Just finished with a 2 hour phone conference call. I’ve had conference calls before, but this is the first one of this type, with 80 other people. The Good News was that there was a feature on the phone program used for the call that would allow all 80 people to mute their phone line (so background noise from each persons’ environment wouldn’t be projected to all on the call. The Bad News was that the instructions for muting were wrong. Not just inaccurate – but wrong. In order to mute the line, we had to press the # key, something the instructions specifically said NOT to press.

Fortunately, when it comes to technology & instructions, I usually follow the “if it doesn’t work, try anything that you’ve found that works on other applications,” method. And it worked. It was a little bit fun to hear assorted (& anonymous) intra-office conversations from those that thought their line was muted. But I am easily amused.

Thanks for the invention of Speaker Phone. I toughed it out for the first 45 minutes because the background noise & distractions were minimized that way… but an ear can only take so much. And both of mine reached their limit.

Reminds me of my days as a reception for PERS. I worked there before Al Gore’s nifty “internet invention” had caught on, so there were quite a few incoming calls… in the years I did the job, I worked it out that there were an average of 650 calls a day.

I still remember the day I got a headset to replace the handset. Almost wept with joy.

It’s January 5, & my thoughts turn to… filing taxes. Go figure.

One of the more challenging relational issues I have with the ladies of my family is their propensity to spontaneously make decisions to do something without having taken adequate time to prepare for their ensuing actions. Spontaneity is fine with me, as long as it can be… planned out. Hmm.

I wonder if being spontaneous is tied to being an Extrovert.

When I think about it, I’m amazed they put up with me. Perhaps they just work around me.

TheWeez turns 13 tomorrow, which means I now have 3 teenagers. In this season of life & parenting, I find myself shooting up more & more quick prayers… especially when talking about the proposed future of Pasty. IDoey’s driver’s license countdown. TheWeez… being beautiful, witty, & loads of fun… & 13 going on 22.

As if you were already tired of hearing this: I have added yet another kettlebell exercise (the Figure 8 w/hold,) to my repertoire, bringing me to a grand total of 5 exercises that I do in a row before my body says, “Done.” My goal is to work up to 10. Can I get a “Booyah!” ?

Me & theBean were given a fantastic 2 night stay in Tahoe, which we’re taking advantage of this Friday & Saturday. Sweet!

Life is beautiful.