Dinner and dancing…

I may be published again! Woohoo! This time it won’t be fiction, but an article in a technical journal.

From: “George F. Hayhoe” 12/09/2004 09:12 AM
To: John Martin

Subject: RE: Potential Article for Techcom

Hi John–

Thanks for sending me the paper you wrote for Susan Katz’s course. It looks quite interesting, and with your permission, I will send it off for review.

I noticed a few things that would need to be addressed should the manuscript be accepted for publication.

1. The boxed definitions at the beginning of the paper would need to be changed to a figure or worked into a prose paragraph. Our style doesn’t support the definitions as they stand.

2. Your Figure 3 relies on color, which would not be available. You would need to rework the figure to get around the dependence on color.

3. The reference citations would need to be converted to Chicago style.

I think these are very minor details, but you might want to think about how you would approach the first two.

–George
Editor, Technical Communication Magazine

I received a $250 award from my management team as “a small token of our appreciation for all the work you did on ISO for us this past year.”

I stopped by “If It’s Paper” on the way home to see if I could get some 5×7 stationery to use for my holiday letter this year so it would fit in the same envelope with my photo cards. No luck. The people in there were very helpful though. They suggested a lot of “alternatives,” but were pushy enough only to seem like they were more interested in my being successful with what I wanted to do as opposed to them making a sale.

I stopped by The Reader’s Corner used book store on Hillsborough Street to pick up a copy of The Nuclear Age. I was caught way off guard when he said, “$8.00.” I thought this was a used book store. I was even more surprised when I looked at the original price printed on the book, which said, “7.95.” Oh well, I can afford it, and I need the book. I left without saying anything, but thought, The next time I’ll surely ask how much something is when I call to check its availability.

I went to the library and turned in the library copy of The Nuclear Age, which Mary has on hold, waiting for my copy to be returned.

It was about 6:45, and I had to be at Irregardless between 7:15 and 7:30. I stopped by the YMCA on Hillsborough Street, and turned in the membership card I had found on the floor of Flex last Monday, I think it was. The lady behind the counter was busy, and it looked like she just threw it in a box over to the side.

I got to Irregardless at about 7:00, and had a bourbon and coke at the bar, while reading some of The Nuclear Age. I also bought two gift certificates from there for our EAGLE party gifts tomorrow night.

Randy and Jennifer arrived at about 7:25, and we were seated. We had the Hummus appetizer, then salads all around. Jennifer and I both had the “House Special,” which consisted of the salad, Portobello Mushroom-stuffed Ravioli, and a choice of apple or pumpkin pie for dessert.” Randy got the Baked Salmon. I had another bourbon and coke. They didn’t drink. The ravioli was out of this world.

We had good conversation during dinner, a fun topic being how, especially Jennifer and I, are grammar fanatics, and feel the need to make corrections in public places, too. She told a funny one about a Valentine’s Day Card website that she got all up in arms about, and sent feedback to the people about something wrong on one of the cards — I think it was using “your” instead of “you’re.” Then a year later, she noticed it was still wrong, and she wrote back, “I told you people a year ago that this card was wrong!” LOL She also told some salesperson in a Hecht’s that one of the signs they had up about a sale had the wrong word, or some grammar error, on it. “I’ll let the management know,” the lady said peering over her pince-nez. Jennifer’s my hero!

It was a great dinner, and great company. They split the tab at the end, as this dinner was in appreciation for my leadership in helping the organization get ISO certified this past year. Sweet.

Dancing was fun tonight, and there were several newbies. Carl lead two lessons, teaching easy ones for the sake of the new folks. He taught Bumpers and the Circle Jerk. My favorite dances of the night were Schottische with Robert and a Shadow Dance with Joe. Michael got a little snippy about the fan tonight, but in the end, realized it was pissing me off that he kept turning it off, and eventually left it alone.

Shawn and I did a shot. I got us Wild Turkey and Rumplemintz, shaken over ice, then strained. Those damn shots were still $8.00 a piece. That’s ridiculous. They sure are good, though.

Toward the end of the evening, Adam played Tammy Wynette’s “Till I Can Make It On My Own,” and all the Sordid Lives fans went nuts.

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