Oh my god, Plei, the day I met up with you and Jilli and explored the air conditioned environs of Seattle, I left with my friend convinced neither of you liked me. Which is not your fault, just my own neuroses projecting.

But we want to love you and squeeze you and call you George!

But we want to love you and squeeze you and call you George!

Actually, we wanted to love you and squeeze you and KEEP YOU forever and ever.

During my project from hell this time last year, I made a deliberate choice to go with every request, no matter how far it was from my job description. If I didn't know, then I needed to work out who knew, and I wanted to understand it, from commission to payroll to billing to whatever. And I made a point to talk a little off topic with each person I stopped with trying to find the answers so they'd know who I was coming back around n the far far future.

Maybe practice networking like that?

The downside is that people still come to me for random stuff, but I just give them the phone number I'd have started using to track down the answer. But the upside result was a people that I could call for other information without feeling all the tension, since I crossed the rubicon already.

I think it was a pretty good blend of upping my rep for knowing everything, and extending my ability to know everything (or at least know where it's filed).

But, hell, nurturing in-company relationships got me one of my references when I went from contract to permanent. It was the big part of the two days of training (basically review and arranging in context, not much new information--if it had been, woe on me) that I could give myself 100% on. Sure, not everyone likes me, but I lay the connection groundwork with everyone I work with, and nurture the connection, even by sometimes just walking past their desk on purpose and waving hi.

what's the term for someone who is very much an extrovert, but absolutely needs a certain amount of alone time/down time?

Me.

Congrats, Nilly! New Nilly Baby!

What's the first thing you do when you sit down next to someone on an airplane? Right! TALK.

Um, hell to the no. I"ma vote NO. With a big side of NO.

What's the first thing you do when you sit down next to someone on an airplane? Right! TALK.

Ahahahahaha. No.

When I sit down next to someone in an airplane, I look at them, assess their body language, perhaps say hello, and pull out my noise-canceling earphones as an implied next action. That usually is enough to stall conversation before it starts.

In my history of traveling, I think I have sat next to an interesting person twice. The odds are really low.

Several years ago I flew to Anchorage for work, which is of course many hours, and as I was getting my bag out of the overhead I said something to the guy next to me--and discovered that not only did we work for the same agency, but that we worked on the same floor of my office building. Different divisions, but seriously. It was very weird.

In general, no, I don't talk to people on the plane: I read, or sleep.

I sat next to a guy once who worked for a chemical company, and we had a very geeky chemistry discussion. That is the sum total of my interesting conversations on an airplane. I have also spent a plane ride next to someone who was trying to convince me to accept Jesus.

My mother talks to everyone, which is why it takes forever to do anything with her.

I have also spent a plane ride next to someone who was trying to convince me to accept Jesus.

That happened once to DH. He told her he had, but that I was struggling with that decision. He's lucky I didn't strangle him.