You remind me of someone...it's probably you!*

10 Things I Have Learned Today (in no particular order).

1 - Deniability is key - Some books came in for employees today, so I went around and delivered them because it's one of those little things I like to do. I took the books to one guy and everyone in his area was like, "What is that? What are those for?" I told them they were CPCU books and he got them because he'll probably take an exam. Then everyone was like, "He's already got his CPCU" and continued to ask questions. I said, "Oh, then, I have no idea." And walked away as five people began to drill him with questions...not my problem.

2 - You may be a witch or a jerk, but until you're one to me I like you - There is a woman in the office that I have heard nothing but bad things about. Usually this creates a sense of fear and avoidment within the cockles of my heart, however I have overcome that this time around and the woman is very nice to me. In fact, too nice. So I know it's fake...but as long as she keeps it up I'll keep liking her.

3 - Smoking a cigarette with a gas tank on your back makes you look stupid - I just saw a guy today with a gas powered leaf blower strapped to his back and a cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Maybe not everyone would drive by this guy and think, "idiot" but I did.

4 - Bicyclists and possums require the same amount of respect on the road - As I was driving back to work from lunch I slowed down because there was a bicyclist riding on the side of the road, when the other lane was cleared I swerved slightly to the left to make sure I wouldn't hit him. Then a dead possum came up in the road...and I swerved slightly to the right to miss him. It just made me think that the same rules apply to both.

5 - HTML code cannot lead to aesthetically pleasing web pages - I'm in charge of the main page of our intranet at work. I was trying to put an announcement up but couldn't figure out how to indent something to make it look better. After a google search I learned that you can't indent, HTML was not designed to make things pretty. So I made it an attachment in the announcement instead, problem solved.

6 - We have friends so that we don't beat ourselves up too much - To anyone other than me I imagine someone might think that I am hard on myself, some of my friends certainly think so. But today I had a friend write some really nice things to me, and though I don't really agree with them :p I appreciate the effort, and realize that friends really do help you let up on yourself from time to time.

7 - All good things must come to an end (except for those with OCD-like attention to detail) - One of my projects today is to make a spreadsheet for a few departments and their annual review ratings for as long as they have been here. There's something I noticed - not all good things last, that is to say, you may be an "exceeds expectations" employee once or twice in a five year career, but all the other times you are just a "meets" kind of person. What changed? You? The expectations? It's almost better to always remain a "meets" because what happens if year one you are 'meets', year two you are 'exceeds' and year three you are back to 'meets'? They are all insults, even exceeds at this point because apparently your manager underestimated you. The only winner I can tell so far is the OCD woman who has a track record of 6 'exceeds' in a row (and that's all she's had).

8 - The phone is not so bad - but I still hate it. Lately I've gotten more used to to the phone - I am doing better just talking with people (as opposed to my 'write down everything you need to say and how to say it' approach).

9 - Pizza is a great equalizer* - I just thought it was a great idea that work is providing pizza to everyone for lunch the day before Thanksgiving. I myself am still going out to lunch even though the office closes early.

10 - It's the little things in life that bring the most joy - putting up the Angel Tree at work, having someone try to schedule a conference room for 15/1(what month is that?!), making witty comments on what people say, e-mailing family and friends, reading, listening to music, blogging, checking things off of the 'to-do' list...just all the little things that add up to make a day good.