Take Your Child To Work Day

Yesterday was Take Your Child To Work Day. Here at the office, there was a large contingent of youngsters parading through halls enjoying what amounted to a day off from school more than a learning experience. So what, exactly, is the point of this event? I'd like to know who came up with the idea because, as far as I can tell, most people either (A) have an incredibly boring job that would interest the average attention-span-impaired child for about 5 seconds, or (B) have an interesting and/or exciting job, meaning they are probably far too busy working and/or risking their lives to actually make it a worthwhile experience for their children. I'm pretty sure children that age have no interest in accounting, nor can they join their fireman father on a call to extinguish a five-alarm fire.

-Mark

Spamtastic

So I opened up my e-mail today and, by reflex, went to go clear my spam folder. In the 5 seconds it took to do that I happened to notice that a large portion of the junk mail was composed entirely in either Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. My question is, which is less effective: Japanese Kanji spam or English erectile dysfunction and penny stock pump-and-dump spam? The fact that both are profitable enough to keep spammers in business is pretty disheartening—that's a lot of suckers born in a lot of minutes.

-Mark

An interesting question to ponder for us guys

What would I spend my free time doing if there were no sports or I didn't follow them? Would I be more sane not having the Cubs to drive my blood pressure up afternoon after summer afternoon? What would I do with that extra time every week?

Just curious.

-Mark

This little piggie got verbally abused by her dad

Hello, just thought I'd poke my head out and say hi. It's lunchtime here in the office, only three more hours until I can head home to enjoy what should be a fantastic weekend weather-wise. After several weeks of Decemberish weather and an unseasonably cool trip to Los Angeles last weekend, you'd better believe I'm looking forward to that.

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I'm not one to dabble in the asinine world of celebrity news and gossip, but even I am amazed by Alec Baldwin's rant directed toward his 12-year-old daughter. (For those of you who haven't heard it, I'd recomend searching for an audio clip of the message on Google.) You know, I'm in favor of parental discipline when needed, and I'm not one to criticize how others handle there kids, but I think it's safe to say that calling your elementary school aged daughter a "thoughtless little pig" and threatening to head to California to "straighten [her] ass out" goes a tad bit over the edge. Seeing as Baldwin is currently engaged in a protracted custody battle with his ex-wife Kim Basinger over the girl, I'd have to say that this was a brain fart if I've ever seen one. Yikes...

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Number 1 question engaged couples are asked by friends whom they are hanging out with because they are trying to take a break from planning their wedding: "How's the wedding planning going?"

Number 1 question an engaged guy is asked by friends who are trying to be funny, ignoring the fact that he has been living with his girlfriend for almost a year: "So, how many days do you have left until your life sentence begins?"

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Hot Fuzz opens today. I plan to see it soon, and I recommend that you do the same. It's by the people responsible for Shaun of the Dead, a movie which, as you may know, I am extremely fond of. It's currently getting an 88% Fresh rating over at Rotten Tomatoes, in case you need any more motivation.

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Fantasy baseball season has started, and I'm in the same two leagues this year. I'm doing pretty well so far, with a few nice surprise players and a few duds so far. Maybe sometime soon I'll thrill you with a new edition of my fantasy studs and duds—I know you've just been salivating for that over the last several months.

Speaking of baseball, I was thankfully dead wrong when I predicted last June that Dusty Baker, Neifi Perez, and Glendon Rusch would return to the Cubs this season. Unfortunately, their spirits seem to have possessed the bodies of the current team which, aside from Rich Hill and a few batters, has yet to show me anything positive, at least not on a consistent basis. Alas, that's the life of a Cubs fan. Sigh...

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Well, that's it for now. Back to work I go.

-Mark

Currently Reading: The Camel Club, by David Baldacci