Cafe'-teria CLOSED

Maybe Bill isn't such a jerk after all. I saw him realize just what was happening when we went down to the cafeteria for lunch. Apparently, running a cafeteria with a reduced workforce is not cost effective. So they shut ours down.

We ended up going up the street a block to McDingles. I had a crispy chicken salad. Lets just say it didn't agree with me. I hate that place. The only good thing about the place is the toys that you get with a kids meal. Most of which come from my favorite movies.

Bill was in a very foul mood for the remainder of the day.

The Entrepreneur

Bill can be such a jerk. He doesn't seem to care about what's going on. I guess it's better for him and perhaps I should think a little more like him. I have no control over what is happening, so why does it stress me out so much?

Bill has decided that he is going to come out of this recession a little richer. He's scavenging all of the leftover personal effects of the dismissed employees. I just couldn't do something like that. Maybe I'm too uptight or maybe it's just wrong. I don't know.

I'm looking forward to lunch.

Credit Crunch

I think that this whole layoff thing has me a bit on edge. I had trouble sleeping last night after playing Shock Command 6 with the guys. Usually the game relaxes me.

I had another bad dream. This time it was a big fish dream and let me tell you... Terrifying.

It seems like this whole economy thing is everywhere. I can't get away from it. It's on TV every time I turn it on, which incidentally I don't much. It's all over the news websites I visit. It's even found it's way onto my favorite podcasts. It's kind of depressing. Maybe I'll talk to Ed about taking some vacation time.

Big Night Ahead

What a day. I hope tomorrow is a better one, but I bet it wont be. It surely wont be for about six hundred of us.

Bill tweeted at me and told me about a party that one of the guys from the mail room was throwing. I think that they are going to be watching some sporting event or something. I just tweeted back and told him that I couldn't make it because I'm meeting some friends.

My friends and I meet about three times a week. I can't talk about what we do because it's; well lets just say that I would be jeopardizing the security of the platoon. I've got a big night ahead of me.

Lisa's phone #

I'm so into the Code Wars book that I'm reading. I can't stop thinking about it. At least it's a nice distraction from the cacophony that has become my workplace. This place is falling to pieces. Ed called in and told Bill and I that there were going to be 8 hundred layoffs today and probably another 6 to 8 hundred tomorrow. He said, even though he believed that we were relatively safe, that it was a good time to work on our resumes.

It is terrible to see everyone go. I was very sad to meet Lisa in the elevator carrying her little box of personal effects. She told me that she was not surprised and that she had nothing to worry about. Still, she said that it made her sad that she had to leave her friends and close colleagues.

On the upside of that encounter, she was acting very sweet. She gave me her phone number and even told me to call her up sometime. Wwwwwooo! Maybe I'll gather the courage to actually do it.

The Golden Parachutes

Bill approached me this afternoon to alert me of an incredible sight, the sight of our most valuable executives jumping ship and drifting to the street with golden parachutes. They were drifting to safety, away from the sinking ship that we all floated upon. I wondered at this phenomenon, how is it that these powerful people could drift to safety while the people that depend on their judgment are left to weather the storm. Oh what is to become of those that remain aboard.

The Quangon Attack!

It was hard to get up today and I ended up coming in a little late. That late start caused me to witness a shocking event. Shlomo was being wrestled out of the building by security. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was even more disturbing because Shlomo decided to call out to me. He called the guard a quangon which I think refers to that whole quangocracy thing that he was on about a few days ago.

I definitely have to talk to Ed about what is going on. On the way to my cube, there were a few people being escorted out of the building by security. They were carrying their office things in cardboard boxes.

St. Patty's Day Libations

Just after leaving Mother's house I got a tweet from Bill. I nearly missed the most important day in March! St. Patty's Day! So we decided to reconvene at O' Donnell's Irish pub and partake in some artificially colored beer and spirits.

It was such a brouhaha that I just can't recall the end of the evening. I have no idea how I got home. I would not do this again if given a second chance, and furthermore, I would not advise others to partake with such indulgence.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Visiting Mother

Going to visit Mother is sometimes quite stressful. I love her to pieces, but she can be rather critical sometimes. What's worse, is that she is often misinformed and has a tendency to exaggerate Mason's achievements. Even so, seeing her was nice.

She said that her retirement savings is dwindling, and that she is looking into opening a deli. I suggested that she may not know what she's getting into and she laid into me about how she ran our cousins deli for 25 years with little to no help for a meager wage. I asked how she was going to get a space for the deli. She told me that she talked to some former associates of my late fathers. She said that they owed us big time and that they would be glad to give her a good location for almost no rent.

It looks like my mother will be doing just fine. I would criticize her for dealing with those crooked businessmen, but those kind of dealings put food on our table when we were young and enabled Mason and I to get educations. I admire her resilience.

The Old Neighborhood

Bill has been sending some funny tweets. He's a joker. He was talking about how we're all going to be poor soon and how everyone in the city is going to have to pitch a tent outside of their unoccupied house. I don't know, the way he said it, it was much funnier.

I know that I should see my mother more often. I just get so caught up in my every day life. It's not that I don't like going to see her it's just. . . It's just. . . I guess that I'm a selfish jerk. It's been two weeks since I last went to visit her. I did e-mail her once. Anyway, I really like going to see her. It's nice to see the old neighborhood too.

Today was busy

I got several calls today. Bill and I were running all over the place. I even had to skip lunch. Most of the time things are relatively slow, but, like today, sometimes things just happen all at once.

Most of the calls were simple, but some took time. Lisa is nice. Sometimes I think that she breaks her PC on purpose though. It's almost always the same problem. Antonio reported a basket ball lodged in one of our conference room monitors that costs like $4000 bucks. Now I've got to replace it just because some EVP (executive vice president) got all worked up over a game. I'm gonna make sure that that monitor comes out of his budget.

After work today I'm gonna go and pay Mother a visit.

Stormy Seas

Sometimes I think that the subconscious mind speaks to us through dreams. I have stormy sea and monster dreams before and during great changes that affect my life. Todays dream was a combination. Sigh. . . These dreams always freak me out.

Who Needs Rest Anyway

After long nights I tend to recover rather quickly. Long nights don't have too large an effect on my efficiency. I'm almost always up early and ready to go the next day. I tend to recover gradually, at night, and by the end of the week I'm ready for more

Car Park Racing

After a night out, Bill and I sometimes take part in various hi jinks. One of my favorites is car park scooter racing. Don't say that I never participate in any sport activity. I can actually be quite competitive.

A Change of Plans

It's very nice to be home. Time to take a little nap, have some esspresso, and catch up on some reading.