Mild Amusement

Growing up, watching television was never really a huge part of my day. Sure, I watched television like other kids did, but I never felt like I had to watch a particular show or that I needed to get lots and lots of screen time. I don't know if I could explain why to you, either. We watched a bit of television before dinner, and then we had to do our homework, but after the work was done, I just never quite went back to the television. I got my fill early on, and I was good. That habit has generally translated over to my adult life, so on a day-to-day basis, I probably watch something like thirty minutes of television. It's not really television, either, but one of the streaming services instead (specifically, Netflix). In fact, I usually get my fill of Netflix while doing the dishes or ironing a shirt, because I am stationary at that point and I prefer a bit of entertainment to pass the time. The Mild Wife and I also have a habit of watching Netflix, though, interestingly e...

At work, I help out with the university recruiting efforts. As I like to joke, it's a self-defense effort to make sure that the coworkers around me know what they're doing. I'm a worker bee, so it's not like I am in a position to hire or fire people. So, I do the next best thing if I want to make life easy on myself at work: I try to help identify talented people as entry-level employees and interns. I figure if any percentage of them stick around, my work life is bound to get better. The only reason I mention this is that this means I sometimes attend recruiting conferences. If you want to hire students, you go to the events that draw them in big numbers. There are a few of those every year, and I happened to be at one a few weeks ago. And as it just so happens, a particular moment stood out as flat out hilarious. You see, we are not the only company that attends these conferences. Part of the reason why so many students attend some of these conferences is that ...

Every now and then, the timing is more amusing than the actual thing. For example, I once let my sister and her husband use my bedroom when they stayed with us, only for me to have a hilariously hard time getting into a new routine during that time. I did eventually figure it out, but only on the very last day of their stay. Like I said, the timing is sometimes the funniest bit of the whole thing. In this case, it wasn't so much a slow crescendo that set up the joke. No, in this case, I had the PG&E public safety power shutoff to blame . If you're unfamiliar with what that was, the biggest utility company in California proactively shut off power to lots of people during some inclement weather. The craziest thing about it was that it wasn't even the kind of weather that you normally worry about. It wasn't high heat, extreme cold, pouring rains, or a hurricane. No, the root cause was high winds. Think about that; the wind blew so hard, that the utility company was ...

As I've mentioned before, I have some geeky tendencies. It often leads me to find humor in situations where others may or may not find the same humor (e.g., if a meat shredding tool reminds me of Wolverine ). It's just a part of my personality, so I've basically come to accept that this is my place in the world. It's not good or bad, it just is. Recently, though, this particular tendency has been amplified by work. For starters, my teammates have started a tradition that involves the Microsoft ninja cat . If those three words alone don't give you a pretty good indication of where this discussion is headed, let me present a picture of said ninja cat (from the very same link): In case it's not apparent, that is a ninja cat riding a fire-breathing unicorn. Just let that sink in for a moment. It takes a special type of humor to find that amusing, and it just so happens that I am surrounded by folks who find that amusing. You can imagine what kind of jokes tha...