the government to do things their way. Naturally, they have no filing system. None. Everybody does their own thing. “I’m the only one who uses these…” Except that when someone else needs the same thing, they can’t find it because you’re out of your office.
This problem is as old as the company. Also naturally, the people don’t want to change. It’s their boss who has decreed, “Thou shalt have a filing system.”
So “Rowena” and I are going to meet with people in their offices and try to figure out what they have, how much of it is duplicated in other offices and how to categorize it into a viable system that everyone can use.
Like the cartoon says: “Let a Records Manager get into your drawers.”
Of course, after we set up the system, everyone will start keeping work copies in their offices and won’t use the file room; but it gives “Rowena” and me something to play with.
We even get to recommend new equipment and floor plans. And, since these people love to spend money, we can recommend the best. Too bad we don’t get a commission.
Also, “Exploitation” has picked up again. More precisely, my work on their Retention Schedule has picked up. Last September, “Valerie Lowe” and I had a meeting with “Nick Larkins”, the Assistant to the Manager of “Exploitation”. He was rather dubious about developing a schedule because, as he put it, “Give these guys a blank sheet of paper to fill out and they’ll freeze up.”
“No problem,” we said. “We know what these guys keep in their offices. We’ll do it up as a survey and they can just check off what they have or don’t have.”
Then we went off to work on the survey.
Then they closed the “Casper” office and truckloads and truckloads of stuff landed on “Valerie”. Needless to say, our survey landed on a very BACK burner.
We finally got the survey done in November. Then “Valerie” wanted a cover memo which took until December. Finally, we were ready to go back to “Larkin” with the fruits of our labor.
“Larkin” was gone. Flew the coop. Actually, he transferred to “COPI”.
He was replaced by “Allan Whelan” who, of course, never heard of the Retention Schedule. Seems “Larkin” forgot to mention it. Or maybe, he just plain forgot it.
Anyway, it was now necessary to set up a meeting with “Whelan”. This took a month and a half to finally accomplish. But now, “Whelan” is in the picture and actually views the project as a nice opportunity to find out what goes on in his department. I may finally get to put something down on my monthly status report besides “nothing to report”.
In other news…
I got a kind of birthday present today. The painting (reproduction) that was ordered for my office wall arrived today. I chose (big surprise) a Monet; one of his water lilies. Now I have one at work and four at home. Monet sure was into water lilies. Maybe he was a frog in a previous life.
I’m celebrating my birthday by taking Monday off as a vacation day. I thought I’d spend Saturday house cleaning and still have two days to relax and enjoy it. I’m going to try, weather permitting, to take the tree from my bedroom out onto the patio and wash it. It’s very dusty. The tree, not the patio.
Speaking of weather, we’ve been getting some rain. Everyone’s holding their breath and trying not to jinx it. It hasn’t been enough yet to make up for the last two years, but it has brought some color to the Bay Area. Mount Diablo is green. The hills are green. My patio is green.
Errata:
A couple of weeks ago, I said that manning the ARMA table and the AIIM conference got me home 3½ hours early. Correction: I only got home TWO and a half hours early. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I was shirking, or anything.
“Jeannie” is demanding a retraction. She SAYS that she brought all of my cleaning tools back with her. She just doesn’t know where she put them. They’re in my apartment somewhere. This from a person known for putting the TV Guide in the freezer.
Love, as always,
Pete
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