Not that I want to play any goofy games, but I'd like to know who is on my team and if I have a team leader. You would think that information would be pretty basic in such a corporate environment, but not in my case.

I'm stuck with AT&T for another year and a half, I think. We already have the $30 messaging plan, so that won't be a change for us.

AT&T Wireless subscribers. ATT is doing a bit of a dick move and forcing everyone who starts a new account (or decides to change their messaging plan) to have an unlimited messaging plan which is $20 for individuals, $30 a month for family plans. They used to have 3 different messaging plan tiers, then they went to 2, now just 1.

If you're not switching anything up, things will stay the same, right?

Hmm, at that differential, a phone would pay for itself pretty quickly, especially if, like me, you're happy to keep it for years. Who do you use for service?

We use Virgin Mobile.

Go team Google Voice! I can't work out what they get out of it, but it's cheap and convenient for me.

Why does my face swell up the morning after a bad night's sleep? Is it tossing and turning, or is it sleep deprivation? After I went back to bed last night, the dreams were all about race-motivated sexual harassment. I have no fucking idea. It was pretty horrible, and I ended up getting out of bed again just to make it stop.

Oh man, Nillybaby! He might be the happiest little dude I've ever seen.

Kate, I've often witnessed similar scenes, without the soundtrack. I've found Loki with his head shoved in the toebox of a size 9 platform sandal, nose peeking out.

Heh, I can totally picture Worthington doing that too. Cats, why the weird foot fetish?

We switched to no contract plans. I hardly every use my phone as a phone, so I have limited minutes, but unlimited text & data for $25/month. The best part about the no contract plans? No taxes, so the $25 is actually $25.

I also have a no-contract plan, with Tracfone, and I've been pretty happy with it. It's a pay-as-you-go service, with no monthly fee. Whenever I'm running low on minutes, I pay around $88 (with taxes) for a 450-minute card, and then since I bought a double-minutes-for-life card a few years back, that turns out to be $88 for 900 minutes. Texts cost .3 minutes both to send and receive. I don't have a smartphone so I don't know anything about what they charge for accessing the internet. I think I paid around $25 for the phone itself.

I didn't wake up until 4:00 this morning!

Which isn't actually much of an improvement since I went to bed later too, but still, it's something.

Believe it or not, there are organizational development consultants who aren't total idiots.

It can, but the consultants do need to tailor their information to the place/culture. For example, we are of course dealing with people on the autism spectrum, highly creative super-geniuses, and super-concentrated egos. Sometimes all at once. What my staff needs and what the staff at the local paper cup manufacturer needs are lightyears apart.

I just kept thinking, when you saw the sign on the way in, what made you think new age woo was the way to go?

I don't have a smartphone so I don't know anything about what they charge for accessing the internet. I think I paid around $25 for the phone itself.

Well, when I looked at Verizon, it didn't seem like you could get phone/text/data for much under $100, AT&T was more like $75, but that was because they had more text/data options and maybe that won't be true soon.

I don't phone or text much, so, at those rates (Sparky's), I could spend a few hundred on a phone and be free and clear after six months or so.

The problem is fads and 'saleabe' concepts.

Every program should be tailored to the needs of the group. There are basic, adult learning theories and program structures, but the content must suit the context.

The problem is, the stakeholders either don't want to pay for that kind of analysis or get caught up in 'we have to spend money on training, and we did THAT before, so make something up that's NEW.

That way lies crappy results and pissed off employees.

Man. I guess I'm still bitter. I couldn't get paid (competitive to low rates) to do what folks really need, while the Moonbeam Brigade gets a multi-year government contract.

Grrr.

Still, that reality led me to do what I love even more, so I guess it worked out okay.

Last time I bought a phone I made the person at T Mobile do the contract/buy math and look me in the face when they tried to sell me the contract. They had the decency to look ashamed. If draw even inside of a year, what's the vague temptation?