Watching people doing their daily routine can be quite entertaining. I like watching and listening to people, On this day I was observing a young lady chatting on the phone as she has done many times before. This gal is quite entertaining because of the manner in which she uses a phone.

Most will hold a phone with the ear piece at, or near the ear and the mouthpiece at, or near the mouth. This lady will do the same when she is listening to a person on the other end talk, but will take the phone away from her and put the mike against her mouth and speak very loudly into the phone. "Huh", I thought. "The person on the other end of the line must be hard of hearing, or have a poor cell-phone reception". But she has done this on every call I've seen her make. (By the way, she and I are usually in our company cafeteria about the same time, every day. I didn't want you to think I was stalking this person.)

Oh, it didn’t start out that way -- no job ever does. Ones first day on the job is usually filled with awe and a sense that “I’m going to be the best employee this company every had!” That’s how it started.

For me, the job was a dream come true. Over the years I had acquired what I thought was a fair amount of knowledge in the computer field. I could build or fix just about anything. This job would allow me to help others who were less fortunate in the area. And so the job began. I began working as a computer phone technician for a major computer manufacturer and distributor. There were 30 of us working full-time, 7 days a week and we covered 16 hours a day of service. We averaged over 1000 calls per day. I averaged between 50 and 100 calls per day.

What have become of American television? The days of good quality television entertainment are gone. The days of crap are here. Television is now riddled with nothing but amateur hour television with dried up celebrities giving their opinion on the quality of the want-to-be acts.

When did the major network executives loose their ability to find top quality talent and put it on the air? The fact of the matter is, it all boils down to the almighty dollar and not a good quality television program.

The American public has become such lethargic looser that they simply watch this mindless drivel, night after night. No longer does one get to see a quality prime time program that may both be entertaining and sometimes enlightening, but is forces to endure the pathetic excuse for entertainment.

IM at the workplace seems silly, doesn’t it?

Many people use Instant Messaging of some form at work. It helps break up the boredom of an otherwise laborious day at the office place. Instant Messaging, IM, ICQ, pinging or whatever you want to call it has become a part of our daily lives.

I work at a company that has open seating cubicles. The only separation between me and my coworkers is a small cubicle wall that extends a mere foot above the desk. We all can easily look around at each other during the day and easily converse if need be. Yet all of us use IM to chat with the person sitting next to us. There’s nothing like seeing one coworker send a message to another and then look to see what that persons physical response will be. I watch individuals send a message and then quickly look to the recipient to catch their reaction. Seems kind of silly, doesn’t it?

Well, I suppose it was even funnier in the days before IM where we used to call each other on the phone rather than chatting over the cubicle wall. Lunch would roll around and the guy in the next cube would call to see if I was ready to go to lunch.

Long gone are the days when coworkers would actually gather around the water cooler and exchange some witty banter. Now its fingers flying fast and furiously, attempting to get that zinger sent off before your coworker has a chance to respond.