An offhand remark generates a ton of discussion and some dancing…

One thing that’s interesting about Twitter, and its connection to Facebook’s status field, is that you just never know what kind of comment is going to spark wild conversation.

At work, right before lunch, I went to the restroom, and upon returning to my office, I tweeted:

I hate, hate, HATE urinals beside sinks in men’s rooms. I’m just saying…

which, because of the way I have Twitter and Facebook configured, also showed up in the status field of my Facebook page. During the course of the day the following activity took place there:

Henry Ogburn Henry Ogburn at 10:57am April 15 How come?

John Martin John Martin at 11:08am April 15 A couple of reasons: 1) I don’t like standing next to someone to wash my hands when they’re right there using the urinal, even if there is a divider between it and the sink. It’s just awkward –ESPECIALLY if you’re out at work, and 2) If there isn’t a divider between the sink and the urinal, there’s the splash factor that’s just GROSS.

Hector Rivera Hector Rivera at 11:19am April 15 You just have to look at the bright side of it. Everything has a bright side.

Pam Benson Pam Benson at 11:20am April 15 Why can’t you guys just sit down on the toidy? Especially when there is ONLY a toidy. It gets on the floor – yuk!

John Martin John Martin at 11:24am April 15 I have a (guy) friend who always sits no matter what he’s “doing” for that very reason. He’s a germ freak. And, yes, what you see on the floor is exactly that “splash factor” I’m talking about. And often I don’t see it, but I know it’s happening, because I usually wear shorts and I can feel it on my legs! TMI, I’m sure. 馃檪

Pam Benson Pam Benson at 11:26am April 15 Hoot! 馃檪

Hector Rivera Hector Rivera at 11:26am April 15 You need to work on the right angle

John Martin John Martin at 11:40am April 15 Hector, two things: 1) There is a patent in progress to help with your idea: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7373673.html and 2) a while back I read about some research where when they placed a dot somewhere in the urinal, and men peed aiming at the spot and hitting it, the splash factor was greatly reduced.

Hector Rivera Hector Rivera at 12:29pm April 15 John, I hear a new subject for your next blog.

Hector Rivera Hector Rivera at 12:29pm April 15 http://dustinland.com/archives/archives366.html

Orion Pozo Orion Pozo at 3:22pm April 15 Reminds me of the famous John Wayne urinal joke: http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/2783/85/

Hector Rivera Look at what you started.

Source: www.wikihow.com
wikiHow article about How to Use a Urinal Without Splashing Yourself.
John Martin John Martin at 1:55pm April 15 Good lord! 馃檪
Source: dustinland.com
Dustinland is a hilarious comic written and drawn by Dustin Glick.

And, finally, later in the afternoon, I got this notification: Shy Bladder Assoc. (Shy_Bladder) is now following your updates on Twitter. And shortly after that this tweet from them:

Shy_Bladder@nematome Sinks near urinals show poor restroom design.

to which I replied:

@Shy_Bladder I’ll say! Just like no trash cans outside the restroom doors. Tsk. Tsk.

Okay, that’s enough. Crazy shit!


I had an incredibly productive day at work today, and wrote a long a tedious summary email about it before going home.


Dancing was fun tonight. We had a fair number of dancers, and Carl hobbled through a few dances and reviewed the “new” (correct) way of doing Hideaway Cha, which should come in handy at The Stomp this weekend.

It was a weird crowd. It got crowded for a while, but most people were there to watch American Idol.

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