As I’m going through all of my “grownup” paperwork and organizing it by type and tax year I came across a single, blank piece of yellowing loose leaf paper that had somehow made it into my mess, possibly years ago. I thought back to an incident last Winter when I was at work and a coworker was organizing his desk and a blank piece of paper laying there was about to make its way into the garbage.

“You’re going to throw out that blank piece of paper?” I asked, probably sounding a bit more intense than I meant to.

“Oh, I guess I was. Why?”

“It hasn’t had a chance yet, I’ll take it.”

I always seem to write some of my best ideas on scraps of paper. Just like with that piece of paper at work I think I’ll take this one, fold it up and put it in my notebook and give it another chance.

Feel free to add your own in the comments.

• Tenured professor with a big research grant
• Best-selling author
• Superstar DJ and/or music producer

There are plenty of others I’m sure but those are at the top of my list right now.

Every person has his or her own personal mystery. Something that follows them through life that they try to continually figure out, but somehow is just out of reach.

My mystery is why the hems of many of my t-shirts curl up after I dry them. No matter what I do it seems to constantly happen. Ironing seems to be the only cure. Nothing seems to be able to prevent it. I’ve tried different drying temps, drying times, fabric softener in the wash, no fabric softener in the wash, etc. Some t-shirts do seem immune however, given that you fold them soon enough.

One day I hope to solve my mystery, but I don’t count on it.

I’ve joined a dodgeball team at work. There’s no question in my mind that this is the best way possible to build additional team skills. My plan is to take this super seriously, and help take our team to the top and win the championship.

Last night I found this thing I wrote a few years back. Please note that it’s not intended to be taken seriously, just something goofy I came up with for my own amusement.

Zero-point energy is the lowest possible energy level of a quantum mechanical system like a particle in a box. The kinetic energy of the system may be zero if the velocity of the particle is zero. However the uncertainty principle implies that if the velocity of the particle is measured with certainty to be exactly zero, then the position of the particle is infinite. This either means that the particle isn’t necessarily in the box (which violates the rules of the experiment) or that there is a new type of potential energy in the box. Since science doesn’t want to get into anything like that it is simply said that the velocity of the particle can never be exactly zero.

My office here at work could easily be considered a box and yet I have a zero energy level most of the time. Since my velocity is exactly zero then I must infer that either I am hallucinating and am not actually in my office at all, or that I am a perpetual motion machine, tapping the infinite energy of sitting absolutely still.

Sometimes I think about how much of my brain is being used to remember and automatically avoid the significant potholes and other road dangers all too common here. It concerns me. If the roads were smoother here I probably would have figured out the meaning of life at this point.

I just realized that my “work” tag is currently out pacing my other tags. It’s interesting but I’ve started to use the tagging as a tool for me to gauge what I’m writing about most and it’s clear I need to change things up a bit more.

I wonder if I should go back and retroactively tag my older posts… That sounds like a job for a Sunday when I’m really bored.

My boss just presented me with my corporate mark of honor for one year of employment. Normally things like this don’t really mean a ton to me, but this one does. I found a place of employment that - while it can definitely feel like work some days - I really do enjoy. I also feel that professionally I’ve grown a considerable amount and can say that I really feel for the first time since after college that I’m at a place that I can really develop a career at, not just do my job. That’s a pretty good feeling.

Talk about a whirlwind of a year though.

I actually have another post coming that touches on some of this in a little more detail, but I wanted to put this out there while it was fresh in my mind.

I love mangoes and eat them often. This morning, I thought Wouldn’t it be great if I ate a mango at work? As it turns out, it was great. However, I have learned some valuable information about the process and so I thought I’d provide this helpful guide on how to eat them properly while in your cube at work.

1. Lay out a napkin or a tissue or something else completely inadequate to absorb the juice you are about to subject it to.
2. Place mango on napkin; realize simultaneously you did not bring a knife or other sharp instrument with you.
3. Check kitchen for knife; find nothing.
4. Find pair of new scissors with office supplies.
5. Use wide open scissors to cut around the mango along its length; cut similarly around the center, dividing it into quarters.
6. Use edge of scissors to peel back skin on one of the sections.
7. Attempt to chisel away as much mango as possible from the pit on the skinless section.
8. Eventually give up and simply bite at mango flesh.
9. Continue like this, eating the other section until you realize you’re late for a meeting.
10. Upon returning from the meeting continue to peel, chisel and devour mango.
11. When done feasting upon the mango walk - somewhat ashamed - with hands and scissors covered in juice to the kitchen area; clean up face and hands.
12. Return to your cube and realize that during the meeting the napkin fused with the desk.
13. Use scissors to scrape mango infused napkin from desk.
14. Vow never to be without scissors again.

I’m really not a morning person. I’m embracing this fact more and more lately. For a long while when I was traveling so regularly I had to get up often at 5 AM, and sometimes quite a bit earlier. I have no doubt this was a big part of the reason I was so unhappy. That job probably would have been a lot better if I could have worked on my own schedule (which is to say quite late).

Things are lightening up a bit at work thankfully. Actually I should just say that I’m nailing down some deliverables, so it’s all good. I’m glad too, since I ended up working a fair bit this weekend.

On the home front I’m getting my digital life back in order thankfully. I’m not really entirely set back up yet, but it’s getting there. I still need to install all my music software still actually. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow after Aikido.