January 4, 2008
Dear Everyone:
The
really, really big news came
exactly two weeks ago on Thursday, December 20th, my last day
in the office for the year.
We had just returned from a co-worker’s Pin Luncheon and I was going
through the email that had come in that afternoon.
(By this time I had completely cleaned out my In Box and my Sent
Items.) One of the messages
was from the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM).
I
read the message and, before I could stop myself, I yelled out:
“Oh, my
God!”
To
which the people around me yelled:
“What?”
“What?”
“What’s wrong?”
Particularly because the last co-worker was worried, I yelled:
“I just passed the CRM Exam!”
Everyone came round to my cubicle for congratulations and high-fives.
My supervisor advised me to order new business cards at once.
I’ve opted to wait until it becomes official.
Last
night I got an envelope in the mail containing a letter, dated December
20th, that repeated what was in the email message:
It is official. As of
January 1st, I am a Certified Records Manager, permitted to
add the initials “CRM” after my name.
If the actual certificate doesn’t show up by the March, I should
contact…
So
what does this mean? It
means I don’t have to take the essay exam again in February!
It means I can finally read something that doesn’t involve
records management. It means
I need to update my Performance Management Plan (PMP) for 2007 to
reflect that I PASSED the exam!
It
means I can relax. For now.
In
other news…
Christmas was busy. Our
oldest sister, “Frankie’s” family came out to
“Frankie’s” crew did a lot of sightseeing during the days and we met for
dinner in the evenings.
There were nine of us in all, just like in the old days.
On Christmas Eve, we went to one of those really expensive
gourmet food stores to get supplies for Christmas Dinner.
$206 later, we had a pork roast, stuff to make Grandma’s Almond
Puff Pastry, lots of vegetables and a chocolate
Yule Log for desert.
Christmas Day we opened all of our presents and everyone got very nice
things. Then they did the
traditional “Let’s dump Pete in the living room and go for a long walk.”
While they were out, I set out snacks:
Three kinds of olives, two kinds of pickles, three kinds of
cheese, crackers, salami, etc.
After
their walk, everyone was hungry so they ate the snack food.
Then it was time to take “Rosa” (“Frankie’s” oldest daughter) to
the BART station for her trip to the airport.
Sometime later, they took “Trevor” and his girlfriend, “Tess”, to
BART. By then, it was too
late to make Christmas dinner and no one was left to eat it.
The
next day “Frankie”, her husband, “Larry”, “Liza” and “Jeannie” all piled
into their rental car, which “Marshall” dubbed “a sofa with wheels”.
“Marshall” and I rode in “Marshall’s” car and we all set off for
a few days in
We
did lots of sightseeing and ate at great restaurants.
I didn’t even realize at first that “Marshall” had carefully
packed the chocolate Yule Log in his cooler, just in case we wanted some
while we were there. He also
had an impressive collection of wines.
On
Friday, we went on a tour of the
17-mile drive, culminating at the
Carmel Mission, where
Junipero Serra is buried.
Then we split up, “Marshall” in his car and the rest of us in the
“sofa with wheels” and drove home; “Marshall” split off to return to
At
which time “Frankie” decided to cook the pork roast we didn’t eat for
Christmas Dinner and we finally cut into the chocolate Yule Log (they
were both very good.)
By
Saturday morning it was evident that “Jeannie” had come down with a
cold. So she stayed home and
the rest of us did a tour of the
Wine Country.
After that, “Frankie”, “Larry” and “Liza” packed up everything.
They drove “Liza” back to her apartment in
“Jeannie” was still sick over the weekend, so I worked on a little
project that I had started just before Christmas.
“Jeannie” is feeling better now, so all’s well with the world.
And, more importantly, I don’t have to take the exam again in February!!!
Love,
as always,
Pete
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