The New Office.

In keeping with the rules of reorganization and management, I had to move my office so that all of us in my section could be together.

Aside from the hassle of having to move everything from one location to another, I went from an office on a quite side isle to an office at the intersection of two major isle ways. Needless to say, it is quite busy and noisy.

One of the isles dead end into my office. In fact, sometimes people end up in my office when they fail to negotiate the turn. This tends to be extremely disruptive.

I usually sit with my back towards the doorway, but if I swivel around in my chair, I can see the full length of the isle way. There is definitely no privacy in this new office of mine. In many respects, it is like sitting in the hallway.

I guess this is going to be my home for awhile. I suspect that I will spend a lot of time in the library.

My Chair!

My chair at work broke. One of the legs snapped right off of it.

I have had that chair for 20 years and had grown rather attached to it. It was a cloth covered chair with a fiber and spring filling. It was comfortable to sit in.

I have a new chair now. It is a cloth covered foam formed chair. It is hot to sit in but everyone has the same thing so I guess I will have to adjust.

Speaking of adjust, the arms on the chair are adjustable up and down. The problem is that I don’t know how to adjust them and one is higher than the other. So, when I sit in the chair with my arms down, I kind of lean towards one side.

Maybe there is a class on how to adjust your office chair.

New and Improved!

We recently went through a reorganization in the department where I work. It had been rumored for more than a year but these things take time.

The long and short of it is that I now have a new boss which is OK with me. The thing that concerns me is that I don’t really know what my job will be. Having worked on this reorg for more than a year, I would have thought that they would have had everything nailed down but that appears not to be the case.

So, I guess I will keep doing what I have been doing until someone tells me different.

Neutering While You Wait.

I saw something today that I had never seen before. It was a fifth wheel trailer outfitted as a mobile vet clinic for neutering.

When ever we took our pets in for neutering, they had to spend the night. I don’t know if the same applies with the mobile clinic or if you take them home the same day.

Lowell doesn’t have a shortage of vet clinics so I am not sure how successful it will be. Maybe they only work on farm animals.

Crucified Frog.

Some art museum in northern Italy has a 3 foot high sculpture of a green frog crucified on a wooden cross. It has been in the museum for some time and is the work of a deceased artist. There is nothing special about this piece of artwork except for the fact that the pope hates it and has requested that it be taken down. Of course, the art museum wants to keep it up.

While I can sympathize with the pope, I think that there are bigger problems in the world than an obscure piece of art in an obscure museum.

The Boob Bob.

A woman that I work with just came back from medical leave. She had an undisclosed surgery. In actuality, she had a breast reduction.

Now, the problem is that since she didn’t want to tell anyone about it, should we comment on it? I mean it is pretty obvious and she does look much better but she is not saying a word about it. So, we in the office just pretend that nothing happened.

I have known other women who have had breast reductions and they talk quite freely about it. Maybe in time she will loosen up a little and talk about it.

Alice’s Restaurant.

When were recently at a wedding in California, we passed a place called Alice’s Restaurant. Someone from the wedding party said that it was the restaurant mentioned in the song. I was remembering 40 years ago that it was neat Boston. So, I checked it out.

It was as I remembered. Arlo Guthrie went to Alice’s for Thanksgiving. After the meal, Arlo volunteered tp take the trash, from the meal, to the dump. Unfortunately, the dump was closed for the holiday, so Arlo dumped it anyways.

The next day, the dump opened and they noticed the trash. So, the called the police.

The police came and took 27 8 X10 photos of the trash. They also discovered Arlos name and address and charged him with illegal dumping of trash.

The police took him to court and presented their case. Unfortunately, the judge was blind so the photos were usless.

Arlo pleaded guilty, was fined $50 and told to pick up his trash, which he did.

Later, he was called up for military service but was declared unfit because of his criminal record. He wrote the song about Alice’s restaurant to encourage draft dodges to do the same.

Don’t you just love it! If only that were the case today.

Woody Norris.

The key note speaks at a seminar that I recently attended was a guy named Woody Norris. He is a self made millionaire and an entrepreneur.

Among the many things that he invented were the Ultra Sound machine, the pocket digital voice recorder, the Blue Tooth and the electric one man helicopter.

He had an up and down life but always had a positive outlook.  Truly a fascinating speaker.

The Millennial Generation.

I attended a seminar the other day.  One of the presentations was “The Multi Generational Work Place”.  Truly fascinating.

I am a Baby Boomer, as I was born between 1946 and 1952.  This was not a surprise as I have known this for many years.  What was really intriguing was the Millennial Generation or my kids!

The presenter, a PhD from MSU, described my kids perfectly.  I couldn’t believe my ears.

This guy works with businesses and universities explaining how Millennial s think and more importantly, how to work with them and retain them in the work force.

Wow!  It certainly explained a lot of things.

The Return of Patrick.

About three years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Denmark named Patrick. Patrick always said that he wanted to come back and tour the US.

Well, the other night I went out for groceries as Kathy was going to an exercise class at church. When I returned home, I saw a large Suburban sitting in the driveway.

At first, I thought it was just someone turning around. But when I looked closer, I noticed that it was Patrick.

Patrick and a friend of his arrived in the states about 4 weeks ago for a 90 visit. When they arrived, they purchased a Suburban.

The Suburban is not only transportation for them, it is also a place for them to spend the night if they need. It is easily big enough for two people to sleep in.

They are going to spend a couple of days with us and then head for Chicago.

Never a dull moment.