• Still Awake.

    It’s past my bedtime on a work night and I’m still awake; a perfect time to grab my handy-dandy iBook and let my fingers do some talking. I would really like to share some good advise I got from a friend, the only problem is said friend makes up half of my readership. Oh hell, if it benefits even one person it will all be worth while. Of course that’s the best I could hope to do, but I won’t dwell on that right now.

    A while back I was having a problem at work. It wasn’t a big problem, just something that was nagging at me. I was having a bit of a communication problem. I know what you are thinking: me, the great communicator, having problems vocalizing? Surely you’re more likely to catch Rush Limbaugh with a nasty drug problem, right? (O.K., that was admittedly a low blow. While it is never funny to see someone suffer, this “commie liberal” still finds it terribly ironic.) But I digress…

    The advise involved making an effort to connect with people on a regular basis, perhaps simply making it a point to touch bases with everyone each morning. It seems to be paying dividends. There are folks I work with who will never be my best friend, but it’s nice to work in a place where everyone can talk, where everyone is approachable. The key for me has been making the effort to approach on a regular basis, not just when I need to discuss a problem.

    It’s funny how obvious solutions can sometimes be so evasive.

  • Tap, tap.

    Your foot makes an odd sound when it taps on a fake wood, laminate floor. It doesn’t sound like wood. It doesn’t sound like plastic. It sounds just like a piece of particle board sitting on top of a thin sponge. Why on earth am I talking about the acoustics of my living room floor? (Insert you favorite line about readership here.)

    Waiting at home, instead of work, waiting for a meeting at school with Beth’s teachers; I’m in a good mood. I should have been at work for the last 45 minutes. Instead I’m home typing this entry. I could be working on the overwhelming stacks of “responsibility” sitting in my office, but I’m not. I could be worried about all of the work that I’m not doing right now, but I’m not.

  • What was lost is now found.

    “This is Bright House Networks, how can I help you?”
    “I’m having a problem with my cable box.”
    “What kind of problem are you having with your cable box?”
    “I can’t watch cable TV.”
    “Can you be more specific?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well?”
    “This is where I’m supposed to describe my problem?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, I turn on the TV and I see a message that says, ‘Your EXPLORER set top is NOT AUTHORIZED for use….”

    blah, blah, blah

    “Sorry to keep you on hold for so long, it appears the problem is that your cable box is lost.”
    “Well you’re in luck, I found it.”
    “Ah, yes, Mr. Kauffman. We’ll need to have the administrative folks reclaim it tomorrow morning.”
    “Will this be a physical reclamation?”
    “Sorry?”
    “Will someone have to come out to our house, or is someone just going to update your records on your end?”
    “Someone will just have to update our records.”
    “But they can’t do it until tomorrow morning?”
    “I’m sorry, but they’ve all gone home.”
    “And they left you behind?”
    “Ah, they’ll be in first thing tomorrow to fix your problem. We sincerely apologize for your inconvenience.”

    All right, I admit that I embellished a little bit of it, but not as much as you may think. Our cable box really is “lost”. I really can be that big a pain in the hind quarters. Who would have thunk it?
    You are not allowed to respond Christy.