Four Shopping Days Until Christmas
I purchased Mrs. Claus' present yesterday. I've been searching for just the right gift for some time now. You can probably imagine that she is not the easiest person in the world to buy a gift for. My basic ground rules are avoid clothes (I can't remember the sizes & my fashion sense is questionable at best), avoid appliances (I'm not sure why.. they seem practical enough for me but Mrs. Claus has told me with no lack of clarity that I am not to give her appliances for Christmas), avoid food (it goes bad), avoid live animals (too messy), get her something she doesn't already have, and try to surprise her. Take all of those variables out of the equation and it gets challenging fairly quickly. Anyway... I was about to give up hope and there it was... in a little specialty shop at a mall in Kansas City. I saw it as I was making my way from the roof-top landing pad to the "meet & greet" area in the center of the mall. I'd love to tell you what it is is but Mrs. Claus does occasionally read the blog and it would ruin the surprise. But trust me... she is going to LOVE this.
Speaking of shopping for gifts, remember that the request deadline this year is at 11:59pm, Friday, December 22nd. There are some exceptions for email & text messages... you can read the details on my 12/03/06 post.
Today was typical of the final crunch week. Alot of meetings and conference calls to deal with last minute fires. A couple of countries revoked their air traffic clearance unexpectedly, another toy manufacturer missed a key delivery date, and the newest weather reports are creating a complete re-assessment of our planned routes (which, in turn, impacts our replenishment strategy and placement of product at each Replenishment Center). And of course, there were all of the mall & special event appearances. I'm not sure if it is the magical spirit of Christmas or the fact that we've simply grown used to it, but nobody seems to panic or get grouchy... we just deal with it. By the end of the day, we had most every issue resolved or adequately mitigated.
We are definitely in crunch week though. Jingle, the rest of the senior staff, and I are all running on adrenaline at this point. In fact, I am not sleeping tonight. Instead, I'm off to inspect the Replenishment Centers with Ollie and Jingle. We'll visit each one tonight to assess their readiness before we begin ramping up shipments to them over the next couple of days. We'll be back in time for the morning production meeting. So I'd better get moving on over to the Flight Operations Center before I'm late.
Good night, all!
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4 comments:
You men are all alike--waiting till the last week to buy your wife's present. I'll bet she bought your's a month ago! But I'm sure she'll love it. Is it in a small package?
The days are FLYING! And soon you will be FLYING, too! :-)
Dear Santa,
just wanted to wish you luck over the next few days, I'm sure they're hectic. I'll make sure to leave a few rum balls out for you (holla!), so stop in at my place fairly late in your rotation (should be easy, I'm in Pacific Time, and all that's after that is Alaska and Hawaii and assorted little nations — you'll have already hit Kazakhstan and Australia by then).
Take care,
Not That Naughty
Monica’s Tips for present snooping:
1) Wrapping paper that is really light in color can usually be seen through by pressing the paper tight to the box its wrapped around.
2) Certain things have certain shapes. For instance a “Bratz” doll box is a one of a kind shape, and baseball bats or skis are unique shapes too.
3) Feeling with your hands. For instance, a box of candy canes, you can feel the space between each cane’s hook.
4) Sneak a round. Look in places you wouldn’t normally look. Examples, bathroom, mom and dad’s room, even in your room a present might be hidden.
5) Cracks. Sometimes there are cracks in the wrapping paper, or poor folds in the wrapping paper that you can look into and see something.
6) Shake. If you shake a present the sounds it makes could give you a clue. If it sounds like broken glass – you’re in trouble. But it back and leave the room.
7) Weight. If the box is heavy or light can be a clue.
8) Size. If the box is big or small can be a clue. If it as big as a doll house, it might be a doll house.
9) Smell. Your present might have a sweet smell if its candy, a new clothing smell, or some other smell that might give you a clue.
10) Think. Use your brain and think, putting together all these clues.
Written by Monica Noffsinger, 8 Dec 2006, 3rd grade Nokesville Elementary School
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