Toadfrogs and Elephants

My office is housed in the North American headquarters, but our company is Hong Kong based. Much of what I do has to be approved by the Hong Kong IP Department. That means two problems often come up – the time difference in trying to communicate and the language barrier. Everyone in the Hong Kong office speaks English, but not always very well.

All of the US IP decisions are made by the North American group, but the legal bills are paid by Hong Kong. Below is an email discussion I am having with a Hong Kong employee over an invoice. The conversation has now spread over four days.

1st email (with attachment) – From Hong Kong to me:
“We have received some invoices from Law Firm A, but we do not know what they are for. Could you please help to check and advise.”

2nd email – From me to Hong Kong:
“Law Firm A is our Canadian law firm that handles all Canadian matters. They have referenced our legal file number on the invoices and given a summary of their services. What kind of information are you looking for and I will provide it.”

3rd email (with attachment) – From Hong Kong to me:
“Sorry for the missing attachment. Please find enclosed for your reference.” (at this point I laugh because I am not sure why she thought I didn’t get the invoices)

4th email – From me to Hong Kong:
“What kind of information do you need? Law Firm A does all of our IP work in Canada and those invoices relate to our files.”

5th email – From Hong Kong to me:
“As Law Firm A is asking for the payment schedule, and I would like to know that did these invoices settle yet.” (I think “aha” she is making sure we have not already paid the bills locally)

6th email – From me to Hong Kong:
“These invoices have not been paid by us here, but they do need to be paid”

7th email – From Hong Kong to me:
“So will these invoices be paid by your office, or paid by us in Hong Kong.” (I thought I had been clear that Hong Kong should pay, but maybe not)

8th email – From me to Hong Kong:
“Please pay them in your Hong Kong office.”

9th email – From Hong Kong to me:
“Since I need to get approval from a director for payment of all invoices, and I need a clear picture to show a director to get the approval. Is there anyone I can contact in Hong Kong Office whom will know the details of these invoices for. Otherwise, I cannot get the approval from a director.”

10th email – From me to Hong Kong:
“I am still not sure what kind of information you are looking for. What do you need explained or answered exactly?” Depending on what kind of information you need, someone in the IP department in Hong Kong might be able to answer” (I am back to being confused)

I have never been a huge ice cream fan. My teeth are very sensitive to cold and ice cream is not always fun to eat. Then I married Wade and he loves ice cream so we tend to have it in the house a lot more often. Last week I discovered Ben & Jerry’s makes yogurt. Yogurt is softer (easier to eat) and healthier (or should I say not as bad) than normal ice cream. They only make a few flavors right now, but that includes both Wade’s favorite and mine! I’ve had a pint a week since I discovered this – maybe not a good thing.

Wade and I finally hired some work done. We hired someone to clean twice a month. I spent a lot of time looking for someone and found a nice lady that is a friend of a friend. We got home from work yesterday and were both amazed. Our house isn’t usually dirty and we do clean, but it never sparkles. The lady did a great job. I can tell I am going to like this!

Wade and I tried another new church today – and it was AWESOME. Kendall and James had called and invited us to church and lunch. The church is Summit. The leader, Jason, gave a live sermon to a small crowd and we were blown away. It’s the closest to Andy Stanley that we have found. Two staff members invited us to lunch, but we took a rain check and promised to be back next week.

I decided Madison and I both could use a run this afternoon. We rounded the corner of our house, ran by our mailbox, and stopped. Water was gushing out of the ground (the picture to the left is a slight exaggeration) and pouring onto the street at our connection to the main water line. We had received a notice for high water usage on Friday and had left messages with plumbers, but we hadn’t thought it needed immediate attention. Obviously we were wrong. Wade finally found a plumber that worked on Sundays and we got it all fixed, but wow we paid for it.

Wade and I got up early this morning (7 am – on a Saturday!) to meet with the contractor for our bathroom. After he left, we decided to be productive until time for our football game with the Edwards. I had decided to tackle the piles in my office that are longingly waiting for the work table Wade is going to build and my gift closet. It turns out there is a place for all my stuff. If I had known that, I would have cleaned up the piles six months ago.

Now for a stop by Goodwill and then I am going to tackle the few boxes in the dining room. The tickets never arrived so no football game. I guess that means more time for work.

Our company is sponsoring a blood drive today. Wade and I planned to be good employees and donate blood. We get to the final questions on the questionnaire (after the finger stick and all the check up) and are told that as of 9/1/07 a trip to Exuma, Bahamas makes you ineligible to give blood for a full year. We got back on 9/4/07. Oh well, Wade isn’t very fond of needles anyway.

Out of curiosity, I did a little research and found that there has been a malaria outbreak on the island and has caused the change in rules.

Wade woke up before me this morning. If you don’t know us this might not be shocking, but this is the first time it has happened in three years of marriage and I was a little startled to wake up and find myself alone in the bed this morning. Wade also woke up in a good mood and wanted to get something accomplished. He decided we should put lights up in the hallway (this has been on the list for a long time). This hallway has always been very dark at one end. The part near the stairs has a pendant light, but there is nothing at the other end of the hall. The project actually went pretty smoothly. (Don’t look too close in the picture, I haven’t cleaned up the floor yet from all of the dust and drywall.)

We had to clean out a lot of the attic to pull up the carpet and then the planks so that we could run some wiring. In the end, I got new lights and a cleaned out attic. As you can see, Simon hasn’t survived in the attic very well and is now destined for a different life:

Now I just have to make a run to Goodwill tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, Wade and I brought a lot of stuff back from KY. I have gone through most of the boxes and finished the last few this weekend. In one of the boxes, I found the Heath Post from December 1961 (Heath is a local high school in Paducah that my parents attended). The front page has the below picture of my mother and the caption, “Second Honors go to Reva Jenkins at State Farm Bureau Convention. Personality, character, and beauty were the most sought after qualities. Reva, the leaders’ leader, reveiled her possession of these and others be bringing home runner-up position, a check for $15, and a wardrobe bag.” (Original quote, including spelling.)