Mild Amusement

I happen to be the oldest of three siblings, so when I was growing up, I was often tasked with helping out my younger siblings.  Not that they were incompetent or incapable by any means, but that's just how it goes when you're the oldest child.  Among other things, I've helped my siblings write papers, prepare speeches, prep resumes, and write code (my sister's major was very similar to mine).  Let's just say that it's not a rare occurrence. Still, my sister managed to surprise me.  She's into arts & crafts type stuff, so she's constantly working on different projects.  That's not my thing, but I can appreciate the work she puts in.  She also knows that I'm generally far less capable about these things than she is, so it's not like we talk about the details of the construction or anything.  Nevertheless, she randomly asked me for help on one of these projects. It turns out that the project in question was this  origami box thing that s...

As I was sitting at work on Friday morning, a friend asked me what I had planned for the weekend.  Well, truth be told, not too much.  My recently-married friend was having a very informal party to celebrate the wedding on Saturday, and I was planning on playing basketball with some friends on Sunday.  But otherwise, I was planning on a slow weekend to rest up and catch up odds & ends.  Alos, the Mild Ex was heading down to Disneyland (I couldn't go because of the afore-mentioned wedding party), so I was left to my own devices to entertain myself.  I didn't have a problem with that, but I figured it wouldn't exactly be an action-packed few days. Now, I had sniffled a little bit through lunch on Friday, but I was thinking it might be an allergy attack.  And under most circumstances, even a little non-allergy sniffling goes away after a good night's rest.  In fact, I don't even count the sniffles as being sick unless it lasts longer than a day. ...

My parents got me a watch for my birthday, and I finally got around to getting it fitted to my wrist last weekend. It's a decent looking watch, so I figured I'd start using it every day.  In fact, as soon as I got it fitted, I put it on and walked out of the store with the watch planted firmly on my wrist. Now, I haven't worn a watch in a long time.  I used to have one that I liked, but the battery went dead on it.  I got lazy about replacing it for a little while, and shortly thereafter, I had grown accustomed to using my cell phone to tell the time.  In fact, I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, as well, so I really don't need any other devices to tell time.  It's not that I have anything against wearing a watch, it's just not a habit for me at this point. So, the very next day, I got up to go to work, and went about my usual routine.  Note, my usual routine doesn't involve "put on a watch," so I went about my business and completely forgot...

I think most of you already know that there are kids constantly running around my house, so I have a halfway decent idea of what toddlers and young kids are interested in these days.  Cartoons are always popular, it's just a matter of which cartoon is popular at the moment.  Lately, that's been Dora the Explorer .  Boys, girls, barely walking, preschool age, it doesn't matter; they all seem to derive some enjoyment from Dora. Now, if you didn't bother to click on the link, Dora is brown.  She speaks Spanish, and the show randomly throws in words in Spanish that little kids can learn.  Since I live in a state where Spanish is fairly common, most parents approve of their kids learning at least a few words.  It's a little surprising to me how popular the show is, but the kids that come here are from all kinds of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and they all seem to like the show. Now, from a revenue-generating stand point, everyone wants to cash in on this...

Today's post begins with a story.  A couple of summers ago, there was an ice cream social/mixer thing at work.  All of the relatively new employees were invited, including the interns.  I was there, and so were several of my coworker-friends.  Anyhow, I was there talking to one of these friends, when a random intern interrupted our conversation and started making small talk.  Normally, that's no big deal, and it's actually encouraged.  This guy, however, looked straight at my (female) friend, and started out with, "you look really familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" Odd first line, I suppose, but whatever.  As he kept talking, though, it became increasingly apparent that he was trying to hit on the girl.  I had a hard time keeping a straight face, but to my credit, I managed to do so.  Eventually, she extricated herself from the situation by introducing him to me, and leaving me to deal with this guy (thanks a lot, by the way).  W...

I don't quite know how it happened, but I've somehow become the de facto coordinator for my social circle at work.  It wasn't something I ever aspired to be, but about a bajillion lunches later, here I am.  It's not terribly difficult, although coordinating different people's schedules can take a little bit of time and patience.  Even so, it's usually no big deal because people work with me to make sure things work out. Then again, there are also the times when people decide to totally screw with the process.  Whether they are doing this on accident or because they're selfish, it often results in all sorts of interesting anecdotes .  Heck, you might even say it results in (mild) amusement. The latest example of this just so happened to be from the same person in the link above.  Now, in order for this to make a little more sense, you'll need a little background info.  We usually set up a monthly happy hour and dinner soiree with the work crew....

Much to my chagrin, I think I am now on the wrong end of some parking shenanigans.  If you remember, we've been dealing with all sorts of nonsense regarding parking , and there was a very creative way to point out said mistake .  Through all of that, I was content in the feeling that whatever else had gone down, I was still doing what was right.  If nothing else, I wasn't intentionally party to any lame behavior. Sadly, I think that may have changed.  The way the parking lots are set up at work, the vans have their own spots.  It makes sense if you think about it; those vans fit 14 people, so they're longer and wider than your average car.  And if you have a small army of those vehicles floating around your parking lot, you don't want them parking will-nilly.  Instead, you segregate them all in a set area, you give them wider parking spots than the average parking spot, and you call it a day. Now, the system works great when everyone sticks to the ...