October 3, 1996
Dear Everyone:
Heading into Fall.
Time to turn the mattresses and replace the box of baking soda in
the refrigerator.
Saw the “final”
floor plan for “Livermore” this week, consisting of about two dozen
cubicles for everyone, including the supervisors (called “Team Leaders”)
and the manager. My office,
among others, will be turned into a conference/work room, to be used for
ad hoc meetings. When FAST
and RACS move out of
San Francisco,
I’ll lose my SF office as well.
When the dust settles, I’ll have two of a lot of things (two
staplers, two tape dispensers, two bottles of
Advil).
This won’t happen until after the first of the year, but when it
does, maybe I’ll hold an auction.
Things have been
fairly q-u-i-e-t at work.
I’ve been developing an
Access database for the RACS group.
It consists of some tables that have to be linked together in
order to produce the reports that they need.
I’ve found that it’s generally easiest to let the
Wizard start
the report, then monkey with it until it
looks like what RACS
said they wanted.
The Wizard is a
sub-program that asks a lot of questions, then lays out the report, or
form, or query, based on how you answered the questions.
Microsoft is very fond of Wizards and puts them everywhere.
Wizards can be very helpful.
They can also be very frustrating when they don’t ask the right
questions.
As for RACS, you put
your heart and soul into fitting 47 different fields on one page and
they come back and ask, “Can’t you do it in portrait instead of
landscape?” They don’t like
the lines that the Wizard automatically adds to make the reports look
“attractive”. So I take the
lines out. Then they want
the lines added back in.
It’s not that
they’re schizophrenic, it’s because different people in the group want
different things. That’s why
the note to take out the lines is in a different handwriting than the
note to add lines back in.
Also, they’re in San Francisco while I’m working in “Livermore”, sending
reports back and forth via fax.
It’s easier to ask for the impossible if you can’t see the look
on the systems analyst’s face.
It’s even better if
you can call the analyst and say, “I’ve faxed you some more changes and
I’m going into a meeting right now.
We can talk later.”
This gives the analyst a few hours to simmer down before you actually
discuss the changes.
On the home front,
“Jeannie” and I are getting ready to wing it up to
Oregon for “Byron’s”
wedding. Lots of phone calls
between “Jeannie” and me, between
California and
Oregon. “What should I
wear?” “I don’t know.
What should I wear?”
“Where’s everyone going to sleep?
Should we get a room at the
Canby Inn?”
“What’s this about a dinner and ‘Jeannie’ wants to know what the
dress code will be?” And,
from what I’ve heard, “Richard’s” going to be spending a lot of time at
the airport.
Nevertheless, in a
few days’ time, “Byron” and “Janice” will be married.
And as Dad says, “Any excuse to get the group together will do.”
Movies...
My turn to pay for
the film and popcorn.
The First
Wives Club. What
they call a “chick flick”, because it mainly appeals to women.
“Jeannie” says the book is better, but we definitely enjoyed the
movie.
Bette Midler,
Goldie Hawn and
Diane Keaton,
all in one movie, each bringing her own special brand of daffiness to
her role. That’s a lot of
potential and the movie lives up to most of it.
As the title suggests, each woman has been dumped by a husband
who, having got what he could from the first wife, wants something
“better”.
At first, they
commiserate. Then they form
a “club” and start to connive, searching for ways to get even with their
ex-husbands. Along the way,
they grow a little and discover more about each other and themselves.
Is it worth the price of two tickets, plus hot dogs, popcorn and
a Diet Coke? At $20.75, yes.
Although, the popcorn could be better.
Love, as always,
Pete
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