Does not having a favorite zoo animal make me an oddball?

I've noticed at work that my attention span can be pretty short, particularly when the task I'm working on is tedious or uninteresting. Yesterday at lunchtime, after a rather uninspired and frustrating morning of work, I decided to bring my iPod back to work with me so that I could listen to it while I worked in the afternoon. Let me tell you, the difference was night and day. I know there are lots of work environments where you should not have headphones on, but thankfully it works for mine. I think there's a part of my brain that has ADHD, and the music (or whatever I'm listening to) calms it down, thereby allowing the work-oriented portion to do its thing without distraction. I find this phenomenon very interesting.

Speaking of work, this past Tuesday was my one-year anniversary with my company. I can't believe it's been a year already. I think it's gone quite well, and I'm very happy that I ended up where I did. Being a consultant/contractor affords me the chance to do a lot more things than if I simply found a company and did software development work for only them. Additionally, the people who work at my company are very nice and also are pretty young. So here's to a second year even better than the first!

My company is sponsoring an outing to the Brookfield Zoo next month. I don't think I will be able to make it then, but Stacey and I both want to go later this summer. It's been ages since I've been to the zoo, and although it can be kind of smelly I really enjoy it. Stacey thinks I'm weird for not having a favorite animal, though. What's wrong with that? Actually, now that I think about it, my favorite is probably a dog, although you probably won't find them in the zoo. (Interesting fact: in the Chinese calendar, the year I was born was the year of the dog. Coincidence?) In terms of zoo animals, there are many that I like and a few that I dislike, but none that stand out above all others. Feel free to call me names if you think that makes me a weirdo. (For the record, Stacey's favorite animal is the elephant. Personally, I think she just picked that animal because she's fascinated by any creature that isn't tiny like she is!)

On the subject of company outings, here's some news: I'm going to miss a whirlyball outing for the third straight time! For those of you who don't know what it is, all I can say is that it's basically a combination of lacrosse and basketball played in bumper cars with some alcohol mixed in for good measure. Can you see why I'm so upset? Anyway, the next outing is at the end of this month and is to celebrate the arrival of the new employees we have coming on board. I will, of course, miss this because I'll be in Phoenix. The previous two were missed because I had to drive to NIU to go take my comprehensive exam and because I worked late into the night, respectively. Apparently I can't catch a break when it comes to this game. I'm afraid to see what will happen the next time they schedule a whirlyball outing!

When I return home, one of the things I'm looking forward to the most is using normal bars of soap. I've been holding back from going to the store and buying my own bars of soap, but I don't know how much longer I can last. I'm just glad they don't have the same size policy when it comes to toilet paper, although they haven't restocked me with a new roll in a while, and my current roll is starting to run out. Panic time!

I really need to get to work, so I'm going to have to cut this short (or at least shorter than it would have been otherwise). I do have a lot more to talk about, so I'll try to post again later today.

-Mark