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Let’s Go, Jinxie!
All of my coworkers are women, and without exception, they are observably addicted to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. They post and like and Tweet and share and upvote and forward until they lose track of who they are, where they are, and of what they’re taking notice. Just watching them makes my arthritic thumbs ache. And yet. Out of the entire gossipy solipsistic backstabbing shallow juvenile selfie-taking gaggle of them, not one — not ONE, mind you — knew what “Let’s Go, Brandon!” means, nor anything about the phrase’s origin, nor why it’s considered funny. Not one. I have a firm grasp of the concept of duty, and…
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Everyday Poison
It’s interesting to work with people these days. When I was younger, I worked with many interesting people. But these days, the people with whom I work are boring, shallow, vapid, and almost utterly amoral. But they’re interesting to watch and to listen to. Ann Barnhardt talks about what she calls diabolical narcissists, and if she were to show up at my office and just sit and watch and listen for one eight-hour day, she’d have enough material for a year’s worth of blog posts and podcasts. We’ve all got that one obnoxious family member who is never happy unless he/she is pitting people against each other, stirring up strife,…
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Swarm Day
It wasn’t quite Texas-hot, but it was a reasonable facsimile thereof. 91F, and it’s supposed to be the same for the rest of the week. No rain in sight. It looks like September, but it feels July-ish. When I arrived home and stepped out into the front yard, I was immediately under attack. At least once a year, we get what I call Dragonfly Day, a hot afternoon in which clouds of dragonflies make their appearance. And I don’t mean “a lot” of dragonflies. I mean “Could someone please call Ramses II and let him know that another one of those plagues is going down?”-sized swarms of the things. They…