work

And snow it goes

I had a doctor’s appointment first thing this morning, and since it snowed all night — not much, I’ll admit, but enough to leave behind more than a light dusting — I had to get up a little earlier to clean off my car. The appointment went well enough — it was mostly just a follow-up — and I think I spent more time in traffic and the waiting room than in with the doctor.

I came home and then caught a later train into Manhattan, arriving at the office just in time to miss the tail end of a two-and-a-half-hour-long production meeting previously scheduled for that morning. Aw shucks?

The rest of the day was largely uneventful, spent mostly just trying to get caught up on a couple of projects in the very little time I have left before the end of the week — and, for me, the end of the year. I may have to accept that these projects might not get done before early January, but if I can manage to cross them off my list before the holidays, that would be great.

Studio session

Tonight, I attended a live taping of Studio 360, specifically this one, all about the universe and theoretical physics. It was a whole lot of fun.

Although it was certainly not this cold and snowy when I went into the studio.

Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful day. I finished boxing up the files I didn’t get to on Friday’s clean-up day, and as a group we trekked over to Rockefeller Center for our group holiday photo. Two years ago, it was the tree in the lobby. Last year, it was one of the lions in front of the New York Public Library, a block away. At the rate we’re going, we may very well be taking the photo in another borough come next holiday season!

Of course, we’ll have moved offices by then, by I think my nonexistent point is still no less valid.

Wobegoned

Today — okay, technically yesterday, though I’m time-stamping this — was another clean-up day at the office. I didn’t finish boxing up all the old files I wanted to, but I did throw away a big box of floppy disks and CDs, which at one point contained important manuscript files and are nothing much more than landfill or coasters. There were also a couple of zip disks in there, which I remember at one point being the thing for file storage — my old boss at Penn State loved them — but which I realized I hadn’t actually seen in use for a long, long time. I was amused to discover, then, via Wikipedia that they are still used…”by retro computing enthusiasts.” They went in the trash. Or recycling. Honestly, I handed off the box to our mail room guy and de facto office manager, and I’m not really sure what he did with them.

But they’re out of my hands, no longer collecting dust under the second chair in my cubicle, and nothing I have to bring with me when we move offices in the spring.

After work, I met up with my parents for dinner, and then a live performance of A Prairie Home Companion. It was a lot of fun, if maybe a little shaggy around the edges. (Friday night is the dress rehearsal for the Saturday radio broadcast.) There was a lot of great music, and some really nice poetry, though at this point I may be a little Home Companion‘ed-out, having seen another simulcast of the show just back in October.

Then again, I think I enjoyed the evening a lot more than the couple in front of me, who I think were most amused by the fact that one of the guest musicians, a really talented jazz pianist, was named Dick Hyman. See — even frat boys can find something to giggle about on public radio!

Is this the face of an asshole?

So today was kind of weird, or at least started off that way.

I stopped off at a place near the office where I often grab breakfast. It looked like they were having some trouble getting the gate fully open in front of one of the doors, so I went out a different exit than I usually do. Walking right in front of me was an older gentleman, and I mumbled my thanks as he held the door open behind him. And after that, what I’m pretty sure I heard him say in reply was, “You’re welcome, asshole.”

I was already walking in the opposite direction, headed around the corner to get to work, and I was really confused by this. Did I mishear him? But I looked back, and he seemed to be staring after me, an angrily satisfied look on his face. I don’t know if I accidentally bumped into him and didn’t notice, if he thought I was being impatient and pushing my way through, or if he was just crazy. I was in a hurry, and he was moving quite slow, but I didn’t cut in front of him, ask him to move, or even knowingly throw him a dirty look. He held the door, I politely (if tersely) said thanks, and he called me an asshole.

So you know what, fella? Fuck you. I’m sorry if I unknowingly offended you, but you certainly offended me.

The rest of the day was largely uneventful by comparison, but maybe that’s only because I didn’t venture outside again until the end of the day. We had one of our semi-regular “brown bag lunches,” where they give us food and invite a guest speaker in to give a talk. Today’s was on “Fear of Feeling: Understanding and Using Emotion Effectively.” Maybe the guy from this morning should have attended. As it is, I’m not entirely convinced the talk was worth it. The gist seemed to be, emotions are good so don’t be afraid to have them. Which, y’know, is good advice as far as that goes, but not exactly profound.

And hopefully your emotions won’t leave you cursing at strangers for no apparent reason.

Signal failure and snow

I arrived at the train station this morning only to discover that my train had been unceremoniously canceled, thanks apparently to signal failure in Farmingdale. Which of course happened on what was the coldest day of the year so far, the first time it has actually snowed — just flurries, but snow nonetheless — and it was much too cold to be standing out on the train platform. There’s a single shelter on the platform, but it’s small and not very effective at keeping out the cold, sometimes missing windows, and this morning it was already full.

Another train arrived some ten or fifteen minutes later — either the train that was scheduled to arrive then, or one the Long Island Railroad squeezed in just before it. Either way, that train was packed, ridiculously packed with people, and I only barely found room to squeeze on. At the next stop, it looked like lots of people weren’t so lucky. The only good thing about commutes like that is, if you happen to not yet have a ticket, you’re riding for free, since the aisles are too full of people for the ticket collector to move from one car to another.

Me, I have a monthly ticket, so it’s really neither here nor there.

The rest of the day was pretty dull by comparison. It promises to be something of a quiet week, with half of our team traveling to the office in England, but also something of a busy week, for those of us who are only in for this and next.

I think tomorrow, though, I need to wear a heavier coat, or maybe a sweater.