10:41 p.m. | 2005-03-25 The Great Penscapade Of 2005. An impromptu department meeting was called this morning so we all started gathering in the general department area. During this time, T-Bar was sitting in the meeting area, flipping a pen around while conversing with other colleagues. I was in the area and then stepped back into my office briefly. About the time I stepped into my office, I heard NewColleague exclaim: �No you didn�t!� I immediately stepped back out into the common area to discover a whole bunch of chaos. Well, and a big mess. It happens that while T-Bar was flipping his pen around, it �exploded� and shot ink everywhere. Suddenly there was fresh ink all over T-Bar�s face, shirt, pants, shoes and the chair he was sitting in as well as all over the walls, floor, random desks and NewColleague�s brand new suit. We were all rather stunned. And, somewhat repulsed as paper pushers fear just this type of �accident�. I mean, this far surpasses the normal paper cuts and whatnot. That was evident when NewBoss started shouting: �Safety first! Safety first!� Heh. Coincidentally, the BuildingKeeperGuy happened to walk in right after this happened. He instantly radioed for the immediate response team and told them to come prepared with ink removing cleansers. STAT. Um� yeah. We all know how tricky ink stains can be. A chair was removed, the carpet still needs serious help and good luck to the clothes cleaners. Seriously. Strangely, we still conducted the meeting in this area while people were running in and out trying desperately to remove all the stains. A little embarrassing and distracting for us; a little awkward for the response team. One of the main reasons this meeting was held was to announce my promotion. Yeah, I�ve been promoted and I received a very decent raise. NewBoss was surprised at my apparent disinterest in this announcement and he mentioned it. I have to admit that since I already knew about it, it wasn�t really news to me. More importantly though, I was distracted because I was trying to figure out how T-Bar got ink on the backside of his pants since he was sitting when all the ink flew out of his pen. My promotion is definitely a good thing, however, I�m still wondering about the ink splatter. Quite impressive. And honestly, I�m really not sure how they�re gonna fix all that. In other news, Christmas In July is in June this year. August last year; June this year. It�s sometimes random like that. In case you forgot or just don�t know, we have some rather nontraditional gift-giving traditions. Which shouldn�t seem really odd considering that we celebrate Christmas In July. In June. Or Whatever. Anyway, each adult family unit brings a gift for a child. Which child is a function of assignment. And this year? Yeah, I�m so excited! I was assigned GreatNephew which means I get to bring baby things. Yay! I love baby gift shopping. I�m not sure what I�m going to bring GN just yet, but I know what I�m not bringing him. I�m not gonna bring him a [brand name] pen. Those things are unpredictably explosive. It�d be age-inappropriate too, but that�s not the point. Heh. Point. Office humour? It can be extraordinarily dry and rather obscure sometimes. your thoughts? seed flower