Interesting article in the New Yorker called "The Myth of a Paperless Office". It's the discussion of a book by that name, but there's quite a bit of information in this review.

For those of you with messy desks, it gives you justification for it!

(and as many of you know, I love being able to justify things so it's great for me)

Also in the New Yorker is an article with new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds. Difficult topic, but important to read. It's very long, but a quick skim over the article will show you how powerful it is. I need to go back and finish up later.

On a happier note, it's time for the weekend!

Packing up tonight, going to Genesis, and stopping by to see my new roommate for a bit. Need to look at how we're going to network the computers and talk a bit about colors for my room.

Hopefully going to watch Space 2001 on Friday morning.

I'm a designer again.

Well, I've always considered myself more of a "web designer" than a "webmaster" (my actual job title) and over the past few months, my job has been slowly creeping even further into the "web developer" realm. That means dealing with databases, programming code, and lots of trial/error trying to figure out why something won't work and it usually ends up that you forgot a semi-colon or something.

But at least in the short term, I've been given a reprieve from that. Sure, I still need to be learning and fiddling with things on the development side but it looks like redesigning the look of the website, navigation, and some of the department areas is more important.

Money.

That's the bottom line. The college needs to concentrate on "revenue sources" like getting new students to take classes. Lots of 'em. Many new students would be good.

It seems like this is going to be a work-dominated post.

Sitting in my boss' office today, discussing all of this and going back-and-forth with out usual good-natured banter. He's a 30-something former English major, so we can relate to each other.

Anyway, the college closes at noon on Friday b/c of Good Friday and we have been trying to plan a going-away lunch for one of my co-workers. This is my last Friday not to be at the office before my schedule changes to 5 days x 8 hours.

But he asks me "are you available on Friday?".

I ask him, "can you define 'available'?" *smirk*

So he starts explaining that he's trying to plan the going-away lunch for Friday, since we don't work in the afternoon, etc. I begin to ask if we could do it on Thursday and then it hits me.

--He wants to do it on Friday b/c none of us need to go back to the office and that means we can have drinks with lunch!

*laugh*

His word for what I experienced was an "information bomb". Dennis (my boss) just dropped the information and then waited to see how long it would take before it exploded.

Twerp!

Friday = "In the Bedroom" (movie review to follow later)
Saturday = Amber and Marshall's wedding
Sunday = early wake-up to do work stuff

You know it's a small, informal wedding when you go as a guest and end up as a participant... *laugh*
Yup -- I arrived at the chapel as the date of the Maid of Honor (Stephanie looked fantastic in her dress) and ended up with my own small role in the wedding. *smirk*

First, they asked if I would light the candles at the front of the chapel. No problem, fire is good. Turns out that meant I would be the first person walking into the chapel with guests watching.

The second task they asked me about was unrolling the paper for the bride to walk across on the way down the aisle. Not a problem...squat down, calmly move the roll, everybody's happy.

Finally, they asked me to walk the mother of the bride down the aisle!!! Mind you, I just met the woman that afternoon!

Essentially, my thought at times like these is "well, I'd rather be useful than to just be standing around".
Everything went well. No massive fire from the candles and I didn't trip the mother of the bride as she was walking. The roll of paper wasn't long enough to come all the way down the aisle, but that was the only small complication.

The family also asked me to videotape the ceremony, but fortunately they found someone else b/c it would have been tough to do that while also taking care of the other little things.

After all that?

I got to ride in the limo and drink a beer. (purchased by the groom) *grin*

The reception was fun, with much eating and dancing. Due in part to the fact that I helped out at the wedding, I was asked to join the head table. I didn't know anyone there, except Stephanie, so it was good. The bride was eager to taste the meatballs. The groom was just glad to have the ceremony over and couldn't wait to go gambling. She got her wish right away, but he has to wait until later this week.

Dinner, toasts, speech, laughter, dancing, and lots of chatting followed. Everyone was there for a good time and both families were filled with fun, easy-going people.

There are a few constants at wedding receptions. One is cake, another is the Macarena, a third is the throwing of the garter and bouquet.

(Can anyone see where this story is going?)

As you may have guessed...Stephanie caught the bouquet.

I caught the garter.

We had little choice in the matter. Amber (the bride) dropped a fairly strong hint that she was going to make the toss in Stephanie's direction. I say again, this was the bride, and it's not good to cross a bride on her wedding day.

Marshall (the groom) did his best Babe Ruth imitation when the single men (only 2 of us) walked up. He checked the wind direction, compensated for the gusts, and pointed. It was a screaming line-drive right to me!

Stephanie and I make a great couple, so who can blame Amber and Marshall (plus the D.J.) for having a little fun with us?