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THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news. You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Uh, that's affirmative on the million dollar bills.

Ann and I were in Atlanta Oct 28-30. The reason was to celebrate Ann's mom's 91st birthday. On one of the days (the 29th) we decided to visit the Coca Cola Museum. It's really a nice place and the exhibits and collections are first rate. However, the most remarkable thing was what happened after we left the museum. The parking lot adjacent to the museum has a policy that people pay their parking fee when the enter the garage from the museum to get their car, not when they exit the garage to go to the street (the latter is SOP in most places) or when entering the garage to park (this is SOP at sports events). I first got out my wallet at the machine at the garage entrance then realized I didn't have a $10 bill (the parking fee) so I got out my credit card holder and payed this way. In doing this I left my wallet on the parking fee machine. When I got to the car (Ann's mom lent us her red convertible for this), I realized my mistake. I hurried back to the parking fee machine but was too late. Then I went back to the museum gift shop (which can be entered without paying the museum fee) to see if someone had turned in the wallet. No one had but as I was exiting the museum gift shop, the museum security guard (MSG) got a call on his walkie-talkie. It was from the parking lot security guard (PlSG).

This becomes interesting because I happen to carry a bunch of fake million dollar bills in my wallet to use as gags.

PlSG to MSG- we have a wallet that was just lost; over.
MSG to PlSG - We have a guy who says he just lost his wallet; over.
PlSG to MSG - Can he describe it? over.
Me to MSG - It's brown and has a bunch of million dollar bills in it.
MSG to me - Huh. What did you say?
Me to MSG - It's brown and has a bunch of million dollar bills in it.
MSG to PlSG - He says it is brown and has a bunch of million dollar bills in it; over.
PlSG to MSG - Repeat that please (he didn't say 'over')
MSG to PlSG - Brown with some million dollar bills; repeat million dollar bills (didn't say 'over')
pause.. then PlSG - Uh, That's affirmative on the million dollar bills. I'll be right down.

When he arrived, the PlSG also asked me what my birthday was (to verify against my driver's license). I ended up giving both the PlSG and the MSG a million dollar bill (both seems very amused by the whole incident).

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:51 PM

Thursday, October 25, 2007

M in Boston

I was in Boston for a meeting (an international seminar on benefit cost studies). The building we were meeting in was an old mansion, now part of Boston University. It had a beautiful view of the Charles River but didn't have air conditioning and because we had a lot of people in the room, it got pretty warm. We opened the windows but that let in some noise. One evening I saw Ed Deitch who does some part time work at a building near my hotel (the Copley Inn). We walked down to Fenway Park and got there about 45 minutes before the start of the first game of the world series. It was already something of a madhouse by then so we walked back toward town.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:40 PM

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Proposal Evaluation

Yesterday, I spent the day evaluation research proposals. It reminded me of something that happened last week at work. I had sent an email to someone and received an email back indicating that her name had changed. She works in contracts and procurement (now called acquistion management).

I called her up and said that I wish her well but don't know if she changed her name because of a marriage or a divorse. She said it was a marriage. I asked where they got married, where they lived, etc. Then I asked where her husband worked.

"Oh, he works in the Navy Yard down the street and he has a parking space so I get a ride in." she said.

"I bet that looked really good in the power point version of the proposal" I responded.

She got a kick out of the remark.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:55 PM

KBL meets the Dalai Lama

On Oct 22, Ann's mother was at the Ritz-Carlton at a pre- 91st birthday luncheon. The Dalai Lama and his many bodyguards were there.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:50 PM

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The $150/hour man

On the way out on Friday (oct 19), I saw Tom Benedict. He works on the 8th floor and was in the elevator when I got on at the 7th floor. I asked him if he was enjoying his work - he wasn't but he does charge our agency $150/hour with the clock running from the time he leaves home to the time he arrives back (minus lunch). In the elevator with me was my boss's boss. I asked her if she knew Tom. She didn't. Nor did she know about the hiring arrangement or what he did (he is an expert on the collection of State and local highway spending data - which apparently is crucial for an upcoming report to Congress).

When Tom retired, the agency had a difficult time filling the position. They filled it with someone with very little experience. They asked Tom if was interested in helping out. Tom offered to come in as an annuitant one or two days a week for 6 months or so but the agency said they wanted him to conduct intensivel training of the new employee over 5 weeks (later extended to 7 weeks). Tom said he would do it for $150/hour if he was also paid for his commute. At first, our legal folks said it wasn't "customary and reasonable" but then changed their mind.

This might not work as Tom is, by his own admission, not a good trainer. However, if it works it means the agency got the job done for say $60k and were able to use an inexperienced person to take over full time.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:47 PM

First Rain in 5 weeks

Last night we had some heavy rain, with thunder. It was the first rain in 5 weeks.

posted by Martin Weiss # 8:46 PM

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Testing the Standard

I was discussing daily scheduling with G today before work. He had, apparently, stayed up all night washing his clothes and doing reading.

M- So your first class is when?

G - 10:30 am and its my only class

M - Do you plan to come home right after class.

G - No. I'll go to the law library and sleep, then wake up and do some work and then come home.

M - Do the guards ever try to eject you as your dress uh.. superficially resembles that of the homeless?

G- yeah the guards have sometimes told me to move; I just go to another part of the library. I'm testing the elusive 'reasonable man' standard.

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:46 PM

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Who Are You and What Have You Done with My Father

G came home on Oct 12 from school about 1000pm (which is typical for Mondays this semester). He admitted that he had blown $4 by paying for parking at the Metrorail lot even though the gate was open (because it was a federal holiday). His payment had been via force of habit.

M - Kind of like Moses hitting that rock huh!

G - Except not 39 years apart.

M- Oh well, its just a small loss and I might have made that same mistake.

G- (who has accused me of obsessing over trifles) said "Who are you and what have you done with my father?" (he was probably trying to get the remark into the blog and succeeded).

posted by Martin Weiss # 1:36 PM

Monday, October 01, 2007

Mets Collapse; Season Ends (almost)
How Bad Were the Orioles

The 2007 MLB regular season ended today except for a game between SD and Colorado to decide who goes to the NLCS playoffs. The highlight of the season was the collapse of the NYMets. With 17 games to play, the NYMets had a 7 game lead on Philadephia. By the end of the season, the Mets were 1 game behind and out of the running for the wild card in the NLCS (which is decided by winning percentage). This is being hailed as the worst collapse since the Phillies 1964 disaster (that year the Phillies were 90-60 at one point, then lost 10 in a row and finished the season 92-70- they won their final two games). The Washington Nationals accounted for a lot of this collapse with 5 victories in 6 late season games against the Mets (and the Nats were 2-5 against Philadelphi during the late season).

On a separate note let us ponder the awfulness of the Orioles season. The Orioles finished with 69 wins (4 fewer than the Nationals) with a 11-28 record in the final five and a half weeks. It is the 10th year in a row with a losing record and, simultaneously, one of the highest payrolls in MLB. In addition to the 30-3 loss to Texas (discussed below on Aug 23 - game was Aug 22), a few days later, the O's gave up 11 runs in an inning (8th inning Aug 29) against Tampa in a 15-8 loss. A few days later Baltimore was on the losing end of a no hit game thrown by a rookie Red Sox pitcher (Clay Buchholz) in his second MLB start (Sept 1).

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:04 PM

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