This week was good.
I am in my customers’ good graces, even though the holiday gifts haven’t arrived as yet, the promise of delivery in 5 business days being unfulfilled.
Blessed with sudden entrepreneurial wisdom, I am not overly pissed about the bad behavior of a couple of prospects. Technology sales is a tough gig, especially when it requires the approval of committees. Two people who are real experts counselled: nothing personal, this is a tough scenario for them, too. It makes one appreciate sympathetic colleagues and fair-dealing customers even more.
Our monthly user group meeting was a success. Carl Franklin, the VB guru, travelled most of the day from New London to give us his presentation, and it was extremely well received by a respectably well-attended audience.
The persistent ABS light on the 200,000+ mile Subaru* turned out to be due to a bad battery and not bad brakes.
Good neighbor John fixed the latch on the front storm door and refused cash payment, insisting it took him only “two seconds”.
The CapeCoder.com domain quietly observed its fourth anniversary, and my registration service provider, KISS Computing of Eastham, thoughtfully reminded me that it was time to renew before the domain could be stolen by some Asian porn site.
Compass Bank once again proved itself to be a class act in a sea of financial industry ineptitude. May their tribe increase or at least not be bought out.
And let us also praise companies that permit online bill payment, a blessing for those of us who don’t have a regular cash flow.
Thus grateful for a release by good fortune from weeks of pre-holiday depression, I showed up at my son’s house to babysit the 3 grandkids so that he and his wife could have a night off.
The kids are media junkies, and most of the time when I’m around them, they are fighting and/or watching videos or TV shows, a pasttime which I really (no, REALLY) hate.
Last night was dry and not too cold, so I got the okay to take them out to see Christmas lights for something different.
The younger two – 3 and 6 – were pleased to do this, but the oldest, who is 8, was very unhappy about leaving his video games and other electronic detritus.
First, we went to Heritage Plantation in Sandwich. They have a nice display of lights, some of which even are animated. They have a magnificent carousel and it was open, so even the crabby one gave us a break and managed to enjoy himself for a few minutes by practicing riding “without hands or feet”.
The 6 year old loved the lights, those were her favorite. And once he found its reset button, the 3 year old had fun with the mechanical singing Santa, cackling heartily every time he restarted it.
Crabby wanted to go home at this point, but the other two voted to see more lights, so we went to the Cape Codder resort in Hyannis to see their Enchanted Village. The hotel has a handsome courtyard and they’ve decorated it beautifully for Christmas.
Best of all, they have a bonfire, and marshmallows and sticks available for purchase.
Imagine the glee of three little kids who have pointed sticks in their hands and a huge fire in front of them.
Miraculously, no one was immolated and no one was stabbed.
And when Mr. Crabby settled down for bed, he made it a point to tell me that he had a much better time that if he’d stayed home.
Grandma 1. Video games 0.
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*Real “Capies” have ancient cars, at least 10 years old. It could be one reason why many of us are loathe to drive across the bridges. It is certainly a reason why owners of auto repair shops are generally happy people.