When is the fun?

I have spent most of this week working on the real estate book. For those of you who have been paying attention, I spent most of Christmas break working on the same thing. I have literally not gotten dressed multiple days in a row, spending 16 hours on the computer typing madly.

The good news, of course, is that I have made serious progress. My poor friend PR still must do an impressive amount of editing to get it publication ready, and I haven't even begun the cleaning up the design portion of my work, but I'm getting closer.

I still have a couple of things I need to do for school. (Of course, I postpone those for as long as I can.)

Today, I am finally getting to do something fun. I'm meeting up with my friend, Colleyville. I love her. She makes me want to be a better person, and she's big fun. Also, she's a hellova designer, so I get to pick her brain about ideas for the house.

I meet with The Boys tomorrow morning, so I pretty much need to have my act together. Then I'll be on the final 48 hours of the week having accomplished almost nothing on my list. It's almost demoralizing.

Oh, and if I don't get my act together soon, I'm never going to get to study for the real estate exam and take the stupid thing.

The Real Estate Book From Hell

Some of you may remember my extensive history working on this book. I could try to make a fun link but which blog post beoching about it could I possible use?

At any rate, we finished the book, it looked beautiful and The Boys were immediately ready to start working on the next edition to occur in five years as they add in the 10 people they planned to induct during that period. The first two being inducted? Nice people, but one of them damn near has been the death of me as I try to get pictures and interviews so that I can write about her.

Today my luck turned. I FINALLY managed to speak with one of her besties who gave me great stories and great info to use as I write. I am beside myself with excitement.

If I can get this sucker done, then maybe The Boys won't be so displeased and since I have ANOTHER 2 bios to write over spring break, we would all like to move on past the current two . . . Oh, and I could the sheckles when I get paid!!

The Book Party

The fa la la of the season . . . The infamous, long awaited, good time book party. Al Biernet's was a great place to have the party. There were lots of people there. My friend KM showed up which was great because she kept me company when there was a lull in the adulations. : )

The Boys spoke and I just said that I was glad that I got to be a part of the book. One of the elder book recipients had me sign his book. (Everyone all together "aaawwwwwww")

The Bruton Family. The woman second from the right is Bruton's widow. Too much work done. nuf said. Stephanie, bless her heart, is the admin assistant to one of the men I had the hardest times getting an interview with. She was always polite and kind on the phone, so it was a lot of fun to see her at the party. The author being entertained by a Hall of Fame recipient and members of the committee aka "The Boys."


If you look very closely, you can see the half empty Cosmo on the table that the author wisely put down so that there would be no photos of her drinking it up at the party (in case they made it into the papers and her students should see her tilting a few back.) That's a no go ghost rider.

Also, please note the thoughtful, almost pensive look on the author. You might think she is paying attention to the thought provoking words of DDH. Nope, she is thinking, "I wonder how much they'll pay me to do the next part of this. Hmm, I wonder if I could just get them to pay me in advance. . .yeah, that's the ticket, then I could get the new and improved closet in the master bedroom. That would be great. I wonder if we are going to have dinner here. I bet it would be really good."

They did, indeed, eat dinner at Al Biernet's, and indeed, it was super yummy.

Dinner with the Boys

So, we met up at Truluck's on McKinney Tuesday night. It was very nice. We began with crab claws. (Turns out they were soaked in serious butter, and I would pay for that culinary choice later.) Then I had steak, mash potatoes and mushrooms. Yummy. (Ok, I actually ordered it, but then I got to eat leftovers for a delightful week.) The waiter even included a piece of chocolate cake in the doggy bag. Thhhheeeennnnn the boys ordered fruit and cream. I had to have that in the doggy bag too. Thheeeennnn he gave me the left over green beans for the dogs.

I made it home by about 10:30. Filled to the brim!

The book from Hell

So, my friend Vickie at the Jostens Plant in Topeka, Kansas lovingly wrapped up the first book off the press to send to me. Isn't it beautiful? Doesn't the coffee table book look amazing on the coffee table? I thought you might enjoy seeing it opened to one of the spreads. Isn't it pretty? oooohhhhhhh I say pppprrreeeettttttyyyyy. Little did I know that part of her excitement was because she had a special note for me to read. Not a note, so much as a poem. How is that? How many people get books delivered with poems? I told Tread I'm expecting a poem from him when this year's book arrives. He told me fat chance. Actually, I have a better chance getting a poem from John (He worked with the girls this summer and fall coming up with ideas and such for designing). He's artsy, but could it equal this poem ? I say no.

So, without further ado the poem from Vickie:


Here it is the book from hell.
But of course you know it all too well,
We have printed it, reprinted it, and printed it again.
It was so much fun, but certainly not part of the plan.

It has 21 tip-ins all inserted with love
And trimmed to perfection and watched from above.
While it is nearing the end, it is not quite done.
I just wanted you to be first since from you it has come.

All your blood, sweart and tears all rolled up into one
The most fabulous book under the sun.
Here's a hint for the very next time
You even consider doing this or taking one single dime.

Don't go there my friend,t he cost is too heavy
It would have probably been easier to make a Chevy.
Write a novel, a kids book or just take notes
Or better yet, go on vacation and take a boat.

But whatever you do don't call me.
I will be in Hawaii or just having tea.
Either way it goes, this book on the table,
Will be a constant reminder of how we were able

To risk it all and still keep our cool
An ending up with a book that is beautiful.

Breathe, Breathe, Breathe

Well, first I want to say since sending the letter to D&D, it has been radio silence. I can't begin to describe how nice it is to not hear from them.

Shawn Northcutt . . . I don't even know what to say. His lack of response is shocking. He finally responded to an email Robert sent. He then sent a separate email to me that I forwarded to the committee. The email he sent to me was blah, blah, blah, it's not my fault, blah, blah, blah, it is really your fault, blah, blah blah, I am a victim, blah, blah, blah it's not my fault. I so desperately want to respond, but I keep reminding myself that none of it will do any good.

Robert responded to the email I forwarded. While I was meeting with the committee this afternoon, Shawn sent an email to Robert suggesting he no longer work on the Book. I could hear the hallelujah chorus playing in the background. Robert asked me to respond. I sat staring at the screen thinking of all the responses I wanted to make. Instead I just said, the committee appreciates and accepts your proposal. Please send a bill after all photos have been delivered.

I received a phone call today from one of the inductees. He said Shawn was supposed to be at his house at 10am to take his photo. At 11am they got a phone call saying he had a flat tire, was waiting for help and would be on his way. At 2pm when I got the call, Shawn had neither made contact again nor shown up. sigh.

Now, as far as the yearbook pictures go, I'm still waiting on those. He is supposed to be at the high school on Friday to shoot the last 30 kids or so that haven't been photographed. He is supposed to submit the disk of senior photos to the plant by Friday, December 7th. Shall we take wagers on whether or not that happens?

The meeting with the boys lasted about 3 hours. We got through a ton of stuff. My brain hurts right now, but all I can think is, Wow I may actually get this sucker done.

Today at school, I worked with the editors on the people pages. In ten years at HP I have gotten a call every year from the plant that some portion of the people pages are wrong. All those head shots and we have to have the right number of pages and boxes for all the little heads. Toooooo many numbers. Aaauuugggghhhhh

Did I mention that Sabrina and Buddy are now sleeping in kennels at night? They are really funny. I put Buddy in his, and then Sabrina tries to hide under the bed. So I turn the light out and act like I'm going to leave her under the bed. Within thirty seconds she comes hopping up on the bed, silly girl. Then she goes into her kennel.

Time Flies

It is amazing that I think I am keeping up with the blog, and then I realize it has been four days since I last posted.

Let's see . . .

Monday morning I got a call from Dave, very politely, letting me know that the dogs had barked that morning and that they had barked the evening before after 10:30. I'd like to once more point out that when they bark literally that is what they do. Bark. Like once or twice. Not incessant. At any rate, I didn't get the call. He tried to be tricky and call from the home number, but I didn't recognize it, so I didn't answer.

Later, he called that night to very politely let me know that he had a very early flight, so he would be going to bed early, would I keep the dogs in. Sure, no problem. I didn't let them out after 8. Now, I did get to clean up a gawd awful mess, courtesy of Buddy, in the dining room.

I was up really late Sunday and Monday working on spreads for The Book. I met with the boys at 11am Tuesday. I think they were pleased with what they saw. They had a lot of stuff they wanted modified, so I told them I would make the changes and submit to them as pdfs.

My 1pm yesterday my head felt like it was in a vice. By 2pm when my friend Roseanne strolled by my room, I had the lights out in the office and my head hanging over the trashcan. She said she would watch my class the last part of the period, so I headed home. I took a bath (always a requirement) and went to bed. I woke up at about 7 . . .nearly had a heart attack thinking I was going to be late for work. I woke up enough once I was moving to think, it could still be night which thank heavens it was.

I have another headache today. Started about an hour ago. I hate this. I had a message from my friend Cindy that she was reading about sleep apnea and having slept with me more than once, she feels that I might be a candidate for it. Headaches are also caused by sleep apnea. I think I'm going to make an appt to see my doctor about my sinus issues and then talk about the sleep thing.

At any rate, I may be loosing another night of work if I go home and go to bed again. sigh.

Feeling snakebit

Lowlights of yesterday:

I got a phone call from Kevin, the assistant to Shawn Northcutt. Shawn is not only the photographer for the senior class at Highland Park, but also the photographer for the book. In addition he was helping me with the template designs for the pages of The Book (read that as he was doing them.) Kevin called to tell me that Shawn wasn't able to get to them before he went out of town. I literally started crying. I couldn't stop it. It was instantaneous. My plan had me working all weekend like the devil to meet this deadline. I don't know what I am going to do now. I am totally freaked out. Shawn sent a text later in the day to the effect of "when you aren't mad anymore." My response was that I'm not mad, I'm totally stressing.

Without even speaking with Scooby I was once again astounded by his stupidity. For those that don't know Adobe Creative Suites (photoshop and Indesign) is what 90% of the journalism programs in America use. It can be bought for the Mac platform or the PC platform.

The dept chair for technology told me that the school is going to buy a site license for Adobe Creative Suites (PC). Great, I asked if he would find out how much 30 computer licenses for macs would cost. He came back a few minutes later, said he had talked to Scooby and Scoobs thought that you didn't have to buy separately for Mac and PC. I just looked at him dumbfounded. Seriously, to think that Scooby has to be a total freaking idiot.

In addition, I was talking to a teacher who told me he had heard that we really went to town to try to hire Scooby and helped pay for him to live in Highland Park and a bunch of stuff. Huh?? Where did he hear that?? Scooby. Then he told me he had heard that Scooby won all of these awards and was one of the best in the country. Double huh? Yup, heard it from Scooby.

It is Saturday, I had a kid that wanted to come up and get some work done. I thought great, I could get a couple of hours of work done too. Nope, just like last weekend, the server and email are down. It is sooo frustrating!! I could scream.

Work progresses on the book

Got a lot done today. Lots of calls, emails and getting stuff I need. Let's hope it continues.