Love, As Always, Pete

The Weekly Letters, by A. Pedersen Wood

October 16, 2002

Dear Everyone:

Things suddenly got very busy this week.

There are things that happen every week, like the Weekly Letter and monitoring my blood pressure (126/75, thank you very much).

There are things that happen virtually every month, like the extended Staff Meeting and Lunch; and the ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators – I’m the Chapter Treasurer this year) Dinner Meeting.

There are things that happen every other month, like the Homeowners Association Board of Directors meeting in the pool house (third Wednesday of every even-numbered month).

There are things that happen only twice a year, like the semi-annual dental checkup and cleaning.

And there are things that hardly ever happen, like this afternoon’s “Weekenders Wear” fashion show and yesterday’s First Annual Rubber Ducky Derby.

For God knows what reason, all of these things have converged to happen this week.  Not last week.  Not next week.  All of them this week.

Which means, of course:  Short Letter this week.

“What’s a Rubber Ducky Derby?” you ask.

This is a fund-raiser for the United Way.  October is United Way month at work.  Everyone is “encouraged” to donate to the United Way, not only through payroll deductions, but through various “activities” throughout the month.

This year, they decided to hold a Rubber Ducky Derby.  This is an idea “stolen shamelessly” from the Children’s Hospital of Oakland, which holds a Rubber Ducky Derby each year in the Oakland estuary.

In place of the estuary, someone noticed that Company Park has a “lake”, which could be used for a floating race.  The idea was that you bought a Rubber Ducky (although technically, they’re not rubber; they’re made out of plastic) for $5.00.  If you were feeling especially generous, you could donate $20.00 and get a “flock” of 5 Duckies.  Each Ducky had a unique number marked on the bottom.  The number(s) and your name were recorded in the (extremely remote) chance that your Ducky would be among the first three to cross the finish line.

At first, I bought (“adopted”) five Duckies.  Then later, in partnership with another person, who only wanted one Ducky, I “adopted” four more Duckies, thus arriving at the magic number of nine, which is the same number as the Wood nuclear family.

The day prior to the race, I got a permanent marker and named all nine Duckies:  “Dad”, “Mother”, “Frankie”, “Byron”, “Pete”, “Richard”, “Marshall”, “Jeannie”, and “Alice”.  (Before anyone gets their hopes up, none of our flock crossed the finish line with any distinction.  On the plus side, none of them sank to the bottom of the lake, either.)  I then arranged to have my Wood Family Flock transported to the official “Starting Gate” well in advance of the race.

Actually, the “Starting Gate” turned out to be a very big barrel.  Yesterday, at noon, 1140 Rubber Duckies were dumped out of the barrel and floated rather leisurely across the lake, aided by some water jets and a quite stiff westerly breeze (how did it become Autumn so suddenly?)  Fifteen minutes later, the winners were announced.

First Prize:  Four tickets to Disneyland.  How to get to and from Southern California, and finding a place to stay was the winner’s responsibility.  No one seems to know what the Second and Third Prizes were.  The “take” for the United Way campaign:  $5,000.

There were also prizes awarded for the best decorated Duckies.  Some were quite imaginative.  I particularly liked the one where the “owner” spray painted the Ducky black and put “Havemeyer” emblems all over it.  A former Another Company employee, no doubt.  Not that it won, though.  First Prize:  Some Company Toy Objects.  Again, no one is sure what the Second and Third Prizes were.

Nevertheless, everyone had a good time and I think a place is secure for the Second Annual Rubber Ducky Derby next year.

And now I have to run off to the Twin Creeks Gardens Homeowners Association Board of Directors Meeting (in the pool house), where we will try to determine what to do about people who use more than their fair share of parking spaces.

Love, as always,

 

Pete

Previous   Next