Monthly Archives: April 2008

Goldakevtch

28 Monday Apr 2008

Posted by in Cat Diaries

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My name is Goldakevtch. Julie named me after Golda Meir, a former prime minister of Israel, because I’m rather large with wild gray hair. Kevtch is Yiddish for crabby, which is my usual state-of-mind. Who can blame me?
 
When Julie was having her house built in Sherwood, Oregon, she saw me wandering across the weedy lot. Many months later, after her house had been built, she spotted me. Stupidly, I let her pick me up and drag me into her house. Being semi-feral, I bit, clawed, yeowled, kicked, and did everything possible to mutilate her.
 
I hated people. My previous owners allowed my fur to get matted. Underneath the mats were open sores. Julie immediately brought me to the vet to be shaved and given antibiotics.
 
Because my hair is very fine and thick, it tends to knot and mat very easily. Living in Texas made it worse. Well, I never got used to brushing. I still bite (hard) and claw whenever I see a brush. So periodically, Julie has to cut out the mats.
 
Happily, I’m back in the Pacific Northwest so I can keep my thick coat for most of the year. I need it for lounging on the deck and ocassionally venturing onto the grass to catch a bug or two.
 
 Golda looking swanky 

Where Did April Go?

28 Monday Apr 2008

Posted by in Seattle

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I can’t believe that I haven’t written for over a month! My excuse, like everyone’s excuse, I was busy!
 
April was unusually hectic with the start of the final three months of Microsoft’s fiscal year and Rich and I throwing ourselves into finishing the flooring at our Kirkland house. First, a comment or two about my job. While I was thrilled to have been hired by Microsoft, the job description provided during the interviews bore no resemblance to the actual job. Instead of doing a three-year strategy, I’ve been doing content management for a 4,000-page website!
 
The silver lining (and it’s a huge lining) is that I work for Microsoft whose slogan is "Your potential. Our passion." Within a few months of starting on the job, I created a Powerpoint presentation that showcased how the website could be revised. This document became the starting point for the transformation of the site. I’ve seen written several other strategy documents and created numerous mock-ups of potential templates and navigation scheme.
 
In spite of my recognized strategic vision, I’m still stuck in the weeds. Not a problem. In late fall, I entered a contest and became a seed finalist for one of my ideas. This idea provided the groundwork for collaborating with an engineer. Together we wrote a Microsoft ThinkWeek paper, which a few weeks ago was reviewed by Bill Gates. Okay, he reviews about a quarter of the 400 or so papers.
 
The paper also provided an opportunity to pester the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, where I’d eventually like to work. For the past few months, I’ve been doing informational interviews with the group and feel optimistic that after I complete a year in my present job (July 2, 2008), I’ll be able to transition to a better role… possibly with the Health Solutions Group. Yeah!
 
The best news, however, is that two weeks ago, Rich finished putting bamboo flooring in our four bedrooms, hallway, living and dining rooms! That means that last weekend, we were able to bring most of our furniture down from Mount Vernon! We’re months (years) away from finishing everything we want to do, but at least, I get to unpack my collectible, lamps, pillows… pictures… and everything that’s been boxed up for nealry two years!!!!!
 
Check out the finishing of the floors:
 
Dining Room Taping the last few boards