02 July 2009

A Thursday That's a Friday Randomness

It is a sad, sad day when the thing that generates the most excitement is a fire drill. The biggest differences between a drill at work and the ones I remember from school are that A) I can smoke while we are outside, and B) it doesn't matter who I stand with once I've checked in with my fire marshal.

There is definitely a pre-holiday vibe happening today. Management generously (ha) allowed us to treat today as a Friday, minus the usual Friday bagels (which is a point of contention). So it's jeans and sneaks. Or, in the case of my one coworker, a tube dress and flip flops.

I'm sure some of you were hoping for a Transformers movie review, but the whole thing smeared together and has all but faded from my mind. There was robot-on-robot action, robot-on-Shia action, robots embodying stupid racial stereotypes, evil human-hating robots, military dudes dropping corny one-liners, John Turturro in a thong (really), crashbangboomLinkinParkloopyShiahotMeganFoxlalalalalalalalalacrashwhacktheend. It made me want to drive home very fast and punch things.

That's really all I've got for now. I should go back to my DE and hope that 5 o'clock comes quickly.

26 June 2009

Huh

The company I work for put a freeze on raises and bonuses for this years because of the economy. However, they are perfectly willing to shell out the cash for alcohol and sanitizing wipes, and for that hand sanitizer gel. They will gladly weaken our immune systems because there is a pandemic, but won't put up the cash for a cost of living raise. I don't even feel like I'm benefiting at all because I won't use that crap.

22 June 2009

Subway Story

I was putting off posting this story because I felt that it was the kind of thing that came off better in person. However, I'm not going to deny the rest of the world by restricting my stories to people I see on a semi-regular basis.

We were on the subway heading uptown to the Guggenheim. My dad and I were sitting next to each other and my mom was across from us. The train was moderately crowded, so there were some people standing. One of those people was, well, I call him the Australian Urban Cowboy. He was a tallish, rangy fella. He was wearing what I've been calling a drover's hat but may be some other kind of hat entirely, worn carpenter jeans, a black shirt with a work vest (think Carhartt). There were earplugs in his ears, a chain on his wallet, and a lanyard around his neck. Attached to the back of the lanyard was one of those little blinky lights that runners and bikers use to increase their visibility. On his feet were what I thought were engineer boots. But after a closer look, I realized he was wearing black wellies with spurs strapped on. I know, I know. It's New York and the odd is commonplace and even if something is especially weird, I'm supposed to be all jaded and blase and not make any sort of fuss. Sure, the dude could have been a construction worker or something, but he wasn't dirty, or carrying a hardhat. His clothing looked more like he bought it secondhand. Y'know, old but not super crappy.

Well, I didn't make a fuss. I stared at the floor like a native and I'm so glad I did because if I hadn't, I would have missed what came next.
I'm gazing absently at this dude's spurs and I notice a sandaled foot edging closer to the AUC's boot. I nudged my dad. "She's not gonna...?" "Naw, no way!" We both watched, rapt, as the woman sitting next to my mom reached out with her silver-painted toes and ever-so-gently zzzzzing! spun the rowel of the AUC's spur. My dad and I stuffed fists in our mouths to stifle the gales of laughter that were threatening to break out. I snuck a glance at the woman and she had a smile on her face like sunshine breaking through the clouds. After the rowel stopped its spinning, the foot reached out again. This time, however, the AUC happened to glance down and the woman hurriedly pulled back her foot. Shortly after that, the AUC strode to the other end of the car and I saw the woman looking after him longingly. I don't think it was because she found him attractive or anything, but because she was so entranced by the spurs. Maybe she had never seen spurs before. Or maybe she had a torrid affair with a cowboy many years ago and the spurs made her remember those days fondly. Just one more thing I will never know the answer to.