February 10, 2000
Dear Everyone:
My Day Off (Comp Day) last Friday was a huge
success. I started out by
sleeping for 15 hours. After
a leisurely breakfast, complete with a pot of tea, I began puttering
around, neatening some things.
Then, I decided this was the ideal day to complete my 1999 filing
(bills, etc.) and rotate my file drawers.
Every year, I discard the oldest files, then move
each subsequent year’s files out of the current container into the next
year’s container. Then I use
the emptied file drawer for this year’s files.
To be honest, I frequently don’t get around to doing this until
late Spring or even Summer.
But this year, I tuned the TV to
A&E, then
sat on the floor and stuffed file folders until all of 1999 was
finished. When I was
finished, I had this year’s file drawer all ready for records.
I also had a box filled with 1996 records.
I had planned to dump these records into the recycle bin for
pickup on Monday.
But then, I started thinking about all those credit
and bank records, complete with address and account numbers, sitting in
a recycling plant somewhere.
I also thought about those blank checks that certain credit companies
are so fond of sending. And
all those “you are already approved…” attempts to get you to sign up
with yet another would-be debtor have way too much information on them
these days. Not to mention,
the rough drafts of each Weekly Letter.
So I went to one of the office warehouses and
bought myself a “personal shredder”.
A paper
shredder not only offers security, but I discovered it can also
produce some dandy packing material out of otherwise worthless junk
mail. I’ll never need to buy
bubble-wrap or padded envelopes again.
In other news…
The infamous Destruction Review Project continues
to keep me from working on other things.
One of those involves getting certain data cleaned up before we
convert to the new system.
Example: The current system
contains names for around 3500 people.
Many of these people no longer work for the company, and I have
dreams of filtering them out during, or before, the conversion.
Ditto: Old Department
Codes.
So I told everyone that if they made changes in
certain parts of the system, to be sure and make a screen print, or some
other type of copy, and give it to me so I can keep up with all the
changes. Since I haven’t had
time to work on this, the copies have been piling up in a desk tray.
As of today, there are about two inches worth of pages, held down
by an amethyst
geode.
Some people leave these copies on my desk, or in my mail slot.
But one enterprising individual realized that
everything was just going into the pile under the amethyst.
This week, he started placing pages in the desk tray himself, but
always conscientiously informed me, “I slipped some more stuff under
your rock.”
Movies…
We haven’t seen a more confused movie than
Eye of the
Beholder since
Basic
Instinct escaped.
The “Eye” is a code name for a British agent,
Ewan McGregor,
who talks to someone who’s not there and develops an unfathomable
obsession for a woman,
Ashley Judd, who
goes around killing men, apparently because she didn’t get what she
wanted for Christmas one year.
He follows her home, then plants tiny cameras all
around her, although we are never given to understand how he
accomplishes this. He knows
that she is a
serial killer, because he witnesses several homicides.
Then he decides to live in a belfry for a while.
All the while talking to someone who’s not there.
A plot is another thing that’s not there.
As near as we can figure it, the screenplay was left in the hands
of a Location Scout with a generous expense account and a deep desire to
visit as many famous cities as possible before anyone questioned why
these two characters wander the globe endlessly, with no visible means
of support for either of them.
Speaking of globes,
snow-globes are a
prominent feature in this film.
Again, no real idea why.
Instead of wasting an afternoon with this movie, go clean out
your files for the year.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |