Bonjour mon ami, I was about to ask you if you knew what, But I suppose since I'm asking you, that you don't know and that I should probably be telling you eh? Alright, well here goes. It's a beautiful day out there today and I'm inside. Why am I inside you ask? Well that's because I wanted... scratch that, needed to talk to somebody and since anyone Id actually want to talk to is either "away," not home or just I have to get on here and put down everything I want to say and everything thats on my mind. I... I think I've gotten hardened somehow. Maybe hardened isn't the word but maybe just defensive. Ever since I've had an annoyance calling me every day for about the past week I've mastered what, we in the business world like to call "Master of the Obvious." I shall explain. To assist me, I shall emplore the help of a book I read a few years ago to illistrate my point. " You may mistakenly think that meetings are a boring, sadistic hell, populated by galactic-level morons. Now I understand that meetings are a type of performance art, with each actor taking on one of these challenging roles: -Master of the Obvious -Well Intentioned Sadist -Whining Martyr -Rambling Man -Sleeper MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS The master of the obvious believes that while he was studying the writings of Plato, sir Issac Newton and Peter Drucker the rest of the planet was watching some tv sitcom eating bon-bons. The Mster feels that it is his responsibility to share his "Wisdom" on any concept because he is either too stupid or too bored to actually formulate an opinion. He knows that any concept - no matter how mundane it may seem to him, will be a revelation, or at least a passing remark to the raisin-brains around. The secret to being the Master is to combine sincerity with Condescension, people must genuienly believe that you care when infact you're somewhere else, thinking about something totally different. The favoured lines of the Mater include. but are not limited to: You need customers in order to have revenue Training is essential We want a win-win solution here folks. Happy is a good thing Anyone catching on to what I'm getting at here? Anyone? I'm sure you are. I just get fed up with certain individuals sometimes (don't worry - none of you.) And so I defaultly go into this Master of the Obvious, only without the thining I'm superior. I could just care less about what they're saying, but if I say anything they'll want to know what's wrong or what's on my mind and quite frankly, although they trust me I wouldn't trust them with my teddy bear. Maybe I'm just too sour about things? Or as one of my good friends like to remind me almost every other day "you over analyze everything." I don't know the things she comes to me with are so trivial and are really just an attempt to get me to think about things that I could care less about. Pictures, long-winded stories, random bringing up of things, getting me involved where not necessary... like honest to god is any of this necessary? NO! All of a sudden I feel like the Whinning Martyr. Not cool but you know what I mean. It's just so Gah. Ever have that happen to you? If you have feel free to leave a comment about it. I shall dedicate to entry to annoyances - gotta love that eh? Oh, and one last point before I disembark. If you want a discription or are curious as to what the definitions are of the other four types of a meeting are, just let me know and I'll post it sometime for ya. But other than that I'm donw here, so sorry for wasting your time. I'll talk to you in a few days. Shortly, -Captain B. Obvious