My sister had a funny post on her ten irrational fears, so I thought I'd see if I could list a few of mine. A couple of them are the same:
1. Having the garbage disposal turn on through a freak electrical surge at the moment I'm fishing something out of it with my hand.
2. Falling from a cliff or ledge with no railing, even though I'm standing ten feet from it.
3. Plugging up a toilet at someone else's house when they have no plunger in the bathroom. Okay, maybe this isn't irrational. It happened to me once. Brace yourselves: I successfully improvised with a very long screwdriver that happened to be there, no water contact required.
4. My car exploding because I have too much static electricity when I go to pump gas.
5. Running out of money through a series of disastrous expenses that all come due at once; being forced into bankruptcy; finding I owe a huge debt I was unaware of.
6. Backing over a child who races behind the car despite my checking and asking a nearby adult just seconds before.
7. Running out of gas without the low-fuel warning light coming on sufficiently soon to enable me to find a gas station.
8. Being late for anything; getting a flat tire and missing my flight.
9. Getting cancer from my cell phone.
10. Being fired after accidentally clicking on a link, mistyping a URL, or having a pop-up appear that has objectionable content.
Not on my list: speaking in public, dying, being in an accident while not wearing clean underwear.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Family get-together
We had the entire extended family on my side together for the first time since my sister's wedding reception last night. Everyone went to my older sister's house for dinner and a family picture. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to visit, because our kids had school today, so we had to get them back home before it got too late.
During dinner, I ignited a firestorm by mentioning that a friend at a big firm had just called about an in-house job at the extended family business. It is one of the largest companies in the state, and my mom's brother is the CEO, but I got no traction in my inquiries about essentially the same position last year. The position is still open, so there was a big discussion over whether I should contact my uncle again about the job, attempt to go through other channels, or let it be and continue to make my own way. It's a family legacy, so I would be interested in working there, but I'm not interested in slamming my head against a brick wall if I won't get serious consideration. All I want is to be treated on equal footing with other applicants, and the fact that the job has been open so long suggests that perhaps they haven't gotten the kind of applicants they want, at least not at the price they have been willing to pay. The flip side of my having somewhat less experience than some candidates is they can actually afford me. Plus--and this is where I disagreed with my uncle last year--I think the kind of legal experience I have would transfer quite well to the most significant aspect of the company's business, contract drafting and negotiation.
During dinner, I ignited a firestorm by mentioning that a friend at a big firm had just called about an in-house job at the extended family business. It is one of the largest companies in the state, and my mom's brother is the CEO, but I got no traction in my inquiries about essentially the same position last year. The position is still open, so there was a big discussion over whether I should contact my uncle again about the job, attempt to go through other channels, or let it be and continue to make my own way. It's a family legacy, so I would be interested in working there, but I'm not interested in slamming my head against a brick wall if I won't get serious consideration. All I want is to be treated on equal footing with other applicants, and the fact that the job has been open so long suggests that perhaps they haven't gotten the kind of applicants they want, at least not at the price they have been willing to pay. The flip side of my having somewhat less experience than some candidates is they can actually afford me. Plus--and this is where I disagreed with my uncle last year--I think the kind of legal experience I have would transfer quite well to the most significant aspect of the company's business, contract drafting and negotiation.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Back from Arches
The trip to Arches went great. The only downside was that my wife decided to stay home with our baby. While that made things a lot easier, and we were able to maintain a more rigorous pace, I missed having her there to share the sights.
My kids had a great time with their cousins, who seemed quite taken by the stark contrast between the scenery in Arches and what is found in their native Vermont. My own kids also thought it was pretty cool, and they did pretty well on the hike to Delicate Arch, which was the most challenging hike we attempted. I did carry my three-year old a good part of the way, but she also walked a number of miles on the different hikes.
Her favorite was Sand Dune Arch, which is carved in a narrow area between two high rock fins. The result is that part of the area was shaded, and the adults could rest against the sheer rock wall and put their feed in the cool sand while the kids played in the sand and ran up and down the short hill to the arch. My son preferred Delicate Arch, and my oldest enjoyed North and South Windows. It's hard for me to single out a favorite, but it would probably have to be Delicate Arch.
We also visited Dead Horse Point on the trip. I still remember the trauma my dad caused me by pretending to throw me over Dead Horse Point, which drops 2000 feet nearly straight down to the Colorado River. It was a very impressive sight, lessened only slightly by a series of large evaporative pools on the valley floor used in a potash mining operation that utilizes water from the Colorado. Anyway, I made sure not to pretend to throw any of my kids over, but I still awoke several times that night from a half-sleep, imagining one of my kids or I was falling from a cliff.
A wonderful surprise on this trip was the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. None of us had ever been to Canyonlands, but we decided to go there after visiting Dead Horse Point and finding ourselves only a few miles away. In my mind, Canyonlands is nearly as impressive as the Grand Canyon. True, the Grand Canyon drops twice as far, but when you're talking 2000 or 4000 feet, it's all pretty impressive. Because we were only there a few hours, we didn't have time to do too many hikes, but the ones we did were awesome. We hiked Mesa Arch, which is an easy, meandering trail to an arch that looks nice in itself, but is made spectacular by the fact that it sits on a sheer precipice. Seeing 1500 feet of empty space below the arch is pretty cool.
My kids had a great time with their cousins, who seemed quite taken by the stark contrast between the scenery in Arches and what is found in their native Vermont. My own kids also thought it was pretty cool, and they did pretty well on the hike to Delicate Arch, which was the most challenging hike we attempted. I did carry my three-year old a good part of the way, but she also walked a number of miles on the different hikes.
Her favorite was Sand Dune Arch, which is carved in a narrow area between two high rock fins. The result is that part of the area was shaded, and the adults could rest against the sheer rock wall and put their feed in the cool sand while the kids played in the sand and ran up and down the short hill to the arch. My son preferred Delicate Arch, and my oldest enjoyed North and South Windows. It's hard for me to single out a favorite, but it would probably have to be Delicate Arch.
We also visited Dead Horse Point on the trip. I still remember the trauma my dad caused me by pretending to throw me over Dead Horse Point, which drops 2000 feet nearly straight down to the Colorado River. It was a very impressive sight, lessened only slightly by a series of large evaporative pools on the valley floor used in a potash mining operation that utilizes water from the Colorado. Anyway, I made sure not to pretend to throw any of my kids over, but I still awoke several times that night from a half-sleep, imagining one of my kids or I was falling from a cliff.
A wonderful surprise on this trip was the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. None of us had ever been to Canyonlands, but we decided to go there after visiting Dead Horse Point and finding ourselves only a few miles away. In my mind, Canyonlands is nearly as impressive as the Grand Canyon. True, the Grand Canyon drops twice as far, but when you're talking 2000 or 4000 feet, it's all pretty impressive. Because we were only there a few hours, we didn't have time to do too many hikes, but the ones we did were awesome. We hiked Mesa Arch, which is an easy, meandering trail to an arch that looks nice in itself, but is made spectacular by the fact that it sits on a sheer precipice. Seeing 1500 feet of empty space below the arch is pretty cool.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
FLDS thoughts
I found this excellent summary of the raid on the FLDS YFZ Ranch posted, of all places, on a BYU sports message board:
Prelude- A TX community is suspicious of their strange FLDS neighbors occupying a large and productive piece of land. Said community, predominantly evangelical in religious practice, consider the ranch and its strange inhabitants an eyesore and an abomination. Worse, community leaders feel the ranch residents are becoming too numerous and could increase in their influence politically in the county.
1. A sheriff's office and local CPS office draw up a pre-prepared ranch raid plan in case they ever need it. (sources-the Sheriff and CPS Director)
2. A sheriff's office has an informant who "escaped" from the ranch and helped the sheriff put together his raid plan. (source-the Sheriff)
3. The sheriff's office informant possessed no knowledge of any widespread abuse or sexual relations with minors, her assistance to the sheriff was largely for tactical purposes, i.e. locations of buildings, predicted response from ranch residents, etc. (Source-the Sheriff)
4. An anonymous caller claiming to be a 16 year old girl alleges that one man at the ranch, Mr. Barlow, abused her, beat her, and forced her to have sex. (source-Sheriff's affidavit in support of search warrant)
5. Despite having no evidence of widespread abuse of minors at the ranch, and without corroborrating the whereabouts of the accused Mr. Barlow during Easter weekend when he allegedly beat the anonymous girl (he had not reported in person to his probation officer in AZ that weekend), the TX judge issues a search warrant including the entire ranch property and all buildings, including houses of worship, for the anonymous complainant who needed "rescuing." (sources-affidavit for search warrant, search warrant, news intervie of Barlow's probation officer)
6. The Sheriff's office executes the warrant, utilizing AT&F agents, SWAT teams, armored police personnel carriers, and dogs. (source- Sheriff press conference)
7. While executing search warrant for evidence of a crime against one alleged 16 year-old anonymous victim, sheriff observes a small number of girls appearing to be approximately 16 who are either pregnant or holding babies, or both. Assuming one of these could be the anonymous complainant, all such girls taken into custody and questioned regarding the babies and their pregnany status.(source-Sheriff press conference)
8.FLDS mothers gather up their children in fear of the raid, and when questioned by law enforcement and CPS workers, decline to respond to demands to identify which children belonged with which parents. Without any documented evidence that any children currently at the ranch were in danger other than the alleged complainant, CPS determined that the home environment itself (i.e. polygamy), was a form of abuse, and ordered that all the children be rounded up and removed from parental custody. (Source: CPS press conference, Sheriff Press conference, FLDS mothers letter to Governor Perry)
9. Within minutes, buses owned and operated by local evangelical churches, with those churches' logos emblazoned thereon, rolled onto the ranch and 416 FLDS children were loaded onto them for transport to a "safer" environment in foster care or in government established shelters. (source-Sheriff's press conference, CPS press conference, multiple media reports)
10. Sheriff's officials continue to search for anonymous caller among children removed, with no success. Sheriff and CPS Director then claim finding anonymous caller unnecessary for case to keep children in state custody perhaps permanently. (source-CPS press statement yesterday)
***
How is this constitutional? What if one of my neighbors got angry at me and placed an anonymous call pretending to be one of my children and alleging abuse? Would the state have the right to take all of my children indefinitely? Is communal religious living justification to take children away from their families? To me, this has troubling parallels to the early history of the LDS Church.
I don't like polygamy and I'm glad the LDS Church no longer practices it, but this is unconstitutional. If a crime has been committed, e.g., statutory rape, that should be prosecuted severely. I have no patience for people who commit crimes against children. But taking 400+ children away from their parents based on one anonymous phone call is neither right not legal.
Prelude- A TX community is suspicious of their strange FLDS neighbors occupying a large and productive piece of land. Said community, predominantly evangelical in religious practice, consider the ranch and its strange inhabitants an eyesore and an abomination. Worse, community leaders feel the ranch residents are becoming too numerous and could increase in their influence politically in the county.
1. A sheriff's office and local CPS office draw up a pre-prepared ranch raid plan in case they ever need it. (sources-the Sheriff and CPS Director)
2. A sheriff's office has an informant who "escaped" from the ranch and helped the sheriff put together his raid plan. (source-the Sheriff)
3. The sheriff's office informant possessed no knowledge of any widespread abuse or sexual relations with minors, her assistance to the sheriff was largely for tactical purposes, i.e. locations of buildings, predicted response from ranch residents, etc. (Source-the Sheriff)
4. An anonymous caller claiming to be a 16 year old girl alleges that one man at the ranch, Mr. Barlow, abused her, beat her, and forced her to have sex. (source-Sheriff's affidavit in support of search warrant)
5. Despite having no evidence of widespread abuse of minors at the ranch, and without corroborrating the whereabouts of the accused Mr. Barlow during Easter weekend when he allegedly beat the anonymous girl (he had not reported in person to his probation officer in AZ that weekend), the TX judge issues a search warrant including the entire ranch property and all buildings, including houses of worship, for the anonymous complainant who needed "rescuing." (sources-affidavit for search warrant, search warrant, news intervie of Barlow's probation officer)
6. The Sheriff's office executes the warrant, utilizing AT&F agents, SWAT teams, armored police personnel carriers, and dogs. (source- Sheriff press conference)
7. While executing search warrant for evidence of a crime against one alleged 16 year-old anonymous victim, sheriff observes a small number of girls appearing to be approximately 16 who are either pregnant or holding babies, or both. Assuming one of these could be the anonymous complainant, all such girls taken into custody and questioned regarding the babies and their pregnany status.(source-Sheriff press conference)
8.FLDS mothers gather up their children in fear of the raid, and when questioned by law enforcement and CPS workers, decline to respond to demands to identify which children belonged with which parents. Without any documented evidence that any children currently at the ranch were in danger other than the alleged complainant, CPS determined that the home environment itself (i.e. polygamy), was a form of abuse, and ordered that all the children be rounded up and removed from parental custody. (Source: CPS press conference, Sheriff Press conference, FLDS mothers letter to Governor Perry)
9. Within minutes, buses owned and operated by local evangelical churches, with those churches' logos emblazoned thereon, rolled onto the ranch and 416 FLDS children were loaded onto them for transport to a "safer" environment in foster care or in government established shelters. (source-Sheriff's press conference, CPS press conference, multiple media reports)
10. Sheriff's officials continue to search for anonymous caller among children removed, with no success. Sheriff and CPS Director then claim finding anonymous caller unnecessary for case to keep children in state custody perhaps permanently. (source-CPS press statement yesterday)
***
How is this constitutional? What if one of my neighbors got angry at me and placed an anonymous call pretending to be one of my children and alleging abuse? Would the state have the right to take all of my children indefinitely? Is communal religious living justification to take children away from their families? To me, this has troubling parallels to the early history of the LDS Church.
I don't like polygamy and I'm glad the LDS Church no longer practices it, but this is unconstitutional. If a crime has been committed, e.g., statutory rape, that should be prosecuted severely. I have no patience for people who commit crimes against children. But taking 400+ children away from their parents based on one anonymous phone call is neither right not legal.
Off to Arches
I'm working this morning, then heading off to Arches in the afternoon, where I'll meet my brother's family and my sister (her husband just started a new job and won't be there). The weather has been unseasonably cold here, but it's starting to warm up, and I'm hopeful that it will be a bit warmer in Moab than it is here.
Planning a trip to Moab is tricky, weather-wise. If you go too early in the spring, you may get snowed on, and I hate winter camping. I could get a motel, of course, but I want my kids to have the camping experience (and I'm cheap). On the other hand, if you go late in the spring, you may get summer-like weather, which could mean 95 degrees. When I first planned the trip, I was more worried about early summer than late winter, so that shows what I know.
One of the sales guys I'm working with on a big deal seemed miffed when I reminded him I'll be gone. The sales guys have no problem taking off a week at a time, which sometimes creates the time pressure we feel when they suddenly panic and realize it's almost quarter-end. The customer, too, on this deal, has been taking their sweet time. But he is aghast that I would take off one day so close to quarter-end when we expect a response from the customer today. Well, we expected a response from the customer yesterday, too, but that hasn't happened. They'll just have to wait a day for me as well.
Normally, I wouldn't take off time this close to quarter-end, either, but it's only a day plus a few hours, and I haven't seen my brother for 18 months. My boss has okayed it, and some other people in my department took time for spring break, so sales will just have to deal with it.
Planning a trip to Moab is tricky, weather-wise. If you go too early in the spring, you may get snowed on, and I hate winter camping. I could get a motel, of course, but I want my kids to have the camping experience (and I'm cheap). On the other hand, if you go late in the spring, you may get summer-like weather, which could mean 95 degrees. When I first planned the trip, I was more worried about early summer than late winter, so that shows what I know.
One of the sales guys I'm working with on a big deal seemed miffed when I reminded him I'll be gone. The sales guys have no problem taking off a week at a time, which sometimes creates the time pressure we feel when they suddenly panic and realize it's almost quarter-end. The customer, too, on this deal, has been taking their sweet time. But he is aghast that I would take off one day so close to quarter-end when we expect a response from the customer today. Well, we expected a response from the customer yesterday, too, but that hasn't happened. They'll just have to wait a day for me as well.
Normally, I wouldn't take off time this close to quarter-end, either, but it's only a day plus a few hours, and I haven't seen my brother for 18 months. My boss has okayed it, and some other people in my department took time for spring break, so sales will just have to deal with it.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Seniority!
My team has very low turnover. I guess we all like working with each other, despite the dysfunctional things the company does. So, two years in, I've still been the newest contract negotiator in the group. That will soon change, as my colleague Brian is leaving to take a similar job at another company. More money, probably. So now, I'll only be #9 of 10 in terms of tenure. Even though I think my performance is good and would save me from the chopping block if it came to that, seniority at a company with flat sales and marginal profitability is also a good thing.
Spring
Weird weather we've been having. It was in the 70's yesterday, but it snowed today. I'm hoping it warms up this week for the trip to Arches. My kids don't have a lot of camping experience, so I hope they don't have this one ruined by cold weather. I've been getting stuff together tonight to get ready. I told a sales guy I'm working with on a huge deal that I won't be there on Friday and am leaving early on Thursday. He was none too pleased, but I don't care. I scheduled this time off about two months ago, and it's not like I'll be gone for a week. This deal has gotten the attention of some very high-level folks in the company, but I'm still entitled to a weekend with my brother. Besides, I don't expect much to happen on those days.
On another note, I still don't have a refund of my Expedia booking fee. But I did learn about Kayak.com, a cool Google of travel sites, which further diminishes the usefulness of Expedia.
On another note, I still don't have a refund of my Expedia booking fee. But I did learn about Kayak.com, a cool Google of travel sites, which further diminishes the usefulness of Expedia.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thanks, Chase
I'm happy to report that my credit card company, Chase, has been easy to work with in getting my money refunded. I don't have a refund of my $44.99 Expedia booking and ticket fee yet, but Chase has managed to return more than a hundred times that much for the 5 worthless tickets I bought and the 5 worthless tickets I didn't buy. So, in contrast to Expedia, I'm happy to recommend Chase. We've had this card for many years and have never had any major problems with it.
My brother is headed out here next week from Vermont, when we'll meet him at Arches National Park. I hope our boys have as much fun hiking and hunting lizards together as we did when we went there as kids.
I'm happy to see a major warming trend for next week, as it was snowing this morning when I woke up. That's not unheard of in April here, but we've had a very cold and moderately wet spring so far, and I'm ready to put away the skis and get out the bikes and hiking shoes. Unfortunately, I only got to ski twice this year. I may try to squeeze in one more day of spring skiing, but there aren't a lot of days available with my vacation time pretty much booked and my Saturdays pretty busy, too.
My brother is headed out here next week from Vermont, when we'll meet him at Arches National Park. I hope our boys have as much fun hiking and hunting lizards together as we did when we went there as kids.
I'm happy to see a major warming trend for next week, as it was snowing this morning when I woke up. That's not unheard of in April here, but we've had a very cold and moderately wet spring so far, and I'm ready to put away the skis and get out the bikes and hiking shoes. Unfortunately, I only got to ski twice this year. I may try to squeeze in one more day of spring skiing, but there aren't a lot of days available with my vacation time pretty much booked and my Saturdays pretty busy, too.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Beware Expedia.com
This post is a special shout-out to Expedia. Or, rather, it is my attempt to broadcast to as wide of an audience as possible my discontent with Expedia.
I recently booked tickets for a family vacation to Hawaii some months from now. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from Expedia telling me that due to an error, I had been sent two sets of tickets, and would I please send one back. Don't worry, though, they assured me, I had not been charged twice for the tickets.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened my credit card statement to find I had in fact been charged twice for the tickets. I called Expedia to ask that the charge be reversed, and after a lengthy wait, they told me that I needed to mail back the duplicate tickets first. Now, as an attorney, I know that this is illegal, but I agreed to send the tickets back.
Two weeks later, I still had not been credited, so I called Expedia again. After waiting for over thirty minutes, I was told that I should call the airline and ask them for a refund. They followed up with this snippity email:
We have been notified from our billing department that the tickets you sent to us were voided, that means that the amount you were charged for those tickets will automatically get back to you, most of the time for voided tickets, there is a hold on the money back then it is released after 72 hours, meaning you will not see on your statement that there is a refund.
>
> Besides that there is no control over voided tickets from expedia but from the airline( validating carrier ATA IBNQZE, res 800 225-2995), and if the charges are still on your statement the only one who has control when to refund that is the airline and they can provide more info about it.
>
> Thank you for your patience and choosing expedia.
In other words, they would do nothing for me. I wrote back a very snippety email of my own.
Then, a few days later, I got an email stating that the carrier for the international leg of our flight, ATA, had declared bankruptcy, that they could do nothing for me, and that I should file a dispute with my credit card company. To their credit, pun unintended, my credit card company has been easy to deal with and will be giving me a refund of both sets of tickets, but Expedia has been so utterly unhelpful through several emails and phone calls that I am following through on my threat to never use them again and to advise everyone I know of my experience with Expedia. There are simply too many travel services offering similar pricing for me to use one that treats its customers so poorly.
I recently booked tickets for a family vacation to Hawaii some months from now. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from Expedia telling me that due to an error, I had been sent two sets of tickets, and would I please send one back. Don't worry, though, they assured me, I had not been charged twice for the tickets.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened my credit card statement to find I had in fact been charged twice for the tickets. I called Expedia to ask that the charge be reversed, and after a lengthy wait, they told me that I needed to mail back the duplicate tickets first. Now, as an attorney, I know that this is illegal, but I agreed to send the tickets back.
Two weeks later, I still had not been credited, so I called Expedia again. After waiting for over thirty minutes, I was told that I should call the airline and ask them for a refund. They followed up with this snippity email:
We have been notified from our billing department that the tickets you sent to us were voided, that means that the amount you were charged for those tickets will automatically get back to you, most of the time for voided tickets, there is a hold on the money back then it is released after 72 hours, meaning you will not see on your statement that there is a refund.
>
> Besides that there is no control over voided tickets from expedia but from the airline( validating carrier ATA IBNQZE, res 800 225-2995), and if the charges are still on your statement the only one who has control when to refund that is the airline and they can provide more info about it.
>
> Thank you for your patience and choosing expedia.
In other words, they would do nothing for me. I wrote back a very snippety email of my own.
Then, a few days later, I got an email stating that the carrier for the international leg of our flight, ATA, had declared bankruptcy, that they could do nothing for me, and that I should file a dispute with my credit card company. To their credit, pun unintended, my credit card company has been easy to deal with and will be giving me a refund of both sets of tickets, but Expedia has been so utterly unhelpful through several emails and phone calls that I am following through on my threat to never use them again and to advise everyone I know of my experience with Expedia. There are simply too many travel services offering similar pricing for me to use one that treats its customers so poorly.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Psalm 48
I've always loved the idea* of the holy city "set on a hill" where all live in equality and peace, whether called Augustine's City of God, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Orderville, or Zion. This is my attempt to set this Zionist psalm to English meter and rhyme (as always, I recommend reading the texts together).
*Sadly, the ideal is usually better than the implementation, and as a believer in free and open global markets, I think the traditional implementation of the the United Order would be hard to pull off in the 21st century--but one can love the ideal and the principles and look for more modest ways to apply them according to circumstances.
Psalm 48
Great is the Lord and the city of God:
Beautiful mountain and refuge of earth.
Marveling rulers make haste from her rod,
Trembling in pain as a mother in birth.
Chaff is the value of their riches still;
Tarshish is naught when compared to her spires.
Thy lovingkindness, from temple’s bright hill
Beckons to all who do humbly aspire.
Praise ye our God to the ends of the earth.
Righteousness still is the fruit of thy hand.
Daughters of Judah in Zion, have mirth,
Stablished forever in this chosen land.
Mark ye her bulwarks and walk round each side,
Yea, till the last generation shall come.
Ever and ever our God is our guide,
Even to death when he welcomes us home.
*Sadly, the ideal is usually better than the implementation, and as a believer in free and open global markets, I think the traditional implementation of the the United Order would be hard to pull off in the 21st century--but one can love the ideal and the principles and look for more modest ways to apply them according to circumstances.
Psalm 48
Great is the Lord and the city of God:
Beautiful mountain and refuge of earth.
Marveling rulers make haste from her rod,
Trembling in pain as a mother in birth.
Chaff is the value of their riches still;
Tarshish is naught when compared to her spires.
Thy lovingkindness, from temple’s bright hill
Beckons to all who do humbly aspire.
Praise ye our God to the ends of the earth.
Righteousness still is the fruit of thy hand.
Daughters of Judah in Zion, have mirth,
Stablished forever in this chosen land.
Mark ye her bulwarks and walk round each side,
Yea, till the last generation shall come.
Ever and ever our God is our guide,
Even to death when he welcomes us home.
Sales guys
Maybe I should start a series on crazy things sales guys say. I'm working on a very large potential deal, and the sales guys have just been unbelievable. This particular team is the worst in the company. They try to steamroll you like crazy, then call you "buddy" every time you call. I want to tell them I'm not their buddy and don't even like them.
I had an IM that went like this:
Sales: "[My name spelled wrong] we OK to send to Acme tonight?"
Me: R is looking at it, and N said he's going to look at it today and let me know. I have left messages for K but I haven't heard anything from him yet. Have you or [your minion] called him?
Sales: (long pause) Yeah, I think C called him before lunch.
[I'd told them in writing several times that it was THEIR job to track down these approvals. I was just the gatekeeper for this]
Me: Other than that and the ones who have promised responses, we're good to go. I've chased down the rest. [doing their job for them]
Sales: so- we are good to send this evening to Acme?
Me: If R and N respond and depending on K's response. [What did I just say? Not yet.]
Sales: It MUST go this evening...
Me: Then you or [minion] should call N. [Like I've been saying all along].
...
(Later)
Sales: K he was supposed to review with the auditors-- HE HAS NOT DONE THAT??????
Me: Did you see RS's message? He and M can't agree on... How can we put this in front of Acme if we aren't agreed internally on what we're willing to give them??
Sales: We will work it out..the proposal goes out....
Me: I'm not putting something in front of TD that RS is unwilling to do.
Sales : RS is NOT a decision maker
Me: [Oh yes he is, and you know it]
Sales: this company has to many peple who can veto stuff- and add NO value- like RS- amazing.
And so it continued. They'll say anything to get me to believe everyone has signed off and we should send the contract to the customer, even when this is very clearly not the case, as demonstrated by multiple email messages that very day that he was copied on.
I had an IM that went like this:
Sales: "[My name spelled wrong] we OK to send to Acme tonight?"
Me: R is looking at it, and N said he's going to look at it today and let me know. I have left messages for K but I haven't heard anything from him yet. Have you or [your minion] called him?
Sales: (long pause) Yeah, I think C called him before lunch.
[I'd told them in writing several times that it was THEIR job to track down these approvals. I was just the gatekeeper for this]
Me: Other than that and the ones who have promised responses, we're good to go. I've chased down the rest. [doing their job for them]
Sales: so- we are good to send this evening to Acme?
Me: If R and N respond and depending on K's response. [What did I just say? Not yet.]
Sales: It MUST go this evening...
Me: Then you or [minion] should call N. [Like I've been saying all along].
...
(Later)
Sales: K he was supposed to review with the auditors-- HE HAS NOT DONE THAT??????
Me: Did you see RS's message? He and M can't agree on... How can we put this in front of Acme if we aren't agreed internally on what we're willing to give them??
Sales: We will work it out..the proposal goes out....
Me: I'm not putting something in front of TD that RS is unwilling to do.
Sales : RS is NOT a decision maker
Me: [Oh yes he is, and you know it]
Sales: this company has to many peple who can veto stuff- and add NO value- like RS- amazing.
And so it continued. They'll say anything to get me to believe everyone has signed off and we should send the contract to the customer, even when this is very clearly not the case, as demonstrated by multiple email messages that very day that he was copied on.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Team building and memories
Last week, my entire team drove several hours to Arches National Park for a team-building exercise. Some of them had flown in from the East Coast for a series of meetings last week--theme: "Achieving New Heights." It made for a long day, driving down, doing a couple of hikes, and driving back in the same day, especially since we'd spent a couple of hours at an indoor rock climbing place the night before. It was fun, but it sort of reminded me of an episode of The Office, minus the fire walking.
Excessive driving aside, I was reminded how beautiful the rural Southwest can be. My colleague from Boston was amazed at the vast open spaces. Except for driving through Moab, I hadn't been to Arches for decades, but my family used to go there when I was young. It was interesting to see a couple of places I couldn't remember in detail, but which were immediately familiar when I saw them. At the Devil's Garden campground where we ate lunch, when I looked up and saw the red rock formations above the picnic area, I recognized the place as matching a memory I had of climbing around with my brother on rocks above a camping site. I had a clear memory of the event, but I hadn't known where that memory occurred until I saw the formation again.
Interestingly enough, my brother is coming out for a visit and we're going to Arches together for the first time in 25 years or so. It will be fun to reminisce and see what memories get dredged up. I'm excited for our kids to make some of the same memories together. My younger sister will also be there. My memory of her in that park is of being in a baby carrier I've now inherited from my parents and will likely be using to carry one of my own children.
Excessive driving aside, I was reminded how beautiful the rural Southwest can be. My colleague from Boston was amazed at the vast open spaces. Except for driving through Moab, I hadn't been to Arches for decades, but my family used to go there when I was young. It was interesting to see a couple of places I couldn't remember in detail, but which were immediately familiar when I saw them. At the Devil's Garden campground where we ate lunch, when I looked up and saw the red rock formations above the picnic area, I recognized the place as matching a memory I had of climbing around with my brother on rocks above a camping site. I had a clear memory of the event, but I hadn't known where that memory occurred until I saw the formation again.
Interestingly enough, my brother is coming out for a visit and we're going to Arches together for the first time in 25 years or so. It will be fun to reminisce and see what memories get dredged up. I'm excited for our kids to make some of the same memories together. My younger sister will also be there. My memory of her in that park is of being in a baby carrier I've now inherited from my parents and will likely be using to carry one of my own children.
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