First thing this morning, I wrote, by hand (that ancient art) in three greeting cards: a sympathy card, a “just because” card, and a thank you card.
En route to my morning coffee, I dropped them off at the post office that’s two blocks down from my office. Having such things around me is one of my favorite things about working for NCSU.
During lunch, I walked to the State Employees Credit Union, two blocks in the opposite direction of the post office, and I entered into a long line from which I saw two tellers clicking and typing away at stations that have “Please Use Next Window” in front of them. Evidently, they were doing credit union business that was more important than serving customers who were waiting in line. But I digress…
Of the two stations that were open, both had customers doing more than a quick transaction. One of the two tellers of those two stations was having a conversation, loud enough to hear in the line, with a young college kid. It went something like this:
Student: So, can you tell me exactly when I overdrew?
Teller: Well, on October 3rd, you electronically moved $1.83 from checking into savings. And then, you wrote a $3.00 check.
Student (with attitude): So you’re telling me—$1.17—that’s what made me overdraw?
Uh, what part of negative numbers don’t you understand? It’s as negative at -$0.01 as it is at -$2000.01.
To be honest, he lost me at the $1.83 transfer to savings, not to mention the $3.00 check. Get it together. You’re a young adult now.
I had a productive day at work today, finishing up an OIT Expo ’08 handout for Dan and the AVTech/ClassTech teams, and getting halfway through a similar handout for the Security and Compliance team.
I attended a Drupal information architecture-type meeting with Jude, Jen, and Alan (one of our customers), and I got started folding my 100 copies of the OIT Services trifold for the expo on Thursday. I took the rest home with me.
I listened to some NPR podcasts both to and from work today, including one called, “1000 Essential Recordings You Must Hear;” another called, “Covering San Quentin: A Behind-the-Scenes Look” at how, among other things, the gymnsium has become one massive cell; and a gem called, “How to Pack Everything You Own in One Bag.”
Of course, with the one bag, 44-pound limit for luggage on my upcoming China trip, my ears perked right up on this one! After listening to it, I posted this to our delegation Yahoo group:
| This investment of 5 minutes and 13 seconds might be the only chance most of will have of even coming close to packing what we need with a 44-pound weight limit.
It’s a podcast, but you can listen to it directly from your laptop or desktop. Doug Dyment, whose Web site onebag.com is devoted to the art of traveling light, is planning an international trip to both India and Russia, two places with very different climates, and he’s doing it all in one CARRY ON bag. His two biggest tricks: Don’t let any space go unused, and wrap your clothes in bundles. I’d never heard of the bundling technique, and really didn’t get it until I looked at the diagram on the NPR website:  Listen to, or read the transcript of, the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90297199 Best, |
At home, I had dinner, folded the rest of those trifold brochures, and had instant message conversations with both Robert and Joe.
I got to bed at a decent hour. Yay.