Rusty Cage

Thanks to the car pool lane, the 37 mile drive takes just under 45 minutes. If I've been awake, or driving, us 3 Indians and a Brit will have had an animated conversation. I enjoy their company, and as much as I'm in a foul mood due to insufficient sleep, I keep the banter going. Much like the doomed king of Sparta (in the movie anyway), I toss all my accessories into the top draw. The wallet bulges too much - even though I don't carry cash. The shades dangle from my shirt and annoy me. The keys poke through my jeans - they all need to be kept aside too.

Approaching my chair, I begin to nerd-up, to prepare for all the technology I'm going to deal with. Almost simultaneously, I unlock 2 computers, check email for 3 different accounts, check the latest on my favorite gadget site. I refill my nalgene - how did I drink warm water in India? Make some tea, and settle down to save the satellite TV industry, again. It's not even 9 AM yet and I'm feeling almost smug that everything's in place. And then, it begins.

Fat man arrives, his chuckle heard from across the floor. Walks up to Skinny Jones to discuss the day's agenda. Skinny has a nasal, annoying tone, almost like he huffed helium for breakfast. Fat man breathes heavily and will always respond to skinny's questions with a "huh" before launching into a series of defensive grunts about why he didn't/can't get the work done. They sit with a cube in between and so they carry the conversation on until fat man plants himself noisily in his chair. There after they'll talk to each other like lovers on either side of a bad phone connection. Aw great, just another 8 hours of this shit.

Any time after 9, the cube neighbor S arrives, talking to his beloved wife over a douche-y bluetooth headset. S has allergies, breathing problems, and faces a constant battle of the bulge. As a result, he clears his throat now and then, all the time sounding like rotting phlegm is trying to scratch its way out of him. It's going to be a long day, I grumble, not quite to myself.

Send some mails, read the news, get the top priority stuff licked so that I can look good on those assessments. Glance around, pull up notepad.exe and begin typing. The day goes by just a little faster.