1769 Gender Sensitive

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Marge Simpson: We can't afford to shop at any store that has a philosophy.

------------------------

Last week I posted about my annoyance when people are overly sensitive and jump to conclude racism where it might not be. This morning I was reading a piece written by a lesbian (nah, I'm not going to link to it) and I was reminded of an incident last summer, at the Maritime Museum.

I was filling in in the gift shop, and having trouble with the cash register. It wasn't totaling up correctly, and the cash drawer had a weird combination of change.

A couple came in. One was a woman in her early fifties, very feminine. She deferred to her companion, who was probably late thirties, and who was very affectionate toward and protective of her. I couldn't figure out if the companion was male or female. It was weird.

I've never been confused before. I can spot transvestites unfailingly. I don't have trouble until we move into the transsexual realm, when they start messing with hormones, but even then, the brow and jawline is often a clue. You can't change bones that easily. I once had a whole theater full of people pissed with me when we went to that movie where the big twist at the end is that the beautiful woman the man falls in love with turns out to be a man (can't remember the name of the movie, it was like 20 years ago when stuff like that was shocking [Later: a commenter has reminded me it was "The Crying Game"]), and everybody in the world was so careful not to tell the ending because it's so shocking, and five minutes into the movie I turned to my companion and whispered "That's a man. Why do they have a male actor in that role?" Half the theater turned and scowled at me.

Anyhow, identifying people as to age, race, gender, is something your brain sort of does on autopilot, and you get a glitch when it can't.

The couple explored the museum, then came back out and explored the gift shop. At some point, something, I don't remember what, clued me in that the companion was a woman.

I have no problem with that. I'm all for affection, love, commitment wherever one finds it, and these two were obviously happy. That's nice. I was just relieved that I'd figured it out. (Remember SNL's "Pat"?)

Anyhow, they bought some stuff, the companion put some cash on the counter, the cash register sneezed, and I had to total it up by hand and figure out the best change from the slim pickings in the drawer. I counted it out in a pile on the counter, switching a few bills and coins as I found a combination that would still leave me usable cash (a drawer full of just 20s and dimes is not usable). When I had it all together, I pushed the pile across the counter to the companion.

She was absolutely furious because I didn't put the money directly into her hand. She tore into me, saying that putting the money on the counter instead of into her hand was extremely disrespectful, that I was extremely rude in avoiding physical contact with her, and on and on. She really blasted me. I was speechless. All I could say was that I was sorry, I'd had no clerk training and didn't know there was a protocol, didn't know that was important, ok, now I know.

It really shook me. The amount of venom was scary.

I think she was oversensitive, and saw disrespect where there was none. She's creating her own stress.
.

1489 Museum Done!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I went back to the museum today, and the new guy came in, and we processed a few payments that had come in, and sent out membership cards for them, AND sent out renewal reminders for October renewals. So now he has gone through the complete cycle once. I told him to call me when he's ready to do the next batch, and I'll sit in.

He did worry me at one point. He was supposed to be creating a new member record, and I glanced over, and instead of filling in a blank record, he was overwriting an existing record. Huh? It worries me that he didn't seem to see anything wrong with that, that he didn't recognize that there was a problem.

The really surprising part is that I'm not worried about it. Not so very long ago I'd be afraid that he'd screw up the data base, that records will go missing or be duplicated, I'd be riding him to understand every aspect so he'd anticipate the ramifications of his actions, and eventually I might go to the powers and say "Um, I don't think he can handle it...".

Not now. I'm very surprised at how little I care. I really don't care. I have been telling those folks that the data base is a mess and should be redesigned, and I even contributed a significant amount of money last year earmarked for hiring a DB expert, and nothing has been done. And now I'm just happy to be out of it.

After we update the database, we do a backup onto a floppy disk (yeah, floppy). So if he does screw it up, it can be repaired. Well, today, he did the backup following the instructions. It was interesting that the system went through the whole process, including where it says that there are already copies, should it overwrite? and we answer yes and then it says backup complete.

However, he had forgotten to put the floppy in the drive. There was NO floppy in the drive.

So, uh, where did the backup copy go? Hard drive? The same hard drive the original is on? Not wise.

Given the new guy's propensity to destroy records, maybe I should follow up on that. Alert Russ that either there IS NO backup, or the backup is somewhere other than the floppy everybody thinks it's on.
.

1484 Transfer at the Museum

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The new guy and I got together at the museum today, and I showed him how to process the membership dues payments. Four hours.

We didn't finish all the September checks, but he has a good grasp of what he's doing and will be able to finish them on his own before we get together again next Monday.

On Monday things will get more complicated. We'll be printing address labels and membership cards and putting together mailing packets.

----------------------

My distance friend is planning to leave work a bit early tomorrow so we'll have a good portion of the late afternoon and early evening together, meeting halfway. That's nice. I am hungry for time with him. We've been dating for six months now, but it's been so spread out over time it's more like only two months.

----------------------

My DVD player/recorder is ignoring me. For a while, it refused to respond to the ON/OFF button on either the remote or the console itself. Roman suggested that I unplug it, and it might reset when I plugged it back in, so I did. Now it recognizes the ON/OFF, but nothing else. It won't display the menu, and it seems to think it has a 2-hour recording session pending (but it doesn't). I am angry and frustrated.

Naturally, the 183,674-page instruction book doesn't address this.
.

1469 DoNotCall; Museum Cookbook

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

If you registered your number on the national 'do not call' registry as soon as it was available, as I did, then you will have to reregister soon. Numbers stay on the Do Not Call list for 5 years, then they either fall off, or you have to re-submit them. The registry was started on September 15th, 5 years ago.

---------------------------

If your otherwise well-mannered rescue kitty, who doesn't really understand houses and litter boxes, has been unpotting your houseplants and using the dirt on the carpet for potty purposes, and I won't name names here (but we know who you are, Jasper!), well, said kitty also doesn't know about bubble wrap - and it works just fine.

---------------------------

I went to the museum yesterday and finished up my work on the membership database. As the next set of memberships and renewals come in, I'll be handing them off to the new (old) guy.

Betty has warned me that "He won't read instructions. You have to tell him everything." Well, I'm sorry, but I spent several hours writing up a cookbook, and he WILL by damn read it! Working with that database is non-intuitive, and things can get weird randomly, and I cannot sit around and hold his hand forever. I intend to hand him the cookbook (4.5 pages, step by step for each of the four tasks) and then retire to a corner with a book. I refuse to hold his hand. He will be forced to use the coookbook.

-----------------------------

After the museum, I had dinner in Poughkeepsie with a friend. We talked about mixed signals and motives and, I don't know, I think we're a bit clearer on where the line is drawn. The main trouble, of course, is that I'm not completely sure myself where the line should be, so it's no wonder he's thinks he's getting mixed signals.

I'm trying. I know what's right, but it's hard.
.

1348 Penmanship Shmenmanship, Who Cares?

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Rereading the previous post, I get a feeling of suppressed annoyance. It really has nothing to do with the credit card issue, because that has nothing to do with me.

It's penmanship.

And other idiocies.

Renewals aren't too bad - I stick a preprinted label on the form when I mail them out, so it's easy to figure out who sent it back with their check. Of course, there's always the three or four who don't return the form with their checks, or who for some unknown reason tear the top part, with the label, off. Duh? Why? There's always a few.

The real frustration comes from the new members. They fill out the form with their name, address, phone number, and email address.

Don't they realize that someone has to READ that thing? Is this a "1", or a "7", or a "9"? Is that an "o", or a "u", or an "a" ? And then there are the ones whose name is just a scrawl - I can't even tell how many letters there are, let alone what individual letters are. Of the 18 new members in this batch today, I had difficulty reading 12 of them. I could take the information off the checks for a few, or a preprinted return label on the envelope, but the rest I had to guess.

That really really bugs me.

Then there's the folks who put their full name and address on the form - and leave off the zip code. They don't know their zip code? They don't write or dictate their address very often?

I don't understand.

When I worked for The Company I often ran meetings where attendance was mandatory. I passed around an attendance form, and each and every time, I warned people that if I couldn't read their names, they would NOT be credited with attendance, and they'd have to go through it again. And yet, after every meeting, I couldn't figure out fully 20% of the names, even with the department lists in hand for comparison.

Idiots.

Yeah. I'm frustrated.
.

1347 To the Museum

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

To the Maritime Museum volunteer gig this afternoon. I processed new member and renewal checks. The first half-hour was opening envelopes. The second half-hour was making copies of the forms and checks to leave on the accountant's desk. The last two hours was updating the membership info in the database.

I hate Lotus.

We found an "uh-oh" with the new dues payment forms. The museum wants to start accepting credit cards, so there's a space on the form for the type of card, the number, and a signature. No space for the expiration date. Cute. That's the letters I sent out last week, so this month we'll start getting payments we can't process. Real cute.

Well, that's the coordinator's problem, not mine. I refused to have anything to do with credit cards the first time it was proposed.
"We're going to start accepting credit cards for the dues, so you'll have to process them in the gift shop."
"No."
"Huh?"
"No. I won't do credit cards."
"Huh?"
"I don't want to do credit cards. If you want credit cards done, someone else'll have to do them. I've got more than enough to do now. I won't take on more."
"Oh."

Man, as a volunteer, you can pretty much dictate your terms. Lots better than being an employee!

The credit card machine is downstairs in the gift shop, and it's temperamental. Last week some woman bought like $45 worth of stuff in the shop, and the machine overcharged her card by fifty-some dollars. The volunteer on the register followed the printed instructions to cancel the transaction, then tried to refund the card, and nothing worked. She offered the woman a cash refund from the register, and the woman, tapping her foot impatiently, refused it. Small panic, phone calls made.

Hain't no way I'm touching that fool machine. Sounds like something a paid employee should do anyway.

No plans for tomorrow.

I guess I have to admit I did waste time yesterday. Absolutely no other person has been in this house in the past year. The place is a mess. When Roman picked me up to go Mass MOCA a few weeks ago, I was waiting outside for him. He asked if he could use my bathroom, and I said "No. We'll go to the diner." He was shocked, but nope, no one's seeing the inside of this house until I can clean up. I used to say it's cluttered, but at least it's clean clutter. Now the clutter is so bad, I can't clean.

Roman's house is a mess, too, stacks of paper on every surface and the floor, but that's different and ok. He lets me in his house (but nobody else, only me). He doesn't understand the difference. I said, "Well, when a man sees a woman's house all messy, he thinks, 'Yuck. She's a rotten housekeeper.' When a woman sees a man's house all messy, she thinks, 'Aw, so male. He needs a woman.' And that's a BIG difference."

So, tomorrow I move storage containers to the basement, and see if I can't get some order in one or two corners, at least.
.

1337 Museum and Berries

Friday, June 29, 2007

Went to the Maritime Museum today to send out the July membership reminders, 44 of them. The Board has approved all our suggested changes, so today's letters didn't promise any gifts or premiums. Once I send out the June membership cards and premiums next week, it will get a lot easier. Every envelope will contain exactly the same thing, finally.

This weekend is the Jazz Festival on the Rondout, with fireworks off the bridge Sunday evening. There are several small and a few large yachts docked at the museum already. The city is running shuttles from the uptown malls again, so parking's not a problem, but combining the jazz with the fireworks means that Sunday evening, when I'd want to go, the place will be packed. I have to think about it.

My black mulberry tree is fruiting. Yummy. The berries are best right off the tree and into the mouth, and only in the morning. I've got another young groundhog this year climbing the tree after the berries. He goes up easily, but to get down he has to go way out to the end of a branch until it bends close to the ground, so he can drop off.

There's a wild black raspberry plant taking over the hosta bed along the front and side of the garage. Every year I risk "the death of a thousand cuts" to cut it back, and every year it returns. The berries are especially juicy this year, I eat a handful or two every time I go out to the car, and I'm thinking maybe the better plan would be to cut back the hostas and let the raspberries have that bed. The hostas bore me. Of the ten or more plants, only one is variegated, the rest are a plain flat green, and hostas have butt-ugly flowers.

I may be shooting myself in the foot. One unrestrained raspberry plant would happily take over my entire yard in three years. AND, raspberries attract bears.

Anybody know a way to corral raspberries short of surrounding them with a six-foot apron of concrete?
.

1300 Museum With Helper

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

They brought in a helper for me today. We had 60-some envelopes to stuff with membership cards, various letters, and premium gifts.

The coordinator said, "He's challenged, but he learns quickly." He's sweet, but it think it might have taken longer with him helping. I had him folding letters and putting them in the envelopes, and he was soooooooo precise! I was putting other stuff in the envelopes as he finished them, and stamping and sealing them. When we got down to the last four envelopes for today, I handed him the stamps and told him to put the stamps on those envelopes, and seal them.

He put the stamps on, then he went to the men's room. He took the first of the four envelopes with him. Duh? I heard the water running. When he came back out, the flap of the envelope was soaked, and he was frustrated because it wouldn't stick.

I licked and sealed the other three real quick, while he was waving that one in the air trying to dry it.

We got only 24 done.

One of them is covered in tape.

More to do tomorrow.
.

1289 More Museum Day

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Back to the Maritime Museum today, to process last month's renewals forms and payments. There's about 65 of them, and in three and a half hours I got through about 40. I'll have to go in tomorrow to finish.

I talked to the volunteer coordinator, Betty, about the envelope stuffing. She kept interrupting to object, and I got mad. I don't often snap, but this time I did. I told her to please shut up the hell up and hear me through to the end.

When I got to the end, she agreed with me. Wonder of all wonders. She said to write it all up and submit it to Russ. He may or may not have to take it to the Board.

It took me three hours to stuff 24 envelopes yesterday for the April renewals, and tomorrow or next week I'll have to stuff 65! And, when Betty took the 24 to the post office yesterday to mail them, because of the different premiums for the different membership levels stuffed into them, and the differing amounts of paper, every single one of them had to be weighed separately to calculate the postage.

But from talking with Betty, I learned that arguing "time" isn't going to get me anywhere. I'll have to approach it from a cost angle.

Many of the premiums are such that they probably get immediately tossed into the trash (the window decals, magnets, maybe even the notecards). And yet each of them does cost the museum some amount. Plus, postage has just gone up, and if gas prices continue to rise it will likely go up again, so mailing premiums that most people don't really want is an extravagance.

The two changes I'd like to make are to:
1) Consolidate the new and returning members' letters into one. No one will be offended if it's not personal. And...
2a) Do away with the premiums altogether. Betty says that the premiums are to encourage people to join, but really! No one is going to pay $50 for a "friend" membership just to get a randomly chosen refrigerator magnet with a photo of a lighthouse on it, when they can buy one in the gift shop for less than a tenth of that. All members get free admission, and a 10% discount on all merchandise and events anyway. What more do they need? If Russ or the Board insist on the premiums, then...
2b) Print up a paper coupon for inclusion in the envelope, which will allow the member to show his membership card and the coupon in the gift shop, and select a gift or a rebate appropriate to the membership level. If members want the premium, and live too far away to visit the gift shop, then they can request that it be mailed. That's still cheaper than mailing them in mass to everyone.

I have to go in tomorrow. And probably next Monday. When I have so much yard work and house work I should be doing. This is exactly the situation I wanted to avoid when I kept refusing any volunteer assignments with continuing responsibility!!!!!!

Unhappiness.

I didn't write it yesterday, but I came seriously very very close to saying "I quit", and walking out, when the data base was screwing up on searches again. NO STRESS ALLOWED!

I didn't, only because no one else knows the procedures, and I didn't want to leave them in the lurch.

Once I get this envelope stuffing situation under control (or determine that the powers that be refuse to recognize it as a problem needing fixing), I'm going to write up the procedures to be followed in such a way, with such clarity, that an idiot can pick them up in mid-month and follow them. Once those things are done,

the next time the stress starts

I will feel able to quit and walk out

without feeling the least bit guilty or worrying about what anyone thinks.

So there.
.

1287 Museum Complaints

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

If you aren't me, don't bother reading this. I just need to blow off steam.

Today I went to the museum. I needed to send membership cards to 24 people who had newly joined or renewed their membership last month.

Sounds simple.

Everybody gets a envelope of paper - a "thank you" letter, a "please consider volunteering" letter, a "membership levels and benefits" sheet, their personalized membership card, and a "matching grants reminder". That's the basic package.

However, there are like eight different levels of membership. Each of those different levels gets a different "premium", ranging from nothing through a window decal, or a lighthouse magnet, or river scene notecards, and on up to a copy of a book on river history. The mid-levels and up also get another membership card that gets them discounts in other museums.

Also, the "thank you" letter is different for new members from that sent to renewing members.

Oh, and a member can check "send no premium", in which case they get just the basic stuff for their level.

Now, let's see ---

That's 8(levels) x 2 (premium/no premium) x 2 (new/renewing) = 32 possible envelope stuffing permutations!

Which means very flippin' one of the envelopes has to be put together individually! And the computer printout that I work from doesn't say whether they are new or renewing, so I have to go back to the original hardcopy forms to figure that out.

Whoever decided what should be done had no thought about how it would have to be done.

Freakin' idiots.

It ought to be a standard packet for everyone. Period. Generalize the thank-you letter. As to the premiums, if they are necessary (which I question) I'd say include a coupon in each packet, and if they bring it in to the museum gift shop, they get their gift, or a discount on a purchase, value depending on their membership level.

This month was relatively easy because there were only 24 envelopes.

Can't wait for the next batch. That'll be about 50.

I think I'm going to have to come up with an argument and a presentation. I wish I knew to whom I should present it. That place has too many chiefs.
.

1286 Museum Photos

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

I took some pictures with my tiny toy camera today:

The Hudson River Maritime Museum entrance. The striped barrel is there because the city is working on the curbs and sidewalks.


This is a view of the Rondout Creek behind the museum. The piles of brick are for a new walkway they're building.


This is the Rip Van Winkle tour boat passing the museum. Oil tanks on the shore behind it. It's carrying a load of schoolchildren, most of whom descended on the museum shortly after the photo was taken.


Another view of the Rip.

.

1279 I'm Off Dial-up!

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Today I went to the museum. The showrooms and gift shop were open, but there was no one upstairs in the offices, so I didn't stay. It would be terribly hot up there, and I didn't want to mess with windows or a/c. I'll have to try again on Tuesday.

We've had thunder and lightening the past four days, which causes a lot of static on the phone lines, which means my dial-up connection wouldn't stay up long enough for me to read one piece of email all the way through, let alone reply to it. So I decided to stop by Office Max and use their free WiFi.

Well, it didn't seem to be up, and no one there seemed to know how to check it.

I got mad.

I've had it.

Cell phones and Blackberries and everything else can get to the internet from anywhere, and by damn I want to too!

I talked to a kid at Office Max about exactly how I go about making that happen. Today was his first day working there, which means he was a lot more helpful than otherwise. Right across the street was a cell phone store, and after explaining to me what I should ask for, he sent me there.

I walked in the door of the cell phone store, pointed to a poster on the wall, and said "I want that!"

One half hour later I was sitting in an Applebee's eating a grilled cheese and surfing happily.

The equipment is a thingy about the size of two end-to-end Zippo lighters, that plugs into a USB port. I can get to the internet from any location that has cell reception. Unlimited use. No "roaming". I don't know what to call it, but it appears to be as fast as WiFi.

I can use it anywhere in my house, everywhere anywhere! Even the bathtub! I can finally watch videos on youtube! I'm very happy.

The cost is about $60 per month, which sounded high at first, until I realized that I can get rid of the second phone line in the house, and cancel the ISP service, thus saving $45 per month, so it's actually an increase of only $15 per month, and I'll happily pay that. The savings in reconnect time and download waiting time alone is worth 50 cents a day.

And I can thumb my nose at hotels that want to charge for internet connection. That alone had cost me about $40 in the month of May. Now I'm bringing my own connection. Nya nya.

So far, I'm happy. I've got 30 days to confirm that, then I'm locked in.
.

1254 Fried Day

Friday, May 18, 2007

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights I got to bed before midnight, and was up about 8 am. Said "oh what a good girl am I" and decided to do that some more.

Last night I went to the Third Thursday Mensa dinner (Zig, Bets, Roman, and me), got home about 9 pm, and then lost track of time. I crawled into bed about 1:45 am, worked on some crossword puzzles, and didn't fall asleep until after 5 am. I don't know why. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just couldn't get to sleep. I woke up a few minutes before noon.

I had taken a rather powerful antihistamine before leaving for dinner last night, and maybe that's what kept me awake, but I don't really think so because the dose was supposed to be repeated every 4 hours, so I don't see how it could have lasted for 12. I dunno.

Piper called before I'd even had my morning yogurt, and we decided to meet for late lunch and conversation. I had a screwdriver. For breakfast. Bad girl.

Then I stayed in his office for a few hours to use the WiFi to peruse a backlog of videos people had recommended or had sent me. At one point a client came in, so I wandered off for a bit to the antique shop around the corner, where I found a beautiful ring. It's a rectangular red stone set crosswise on the finger, in a sterling silver antique-looking setting, with marquisite (sp?) on the sides - for $20. It looks like a ruby! It can't be at that price, in silver rather than gold, but it is a beautiful ring.

You know, I'm always finding very beautiful rings in antique shops, yard sales, and at auctions, and what's amazing is that they always fit me perfectly. Then one day I realized that I wear an unusually small size (4.5 to 5.5), and the reason that these beautiful rings that fit me perfectly are sitting there waiting for me, not already bought, is that they fit hardly anyone else who might have been tempted. Cool.

Got home about 5 pm and got an almost immediate call from Russ at the museum. He wanted to know exactly what the problem was with the membership data base, so he could work on it. I described what was happening, and he said yeah, he'd seen that before, which felt good because that means I probably didn't cause it.

Then FirstWoman called. It had been a while since we had talked (I had assumed she'd be at last night's dinner, and was disappointed when she wasn't - especially since I had finally remembered to bring some disks I owe her), so we were on the phone for a while.

Then Russ called back - he was able to display the correct labels, and wanted to know if I could come in next Tuesday so I could try it while he was there. Oops, next Tuesday I'll be at Habitat. He'll be away for two weeks starting Wednesday. Sigh. So he's going to print the labels I need this evening, and they'll be in my mailbox for whenever I can get in next week.

I forgot to tell him that I hadn't tried printing the membership cards. I hope there's no problem with them. Oh, bleck.
.

1211 Tuesday and Wednesday

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Yesterday I paid the estimated tax, filled the gas tank, shopped for groceries, wrote and sent a letter to old friend Danny to ask if he and his wife would be able to meet me for dinner while I'm at the Gathering in Maryland at the end of May, and went to Office Max to see if the laptop would be able to connect through their free WiFi. Bad news.

The hardware locates the wireless networks and even connects, but then I get an error message that it "cannot connect to the internet". Hercules, who had seen this two weeks ago, had said it looks like the hardware is ok, but the software, Windows or Internet Explorer, is screwing up. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and make a call to service.

On the way home from Office Max I stopped at Wendy's. I had a craving for french fries. All I'd had to eat all day was oatmeal. I knew I needed real vegetables, too, so I bought a salad, which I brought home for later. But later I wasn't hungry, so it didn't get eaten. It's huge, so I had figured it would be good for two meals, yesterday's dinner and today's.

This morning I got up late, so I rushed to get to the museum by 1 pm to handle a backlog of memberships. When I got there, the door was locked, and there were no cars parked outside. The Rondout creek is over its banks and lapping against the museum foundation - I'm sure the basement must be flooded. I wondered if maybe that's why no one was there. Even if they're out for lunch, there should be a car or two there.

The road was blocked off just past the museum. It looks like all of lower Kingston is flooded.

I decided to walk around the Rondout district (higher ground) a bit, see what shops and restaurants are new. I ended up having lunch, pulled pork and salad, at the Ship to Shore. It's very fancy and gentrified now. Twenty years ago it was pretty much a beer, wine, and hamburger place. Mensa used to do a Yahtzee TGIF there every Friday. I can't see playing Yahtzee there now....

I wandered through a few boutiques ($40 necklaces On Sale! for only $200!!), and got back to my car at 3 pm, just in time to see the museum director pull in. She saw me and waved, but it was too late for me to start processing memberships, so I left.

I really truly hate being under pressure to get stuff done on any kind of schedule. I am determined to enjoy retirement. I have been very clear right from the beginning of this volunteer gig that I want to just show up when I can, and do jobs that always need doing, and are finished when I leave - like painting walls, cleaning floors, caulking windows, weeding flowerbeds, filling in at the cash register in the gift shop, setting up for events. I don't know how on earth I got talked into this membership thing. It's an ongoing responsibility with time requirements, which is EXACTLY what I didn't want! Someone, someday, is going to complain about the buildup in the "Membership ToDo" box, and I'm going to hand it to them and say, "You do it", and walk out and never return. No one can say they haven't been warned.

I refuse to give up my freedom for this.

Well, anyway, having eaten lunch in the Rondout, I don't want that salad in the refrigerator. Tomorrow is the Third Thursday Therapy dinner in Poughkeepsie. Saturday I'll be having lunch and dinner with The Man in NYC. So the whole salad will have to be eaten on Friday - if it's still good by then - but Friday I have to try for the museum again, and I hate to take it with me.

Damn. I do this all the time. Is it any wonder I hate schedules. It's WORK for me!
.