January 2, 1997
Dear Everyone:
I’m back at the office, even though I don’t have an
office, exactly. There is a
section of the warehouse that is walled off up to a certain height.
It is usually referred to as “the PO room” because, at one time,
Purchase Orders were somehow generated in this area.
More recently, it has also become known as the “SI room”.
It took a little while to determine that “SI” referred, not to “Sports
Illustrated”, but to “special items”, meaning things that would best
be kept locked up, such as all the computers that currently aren’t in
use because we have no offices in which to use them.
I got “Kent” and “Brad” to place a table and chairs
in the “SI room” and that is where I will work when I’m in “Livermore”.
At least it’s a place to hang up a jacket and stash my purse and
briefcase. It is also
approximately 2-½ miles from the nearest Ladies Room.
Have teacup.
Will
travel.
Christmas went very well this year.
“Alice” and “Kelly” came from
New York and brought their
daughter, “Park”, with them.
Mother and Dad came down from
Oregon and “Marshall” came up from
Fresno.
“Park” was, of course, absolutely adorable, even
when she got into the occasional “terrible two’s” bad temper.
Prior to the trip, “Alice” had shown “Park” pictures of each of
us, giving her each person’s name.
When I met them at the airport, “Alice” pointed at me and said,
“That’s Aunt Pete”. “Pete,”
“Park” replied, and promptly took my hand.
Obviously, a brilliant child.
However, when it came to “Aunt “Jeannie”, “Park”
seemed to get a little confused.
I wasn’t there to see it, but I’m told that “Marshall’s” eyes
positively glowed the first time he heard his youngest niece refer to
his sister as “Fluffy”. The
glow diminished somewhat when he learned that the two-year-old version
of “Marshall” was “Gwandy”.
“Marshall”, of course, is the person most
responsible for “Jeannie”, in the first place.
He pronounced Elizabeth as “Ewithabuff” when she first arrived.
It was a short hop from there to “Jeannie”.
However, I think “Fluffy” is below the belt and no one over the
age of three should be allowed to use it.
In other news...
Mother decided that a 3-dimensional
jigsaw puzzle
of a castle would be a great time-killer.
“Jeannie” decided that a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of a
Renaissance French village,
Mont-Saint-Michel, complete with cathedral
at the top of the hill, would be a great time-killer.
Great minds think alike, don’t they?
Suffice it to say that we, myself in particular, killed a great
deal of time.
“Kelly” started with the Renaissance village,
giving “Park” the “throw-away-but-not-until-you-complete-the-puzzle”
pieces. I finished it the
next morning, doing such a good job that I had pieces left over.
“Kelly” finally figured out where the extra pieces were actually
supposed to go, somewhere on the underside of the puzzle.
Mother and I started the base for the castle puzzle
before she and Dad left to fly back to Oregon on Sunday.
On Monday, I rented some movies and steadfastly ignored the
puzzle. On Tuesday, I did
absolutely nothing except the
puzzle, finishing it Wednesday morning.
So that’s it. No more
3-D puzzles for 1997! I’m
packing them, plus one other, off to “Frankie” to put in her “rainy days
at the beach” box.
We spent so much time on puzzles, that we didn’t
get to the movies more than once.
“Kelly” baby-sat, while “Jeannie”, “Alice”, “Marshall” and I went
to see One Fine Day. This is a
thoroughly pleasant romantic comedy about two single parents, trying to
juggle jobs and kids and not face up to the fact that they are very
attracted to each other. The
kids practically have to explain it to them.
There’s one scene in particular where the dad,
played by George Clooney, is trying to explain what’s going on to his
therapist, but keeps using euphemisms because his young daughter is also
in the room. The kid, of
course, puts her own spin on what she’s overheard.
Certainly worth the matinee price.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |