Hugs at work; poultry, beef, & pork, oh my; a chair massage, a late dinner, & a short night out…

I’m much better today, and actually drove into the office to work. I got in early enough that traffic wasn’t an issue.


Since I’ve become an editor, been working only two days a week for nine months now, and going into the office maybe once every other week or so, I really don’t have any “close” colleagues at work any more.

Even the more surprising today, then, to get two affirmations—both in the form of hugs. One was from Michelle, who I used to work very closely with about a year and a half ago until she went out on maternity leave for a while, and the other from Lan, who sits right around the corner from me, and is just an all-around sweet person.


I half-listened in on a mandatory hour-and-a-half training session on ODC. No, that’s not Obsessive Compulsive Disorder out of order, it’s Orthogonal Defect Classification.

ODC cannot be treated with cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy or by medication with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Unfortunately. But I digress…


Lunch today brought this question to my mind: Do turkeys and chickens get along?

I got the “roasted turkey” for lunch, and the server asked, “Gravy on that?”

“What kind of gravy, sir?” I asked.

“Chicken gravy.”

“Sure,” I said, though not really sure how I felt about it. Is that like pink and fuchsia together? Or first cousins marrying?

Digressing further yet… Why does, “I’m in the mood for chicken tonight,” or “Let’s have turkey for dinner tonight,” sound okay, when “I’m in the mood for cow tonight,” and “How about pig for dinner tonight,” sound so distasteful?

In fact we say the animal name for almost everything else: lamb, duck, deer, and all the fish names. What’s up with cow and pig?


My day was filled with editing error messages, switching my “reservationless audio conferencing services” from Verizon Business/MCI Instant Meeting Audio Conferencing to the new IBM Enhanced Audio Conferencing Service (eAC), and reviewing my senior management team’s personal business commitments for 2007. Be still my heart.

I had a “one-on-one” phone meeting with my manager who resides in Austin, which went well.


I called Mom to tell her about the reservations for her birthday, and then called Jeanie-baby to wish her a Happy Birthday.

Jeanie-baby sounded great—in good spirits and glad to hear from me.


I had a free chair massage compliments of the STC student chapter.  The massage therapist’s name was Lal.  He was easy on the eyes, and had strong hands. Thanks, Sarah!


I met Joe for a late dinner at Rock-ola, and then we went to Scareyoke at Flex.

We played two games of pool, each won one game, and after about 30 minutes, Joe said, “I don’t know what it is, but this isn’t working for me tonight.”

“Me either,” I said. “I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

I was home by 11:00, and in the bed by 11:35.  Sweet dreams.

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