January 22, 2004
Dear Everyone:
What kind of a word is “methodology” anyway? What does it mean? If “ology” indicates “the study of…”, as in “anthropology” equals “the study of mankind”, then does “methodology” mean “the study of methods”? What’s that? You could claim anything was “the study of the method” of doing something. So it’s really just a buzzword.
Sorry.
I’m just in a bad mood because a co-worker, who was supposed to meet
with me at
I hate sandwiches. It probably goes back to the Fourth Grade, when I had to make nine sandwiches every morning for everyone to take to school and/or work. If you figure approximately 180 school days in a year, times nine sandwiches… that’s a lot of sandwiches.
So now that I’m an adult, I don’t eat sandwiches for “lunch”. Sandwiches aren’t lunch. Sandwiches are what you eat when you can’t get a real lunch; or you don’t have time for a real lunch; or you can’t afford a real lunch; or you are somewhere that doesn’t have any place to eat a real lunch. Like the mall. Where I work in “Pleasant Hill”, for instance, doesn’t have many places to get a real lunch.
But there is a lovely restaurant near where I was working today that serves a lovely lunch with excellent service (read: quick) and I was so looking forward to enjoying a real lunch. Until said co-worker informed me that she had meetings all afternoon and she needed to prepare for them, so she was going “to the deli for a sandwich to bring back” and wouldn’t I love to join her?
So not only did I end up eating yet another sandwich, but I did it while she spouted platitudes and buzzwords, like “methodology” at me. Don’t get me wrong. If you need platitudes and buzzwords, this is the person to see. She can construct whole paragraphs out of nothing but platitudes and buzzwords and it sounds really great until you realize that you have no idea what she’s talking about. A veritable well.
So enough about that. Tomorrow, I’ll have the “Pleasant Hill” office all to myself and I won’t have to hear “methodology” again until next week. And I will find something to eat besides sandwiches.
I started using my
treadmill again
this week. I finally moved
some things around in the second bedroom, which also serves as home
office and exercise area.
Then I pulled the DVD
player out of the living room and set it up with the little TV in
the office. I have four
seasons of
In other news…
“Jeannie” and I went to see Paycheck last weekend. This movie stars Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman, and was directed by John Woo. “Directed by John Woo” means lots of exciting action sequences, lots of gunfire, and lots of explosions. It is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, who wrote a lot of dark sci-fi stories in the 50’s. Many of his stories have been made into movies including, Blade Runner (Harrison Ford), Total Recall (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Imposter (Gary Sinise), and Minority Report (Tom Cruise).
In Paycheck, Ben plays a “reverse engineer”. He buys a product, then takes it apart to figure out how it was designed in the first place. Then he creates an even better version of the product for a competitor. For this he gets paid a lot of money… and he agrees to have his memory erased so he can’t remember what he did. Important Note: In both Philip K. Dick stories and John Woo movies, it’s best not to try and apply logic. Never mind that it makes no sense. Just go with it.
So Ben agrees to work on a really special project for three years, after which his memory will be erased, in return for a really big paycheck. After three years, he discovers that he turned down the money and mailed himself an envelope containing 20 ordinary objects. The question is why. In between exciting action sequences, lots of gunfire and lots of explosions, we get lots of close-ups of Ben.
Ben looking perplexed. Ben looking curious. Ben looking confused. Ben looking at Uma. Again, do not attempt to apply logic. Also, this is the kind of movie you kind of really have to see on a big screen. Otherwise, you won’t be able to tell what’s going on with the really big explosions.
And what’s with all these bad guys with guns who can’t hit the broad side of a barn? I haven’t seen such poor marksmanship since the original Star Wars. And why, if there are so many people working in that building, are none of them around when the shooting and explosions start… Oops. Logic. If you like Ben, you’ll like Paycheck. If you prefer logic, try the Discovery Channel.
Love, as always,
Pete
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