We Be Grillin’
February 22, 2009 Daily life No Comments
Yes, they actually made “grills” out of tinfoil and planned to take this photo. This is my family. Welcome to my world.
Molly comes to visit
February 22, 2009 Daily life No Comments
Dear Cindy Roo,
While we miss you dearly as you trapse around Mexico, we are enjoying your dog. Molly came to visit for the day. We love her and she loves the purple chair.
Professional Self-sabatoge
February 16, 2009 Daily life 8 CommentsOK, so I do a lot of bookkeeping, but only casually for people I’ve known for years. Lotsa favors exchanged, verbal agreements and such. I got my first “real” client and I could not have made myself look worse professionally if I had planned it out.
I learned that verbal agreements with strangers are not clear. Now I am in a position of needing to clarify, after less than a month, the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant. I strongly suspect he is now expecting accountant work, and will not be pleased to know I won’t do it. At our meeting today I planned on to clearing this up with a written contract (a surprise to the client, and one I’m a little nervous about).
As I am driving through Eagan, MN, on my way to Minnetonka, I look to my passenger seat and see that I have forgotten the client’s files. The meeting is still ½ hour away, and I would have been on time but turning around to get said forgotten files will make me easily ½ hour late! I call to say I will be late, giving the truthful answer why and making myself look like a completely unreliable person. He can’t wait and needs to reschedule for next week.
During this embarrassing call I mention a few emails I have sent him and find out he has not received a single one, because his business card has the wrong email on it. So from his point of view I have not communicated with him since I started working for him. Did I mention he has called to ask for paperwork that I claimed I didn’t have, then later found and “fixed “ the situation by scanning it and sending a .pdf attachment to an email that he never got? So from his side, I blew him off.
If I were him, I would so fire me.
But, I have some paperwork that he needs to do his taxes, - one of the tasks I am clarifying I won’t do – and he really needed them before today. So, I am now going to send all the files that I have in a fed ex package along with an apology and the clarifying contract I planned on bringing today, asking him to decide if what I can offer is what he is looking for or if he needs to find someone else.
I will be relieved if he graciously lets me go without a grudge. I’m so embarrassed by my professional performance up until now that I just want to call this a learning experience and be done. I’ll letcha know what happens.
The Thing is, I AM a really good bookkeeper… aaugh! self sabatoge!
I’ve been meaning to do this for the longest time
February 10, 2009 Daily life No Commentsby “this” I mean load a video of Phineas and Lillian so my friends can see their cute egg shape and pretty little flowing tails. It’s not like they are doing any magic tricks, I just wanted to let you see our tank so you can know what lowers my blood pressure each day after work: Watching them from my vantage point on the big purple chair. The orange one is Phin and the calico is Lilly.
I’m convinced
February 9, 2009 Daily life 1 Comment
I have been watching the Amazon Kindle from afar for about a year now. How perfect: a mix of gadgetry and books!
While I tend to be an early adapter, I wanted to wait for the 2.0, guessing that there would be some quirks to work out of such a new product. Apparently there were- the 2.0 has improved graphics and navigation.
It has taken some self control, however, for this book lover not to get the Kindle 1.0- especially in the weeks before vacation, where I daydream about packing this slim little tool instead of 3 or 4 books. I’ve also been drooling over the $9.99 price of books and instant gratification of wireless donwload on the spot. I have actually been watching the kindle book inventory grow over the last year, browsing the titles and comparing them to my bookshelves. Happily for me some early kindle publishers include John Piper, Tim Keller. Francis Chan, and the works of E.M. Bounds. (Bound’s books average only $3.00 each!) The free download of the first chapter of any book has been a deal-maker for me, allowing me to peruse titles just like I do at Borders.
This is also an audible-ready device! I gave my ipod to Paulers a couple of years ago, when he wore out his own and had been listening to audio books on my Palm Centro for a while. While the Palm Audible player works fine, the interface is a bit clunky and I eventually stopped taking the time to load titles. Paul and I have been talking about getting me a new ipod nano or something little, but I’m looking forward to giving the Kindle a try as my audio book device.
We each got to do a little something with a portion this year’s tax refund- Paul is building a skate ramp and I ordered the Kindle 2.0 today. There’s quite a waiting list; delivery estimate: March 2.
