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Catching up

September 19th, 2014 at 11:31 pm

Good evening, all my fellow SAers. And happy Friday.

A friend at work was raving about how wonderful homemade, or handmade pasta is. So i stopped in at the local Villarina's which specializes in all things pasta.

I bought a frozen entree, eggplant rollatini, and some garlic raviolis, which came to $24. I suppose each entree could serve 2 not-too-hungry people.

I tried the rollatini tonight. It was ok, but nothing to rave about. It was essentially a frozen dinner. I won't likely go back to that place.

I had a very trying afternoon at work over something that only a writer/editor would get upset about. The lawyers at our bank love to capitalize Every Other Word in a letter, and frankly, it looks ridiculous. In some corners, it's known as "vanity capitalization." It's designed to say, we're so important, we cap every other word. You know, that's how they write legal briefs. Well these are customer letters that I write, not legal briefs. It seems the legal people at the bank always assert their whims and preferences. It doesn't matter to them whether it's correct or not. I've never worked for an organization before where lawyers dictate grammar and punctuation and such.

With my pushing and prodding (to a point, these are senior level bank colleagues) my group did make some progress in establishing some reason when it comes to capping. We are, after all, writing to everyday people, not JDs. But they are still capping certain Key Terms, which is driving me nuts.

This silly little problem was hiked all the way up to a very senior level guy who said there are no legal risks involved over not capping these words, but they later squeezed in a few exceptions anyway and becus he had more important things to worry about that day, he said "fine" and they got their way.

Just annoying, but in the grand scheme of things, who cares, as long as I get my paycheck.

In other news, a raccoon or some other unknown animal discovered the basketball-sized hornet nest hanging low in a rhododendron here and demolished the nest. Apparently, hornets make for a tasty treat. I was going to harvest that nest after the first hard frost, but so much for that idea.

The cats have already caught 3 mice here since the nights are getting very cool, and I'm really tired of having to chase a mouse around the house with a box and broom with the cats pitching in. And then they want to snuggle in bed with me. Yuck.

Tomorrow I'm going to my town's annual health fair. I consider it a civic duty to maximize any benefits I can from my high property taxes. I want to get the free cholesterol check to see if my having gone largely vegan has greatly reduced my cholesterol, or not. Or maybe I haven't been as vegan as I thought I was.

After calling a half dozen outfits to try to get started on my front entry door replacement, I finally got a local handyman I've known for years to come and do measurements, but he measured the door, not the "rough opening," and so I still don't know if the door featured on Lowe's website will fit my opening. I have to wait to talk to my guy again, who is also doing some concrete stoop repair for a very reasonable $100 for me next week.

8 Responses to “Catching up”

  1. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1411176316

    That would be very annoying to me as a customer to have a letter or other communication with Every other Word capped.

    I'll be going to a Public Works Dept Health Fair on Wednesday - it's their first one ever! I get to get out of work to go too. Big Grin

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1411189744

    Oohhh, I hear ya. I'm very stringent about lowercasing stuff, but when it comes to disclaimers and other legalese, I've come to realize I can't control the suits.

  3. Jenn Says:
    1411222032

    It's so funny to hear someone else rant about unnecessarily and incorrectly Capitalized words. Engineers do it too. They think words should be capitalized if they're Important (to OUR company)!

    And don't get me started on apostrophes...

  4. My English Castle Says:
    1411224380

    Oh my word, I have found my people. My beginning Writers Like To Capitalize Everything, but by the time they get to a senior-level class, I hope I've cured them.

  5. rob62521 Says:
    1411327201

    The vanity capitalization would drive me nuts. I'm working with some classes on writing and they capitalize anything and everything, even in the middle of words...it drives me crazy.

  6. PatientSaver Says:
    1411329079

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes nuts over this. Interestingly, I found an amusing article about a judge who ordered lawyers to stop capping words.

    http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/bankruptcy_judge_orders_lawyers_to_stop_using_capitalization_with_abandon/

    It perfectly captured my feelings on the subject. I emailed it to my boss and a coworker, and they both cracked up about it. I told them I was going to frame the story.

    They probably don't realize that I was really serious, and this weekend I DID frame the story; I'm bringing it into my office.

  7. CB in the City Says:
    1411394991

    I'm very Sorry to Hear that. In the Fundraising World, where we are all so Lofty and Important, we are forced to Capitalize at the Whim of the Development Officer. It is Incorrect, but it doesn't seem to Matter.

    We also call every graduate an Alumni, which drives me crazy. Alumni is plural. One alumnus, two alumni. Or, if we're talking about women, one alumna, two alumnae. I am not allowed to use the terms correctly!

  8. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1411424393

    @CB - My brother got me a shirt when I got my Master's. It says Uni....... Alumni" When I was in CA a few years ago I ran into a place to pick something up while wearing it. A 65+ lady started going off on how it was incorrect. Smile

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