Shades of Grey
I have no patience for people who see the world in black and white, those who themselves have no patience for nuance.
Is it just because I have a degree in public health, or is it a fairly universal experience to have seen footage of the congressional hearing at which all the tobacco executives are testifying, and they go down the line, each of them saying, "I belive nicotine is not addictive."? It's really striking, the footage of this hearing, but it never really occurred to me that whoever posed the question of the panel -- and I have no idea who that was -- really put those witnesses against the ropes. It's rare that a "yes" or a "no" really gets to the heart of the issue. The point is in the details, in the nuance.
My boss got a little bit railroaded today, also at a congressional hearing, by a punk-ass, frankly, who insisted that all eight witnesses (yes, eight witnesses, plus literally 30 members of the committee -- the hearing was interminable, and I desperately had to pee for at least 2/3 of it) go down the line, giving only yes/no answers to impossible questions. It was such a dick move. Do people not understand that the world is not black and white? That sometimes there are no simple answers? It was ridiculous, and infuriating, and it made me want to leap across the table and smack him, or at least send vibes to my boss saying, "Don't take the bait!! Don't take the bait!!!" But I still think it's crap that members of Congress are able to behave so badly in the first place.
I can't believe it's only Tuesday, and I couldn't be more excited that I'll be back home tomorrow night. This seems like the longest week in history, even though it's somehow only Tuesday. I had a work dinner, so I missed President Obama's press conference, but the coverage I'm watching now suggests that it was fairly boring.
But!! NOT boring! I just flipped to Dancing with the Stars, and somehow, The Woz is not in the bottom two. What the what?! I am a big fan of people who try hard and have fun, even if they suck, but unless Denise Richards gets voted off tonight, I object. Seriously. I don't know why I harbor such hatred for Denise, but there you have it.
Other things I hate:
-- The woman at the gym who chomps her gum like a cow throughout her entire workout, even while she talks on her cell phone as she rides the exercise bike. Seriously. Despite all the signs posted around the gym imploring users to be respectful of other exercisers and to avoid using cell phones in the fitness center, she just yaks and yaks and yaks, and chomps and chomps and chomps. She is the reason I need to be equipped, at all times, with an iPod.
-- Creepy-ass birds. My original hotel room today smelled like old cigarette smoke, halfway covered by some nasty chemical designed to mask the odor, and I could barely breathe when I checked in. I'm not normally That Girl, but I immediately went back to the front desk and requested a room change. They told me that I'd need to wait for another room to open up, so I spent the afternoon at the Cosi near Dupont Circle (and ended up with an equally spacious, lovely room that smells like absolutely nothing. It's heaven), grabbing a late lunch and taking advantage of their free WiFi. But, it was super-crowded inside, and although the weather was pretty nice today here in D.C., I didn't want to be outside because of sunglare. So I took the hybrid option, basically a sunporch that's mostly covered but also includes a spot that's exposed to the outdoors. Lots and lots of birds fly through that spot. So, as I sat trying to eat my lunch and catch up on work, I was constantly worried about the birds flitting around me, chirping and pecking, and potentially pooping on my bag, on my coat, or on my head. Luckily, they pretty much kept to themselves, but ugh, do I hate those wild birds.
-- Reversed emoticons. I didn't start using email until 1995, really, but one of the first things I learned then was that a smiley face is depicted by the following symbol: :)
And yes, I've been known to use that symbol, and my current email system even recognizes the colon-close-parens combination and translates it automatically to a proper smiley face (although it's translated as :J when people look at it through a Blackberry, which is less fun, but whatevs). BUT , I've lately seen a preponderance of dyslexic smiley-faces, to wit: (:
Again, what the what?! That's not the proper symbol of smileyness. Our necks automatically cock to the left to interpret emoticons, not to the right. You're screwing me up, really. Seriously. It's distracting.
That's all I hate right now, really. I am eager to be home, eager to catch up on my sleep, eager to catch up on quality time with my husband and our middle-aged dog, but on the whole, there's not actually much that I hate. Life is pretty darned good, and when all I have to complain about is who gets booted from DWTS (although I'm in fact pretty pleased with the Holly/Denise bottom two -- GO HOME, DENISE RICHARDS!!!) and a few days of excessive workload at a job that I ultimately like a lot, I'm pretty lucky.
Is it just because I have a degree in public health, or is it a fairly universal experience to have seen footage of the congressional hearing at which all the tobacco executives are testifying, and they go down the line, each of them saying, "I belive nicotine is not addictive."? It's really striking, the footage of this hearing, but it never really occurred to me that whoever posed the question of the panel -- and I have no idea who that was -- really put those witnesses against the ropes. It's rare that a "yes" or a "no" really gets to the heart of the issue. The point is in the details, in the nuance.
My boss got a little bit railroaded today, also at a congressional hearing, by a punk-ass, frankly, who insisted that all eight witnesses (yes, eight witnesses, plus literally 30 members of the committee -- the hearing was interminable, and I desperately had to pee for at least 2/3 of it) go down the line, giving only yes/no answers to impossible questions. It was such a dick move. Do people not understand that the world is not black and white? That sometimes there are no simple answers? It was ridiculous, and infuriating, and it made me want to leap across the table and smack him, or at least send vibes to my boss saying, "Don't take the bait!! Don't take the bait!!!" But I still think it's crap that members of Congress are able to behave so badly in the first place.
I can't believe it's only Tuesday, and I couldn't be more excited that I'll be back home tomorrow night. This seems like the longest week in history, even though it's somehow only Tuesday. I had a work dinner, so I missed President Obama's press conference, but the coverage I'm watching now suggests that it was fairly boring.
But!! NOT boring! I just flipped to Dancing with the Stars, and somehow, The Woz is not in the bottom two. What the what?! I am a big fan of people who try hard and have fun, even if they suck, but unless Denise Richards gets voted off tonight, I object. Seriously. I don't know why I harbor such hatred for Denise, but there you have it.
Other things I hate:
-- The woman at the gym who chomps her gum like a cow throughout her entire workout, even while she talks on her cell phone as she rides the exercise bike. Seriously. Despite all the signs posted around the gym imploring users to be respectful of other exercisers and to avoid using cell phones in the fitness center, she just yaks and yaks and yaks, and chomps and chomps and chomps. She is the reason I need to be equipped, at all times, with an iPod.
-- Creepy-ass birds. My original hotel room today smelled like old cigarette smoke, halfway covered by some nasty chemical designed to mask the odor, and I could barely breathe when I checked in. I'm not normally That Girl, but I immediately went back to the front desk and requested a room change. They told me that I'd need to wait for another room to open up, so I spent the afternoon at the Cosi near Dupont Circle (and ended up with an equally spacious, lovely room that smells like absolutely nothing. It's heaven), grabbing a late lunch and taking advantage of their free WiFi. But, it was super-crowded inside, and although the weather was pretty nice today here in D.C., I didn't want to be outside because of sunglare. So I took the hybrid option, basically a sunporch that's mostly covered but also includes a spot that's exposed to the outdoors. Lots and lots of birds fly through that spot. So, as I sat trying to eat my lunch and catch up on work, I was constantly worried about the birds flitting around me, chirping and pecking, and potentially pooping on my bag, on my coat, or on my head. Luckily, they pretty much kept to themselves, but ugh, do I hate those wild birds.
-- Reversed emoticons. I didn't start using email until 1995, really, but one of the first things I learned then was that a smiley face is depicted by the following symbol: :)
And yes, I've been known to use that symbol, and my current email system even recognizes the colon-close-parens combination and translates it automatically to a proper smiley face (although it's translated as :J when people look at it through a Blackberry, which is less fun, but whatevs). BUT , I've lately seen a preponderance of dyslexic smiley-faces, to wit: (:
Again, what the what?! That's not the proper symbol of smileyness. Our necks automatically cock to the left to interpret emoticons, not to the right. You're screwing me up, really. Seriously. It's distracting.
That's all I hate right now, really. I am eager to be home, eager to catch up on my sleep, eager to catch up on quality time with my husband and our middle-aged dog, but on the whole, there's not actually much that I hate. Life is pretty darned good, and when all I have to complain about is who gets booted from DWTS (although I'm in fact pretty pleased with the Holly/Denise bottom two -- GO HOME, DENISE RICHARDS!!!) and a few days of excessive workload at a job that I ultimately like a lot, I'm pretty lucky.
