June 30, 1995
Dear Everyone:
First, and foremost:
Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
Summer arrived with
a vengeance last weekend, bringing a killer heat wave with it.
It knocked power out all over the Bay Area, including “Jeannie’s”
place, on Sunday. I was more
fortunate, so around 7:00 p.m., when the temperature was still in the
triple digits, “Jeannie” showed up at my place with a pizza in one hand
and a couple of
Baskin & Robbins ice cream sundaes in the other.
When I asked how much I owed her, for my share of dinner, she
shrugged and said, “Subtract it from what I owe you.”
This is much easier
to do now that I have my own computer.
I already have an
Excel
spreadsheet
called “JEANNIE”.XLS, in which I can keep track of money loaned and paid
back. For obvious reasons, I
would hesitate to keep a file entitled “JEANNIE” on a company computer.
I used Ogden for over a year before I decided that I could
justify the expense of a computer of my own.
Now I’m finding all sorts of things to use it for, like my
monthly Budget, the weekly Letters, the
Ashland Itinerary. Stuff
that I always kept on diskettes before, then couldn’t always remember
which diskette I’d used.
Last weekend,
“Jeannie” and I went shopping for, among other things, a new printer for
my PC. We went to
Costco.
I know what you’re thinking:
“Only mad dogs and Englishmen go to Costco on a Saturday in the
middle of a heat wave.”
Actually, we were there less than an hour.
Didn’t find the printer I wanted, but we did find the new
“natural”
keyboard by Microsoft, the one with the split keys and ergonomic
design. I decided that I
could justify buying one for two reasons:
1.
In my
capacity of Business Systems Analyst, part of my job is R&D (Research &
Development) on behalf of my customers.
Clearly, it was my duty to get one of these hot new items and try
it out, in order to be able to recommend it (or not).
2.
It was 15%
less than at
Egghead!
Up until now, I have
had limited opportunity to try the new keyboard out, being either too
late, or too tired, after work each night this week.
But I look forward to using it quite a bit this weekend, since I
have four days off from work.
And no, I don’t expect to get Company to pay for the keyboard,
unless it turns out to be so great that everyone ends up getting one
with a 50% increase in productivity.
But I’m keeping the receipt, just in case.
I did find the
printer I wanted at
Circuit City, for $41 below anyone else’s price.
It’s a cute, little HP
DeskJet 540 that sits
on the bottom shelf of the computer cart, ready to print at a moment’s
notice, provided I remember to turn it on.
It can even print in color, should I decide to invest in a color
kit further down the road.
All in all, I’m in
pretty good shape, except that the PC still doesn’t have a name.
I had one in mind, but “Jeannie” wouldn’t allow me to name it
after a murdering Druid priest from 5th Century Britain.
Can’t think why.
I’ve tried
Hamilton’s
mythology, but nothing seems to quite fit, despite “Jeannie’s”
suggestion of
Pyramus and Thisbe for PC and Printer.
I’ve started scanning
Shakespeare
instead. I sort of like
Polonius, but that
name is really better for a cat.
Any and all suggestions cheerfully accepted.
“Jeannie’s”
contribution for this week:
Why is it that when
you send something by car, it’s called a shipment; but when you send the
same item by ship, it’s called a cargo?
I have no idea.
Love, as always,
Pete
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