I make it a point to avoid discussing the Fleeting Media Gossip of the Day in my blog since I can usually count on its being hashed and rehashed ad nauseum by others, but the news about La Martha’s sentencing made me relive an event in my own life that happened about five years ago and which I and The Mysterious K treasure as The Best Piece of Gossip, Ever.
I was the technical trainer for a large local law firm and worked for an IT department of about 24 people. About 8 years into my 10-year employment there, a new IT director joined the department—moved into the office next to mine, in fact—a slim, attractive, high-cheek-boned, unusually nattily and expensively dressed woman in her 50s. Our department was extremely self-sufficient and self-managing, thanks to a corporate culture introduced by a wonderful and much-missed previous director, so we didn’t pay much attention to the fact that the new director was rarely around. She would occasionally sweep in, call us all into a meeting, grandly proclaim that if we didn’t do a better job she would fire us all, and sweep out. We would all look at each other with raised eyebrows, ignore her, and go on with our jobs. That is, until two years into her tenure, when we came in to work to find our offices swarming with FBI and IRS agents trying to track down the $2 million she had embezzled.
Long story short, she pled guilty, went to jail for 41 months, eventually was sent to a half-way house, and committed suicide by drowning herself in one of our local bodies of water. Due to the embezzlement and, in fairness, other factors, the law firm very quickly—literally in a month—went kaput after having been in business for 108 years, and 400 of us found ourselves out of jobs.
The investigation revealed that the same woman had also embezzled $1 million from her previous employers (which that company never realized until the FBI told them) and that she was a borderline obsessive-compulsive hoarder. They found in her upscale home hundreds of dresses still in their original plastic bags, hundreds of shoes, multiple VCRs, too many bicycles for any one person to ride, three cars... TMK went to the IRS auction of her possessions, and could probably tell you more.
As for me, I still really miss my job at the firm, and would be there to this day if fate had not intervened. What a mess, eh?
Knitting Knews
My “Janine Pillow” is getting an interesting assortment of reactions from different people. So far I've encountered:
I’m somewhere in the middle. There is certainly nothing subtle about the pillow, and the contrast between the Prussian Blue and the pastel colors is a little over the top, but I'm pretty happy with it as a first attempt.
On a brighter note, everything has come together for the Oak Leaf and Acorn scarf. The new merino yarn is the perfect weight and color and the lace effect is coming out not too loose and not too tight. Dare I say it? Sure, why not: "It's a good thing." Smirk.
*snort* a good thing! *snarf. too funny really. I think that your pillow is a wonderful use of design and fair isle.. Would I make it? absolutely. Could I? dunno yet.. I haven't fone much more than swatching in FI. Would I pick different colors? yes. but then I also sometimes just get a wild hair and close my eyes and pick too...
and to continue our little similarities: I work in a law firm right now. and honey, theya re all about embezzlers.. some are just better at it than others..
Posted by: anj on July 16, 2004 11:42 AMReynolds Price, in response to a question about reviews of his work, said that the thing some people love about your work will be the very thing that others hate. You can't please 'em all! I prefer not to judge a piece until it's done--you can't tell how it will balance until then. How the patterns flow. Sandy Blue, a teacher of Fair Isle designing, says you should always swatch two horizontal and two vertical repeats of the design to get a true idea of how the total piece will work. Yes, you've got high contrast going on. Nothing right or wrong about that. If I were knitting this? Hmmm, I'd be shading the dark with some maroon and deep coral along with the blue. But you know me, more color is the flag I fly under...
And remember--this is a SWATCH PILLOW! A small-ish pattern that will, with luck, lead you to a larger project. Make mistakes! Learn! Live! (note to self: stop reading self-help books...)
Posted by: Janine on July 16, 2004 11:55 AMJanine, I forgot to mention that I tried what you suggested the other day: Putting the pillow across the room and seeing what happens to the colors. Interestingly enough, the small green stripe in the middle of each motif completely disappeared. Even the bigger green stripe in the middle became less apparent. What an interesting thing to try! (With regard to the colors, need I remind you, young lady, that YOU picked them out? :-) )
Oh, that's right, Anj! I remember your telling me when we first "met," that you work for a law firm. The coincidences march on... (Loved the embezzlement comment, by the way. What our IT director forgot to take into account was the fact that we had some of the top white collar crime attorneys working for the firm, and they came down on her with both feet. She didn't have a snowball's chance.)
Posted by: Ryan on July 16, 2004 01:19 PMHoly moly! What a story! And "it's a good thing," *snort* is right!
Posted by: Norma on July 16, 2004 01:50 PM"A good thing". You rock. I hate cleaning Dr. Pepper from my monitor, but you still rock. *giggle*
As for color, here is my philosophy on it, take it, leave it, or lump it. Why care what anyone anywhere thinks of the color combos? Do I like it? Yep. Should you care? Nope. It's all about how the colors make you feel. Does that color combo put a spring in your step? Make you feel peaceful? Heck, when I was a kid my favorite color combo was royal purple and primary bright red. I wanted a living room of purple and red everything. Down to painted furniture and a red and purple paisley rug. My mother STILL gets nauseous when she thinks about it. But at the time, those colors made me happy. Heck, they still do! So, quit worrying what everyone else thinks and just go for the gusto, baby!
Hey Janine, you can have your self-help books back now. Thanks
Hope everyone has a great day!!!
Posted by: Stalker Angie on July 16, 2004 02:55 PMStrange about the green... when I squint at the monitor (note: don't let anyone see you doing this...) the green does disappear.
About the blue: It's like the editing work I do: you try not to eliminate the author's voice! I like the Prussian Blue, always did--but you wanted only 4 colors. Was just saying that on my own, I'm more profligate.
Posted by: Janine on July 16, 2004 03:23 PMWell, I LIKE IT.
Posted by: CarolineF on July 16, 2004 05:40 PMMartha didn't embezzle $2 million. She lied. She lied about charges that have been dropped. Whether we like her or not, I believe she's gotten a raw deal because she's a strong woman and a celebrity. What kind of time will Kenny Lay do, whose crimes far outweigh Martha's?
I love the pillow, by the way. I wish I were brave enough to try anything that remotely complicated.
Posted by: sylvia on July 17, 2004 11:12 AMI read the story of your IT director, and my jaw dropped. Amazing. Truth IS stranger than fiction.
Posted by: Karen the Terrible on July 19, 2004 09:37 AM