11:00 p.m. | 2004-01-20 It Takes Work To Be A Couch Potatoe. Or Potato. Whichever You Prefer. My original plans for this weekend included lots and lots of rest combined with a little bit of homemaking, if you will, and catching up with all my diary reads. I rearranged my priorities once I realized there was a Carol Burnett marathon on TV. Now, I do spend some time watching TV � especially after work � but, I don�t usually purposely plan to spend all day in front of the tube. I have to say that when I actually plan to be lazy, I get more done. Reverse psychology works on me. At least, when it�s practiced by me on me. So, In addition to resting and watching TV, I also did laundry, cooked, ran errands and cleaned. The bathroom even. But, I didn�t catch up on my diary reads. However, I�m not suggesting that any of you are less entertaining than Carol Burnett. It�s just that Carol and I go way back. To my childhood actually. Because I am OLD. Keep that part in mind. And, don�t worry because I�ll catch up with all of you guys. I believe I mentioned that I moved into an office down the hall. However, I don�t believe that I told you that I moved in the morning and �got� an OfficeMateColleague (OMC) in the afternoon. Of course, he�s young. Well, and tall. I mean in that �over six feet� way, otherwise everyone is pretty much tall to me. And, he graduated from the same law school I did. Except he did so a couple of years ago, as a youngster, and I did so almost 5 years also at age 35. I�m guessing there�s about a ten-year age gap between us. And, to answer your question, I have both a cubby and an office. Alas, I have a cubby within a two-person office. But, due to the fact that I came over already experienced and a week earlier, I got to pick my cubby space. Yes. The part that contains the window. The window that actually opens to let in fresh air. It�s the smaller cubby, but I figured I�d probably take up less space than the �new guy�. I was right. Not that it matters, since it�s only temporary anyway. We�ll soon get our own separate offices. But, who cares about that shit? Anyway, I spent all day working on a writing assignment, listening to two different proceedings, calling folks (for my assignment), answering OMC�s questions and eating, of course. My assignment was due at the end of the day. I finished it, walked down the hall, handed it to NewBoss and went back to my office. A little while later, I hung up the phone after answering a question for Colleague when OMC told me that NewBoss was looking for me. I grabbed a couple of things and headed towards NewBoss� office. When I walked past OMC�s trash, I noticed that he�d written a phone message for me. On a post-it. With a Sharpie pen. It said: �NewBoss wants 2 C U�. See? OMC is young. I am OLD. Of course, I still think that �you are 2 cool 4 school� is great and all, but I sure hope I�m not gonna be tasked with deciphering messages that resemble personalized license plates any time soon. However, there really is no explanation for this. (CI:) You wanted to see me? (NB:) Yeah. Have a seat. (CI:) Thanks. For some odd reason, I only brought a red pen and a blue pen to this meeting. I�ve not done that before, but well, I�m winging it. I guess. (NB:) No problem. I want to discuss this document. You should include information about This. (CI:) Uh, I did. It�s further down the page. (NB:) Okay. Oh, and some things about That. (CI:) Uh, I did. It�s well� (NB:) Further down, right? No problem. Here�s how I want it arranged. Wait, do you want to write this down? (CI:) Yes. Obviously� I brought two pens. (NB:) Want to borrow some paper? (CI:) Well, yeah. Thanks. At one point, over the past less-than-two-weeks time period, he mentioned that he doesn�t like an excessive amount of paper. He�s young; he�s of the future paper-less office. I�m old; I�m of the paper-full office. But, somehow, that seed was planted, took root and now I show up with an overabundance of writing instruments sans paper. Maybe that�s what tattoos are all about. I mean, I have ink and I have skin so what more do I need? I wouldn�t be a pretty tattoo, mind you, but rather a functional one. your thoughts? seed flower