‘Cause Even Though We Don’t Mean What We Say, We Throw Our Words Like Bombs and Hand Grenades

Monday. Today has been a crazy day so far. Right away this morning I got a call from one of my co-workers asking me if I was aware that one of my biggest accounts had been blocked and that all of the new orders were billing out to one of her accounts. I advised her that I was unaware of this change. Apparently, everyone in the finance department was unaware of this change, including the Big Boss Lady. There are a multitude of issues here, the least not being a complete circumvention of, if not a complete disregard for, company policy and procedures. On a more selfish level, if these receivables stop billing to my account, it will cut out a significant chunk of my receivables base (and overall workload). I discussed my concerns with the Big Boss Lady and she said that she would get some answers for us, and if this account does end up being shut down that she will make sure there is an account reassignment so I will have enough to keep me busy. Trust me, readers, it all sounds nice and good to wish that you were getting paid to literally do nothing for 8 hours, but it really isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've been there (see the first 3-4 months of this blog...), and believe me, it is a whole lot harder to spend the day doing no work than it is having more work than you can handle.

After all of the ruckus this morning over this whole thing, the Big Boss Lady called a meeting this afternoon for those in the finance department affected and our counterparts on the sales side. We spent about an hour discussing this issue, and after hanging up the phone I still don't think anything was resolved. Hopefully something will get figured out soon. I'll keep you all posted.

I have some new music to discuss today (yeah!). I'm actually excited about this one because it has taken me forever to finally land some of this group's albums. However, the music fairy was very gracious towards me over the weekend, and I am now in possession of three Beulah albums. Who is Beulah? Well, I'm glad you asked...

Beulah is a lo-fi indy band out of San Francisco that got their start in the late 1990s. I first came across them when I was searching for new bands to check out. I typed in "Built to Spill" and out spit "Beulah." I heard a few samples and I was hooked. However, I couldn't ever seem to secure one of their albums (see previous paragraph). Now I have three (again, see previous paragraph. Then you can move on, otherwise you will end up in an unending vicious circle re-reading both of these paragraphs until finally you pass out or your eyes bug out, whichever comes first). Anyway, after finally getting to hear a Beulah album in its entirety, I am very happy to announce that I was not disappointed in the least. I derived a lot of pleasure listening to When Your Heartstrings Break this morning. The band does exhibit a lot of the 90s lo-fi indy band qualities, but yet still come off with a really rich, textured sound. The fact that several tracks are backed up by a string and horns section only adds to the complexity. I can see the comparisons to Built to Spill, yet Beulah sounds a lot different. The greatest difference to me is in how the vocals are presented. It's hard to explain, but the best way to say it is that Beulah sounds more optimistic and cheerful than BtS's often whiny and cynical presentation. That sounds like I'm knocking BtS, which is definitely not the case since they totally rock, but I don't know how to say it. Beulah's songs are just more happy and fun (at least on this album).

I have two more Beulah albums that I will be discussing this week. Just as a warning, this may go down as "The Week of Beulah" here on Inaction-in-Action. I may even get a hankering to visit Beulah, Colorado. I'm pretty excited. Please stay tuned for more Beulah in the next coming days. In the meantime, pick up When Your Heartstrings Break. After just one listen, I'm already giving it a strong recommendation. Good stuff.