Who's the boss? I'm the boss!

Man, that just sounds weird.

Boss.

Me? Are you kidding me? A boss? I'm the idiot with a Nerf dart gun in his desk, a beach scene with real sand and sand castle on top, and little Marine Corps men all around. I'm not a boss. My title doesn't say Manager. Not yet, at least.

But my team didn't get that memo and decided to play a bit of a practical joke on me for Boss's day. While I was in a meeting they moved my desk. Completely. Everything on it, they moved to an empty sup's desk. It was a pretty good stunt, and I was honored that they would appreciate me enough to do something like that.

But me? A boss? They pay me a compliment by saying as much and acting like I'm their boss, but it just feels weird. It would be kinda like saying I was the boss as a teacher - sure, I run the class as I see fit, but the boss is the principal.

Just the same, I was thankful. I'm thankful my team, even though they call me boss, still knows me well enough and felt comfortable enough to play a joke on me as my gift and know it would be appreciated.

Snatching Defeat from the claws of Victory

Up 23-3 through three quarters.

Your defense creates 6 turnovers.

Their offense doesn't score a touchdown.

Last year's Mr. Money placekicker with a chance to win the game.

And yet they still find a way to lose, 24-23. It's the worse regular season collapse ever from one of the most, if not the most pathetic franchise in the NFL over their entire existance.

These Cardinals find ways to snatch defeat from the claws of victory. They *should* be 4-2. Instead they're shitty.

Lyrics, I have none

I've always wanted to be a songwriter or lyricist. I've tried on many occasions, a few even being serious attempts...all have been dismal failures. I've written poetry before but I can't force it or write anything of significant quality upon command - it's something that just happens when it happens. And when I *do* write poetry, it's not lyrical at all. Much of it is reminiscent of e e cummings work, which really doesn't lend itself to any lyrical style I'm familiar with or that's easy on the ears.

It's not so much the rock star image that appeals to me, or the free women and beer (although that's not *all* bad), but the communicative aspect - ideas and concepts just sound great via song and lyric rather than prose. It has such a powerful impact on how we view things. Think it's not true? Tell that to John L. Williams when he cashes his royalty checks and commission checks. Not sure who he is? I guarantee you've heard his stuff. Ever watched the Olympics? That's his theme song. How 'bout Star Wars? ET? Raiders of the Lost Arc? Superman? Yup. All him. Try watching any of those movies w/no background music or score and see how different of an experience it is. I'd be willing to wager that heart rate and blood pressure are statistically different with and without the music. And that's just MUSIC...not even words!

Then there's the actual lyricists, the ones that put into words so many ideas that I think of but only know how to write in paragraph form. They convey them (what seems like) effortlessly while strumming a guitar and make people so clearly understand what was going on in their head and heart. I'd love to be able to write a girl a song someday just for her, but that's just not one of my gifts or talents. I'd love to be able to tell my boss "Take this job and shove it..." with a country twang, but, simple as that lyric is, when it comes to songs, I can't come up with anything that sounds even half-way descent to me. Music just seems to move so many people (iPod, anyone?), but I can only reproduce it, not create it.

So until such a time as a lightning strike awakens the lyrically dormant portion of my brain, I guess I'll just stick to karaoke and sloppily playing chords on my guitar that someone else wrote. I may not be able to think of anything original but at least I can carry somebody else's tune.

Good for a laugh

One of my favorite clips EVAR!

The reality of postponement

During dinner today my aunt was all excited and broke out a bag from her suitcase full of lots of clunky stuff and sported a smile ear-to-ear.

"It's Christmas early!"

Oh, joy. Gifts good. Christmas...not so much.

Among other gifts, she gives each of us a Christmas cd to listen to on the way to Oceanside next week. The problem with that is I'm not going to Oceanside any more. We originally rented the condo during a week that was particularly free of scheduling conflicts at work. No matter what I wasn't going to get to take a whole week, but four days was definitely doable.

Then the changes at work came, and both pilots of two new technologies being implimented at work were moved to Oceanside week. I'm on the project team for both technologies, and the team I manage at work is part of the pilot team for each project. Translated - no vacation for me. No good leader ditches his team during a week like that.

Although I knew that the vacation was now out of the picture, the reality of it didn't truly hit me until I saw my aunt and my folks all happy and giddy and smiling about the trip. So now I have a week to listen to an Irish Christmas CD and contemplate where I'd like to go for my next vacation attempt (and when) while my family enjoys a beachfront condo in SoCal (and I potentially duck-and-cover at work if something goes wrong with the new toys).

So no, Brooke, I don't have your birthday off :-(

Anybody got any vacation ideas for kinda cheap?

Words of wisdom from my aunt

Me: "Woah, how'd he get there?"

My Aunt: "Probably by stupidity. Sometimes it can get you where nothing else can."

So true. Sooooo true.