Happy Halloween. A lot of people dressed up at work today — under severe pressure from Kim. She had a few headbands (cat ears, mouse ears, etc.) and several cans of spray paint. Those who arrived to work without a costume early enough were lucky to get a headband. Those who arrived later, got their hair sprayed with different color paint. One man said, as his head was being sprayed, “I definitely came in the wrong door this morning.” Kim was a clown. I was a “Tivoliball.” Sam was a football player that I should probably have recognized, but didn’t. Some dude with a big old growth on his cheek that he can obviously afford to have removed, but doesn’t. Rob was a rollerblader. My God. His legs.
A group of six of us went to lunch to a Greek place. I had a Greek Salad. The name of the place was Daphne’s. They use IBM cash registers there. I asked the manager/owner, “How’s those IBM cash registers treating you?” Thank God he said, “Great!”
Rob told some gross stories about Taco Bell using Grade D beef, and just exactly what Grade D beef is. He then told us about growing up in a house that was part of a mortuary (a la Six Feet Under), and the 300 pound (wrapped) man that he helped lift. He was at the feet end (“the lighter end”). Unfortunately when they went to slide him from the gurney onto the table, the wrappings came off, and what he saw wasn’t pretty. He also told about holding chickens upside down, how they are paralyzed, and how his dad cut their necks right off with surgical scissors. He thought they’d start squirming when he let them go, but they didn’t. But after a few minutes (once they were convinced they weren’t going to move), they approached it, and it started spasming and squirting blood every where. Everyone agreed that that was ENOUGH.
Work was good today. I got started on rebranding the UNIX installation guide, and it’s going well. We had a conference call with Susanne and Jim, and it was good to reconnect with them. Susanne sounds totally stressed out, and Jim was his usual one-thousand detailed questions self. It confounds me that Susanne wants to bring in a contractor to help with this project.