Presidents be damned - I should have worked yesterday because today was utterly worthless. I blinked and it was 4 p.m. (sorry Jeanette - I didn't even see your message until after 5 p.m.) Of course even if I hadn't goofed off most of the day yesterday I probably still would have blinked and it would have been 4. Tuesdays at 4 every other week I have a meeting with my manager to go over where I'm at with my "project list" and talk through any possible issues we might be having.

I find it so completely a huge waste of an hour, and it's mostly my fault. He patiently sits and listens to me ramble for the hour about three or four projects on my list of more than a few. He nods sometimes and really doesn't say much of anything. I look at my watch, hoping an hour has been filled and at the end look at him and ask - so do you have anything you want to talk about? At which point he usually blankly comes out of the trance I've put him in, because really an hour of me rambling about these things he really can't help me with could put anyone in a trance, anyhow he shakes his head blankly and says thank you...and I'm on my merry way.

Oh another thing that always seems to happen is we get interrupted. Someone needs to ask an urgent question or today, I went off to get one more piece of paper and he made a phone call (which wouldn't be so odd if my desk were on the other side of the building however I sit two cubicles away from his office which to me hardly constitutes needing to "squeeze in" a phone call) Anyhow, today he ended up leaving me sitting there for a good five minutes while he wrapped up his conversation with one of my co-workers who happened to be in an office down the hall.

Yep, if this really were "The Office" I probably could have had Kay come in with a pressing post-it note and called me out of the meeting, but sadly instead i just sat and doodled on a piece of paper.

I'm notorious for doodling or just keeping my hands busy during boring meetings. I think I mentioned the other day I had absentmindedly folded our financial statement into a chinese warrior origami hat while listening to them drone on about our monthly financials. (Which to me could truthfully be replaced with we are doing well this month and the rest just sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher.)

I did go to lunch at LoTo. Okay, so I was actually walking towards tratoria daVinci or maybe Quizzinos. The line at quizzinos was too long and somehow I missed a turn and would have had to walk outside...anyhow at this point I decided I was tired so...LoTo was a mere few steps away. They still have horrible service however they have changed their menu and the soup and sandwich and fries I had were very tasty. Gueyere Cheese, ham, melted on this homemade bread with matchstick frenchfries that were just a tad salty but not terrible.

What I just don't understand, and I get this A LOT, is people who think just because I'm sitting by myself I must need somebody to talk to. Granted the guy-friend couple at the table next to me were a hoot (the perfect word for them, I decided) however I really didn't need a whole play by play of every restaurant they've gone to in the area over the last year and how huge their current sandwiches were (the guy must of said TWO HUGE BREASTS about four or five times) and had I tried the tomato soup? There's also a rather awkward moment when perhaps they realized they've gushed too much and really it's time to be quiet but yet they fill in with banter until the check comes. Which in this instance, because service was so slow, never did. Luckily my sandwich did, which gave them the perfect excuse to stop and let me eat. Sure they amused me, but really...sometimes I just want to quietly observe...to eat...mostly to get away from my desk for a while and just be.

The other thing I thought of as I was walking back to my office was that the skyway system is great however if there was a fire, the skyway also connects all of the buildings so I imagine it would be easier for fires to spread from building to building. I also thought that there I was wandering about what seems like a mile from my office and all without a coat...what if there were an emergency and I had to be outside? Kind of dumb to not bring a coat but then again, no one does so...vanity thy name is tina :)