Working from Home: Pros & Cons

Pros of working from home:

• No train ride
• Doing laundry at lunch
• Drinking our diet root beer supply
• Cuddling with Mustard while on conference calls
• Getting marriage advice from the mail woman

Cons of working from home:

• Missing the friendly faces of co-workers
• Not getting my daily 80 minutes of reading time on the commute
• Mustard causing my hot tea to spill all over my computer keyboard
• Mustard barking at the mail woman
• Mustard barking at the UPS delivery person
• Mustard thinking I'm home to play with him

Really, all things considered, I've got it pretty good either way.

Hey! Look! This ball is so fun! Mom! Look! I even throw it for myself! But it would be more fun if you played with me.

Fine. I'll do some more surgery on my rubber chicken. His last wing is annoying me.

Christmas in Brighton, MA

Every weekend is like Christmas for Mustard. He is just SO PSYCHED that we are there with him... and won't let us rest until we take him to the dog park.

Today after an hour there, we returned home... and he was 'treated' to a bath, and I sloppily quilted him a stocking (on the left):

And then, because I'm obsessed with him, I made him pose in front of the Christmas tree. Let this be an apology to my future children for all the photos I will take of them one day.

 He's not the only one who dressed up for the holidays... ;-)

Update: Mustard by the fire!

A rough life.

Kacy Williams: Felon??

This is definitely the best case of mistaken identity ever. Because it's not just over email. It's real life. As in, I received a letter (addressed to "Kacy Williams"), and am now on the phone with the state police.

They informed me that because I committed a felony, I am required to provide a DNA sample or I will receive a $1,000 fine:

A felony. Me.

Somehow the other Kacy Williams and I have gotten crossed in "the system." Apparently because I have been to court (for a speeding ticket), my name is in "the system," and we have similar birthdays and social security numbers... and something went whacky, so mixed in with the holiday cards and congratulations on engagement was this threatening letter.

I was transferred to CODIS, where Sargent Smith answered the phone. Yes, Smith. I explained the situation, ending with, "I think it's a mix-up, which sometimes happens with common names like Williams or Smith."

After a little record checking - it seems like Kacy Williams perhaps committed some kind of serious crime that is very different than what my record indicates I would do - he explained the following:

"It looks like a case of mistaken identity. Yup. Mistaken identity." - Sargent Smith at State Police Crime Lab.

For those privacy gurus, it may make you feel better to know that only the special DNA testing CODIS unit has access to the DNA records, no one else. 

So I'm all good. Free and clear to be me, and to keep my DNA to myself. Let's just hope there's not more felonious surprises out there for me...

Nestle, I abhor you

Happy Holidays from Our Family to Yours

TheNestleFamily news@mail.nestlefamily.com                                        10:40 PM

 

 

casey  to TheNestleFamily

Dear Nestle,

Why don't you get it???

I didn't sign up for your emails, some silly doppelganger did. But instead of writing you a silly/snarky reply telling you about the whole situ, I just unsubscribed. But then I got more emails, so I unsubscribed again. To all emails. Again.

Yet you persist in contacting me. And yes, it has been more than 10 days. Something is up with your email vendor. Not to mention that a best practice should be sending an email when someone signs up asking them to confirm their email address.

Here are the reasons I am not interested in reading your email:

1. The products featured prominently in this email are sweet. Sickly sweet. Sometimes that is delicious. But when you're trying look look all buff and be healthy for upcoming nuptials, you would be trying to avoid such sweet things.

2. I already get like 1 million emails a day. I'm like, so popular n' stuff. But between personal email and work email, it has to be a pretty special email newsletter to keep me a subscriber. That and 99% of the newsletters I do get (to my personal email), I myself didn't even sign up for, so it makes me even more sensitive to the email and have even higher standards. Most of the newsletters I actually read are for work. And sometimes - just sometimes - I open one of those coupon site emails, or a travel alert email. Usually I trash about 85% of newsletters that I actually signed up for on a given day, nevermind the ones that I had nothing to do with.

3. If you actually did know me, you would know that I have, in the past, purchased Purina ProPlan dog food, part of the Nestle family. My dog loved it. But then I felt guilty (see reasons #4 and #5) and I wanted to support a different brand of dog food that was more natural, so I switched.

4. I rent a ski house in Fryeburg, Maine every year. The water there is whack. And the roads are even worse. And what do you want to do? You (under the brand Poland Springs) want to take water from the aquifer in the Fryeburg area and sell it in bottles, and not pay the town a dime. You'll be running these huge trucks down these country roads in a residential neighborhood 24 hours a day, draining the aquifer, and you want to pay nothing. Because you don't have to, for now. Mostly because our laws are unclear on water rights and corporate obligations in this situation. However, did I mention that you have appealed the court ruling four times and lost every time? Yet you persist, because the world is thirsty for convenient fat-free beverages (i.e. water), and your pockets are deep.

5. Then there's the whole "starving babies in Africa" thing. Yeah, you remember. It was in the 80's, but it was so so sad. It makes me ashamed to be part of a marketing machine myself, though I like to think my clients are a little more moral than you were. Telling poor women that they weren't good moms unless they feed their babiesformula isn't nice when they can't actually afford the formula. Seems like a lose-lose situation for you - they don't buy your product, and you get blasted in the press for being amoral. 

So, Nestle, what i'm going to add to this list is that you won't let me un-subscribe from your emails. The next one I get is going to be marked SPAM, since that's what it is. I'll try unsubscribing AGAIN... but I already gave you two chances. Two chances for something I didn't even ask for. 

Good luck with your marketing, etc.. seems like you need to re-evaluate a few programs.

Best,

Casey Williams

The Furnace is Broken - Casey to the Rescue!

Re: Cabin's furnace

Gregory Williams to Marisela, Casey, me

Hi Marisela,

I'm forwarding this to Casey so he can get in touch with you.  Also, por favor, dime tu numero de telefono.

gregorio

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 9:24 PM, Marisela Fleites-Lear <salsaflamencamary@hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear Linda and Greg: I kind of remember that Greg's son works at a furnace company in Gig Harbor. Can you let me know if that is the case? If it is, could you send me his info asap. I need someone to look at the furnace in the cabin soon. There are workers working there and it is not working right and they are freezing.
Thank you so much,
besos,
By the way: where are you going for thanksgivings?
m

--
Gregory J. Williams, Ph.D.

casey to Gregory, Marisela, Casey, me

Hola Todos!

Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias (or Thanksgiving)!

Tengo que decir algo... no soy Senor Casey Williams. Soy Senorita Williams de Boston, Massachusetts (hace pronto, sera Senora Fitzsimmons porque mi novie me dio un anillo!). Espero que el otro Casey puede ayudarte. 

Wow it is hard to type in Spanish, most of my time in Spanish-speaking countries was spent speaking it. Not typing it. 

Anyway - Greg, we have spoken before.. great to hear that your son has a lot of business. I do feel you should know that soon - next year - I will no longer be Casey Williams, so your son can continue sharing that name with the hundred or so of the other Casey Williamses. That being said, I'm not giving up the email address (casey williams at gmail or googlemail)... it will just redirect to my new email - Fitzsimmons dot Casey at gmail.com. 

Have a great holiday - and good luck with the furnace, Marisela!

Best,
Casey

PS. Since you asked, we'll be in Sudbury with my family at a friend's house, then we're going to my Fiance's sister's house for thanksgiving dinner #2. So much food, I love it!!!

Pizza Hut for Me?

Pizza Hut no-reply@orders.pizzahut.com to me

12:11 PM

CASEY, Your order is on its way!

Order Date/Time: November 21, 2011 / 11:11 AM

Order Total: $24.35

Form of Payment: Cash (REMEMBER: Bills larger than $20 will not be accepted for online cash transactions.)

Order Type: Delivery

Delivery Address: 6400 FANNIN ST #2200 HOUSTON, TX 77030 (713) 796-2663

Store Phone: (713) 521-2266

Estimated Date/Time: November 21, 2011 11:41 AM

Order Details: 1 Medium Pan-style Whole Ingredients: Beef 1 Medium Pan-style Whole Ingredients: Pepperoni 1 Big Dinner Box - Buffalo Mild - Bone-Out Wings 1 Breadsticks with Marinara Sauce - single order

Special Instructions:

casey to Pizza, me

12:47 PM

Hi Pizza Hut,

OMG I didn't know I was getting pizza for lunch!! I just finished my salad, which was a Casey special of "take the leftovers from last night and put them over lettuce so you have lots of veggies so you stay healthy". This week the leftovers were from a roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots. So I had it over romaine lettuce with some blue cheese dressing. Delish!

I could probably fit in a piece of pizza. But I see that it's getting delivered to Houston, TX. I live in Boston, so that's kind of an issue. And honestly, I'm not a huge Pizza Hut fan. I really LOVE Brick House pizza in Brighton. More flavor, better crust, better ingredients.

It's probably just my doppleganger, eating some pizza. Potentially after smoking. Or maybe she got a job - since I've gotten a few emails about interviews too. 

If only she would just take a break from all of her activities to learn her gosh darned email address! It's certainly not Casey Williams at gmail dot com, because that's me. 

Either way, in honor of pizza, I hope she receives this delivery.

Best,

Casey Williams

Getting Lucky

Lucky Brand online@email-luckybrand.com to me

9:15 AM

Thank you! Your e-mail has been added to LuckyBrand.com View this email on a mobile device Having trouble viewing this email? View here

 

This email has been sent to casey.williams@gmail.com. Please do not reply to this email as it is sent from a non-monitored account. Please add online@email-luckybrand.com to your safe sender list. To unsubscribe, update your profile, or contact Customer Care, use the links below.

Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Customer Care | Privacy Policy

This email was sent by: Lucky Brand 5233 Alcoa Ave. Vernon, CA 90058

casey to Lucky

8:47 PM

Dear Lucky Jeans,

Oh Em Gee, I AM lucky, but I did NOT sign up for this email!

The flood of mistaken emails to my inbox ramped up this week. It was kicked off with a Casey Williams registering his/her EA games with my email, and then creating a Blackberry ID, and then signing up for this Lucky email newsletter. It's like s/he just discovered Gmail and signed up for it... but didn't realize that my email address - casey williams at gmail - was not theirs. It's mine. 

Even when I get married --- a newly real situation for me, hence my 'lucky' feeling --- and change my name to Fitzsimmons, I'm still keeping this email. So hands off, other Casey Williamses. However I may start emailing CaseyFitzsimmons@gmail.com just because I can, and I know how often it probably happens to that person. But I won't. I think I registered Fitzsimmons.Casey@gmail but I'm not sure. Oops. 

And Lucky Jeans, I'm sorry, but I'm unsubscribing. Because I'm lucky enough without wearing you.

Best,

Casey Williams

Traveling for Work

Traveling for work is, well, work.

But the fun part is talking on Google Hangout and confusing Mustard-boy. 

Mom? Where are you? I can hear you! Mom?

Dad? Where's Mom? You smell good.

Fine, I'll listen to her crazy talk. But I don't know where you're hiding her. 

She sounds cray-cray. Mom?

Talk to me when you're actually here. I've got napping to do.

OneStopMarketers - Please STOP!!

From: brendaj@onestopmarketers.com [mailto:brendaj@onestopmarketers.com]
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:22 PM
To: JOE SMITH
Subject: Accounting and Finance Emails Lists

Hi,

I had a chance to visit your website and I understand you offer  exclusively Accounting and Finance,  I was curious to know if you would be interested in any of the following database:-

• Banking Sector
• Finance Decision Makers
• Finance Designations ( Executives, Managers, Directors, Chiefs)
• Financial Analysts
• Accountancy
• Business, Management & Accountancy

We are a marketing company and is specialized in Email List Acquisition/ Email Appending, We have internal databases of 40 million B2B worldwide contacts and 130 million B2C contacts.

Let me know your interest area and I shall send you few samples, counts and more details for your reference.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Brenda Jones

E-mail Marketing Executive

Global Email List

----------------------------------------------------

From: Casey Williams On Behalf Of JOE SMITH
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 11:36 AM
To: 'brendaj@onestopmarketers.com'
Subject: REMOVE

Is this tactic actually successful?? I have NOTHING to do with Accounting and Finance.

----------------------------------------------------

From: brendaj@onestopmarketers.com [mailto:brendaj@onestopmarketers.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 8:49 AM
To: JOE SMITH
Subject: RE: Business Lists with Email Addresses for 2011 - 12

Hi,

I hope you had a chance to review my email that I sent you regarding email list acquisition and email appending.

If you feel I should talk to somebody else in your organization in regards email list purchase, it would be great if you could forward this email to the right person. I appreciate your time.

Thank you and waiting for your response.

Regards,

Brenda Jones

Online Marketing Executive

----------------------------------------------------

From: Casey Williams On Behalf Of JOE SMITH
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 11:16 AM
To: 'brendaj@onestopmarketers.com'
Subject: RE: Business Lists with Email Addresses for 2011 - 12

Hi,

I hope you had a chance to review my email that said REMOVE in the subject line, per your unsubscribe instructions.

Not only am I not the correct person for you to contact, no one at our organization is interested in buying your spammy email list.

Finally, I actually no longer work at iProspect. The person receiving your emails is my former boss’s boss. And she’s tired of all the spam that I get. And replying as me, just so her own email address is not added to your spam lists.

Good luck finding more appropriate and accurate ways of reaching your target market. This one certainly is not working.

Best,

JOE SMITH (slash actually his boss’s boss)

PS. I hope some robo-spam scraper picks up your email address from this blog post and fills your inbox with unsolicited, irrelevant offers. 

Mason J from IMVU

Ok.

This is by far the worst mistaken (well I hope it's mistaken) Casey Williams email.

I went into my Spam folder to find it. While there, I saw all kinds of fun email titles, like "sexy Christian Singles." I didn't open that one.

Since it seems everyone is SUPER curious about what exactly it is that I was forced to experience, here's the two photos I can show you without smudging out the entire photo. Children may be reading this blog. They don't need to see Mason J's, um, situation. Neither does the guy next to me on the plane. But he might have seen it because when I first opened the second photo to edit it, it opened to my WHOLE screen. Whoops. Sorry guy. Too bad we have another hour together here at the gate, plus the 2+ hours to Boston, making it a total of ~4 hours that we will be spending next to each other.

I digress.

World, meet Mason J.

For goodness sakes, he looks like he's 16!!! Yuck!

The question is, should I write back and tell him he's got the wrong Casey Williams? I think we all know the answer...