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Oh yes...Phin is definitely on to something.

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at 08:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've got to concentrate! - oncentrate! -oncentrate!

I've got to concentrate -oncentrate! -oncentrate!

Hello? -ello? -ello?

Echo! -echo! -echo!

Now batting,-atting, -atting.....

Mannyyyyy Moto! -Moto! Moto! Moto!

Yes, I am serious. And don't call me "Shirley."

Posted by: Robert at 02:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You, stop now and think.

You see that celebrity across the coffee shop? Is your instinct to grin and gush and fawn over them? Trying to decide if you have the temerity to approach and offer a kind word or ask for an autograph?

What the hell for!?

Think.

What has that person ever done for you? Sure, it's possible that you appreciate the work of that artist/politician/actor/author. But it is equally possible that you find that celebrity's work to be utter crap. Still, you sit there all a-twitter in the proximity of 'Someone Important'.

Garbage.

If you can, halt your media induced stupor for one minute and be in the moment. Look at your surroundings. Who in this coffee shop should you revere? Who deserves your attention and kind word?

It might be the cashier who, despite waking at 4:15 AM, five days a week for the past 3 years, always greets you with a smile and a warm "Good Morning" - even when you're tired, annoyed and an absolute bitch for no reason other than it's early. It might be the barrista who, regardless of doing the same thing day after day for going on 4 years now while studying full-time and trying to find 3 minutes a week for a social life, takes care each morning to make sure your milk is steamed just a little bit hotter than he would normally do - because that's the way you like it.

These people are the celebrities. These are the ones who deserve your attention and your gratitude.

You want to argue that they get paid to do those things for you, so any extra isn't deserved? I call bullshit again! The actor you would so gleefully fawn over helped a movie studio and distribution system take several million dollars, $8.50 at a time, for what he does. He got paid. The politician has been campaigning for the past 3 months to get re-elected. This campaign process burns tens of millions of dollars for her alone. When was the last time she voted "No" when a congressional pay raise was up for a vote? She got paid.

They both got paid, and because you're too stupid to recognize that you're paying them for the privelege of kissing their ass, you'll probably pay them again and get very little in return. But every morning - every. damn. morning. - your coffee comes across from a helpful pair just the way you like it.

Ask them for their autograph, and strike up a conversation. I'll bet the service gets even better.

Posted by: MRN aka "The Husband" at 11:42 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Whoops! Looks like I let things go too long here, as my last post just dropped off the face o' the blog, leaving nothing but the stylzed image of your lovely hostess, Kathy the Cake-Eater.

Not that this isn't pleasant in itself, but I hate to think of all that blank space going to waste.

Gotta think of something quick.

.........

Oh, I know -

One of my main frustrations about blogging is the fact that I can't discuss my work. On the one hand, there's the whole attorney-client thing. On the other, there's the complication of working for Uncle Sam. Between these, I'd have to be so careful about what I said and how I said it, that it simply isn't worth the risk of trying to put something up on the blog. So I keep mum.

Which is a pity, because it would be nice sometimes to grump and vent, and it would be equally nice to trumpet the occasional modest triumphs that come down the pike. I suppose I'll just have to store up all my anecdotes and write a book some day.

I suppose I'm thinking about this now because it's been a good couple of weeks on the job. I've turned in some good work that has earned me a bit of praise from the suits, and I've just received a couple of challenging new assignments that will keep me both entertained and very busy for the next few months. Every day, I'm feeling more confident in what I do and more like I'm actually contributing something to the greater good.

Which makes it all the more irritating that I can't tell you anything about it.

Oh, well.

Posted by: Robert at 12:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So my section is having its annual picnic tomorrow. Heigh ho.

Whenever we have one of these little office do's, I'm always reminded of the words of Marvin the Paranoid Android, who once said, "You needn't bother trying to engage my enthusiasm because I haven't got one."

I signed up to bring some kind of munchies. As it happens, I've got a whole desk drawer full of those little bags of pretzels the airlines hand out, gathered on my many bidness trips this year. Think anybody'd notice?

Posted by: Robert at 11:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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