September 12, 1990
Dear Everyone:
Does anybody know where
El Segundo
is? I found out this morning
that I’m being assigned an Active Files project at the El Segundo
refinery. Nothing big, just
their CR group. (CR means
“Cognitive Resources”, i.e., Personnel).
Still, it looks like I’ll be going there for a short visit, so it
would behoove me to find out where it is.
I’m also going to be working with a group in
Company Chemical out in “Martinez”, but I’m not yet sure with what,
exactly. Actually,
they’re not sure with what, exactly; the company is planning on
selling off parts of (?) agricultural chemicals, but some deals may not
come off as expected. The
whole thing seems very iffy.
But that’s OK – it’ll get me out of the office from time to time and I
may learn something about fertilizers.
I spent yesterday in Company Park, testing the
Overnight Reporting Enhancements with “Eugene”.
(Slow news week.) I
like testing because it means I can sleep an extra half-hour and still
get to work early. I’m also
working with “Frances Paul” on a system to keep track of Retention
Schedules and who’s working with what.
I told her I couldn’t wait to start testing, but she says she has
another project that she has to do first and, besides, she hasn’t even
written the proposal yet.
Oh, well, something to look forward to.
I helped “Jeannie” buy a new television last
weekend. My contribution was
my car, hers being much too small to hold a 20” TV.
She’d got an announcement from Circuit City that they were
holding an “exclusive” sale for 3 hours, only last Saturday night
beginning at 7:00 p.m. We
wandered over to Fuddrucker’s for build your own hamburgers and enough
chips and warm cheese to stuff
all of her ducks. Then
we went to Circuit City.
Our first clue that a
lot of people had received an
“exclusive” invitation was the parking lot.
It was full. We
lucked out and found a car that was pulling out and took its place.
Then we went inside.
Gigabunches of people!
I’d never seen so many people in that place before in my life.
We had to percolate through the crowd just to reach the
television section. Then we
had to find the particular 20” TV that was advertised on sale.
It didn’t take “Jeannie” very long to decide that
the on sale TV was not the one she wanted.
She wanted the next grade up, which would afford her a remote
control that would work for both the TV and the VCR.
(That way, when you lose it, neither the TV nor the VCR will
work.)
The ad included a coupon for $25 off a purchase of
$250 or more. “Jeannie”
looked at the crowds surrounding each of the harried salespeople (Attack
of the Consumer-People) and the 20-deep lines at all of the cashiers and
decided some things just aren’t worth $25.
We left, TV-less.
Sunday afternoon, we went back.
The place was virtually deserted.
“Jeannie” walked in, grabbed a saleswoman and said, “We want that
one.” It didn’t take her 3
minutes to key in the order.
It didn’t take “Jeannie” 5 minutes to pay for it.
And the box was waiting for us when I got back with the car.
This was definitely the way to shop.
The reason “Jeannie” needed a new TV is that the
old Sanyo, which we bought when we were living in the town house in
Daly
City, is too old to get CNN on cable.
“Jeannie” has become a news addict.
Now she can walk out into the living room and get the latest news
while she’s getting her morning coffee.
And what happened to the old Sanyo?
It’s in my bedroom.
Now I can floss and brush my teeth and watch the President make a speech
at the same time. “Melanie”
says the bathroom is next, but I say she’s wrong.
Everybody knows there’s no cable hook-up in the
bathroom.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. I
looked up El Segundo. It’s
just west of Inglewood.
P.
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