Dan’s Jaynes Hat

Dan left today, he flew back to LA. We all got up early this morning to give him a big send off. I dropped him off at the airport, on my way into work. I didn’t get a chance to take a last minute photograph of him, so I’m substituting this picture of his Jayne’s hat instead. Anne knitted it for him and here it is seen mounted on our dining room table’s holiday centerpiece. He got out-of-town just before the mercury began its long decent. I think that the high for the day occurred while I was hugging him outside of departures.

While we were in Chicago last week, we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art. There I bought a wall calendar for my cube at work. This is in addition to the left-handed desk calendar that Joanie gave me. This particular calendar couldn’t have cost more than a buck to make. I paid $14 for mine and you can see a picture of it at this website, where the price is $25. I think that this calendar is a very clever and fun idea. Very few things in life are as satisfying as popping bubble wrap. So why shouldn’t you partake in it more often? How about every day? This poster-size bubble calendar allows you to do just that. Each day of the year has a bubble to pop. There are even bonus bubbles at the end of those months that have less than 31 days. All days of the week and U.S. holidays are marked, plus the weekends are in bold for quick reference. It is made in Brooklyn.

I was impressed enough with the concept to purchase a calendar, but the impression that it has created on my co-workers is even more extraordinary. First off, it is big. It was hard to mount in my cube. Also, I try to time my bubble bursting for maximum office disruption. Yes folks, I’m just seeking attention. Mondays are going to be the best day of the week, because then I’ll have three bubbles to pop. There are also those days that I come back from vacation on, like this last Monday, when I’ll have even more bursting bubbles to pop. Some of my co-workers have threatened to burst my bubbles for me, but their just being party poopers and not party poppers and so far this hasn’t occurred. Being all engineers, many have remarked on how easy it would be to make one for themselves. This would be cheaper and maybe even more fun than just buying one, but they wouldn’t be first and therein lies the value of an idea, which is what I mainly paid for.