April 6, 1989
Dear Everyone:
We had an earthquake Monday; but I missed it. The reason that I missed it was that I was at the bank at the time. This is not to suggest that banks don’t allow earthquakes. It’s just that this one was only a little quake, less than 5.0 Richter, and a person standing on the ground, as I was, wouldn’t be likely to feel it while a person sitting in a chair on the 13th floor of a high-rise, as I should have been, would.
The moral of the lesson is: don’t go to the bank during company hours or you might miss the next quake. I went to the bank to get money so that I could buy a new roll of postage stamps on my lunch break. I go through a lot of stamps these days.
Don’t you just hate Daylight Saving Time? Well, not DST per se, but the change over wherein you lose an hour of sleep. Everybody says it’s wonderful because it’ll be lighter out in the evening. Yes, but it’s DARKER now in the morning. Yes, they say, but you can work in the yard after you get home.
I don’t have a yard. I have a patio. Why do I have to get up early just so that I can putter in my patio after work? If I want to putter in the patio after work, I can just turn on the patio light. For your information, Arizona does not recognize Daylight Saving Time. Nuff said.
Yesterday, “Melanie” and I went to a video presentation of the company’s position on apartheid in South Africa. (That could be redundant: I don’t know of any other countries that, officially, practice apartheid.) “Company” doesn’t actually do business in South Africa. It owns, along with “Another Company”, a company that owns a company to DOES do business in South Africa. It’s companies like this one, called “the internationals”, that are steadily pushing the government to repeal apartheid laws.
As one political analyst in the video expressed it, pulling out of the country (as many people advocate) is a one-shot approach. You can’t exactly leave, then threaten to come back and leave again. The idea at “Company-Owned”, the company owned by the company that “Company” owns half of, is that you hold this as an ace up your sleeve. If all else fails, then you walk out.
But “all else” hasn’t failed. When a university went to “Company-Owned”and asked them to fund building a dormitory, “Company-Owned”said, “Only if it’s integrated.” The committee went away to think about it, then came back. “OK,” they said. “We’ll build it four stories high. We’ll put the whites on the top floor, the blacks on the third floor, the coloreds on the second floor and the Asians on the ground floor. Integrated.”
“Company-Owned” said, “Close, but no money. Try again.” Today the dormitory is built, with “Company” money, and it’s fully integrated. “And,” said the VP of “International Political Manipulation”, “it’s working.” It was a very interesting presentation.
In other news…
I have a new project. Lucky me, I get to be a canvasser for U.S. Savings Bonds. The good news is that this is one project that has a definite beginning, middle and end. It will be finished by the end of the month. I intend to use the slogan of that guy who started Benjamin Franklin Savings and Loan in Portland: “Pay Yourself First.”
Only trouble is, if I do a great job on it this year, they’ll want me to do it again next year.
Schedule Rewrite Project: The less said the better. “Holtz” threw a temper tantrum yesterday over our meeting without him to try to nail down Generic Series. This morning we went into our usual Thursday morning meeting expecting a blood bath; but he was all sweetness and light. After racking my brains yesterday afternoon to think up about 8 scenarios for us to review and discuss, we barely got through the first one.
September, the target date, seems very far away and, at the same time, it seems to be barreling down on us like the World’s Largest Pet Rock coming after Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Oh, well. Spring has struck. Everyone is sneezing and the temperature in downtown San Francisco is in the upper 70’s. We still don’t know if the drought is officially over.
I sent the parking meter off to “Richard” and I brought $10.00 worth of "Jeannie’s" 3,650 pennies in to the Credit Union. For your information, it is required that you write your account number and name on each roll of coins. Speaking from experience, I recommend that you do this BEFORE you put the coins inside the wrappers.
Love, as always,
Pete
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