Pretending To Be Busy

Work is so slow this week. My company is making some decisions that will drive the direction of my group so we are in a holding pattern for the next week basically. Which leads me to my topic of the day: Productivity in Large Corporations. I think many people in Corporate America pretend to be busy when they aren’t, in order to appear important. I know that my group has roughly 50 people in it and everyone is heads down pretending to do work; including me, when I know there is nothing to do. I have managed to read TMQ, pay my bills online, create a spreadsheet to track the flight patterns of migrant Canadian Geese and run to Target to buy some new undershirts in the 3 hours I have been to work. While at the same time, assuring my boss (2 cubes down) I have enough work to keep busy this week. Now this is not a regular occurrence; in my group work is very cyclical and will suddenly pick up at anytime, but during the downtimes I just have no motivation to do anything. Not that I think this should change, but can you imagine the productivity of a large company where all its employees truly worked to their full potential? I just don’t know if it could happen, you see this behavior in small and start-up companies but then, if they’re successful, they usually become or get bought by a larger corporation and bureaucracy and politics take over. Anyway, I have no real point to this, just ranting J



On a completely unrelated subject, I have to mention the record Rod Smith’s made last night .He became the first undrafted player in the NFL to reach 10,000 yards receiving. That is so impressive for any player, but to rise to the challenge of walking on to an NFL team and become one of only 24 players to every reach 10,000 yards is inspiring

The Might of the Mullet

Do you ever sit at work and wonder how, at 28, you ended up staring at your computer screen for 8 hours a day? Not that this is bad thing; I think people that work in an office can generally have a happy and fulfilling life. The key to surviving your 20s- without going postal in your cube on the 9th floor of the brown brick high-rise in the tech center - is having an outlet for your passions outside of the office. For some this comes in the form of creating art, others it’s writing or performing music or participating in a sport. For me, it’s all of these to an extent, however I’m not sure if it’s enough. I think it’s too easy to just float through a career in your 20’s. Before you know it your 35 and you still don’t know what you want to do when you grow up.
I have a good life. I have a great girlfriend, close family and loyal friends. Because I work in a job that pays well, although not extremely fulfilling, I am able to experience a lot of life. I am hoping I will be able to record the events in my life in order to help reflect and look back at the year and get a better feel for where I am headed …… and hopefully add a little levity to some friends lives, or at least give them something to do for 5 minutes while their Q3 Results spreadsheet is printing. So here goes……

I look really natural with a mullet. It’s a little scary. This weekend we went to the 5th Annual White Trash Bash thrown by some friends here in Denver. I decided to go full out and create a costume that was a cross between Larry the Cable Guy and Uncle Eddie from NL Vacation. Frighteningly after I put the costume on, this natural accent came out, fully including words like NASCAR, Velveeta and Milwaukee’s Best. I suddenly thought my name was Cletus and was proud that my IQ score was half that of my bowling score. Barb decided to portray the most famous of white trash queens, Britney Spears, with an “I’ve Got the Golden Ticket” tank……………… “It was real nice!”
Numerous $1.25 24 oz. Cans of the “The Beast” later, we made it to the party. The bar was fun and it’s good to see that I’m not the only one that looks good in a mullet. Kevin looked particularly good with his platinum blond mullet. For me, it reminded me a little too much of Halloween last year when he wore the same wig as Gertie, the 62 year old retired Hooters Waitress.
What made this night even more entertaining was that after the WTB, we headed to the Lazy Dog to meet up with some friends watching the Aussie Rules Football Final. Note that if you really want to attract attention, go to a bar filled with large Australians hanging out for what is their Super Bowl, dress up as Cletus the White Trash Wonder and start yelling “Bush 2012” and see what happens? Needless to say people were a little frightened. After being refused at the bar, who knew they didn’t have Busch Ice or Schlitz on tap, we decided to call it a night. With Britney in her state and all, it was probably good to head back to the double-wide for the night anyway. Yeee Haaw!
Pictures of the night to come shortly :)