For ten years, the Snoopy coffee mug sat on my desk at Diamond, first on Greenspring Avenue, then on York Road. I’d bought it some years before at the Big Lots in Eldersberg. I liked the message — “Is there no one to rescue me?!” It seemed… apropos. As I gathered up things in myContinue reading “My Work-From-Home Experiment Begins”
Category Archives: Work
I Was Told There Would Be No Math
Some parts of my job I rarely, if ever, talk about. Working on the monthly, annual, and now decennial sales charts is one of those things. There was a lot of math involved for the decennial tables, limited as they are, but before I got to the math there was a lot of thinking. JustContinue reading “I Was Told There Would Be No Math”
Organizing the Bookshelf
Several days ago I took about forty-five minutes and reorganized my office bookshelf, the one with my epic run on PREVIEWS, all 141 issues to date. It had been piling up with Image comics I was never going to read, and once I cleared that detritus away the shelf looks quite nice. It won’t winContinue reading “Organizing the Bookshelf”
The Absence
On Friday, a colleague of mine at work was let go. He had been with the company twenty-two years. A dozen years ago, he was the best mentor I could have had, taking a not-inexperienced writer and turning him into a copywriter. Then he moved into other, consumer-oriented projects, and we didn’t interact every dayContinue reading “The Absence”
An Unwelcome Notice
Monday afternoon, before leaving home to attend a New Year’s party, I checked my mailbox. There was nothing of importance. Nothing, that is, but a letter from my apartment managers. The news that my rent was going up wasn’t a complete surprise — it’s gone up all but one year since I’ve lived here —Continue reading “An Unwelcome Notice”
Half a Snow Day
I was not expecting the office to close at 2 o’clock today. That’s just not the sort of thing that’s done. And when I pulled out of the parking lot at roughly 2:15 and hit the highway, I thought to myself, ‘This doesn’t seem so bad.” The drive to Mason-Dixon Line was… well, it wasContinue reading “Half a Snow Day”
Writing Until I Drop
A few months ago, Andrew Sullivan began writing a weekly column for New York. As someone who read The Dish, Sullivan’s daily blog, for years and years and years, I welcomed his weekly column. I haven’t always enjoyed it, but I still read it. In Sullivan’s column last week, he closed with a story onContinue reading “Writing Until I Drop”
Reflections on Ten Years
Wednesday marked my tenth anniversary at Diamond Comic Distributors. Part of Diamond’s culture revolves around the daily “Service Anniversaries” e-mail. HR sends out an e-mail to the entire company acknowledging those employees who are celebrating an anniversary, and then people throughout the company, some you’ll know, some you won’t, will send you congratulations. Suffice itContinue reading “Reflections on Ten Years”
An Angel Tree Package for the Office
As the company has done for a number of years, a Christmas tree was put up in the lobby and, a few days after Thanksgiving, Angel Tree stockings were hung. I had decided long ago to participate in the Angel Tree program this year and, when I was passing by the lobby area on otherContinue reading “An Angel Tree Package for the Office”
Rebel Rebel
Today was Purple Friday at the office. As will many more Fridays over the coming months. It baffles me at times that, at the office, whenever the Baltimore Ravens play a home game we can were Ravens gear, but Orioles gear happens only once a year, on Opening Day. What’s especially baffling is that ourContinue reading “Rebel Rebel”