Recently, the Governor sent an Email to all State employees say that she is looking into 4 day work weeks and telecommuting as a way to save gas. Unfortunately, she did not discuss this issue with her director prior to the Email so she literally blindsided them.

After the Email came out, the various agencies had to hold informal meetings with employees to explain what they though that the governor had in mind. Plus, the agencies had to figure out what would work and what would not work.

Needless to say, the Email send HR and Civil Service into a tail spin. Union issues and liability issues came to light, as well as management issues. And of course, no one checked with the technology folks to see what would be required to telecommute from home.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Some priest in Italy wants to hold a beauty pageant for nuns. He feels that the sisterhood has been unfairly excluded from such events in the past. So he wants to right that wrong.

Now to my thinking, a beauty contest for nuns is a contradiction of ideals. After all, nuns wear a habit out of modesty where as a beauty contest emphasizes personal vanity. Besides, I can’t even imagine what a bathing suit for a nun would look like.

The city of Lansing has started tying 2X4s to the trees along the city streets. I am just not sure why. Are they trying to intimidate the trees with threats of their future? Maybe the city had excess lumber that they needed to store so they decided to tie it to the trees. Of course, I suppose it could be some Druid group and not the city.

Well, it should be interesting.

As I was waiting to pick up a prescription at Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) I noticed a Dr Scholls machine setting there. Since I had time to kill, I decided to check it out.

By standing on this machine with out your shoes on, it can analyze what size and model of gel inserts that you need for your shoes. So, since I have a pair of $10 shoes that are a little hard on my feet, I decided to give it a try.

First, I had to lift one foot and lean forward until the cross hairs hit the target. Then I had to do the same with the other foot. Then it told me what make and model of gel insert that I needed for my shoes.

Once I got the right information, I scanned the rack for that particular product. There it was, $4.95. Not bad. But wait, it wasn’t $4.95, it was $49.95.

Now, I couldn’t see spending $50 on gel inserts for a pair of $10 shoes. Maybe if I had spent $50 on the shoes in the first place, they wouldn’t have been so hard on the bottoms of my feet. So, I scanned the regular rack of inserts and found a pair of gel inserts for $7. They worked just fine.

Being a male, I am a minority at the State. Women out number the men by about 10 to 1. For the most part, I have adapted but there are times when working with women has taken me off guard. One such example is my office arrangement.

In my office, I have several personal items. They are there to give my office a, well, more personal touch.

Recently, one of my female co-workers came into my office and announced that one of my personal items would look better in a different location and then proceeded to move it. A few days later, another of my female co-workers came into my office and without so much as a word, relocated another personal item of mine.

Now, I don’t really mind but it did take me by surprise. I guess they just can’t help their behavior, I think that they are just wired that way.

The other day when my daughter came to visit, she wanted to go to the gun range. Since it was a weekday, I knew that we stood a chance of getting into this very busy place.

At $50 for a half hour of shooting it was a bit expensive but worth it.

Mattel has come out with a new Barbie. It is Tattoo Barbie. This Barbie sports a tattoo in the small of her back aka a “license plate”.

Now, understand, I am not opposed to tattoos. But I do think that the Barbie already portrays a false sense of reality with her figure.

It was bad enough that girls grew up thinking that they were supposed to have a figure like Barbie. Now, they will think that they need a tattoo too.

What’s next, a goth Barbie?

The office Nazi’s have struck again. They marched into our offices and announced that our offices were not regulation for the level of the individuals occupying them.

The offices in question are the three used by managers and the one used by the director. The managers are only allowed to have 80 inch walls and no door. These offices have floor to ceiling walls and a door. And, while the director is allowed to have floor to ceiling walls and a door, the office is too big for someone of his level. So, the managers and the director have to move into new offices that are being built for them.

And what will happen to the old offices? SInce there is no one to occupy them, they will become store rooms.

Who said that the economy is bad?

A family in England was too poor to have their loved one buried. So, when the undertaker found out, he left the body in the back of an old abandoned hearse. Everything was fine until warm weather set in and the body started to smell. The neighbors complained and the authorities investigated.

The undertaker was arrested.

For about the past year, we have been getting calls from people looking for Gordon Wilcox.  Since Lowell has two exchanges that are very similar, I initially assumed that the callers had miss dialed using the wrong exchange.  But, after further investigation, I discovered that Gordon Wilcox does not live in the Lowell area.  Or, at least he is not listed in the phone book.

Recently, I got a call from a church wanting to notify Gordon of a special service that they were hold in honor of his parents.  They claim to have gotten our number from the internet.  We told them that we would notify Gordon the next time we see him.

Apparently, Mr Wilcox has given out our number as his own.  I wonder if he knows Wep Swift?