Watching: Ally McBeal. I haven't watched this show in a couple of years, but turned it on out of Robert Downey curiosity. He's hot, by the way, and a fine actor, but he just got arrested again over the weekend for drug possession, so there you go.
Not Watching: Election brouhaha. I'm usually a junkie about these kinds of thing, but I'm over it now. The only good thing about it is the resulting comedy.
Adjusting: To the role-shifting on The X-Files. I'm just not used to Scully taking charge on the investigations, besides which I thought the whole human bat episode was dumb anyway. Surprisingly, I am liking Robert Patrick much more than I thought I would.
Speaking of which, Scully's tattoo appears to be gone. I hate discontinuity. The episode tonight was scary, especially the part with George W. Bush's almost-but-not-quite acceptance speech.
Discovering: A new journal, Res Ipsa Loquitur, by Siobhan. Found it in my referral logs. She's a lawyer in New York City. Fabulous.
-- Samuel Butler
Link of the Day:
My Bay-area-residing dot-com expert friend, Elise, told
us about this site at lunch today. It tracks the downfall of doomed
e-businesses. (If you are offended by the f-word, I'd steer clear.)
So, my Thanksgiving weekend being entirely uninteresting (but in a very good, relaxing, happy, calm way, being that my family avoided all discussions of a political nature), I will instead relay the story of my trip home.
The first interesting thing was that I saw Bill Bennett, former drug czar and Secretary of Education during the Reagan/Bush-the-Elder years, at the table next to me at the mini-Chili's restaurant in the Charlotte airport. It was one of those situations where I just kept casting sidelong glances, knowing that I recognized him but not knowing from where.
The second interesting thing is more of a series of events. It started when a man took the middle seat next to me on the flight from Charlotte to Kansas City. He was a pudgy, balding man, mid-40's, carrying a book called "Growing Through Divorce" and the latest issue of Cosmopolitan.
Yes, Cosmopolitan. That should have tipped me off.
Anyway, I have my nose buried in my Henry VIII book, so I'm not really paying attention to the conversation he is having with the woman in the window seat, until I hear her mention that she's worked in Kansas City for a tobacco company.
So then I pipe up about my new job at The Firm, whose name she obviously recognized. We have a few words of friendly conversation, all three of us. I extract myself from the conversation when Cosmo Man scratched me.
Yes, scratched me. It felt like I had something on the sleeve next to him. I was reaching around with my other hand, at which point he took it upon himself to scratch my upper arm, saying, "What are co-passengers for?"
Uh, dude? Not for that. Keep your puffy little hands to yourself.
After that, I went back to my book, and barely looked up (except to watch in fear as he thumbed through his Cosmopolitan) until we had landed. I had heard him before saying that he had to make a connection to Wichita, so as everyone was walking up the jetway, I noticed that he was moving quickly behind me, so I moved over to let him pass.
As he did, he turned to me and said, "You know, I don't know if you noticed that woman's hands [meaning the woman in our row]. She's a contemporary of mine, and I wish you could have seen what your client's product did to her hands." And then he turned and scurried up the jetway.
I was stunned. It was the first time I have been rebuked for my job, for the companies that pay my salary. Sadly, it rendered me speechless.
Of course, looking back on it now, more than 24 hours later, I have come up with a hundred different retorts, many of which center around the fact that he was reading a woman's magazine. (My mother's suggestion: "You should see her lungs!")
But it made me realize that this is probably not the first time this will happen. I am not ashamed of my work, and I will never lie about who I work for because I'm afraid of what people might say. I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who support me, so I haven't really had exposure to someone who might have a deep-seated hatred of tobacco companies.
I am willing to have an intelligent discussion with anyone who places the tobacco companies in the ninth circle of hell, to explain what I have learned about the issue and to listen to a different position. But I have vowed that no longer will some stranger hurl a derisive comment at me with impunity. From now on, I will be prepared, and I will hurl back.
Something. I will hurl back something, and it will be ever so clever.
That's it, actually. I will tell the tale of the remainder of my weekend with Elise (Hi Elise! I miss you already, even though you're not actually gone yet!) tomorrow, because I'm beat and I actually have to get up and go to work in the morning, which is something I'm still not quite used to.
Have a lovely Monday, everyone.