From over the cubicle wall, a general discussion of manliness: "He's eating chicken jerky--with tissues!" followed by a disapproving chorus of "Dude . . ."

In the breakroom downstairs: "I wish I could grow a beard." "Dude . . . you can't grow a beard?" "Dude, I can grow a beard, but it gets so scratchy." "You grow out of that stage!" "Yeah, but . . . my face gets claustrophobic." ". . . Claustrophobic?" "I'm not as tough as you guys, OK?" "We could have told you that."

I'm in constant need, Gud. But so far today...so good. Knock on wood.

Connie, that's funny. Poor Dude.

I'm in a ReadyTalk work conference, but I cannot connect via the phone. So I can see their screen and hear everything (through the computer) they're saying, but I can't give any input (which is fine by me).

But I sent an email to the facilitator saying "I can't connect via phone, but I have ReadyTalk open and I can see and hear everything you're doing." When the facilitator read the email, she said "Stephanie, you connected by phone, but can't see the screen, is that correct?" [silence on my end] [obviously] "Stephanie?"

Seriously, they took the exact opposite from my email that I meant. Jesus.

Can see. Can't speak. Fire bad. Tree pretty.

Wow, Tep. A metaphor for our times.

I eventually got through on the phone, but it was pointless, because the part of the demonstration that affected the freelancers was about 7 minutes of the whole damn thing. Yawn.

Congrats on the new job, Jesse!

I love my job, but I might take a pay cut for a shorter commute. 1:30+ each way is pretty draining.

Wow, Jess, that's a very long commute. Do you ever get to work from home? How long was the commute before you moved?

I am so spoiled, I don't think I could go back to working in an office.

That commute would definitely kill me. An hour is too long IMO.

My new commute will be 35 minutes walking?

I have given notice and told my staff. Phew! Of course today is the day they are rolling out some layoffs and other changes.