June 12, 2003
Dear Everyone:
Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there.
For the first time since I relocated to our “Pleasant Hill” office, I’ve actually spent the entire week working in one place (including tomorrow). Will wonders never cease?
Still happily busy revising training documents and attending weekly teleconferences. I now have a total of five teleconferences scheduled each week: Two on Tuesday mornings, one on Wednesdays and two again on Thursdays. Plus, today, a training session in “Grapevine”.
No, I’m not in “Grapevine”. The two people I was training are in “Grapevine”. For only two people, it didn’t make sense to drive all that way. Instead, we used the phone and NetMeeting, which is a software that let’s you “share” what’s happening on your computer with one or more people on other computers in other locations. So the PowerPoint presentation that is the training “module” was running on my computer and also appearing on their machine down south.
Pretty cool.
Also cool: It looks like we may have cracked the printer problem with “Jeannie’s” laptop computer. (She needs a “portable” printer that she can take with her sometimes on jobs where she needs to print a few pages right on site.) We finally tried the CD that came with my current printer, and it worked! Instead of ignoring the Setup, her computer obligingly started the CD and asked if we wanted to install the printer now?
So this may be the last Letter that I will print on this printer. (The last envelopes, too, come to think of it.) Next weekend, I’ll disconnect the printer and take it, the CD and all the documentation and extra inkjet cartridges, up to “Jeannie’s” place and install the printer. Assuming it works, that will become her second, “portable” printer. (I say “portable” because it weighs a lot more than the printer I’d originally got her, but only by a few pounds.)
The printer I’d got for “Jeannie” will become my new printer. Since I’d picked up the cheapest, lightest one (for those very reasons), we’ll see how well it meets my needs. If it doesn’t, I’ll just get another printer. They grow on trees these days, you know.
In other news…
The June meeting of ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators) is coming up in a couple of weeks. It involves installing the new Board of Directors (I will continue to be the Treasurer for another year) and the much anticipated Silent Auction. When we lost our Director of Hospitality (she who ran the Silent Auction last year), I stepped in and volunteered. Not only do I collect donations from various members, but I also have a budget of about $150 to spend on additional items to make the Auction more interesting.
So last weekend, “Jeannie” and I did some preliminary shopping for ideas for items in the $20 range. So far, I’ve come up with: Box of assorted candles from Illuminations; a nice bottle of wine; box of golf balls; crystal candlesticks; a home fire extinguisher. Any suggestions?
The other thing “Jeannie” and I did last weekend was go to see Finding Nemo, the new computer-animated film from Pixar Studios. Like their previous efforts, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc., they use the voices of well-known actors. Albert Brooks, Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Geoffrey Rush, Ellen DeGeneres, and so on. Seems being the voice of a cartoon character is all the rage these days.
Marlin, a clown fish, has lost contact with his only son, Nemo. He’ll do anything to find him. Nemo, meanwhile, has been captured and placed in an aquarium. He just wants to go home. Both parent and child learn important life-lessons along the way. It’s cute. And the water is amazing when you consider that it’s all done through computer programming. Pretty little fish. Big scary fish. Not really suited to very young children, judging by the number who started crying when a scary fish showed up.
All in all, as “Jeannie” said, Monsters, Inc. is still their best shot.
Love, as always,
Pete
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