Finally Friday
This is definitely a TGIF that I have been looking forward to. Just talked to Decy a few minutes ago. She and Grandma Suzie are at the airport in Newark returning the car. They checked into the hotel about 4 hours ago. In about 14 hours Decy begins the trek back to Indonesia.
Apparently Grandma Suzie’s TomTom was again not working well so they were very challenged in getting back to Newark and to the airport. Reportedly they got lost a number of times. Good news was there was plenty of time as the flights are not until tomorrow, and they were travelling during daylight hours.
However, apparently the people at the Holiday Inn at the Newark Airport Hotel were NOT very nice – and it was the Manager they were dealing with. Decy is going to get me more of the details and I will file a complaint. But, from what I understand the hotel almost refused to let Decy check in because the hotel reservation was in my name. Apparently the hotel kept saying it was against the law. Guess it didn’t matter that a) she had a copy of the confirmation, b) she had a passport showing the same last name, c) she had a copy of our marriage certificate, and d) she had the credit card that the reservation was made with. This hotel is on my “urgh” list right now anyway, because of the lack of electricity for several hours in 100 degree heat last time (2 weeks ago) …. and nobody helping Grandma Suzie with the luggage.
As for us in Indonesia, we are doing fine. Thasya had a friend Erika spend the night with her last night. They took off for the upstairs around 930pm, while I worked a bit more. I tried going to bed last night, but couldn’t so I wandered to the kitchen about midnight (with my clothes on) … suddenly I see light switches going on and off upstairs, I hear giggles, and I see a flashlight beam. A few minutes later Thasya and Erika are coming downstairs. They make it almost to the bottom of the stairs (its dark because I didn’t turn on the lights) …. so I say to them before they get to close to me “hey, what are you doing” … talk about screams !!! Yowser. Anyway, they were coming downstairs to get some water (they didn’t have a glass upstairs) … so they did and then they scurried off to bed. I went to bed about 1215am … finally, and then up at 320am …. urgh !
I spent most of yesterday carefully reviewing and editing the draft audit report on our production organization. Overall, it looked very fair and reasonable. We must finalize it over the weekend and then send it back to audit on Monday morning. It must go through one more review in Houston … and then it will be issued sometime (all going well) next week. As a side bar, over a month ago I took all the preliminary audit comments and sorted and stacked them into more important and less important issues. Then I crafted an opinion based on the “facts”. Interestingly enough I was virtually spot on …. this is good, and very important, because that means I understand that the auditors think are important …. thus, my advice to the business is more appropriate.
I am also working on a controls-related poster on gifts and entertainment. I had one poster that wasn’t too bad …. but it was wordy …. and the controls committee seem to like better the posters I put together that have more pics and are a bit “cutesy” … so it was back to the drawing board literally and figuratively. I worked on it just a bit in the office yesterday …. but quite a bit last night. I think it is now finished but need to see how it looks printed …. and then send it out for final review.
Sadly, I have a ton of “must do” work for Saturday. But, before I do that …. I am going to a going away party for two managers – that is tonight at the Shangri-La hotel.
Oh yeah, for some reason I kept thinking Decy would be home tomorrow (Saturday). That is not true – she is home on Sunday … poor, poor me. Guess I kept getting confused with my own itinerary where I came home on Saturday last May …. and will do so again in August.
And on that note, I better close this email. I have a number of things I need to do.
Ciao ciao
