She doesn't work here...

Posted on the break-room bulletin board is a mailing from Fairfield Resorts to Mrs. U.S. Survey, with the salutation "Dear Mrs Survey". Our admin. assistant wrote on it, "She don't work here--never has".

I recall one that arrived at my first employer (the Georgia Geologic Survey) addressed to Miss Georgia G. Survey--made a little more sense.

Never-ending conference calls

Am being rather passive on this afternoon's conference call, probably as a response to the midday call where I both ran the call and took notes...

I will have 5 calls in my 4-day week this week, if I skip the call on Thursday afternoon that I don't think I'd have anything to contribute too. Next week, in contrast, will have no conference calls unless you count the cyberseminar in WebEx that I'll be leading on Monday.

If the phone system dies, it's almost as bad as the Internet going down.

Attaboys (and attagirls)

In between today's conference calls, I went to get my supervisor's signature on something and he gave me a nice Lands End fleece top (the ThermaCheck 100 Half-Zip Pullover) embroidered with the USGS logo. He'd had a little money left here at the end of the fiscal year, and spent it on these for everyone in his section. Well, the women all got one, and I assume the men got some comparable item of clothing also with logo. He delivered it with a nice appreciation for my work this year and my efforts to bring in money for my salary.

Nice top, if the color scheme is a little odd. The top is black with cobalt blue side panels and undersides of sleeves. The logo is USGS green, or maybe even a brighter green than the specified shade. But it's comfy, so who cares?