Duck in Flight

As we drove over the dam this morning, I saw a duck take off from the lake. He was flying so low that the tips of his wings were batting the water, leaving twin ripples in a wake behind him. The orange-red sunlight filtering through the purple clouds filled the ripples with moving colors.  What a beautiful way to start the day.

The Floor Mat

If I died, I wonder who would miss me.  I imagine people would show up at my funeral, even my vaguest acquaintances could do that. But who would actually care?  The sad truth of it is that the majority of the people that would probably care are at work. They'd probably miss me, but not for the right reasons. 

It's not because they've developed a life-long friendship with me or because I touched their lives in some way. No it's because they wouldn't have someone to ask their questions and even worse...they'd have to divvy up my workload among them. I have actually been told by several people (not in jest) that I can't leave my job; not because they'd miss my smile, or laugh, or witty sense of humor; but because I'm the only one that will take time to help them.

I'm constantly being used, and nobody really cares to get to know me in the process. It's sad. On the flip side, I need more true friends. People that don't care what I do for a living or what I can do for them.

Assessment Test

I took this assessment test at work. One of the sections was a series of math problems. The example in the instructions was encouraging:

16 / 4 = ?

Without thinking, I knew the answer was 3, and I immediately smiled and said to myself, "I am going to own this test!" I flipped to the first problem. I kid you not, this is what I was given:

(11^3)(1/3)(18%)(0.0825) = ?

What the heck is that?! How much further from the example could they have gotten on the first problem out of the gate?!

Having lost all confidence, I slowly slogged through this obvious test of genius, until I came to the last problem. It went something like this:

Phil saves 18% of every dollar he earns.  He works two jobs. At the first he makes $6.25 an hour. At the second he makes $7.50 an hour. Phil works a total of 40 hours a week between the two jobs. What other information do you need to solve this problem?

Are you freaking kidding me?! Who saw that coming?!

Weird Like Me

I love thinking up some weird idea, like a slogan for a t-shirt or sticker, and then Googling it only to find someone else has had the same idea. It's gratifying to know that there are people out there just as strange as me.