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As is normal for me, I followed up with the project manager in question by
e-mail (she telecommutes). I thanked her very much for the compliment, and
politely explained the ego thing. All seems well, for that project.
As a summary, e-mails were running 50/50: many said "wow, a compliment,
don't worry about the beautify thing" and the rest said: "how insulting."
Pretty much everyone recommended a discussion with the project manager in
question, which I did. Thanks.
Now, on to the "where to put the preface" issue that is a big deal for a
different project manager. (You know, this is not representative of how I
interact with my project managers. Tough week. Oh, this is my opinion on
punctuating around parentheses, too!)