October 8, 2009
Dear Everyone:
Here at work, October is officially "Disabilities
Awareness Month." So our
ENABLED (ENhancing ABilities and LEveraging Disabilities) employee
network has been very busy arranging Events.
We had one last Monday, one Tuesday, a table at today's Health
Fair, two more next week and three the last week in the month, although
the last three are the same Event in three different places.
Monday's was the official Kickoff, with the
Corporate Treasurer as the MC (Master of Ceremonies). He spoke a little
about the network, then introduced the
AXIS Dance Company, an ensemble
of performers without, and with, disabilities that was established 20
years ago.
Because dancers can't readily perform on carpet, we had to
arrange for a special dance floor to be laid down in the auditorium.
That only left room for seating for around 200 people.
To assure attendance, the network paid for pizza, salads, cookies
and soft drinks. Only 125
people actually signed up for the Event, but when I got ready to leave
for my regular Monday afternoon meeting, it was clearly standing room
only in the space.
Yesterday's Event didn't offer free food (not even
cookies), so the turnout was a lot lighter.
But it was linked to “Pleasant Hill” and “Martinez” by computer
and phone. This was a
presentation, and short video, about the
Easter Seals organization in
the Bay Area and the services they offer to families with
autistic
children.
The other thing that has been going on this week,
and next, is a Virtual Conference being held by the Information Risk
Management (IRM) group. A
Virtual Conference is one where the presenters are in “Pleasanton”
and/or “Hobby”, but the attendees are all around the world.
There was a two-hour session in the morning, Monday-Wednesday,
and again in the early evening.
The morning sessions covered the
There were three sessions this week and three more
next week, for a total of 12 hours.
I expect to get at least a few hours of Continuing Education
Credits for my CRM (Certified Records Manager) CE requirement.
(I'm currently at 44 hours and I'm only in the second year of the
five-year cycle. I have to
have 100 hours by the end of 2012, so I'm well on my way.)
For the people giving this conference it requires a
lot of dedication. Could you
give a 30-45 minute presentation at 9:00 in the morning and again at
5:30 that afternoon? It
would take a lot out of you.
Nevertheless, if we ever have another Information Management Conference,
I expect it will be virtual.
The company currently values cost savings over networking for sure.
Today's Health Fair was not an ENABLED Event, but
rather an assembly of health insurance companies ("Get your free tote
bag here!"), various company groups like Global Travel (Journey Planning
is really big this year) and the
Ombuds people (they arbitrate employee
grievances). ENABLED was not
the only employee network with a table there, I saw the Women's Network
and the Boomers Network as well.
And Global Diversity, which is the group that encourages all
those employee networks.
In other news...
“Jeannie” is on my case again.
She keeps watching that Home and Garden TV network with all its
cheap shows made by and for people who have way too much time on their
hands. Her latest kick is
that she wants to "optimize" my living room.
This means removing anything in the living room that is not used
exclusively in the living room.
For example, there is a USB turntable, still in the
box from when I moved, sitting on top of an entertainment unit in the
corner. Since it is still in
the box, I obviously don't use it.
So it should be removed from the living room.
Well the reason it is in the living room is that I
put it in the corner to get it out of the way while I was dealing with
higher priority stuff. And
the reason it's still in the corner is that it isn't in my way.
I will use it when I have the time, maybe during
Thanksgiving
Week, maybe not. I do hope
to convert all my vinyl albums to digital files and burn them to
CDs
eventually. But it's not at
the top of my list.
I dream of the day when I can get the whole place
organized. The corner of the
living room opposite the corner where the USB turntable is sitting,
waiting patiently for the time when I will be able to use it, has my
laptop computer, which I do use quite a lot.
There are some built-in shelves that I plan to use to set up a
little “corner office” one day.
For now, the "Action Required" stack sits on one of the shelves
while the "To Be Filed" stack, which is much higher, leans against the
wall.
(Yes, I am a Certified Records Manager and I don’t
file my own records frequently enough.
The expression is:
“The cobbler’s children go barefoot.”)
I am hoping to spend some time this weekend
excavating the mountain of junk mail and other stuff that currently
occupies the dining table.
When I have my little “corner office”, I’ll be able to drop mail into
the appropriate slots or bins or something.
Programming Note:
Next Wednesday is “ARMA Night” which means the Weekly Letter
would be done on Thursday.
But I’m taking next Friday as a vacation day.
That means I’ll probably drop directly into bed after work on
Thursday. So there probably
won’t be a Letter next week.
“Jeannie” has some
reporter’s seminar next weekend,
so I’ll have at least two days that I can work on “organizing”.
Be the Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.
Love, as always,
Pete
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