August 16, 2000
Dear Everyone:
More Adventures in Home Ownership.
Which is to say my next door neighbor recently sold her townhouse
for around $75,000 more than what I paid for mine; a fact which caused
“Jeannie” to punch me in the arm, since the value of her place has only
slowly come back up to what she originally paid for it.
However, the bruise has already faded and the new neighbor, whom
I have not yet met, moved in right before we went on vacation.
Maybe we can get her to sit on the
Homeowners’
Association Board.
Speaking of which, the Board meets on the third
Wednesday of every even-numbered month, which is tonight.
Ergo: Short Letter
this week.
In other news…
We’ve started planning the next Company-wide
Records
Management Conference, which will take place (hopefully) next May.
Just like with a wedding, you have to start planning well in
advance in order to get the necessary facilities reserved.
Since they sold the
San Francisco
buildings, we can’t use the same conference rooms that we did last time,
in 1997. There are
conference rooms at Company Park, but there’s the likelihood of getting
“bumped” by someone higher up on the corporate food chain.
Or they’re already booked by someone who plans even further ahead
than we do.
So we’re going to use a third-party’s “Learning
Center” in “Pleasanton”. The
one big advantage as far as I’m concerned:
It’s literally just down the street from where I live.
In theory, I could walk to it.
In truth, I probably won’t, but at least I won’t have to get on
the freeway.
In order to prepare for this Conference, we
brainstormed a number of “themes”.
This being the year 2000, there were various references to
“Records Management in the 21st Century”.
One of the more imaginative themes was “Smackdown” Records
Management, a reference to the
Worldwide Wrestling
Federation on TV.
Regrettably, it only got one vote (and it wasn’t mine).
Other references to TV shows like “Who
Wants to be a Millionaire?” and “Survivor”
were dismissed on the grounds that they would be probably be cancelled
by next spring. The one we
finally agreed on (“Simply Smarter” Records Management) ties into an
advertising campaign that we hope will still be in use by the time the
Conference rolls around. Of
course, attendees from parts of the country where Company doesn’t
advertise won’t get the connection anyway.
Moving right along…
“Jeannie” and I went to see
Space
Cowboys last Sunday.
Can’t tell you much about the movie because the sound system wouldn’t
work; and, after about 30 minutes, the manager decided to give us all a
refund and two free “readmission tickets”.
The is the second time I’ve gotten two free movies for the price
of one from this cinema (although this time, I got two for the price of
none, since they refunded my money as well).
They’ve put a lot of effort into revitalizing this theater, with
stadium seating
to compete with the newer places.
But they really need to put a little money into updating their
sound system, too.
So “Jeannie” and I went to lunch instead.
And I have her permission to use both readmission tickets to see
any movie that she’s not interested in seeing.
This being August, when the studios dump whatever is left before
the start of the
Oscar season, that could be quite a few.
Love, as always,
Pete
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