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Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89344 by Trekkie Gal
May 1, 2007 12:52pm
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Quote the thing that ALMOST got me fired was "The Leaf Blower Incident."


Quote Ok, now you HAVE to share! :)


**hehehe.. they fell right into my little trap...***

The company was called First Virtual Corporation. The founder, Ralph Ungermann, decided from the beginning to have an "open work environment." This meant no offices, no cubicles, just one big room where everyone (including himself) worked, in an attempt to keep information and ideas free-flowing. It actually worked pretty well while the company was small (I was the first engineer there), but I think I may have had something to do with the eventual abandonment of this idea...

One of the things they did was have free lunches catered in every day. The only catch was that employees were responsible for clean-up, so we had a round-robin cleanup assignment. Well, one day when it was my turn for cleanup, I decided to sorta have fun with it... after lunch, I showed up in a jumpsuit, with goggles and a face mask, and big leaf-blower on my back (think "Ghostbusters"), and in a tremendously theatrical way proceeded to "clean up". Now, I had never really used a big leaf-blower before - who KNEW they could be that powerful??

Paper flew everywhere. It was like a Keystone Kops movie, me whirling around the office trying to get the beast under control, knocking over things and generally creating utter chaos, while my cohorts were on the floor in paroxysms of laughter. The really BIG problem was that at the time, in this open unsoundproofed room, Ralph was on the phone giving an interview to a magazine, and suddenly this loud roar made it so he couldn't hear a thing! Between that and the fact that the CFO hadn't really glued his toupee down very good that day, well, let's just say I had some 'splaining to do...

The good news was I was thenceforth left OUT of the cleanup rotation.

-wassamatta_u, who has many such tales of corporate shenanigans
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89351 by wassamatta u
May 1, 2007 1:26pm
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Quote wassamatta_u, who has many such tales of corporate shenanigans


Baaaahahahahahahaaaa!

I don't care who ya are, that's funny right there...
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89326 by KuKu
May 1, 2007 1:32pm
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Oh, looky what I found!

http://www.eeggs.com/

Find what's hidden in your favorite software now! (and blow the rest of your afternoon playing there...)

-AG
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89339 by wassamatta u
May 1, 2007 1:34pm
Thread (disabled) Board
the thing that ALMOST got me fired was "The Leaf Blower Incident."


I almost got fired from Intel for my quirky personality, but I have to admit, it wasn't nearly as interesting or dramatic as your leaf blower "incident."

From my very first day at Intel, I insisted I did NOT want voice mail. I had no need for voice mail. If someone needed to contact me, I preferred they used e-mail. But nobody would listen. NOOO, everyone has voice mail, and therefore I had to have one too whether I wanted it or not.

Doesn't mean I had to use it, though, and for the first year I worked at Intel, I never changed the message by the person who had that number before me. I didn't even know what the password to get into the account was, and I didn't really care. The only people I ever talked to were my immediate coworkers who worked in the cubes next to me. Send me an e-mail or walk up to my cube but for heavens sake, don't try to call me!

Anyhow, after a year or so of this, I stumbled onto the password for the voice mail account somewhere and someone told me they tried contacting me but all they got was voice mail for some woman they didn't even know. (Yes, that's me, I told them. Never changed the message!) I finally decided to update the voice mail message so at least people would know it was me in the unusual case that someone actually tried calling when I wasn't in my cube.

I don't remember the exact wording, but it went something to the effect that they reached the Strategic Nuclear Defense Institute and to please leave their name, number, and country they wished bombed into oblivion and we'd get back to you as soon as we could.

And that's how my voice mail was for the next year or so. Occasionally, once every couple of months, one of my co-workers would walk up to my cube, chuckling and commenting on the voice mail message. They thought it was hilarious.

A couple of months before I was scheduled to go into the redeployment pool, however, I guess someone from our team in Arizona tried calling me while I was on vacation in California and didn't think my message was very funny. Especially considering our group was to be shut down and everyone in it (myself included) was going into the redeployment pool and possibly later to lose our jobs. Whoever it was--and I never did find out who it was--decided to report me to security, and they didn't think the message was very funny at all either.

So I come walking in on Monday morning and noticed my boss set up a meeting with me for 8:00am. That was EXTREMELY unusual. Nobody has meetings at 8:00 in the morning--most of my group doesn't even get in that early in the morning. So I walked over to the conference room where my boss was waiting and told me the whole story about security wanting me fired since they feared I was likely to 'go postal' and she had to beg and plead with them that it was only a joke, yadda, yadda, yadda.

After that, I stopped leaving joke messages on my voice mail at work. (But I still had one on my answering machine at home--nobody could fire me for having it at home!) I'm pretty sure security did change my message, but I didn't know the password anymore to see what they put for it. Anyhow, I was in the redeployment pool a couple of months later, and did get laid off four months after that, so it's not like I ever needed to use it much.

The lesson to learn from this? When an employee tells you they don't want voice mail, DON'T GIVE THEM A VOICE MAIL ACCOUNT! *rolling eyes*

-- Ryan
Voice Mail message I've never done
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89362 by Green Tortuga
May 1, 2007 2:13pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Okay, the message I have never put on my home phone but wanted to follows. You have to understand I am THE Wizard of Oz fan and have tons of stuff and can do a spot-on impression of the Wicked Witch of the West.

"You've reached Susan's voicemail and if you don't leave a message, just try to stay out of my way. Just try. I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too! (wicked laugh) No, Toto, don't lift your leg! Augghh, I'm melting, melting. . . .(BEEP)."

I just don't have enough guts to actually have that on my voice mail. But if anyone else wants it, I'd be glad to record it for you!

KuKu
(there's a reason that's my trailname)
Re: Voice Mail message I've never done
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89368 by KuKu
May 1, 2007 2:15pm
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That is hilarious!!! You could put it on your cell phone maybe if you dont get as many calls on it. Or if you dont get any business-y kind of calls.

I would crack up if I called someone and heard that!!

crazyolis
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89351 by wassamatta u
May 1, 2007 2:22pm
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Quote The good news was I was thenceforth left OUT of the cleanup rotation.


Yep, and therein lies the method in your madness. ;-) What a Great Story!

Some people will do anything to keep from cleaning up after themselves.

Knit Wit
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89351 by wassamatta u
May 1, 2007 2:22pm
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Quote -wassamatta_u, who has many such tales of corporate shenanigans


Oh my goodness! Well Heeled and I were laughing hysterically! Please feel free to share more of these shenanigans. :)

TG
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89337 by Samsonite
May 1, 2007 6:21pm
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This is an excellent example! Although I always use it wrong. But I KNOW I'm using it wrong, doesn't that count for something??
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89320 by Dewdrop
May 1, 2007 7:10pm
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....and then there are people like me who use meaningless ellipses.....that is SO annoying.....

....dewdrop.....


Hi... My name is Teressa.... and I'm an ellipse-aholic
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89430 by Shadohart
May 1, 2007 10:42pm
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Spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and incorrect grammar can annoy anyone, but what really gets me is when people don't proof-read. I guess it is a bigger eye sore in an academic paper than in a dicussion board post -believe me I've peer reviewed plenty a papers. Nonetheless, I've always felt that if you expect me to take the time to read something, I have the right to expect the same out of you. It so important to be communicate perspicaciously.

Claudia (Oooo rants are fun)

Oh and another thing, I just starting using the dash (-) in my writing. I never used it before this year. I'm not sure exactly when it is appropriate, any thoughts on the dash?
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89465 by Claudia and Alex
May 1, 2007 11:15pm
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any thoughts on the dash?


I love the dash. Actually, the em dash, to be precise. A short dash has not life, no character. No—it is the long em dash I love to use. Where writing a true em dash is hard or impossible, I'll sometimes take the shortcut of using two short dash (--), but it's the em dash (—) I love.

I tend to use them where most people would use parenthesis. I'm not fond of parenthesis to interject a thought of my own into a sentence—parenthesis seem to imply that "this thought isn't as important as the non-parenthesised though—but that's never true. It's a different thought—not an inferior thought.

And they're so fun to write. Just one, simple stroke of the pen. No complex turns, no T's to cross or I's that need dotting. Whoever invented the cursive G should be shot. In fact, I deliberately write my cursive G's incorrectly—the capital ones, I mean, since I have no problem with a lowercase G—because that's such a messed up letter. My capital, cursive G's look more like printed G's with a single extra stroke to connect it to the next letter—BUT I digress!

The em dash is a beautiful thing. The en dash (–) is okay, and the short dash is to be avoided. Unless it's part of a hyphenated word, of course, because the en dash and the em dash never belong within a word. They are strong symbols used to separate words. Never forget that, young grasshopper.

-- Ryan
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 1:13am
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The em dash is a beautiful thing. The en dash (–)


How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -

Just recently I have acquired a fondness for ~ but that is more flowery and I really only use it in clue titles.

YT
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89465 by Claudia and Alex
May 2, 2007 3:30am
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I've reviewed plenty OF papers too. s.p.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 8:32am
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I happen to think cursive capital Gs are cool. Now, the cursove capital Qs are another thing.

Btw, how do you make the em dash?

TTT :o)
Re: Mad Grammar & George Carlin
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Reply to: #89337 by Samsonite
May 2, 2007 8:53am
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As a George Carlin fan, I learned quite a bit about vocabulary and usage from his routines and books; starting in the 70's with his Seven Dirty Words routine.

I can't think of a single stand-up routine or book of his that is not about words, grammar, etc.

Peruse was one of the words he learned from his mother, but had to look up, then brought her the newspaper the next day asking if she’d like to peruse it, but instead of being impressed that he learned this word she said that maybe later she'd give it a cursory glance. This sent him back to the dictionary.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89341 by Romana
May 2, 2007 9:08am
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Rather than “social capital,” we call that "user buy-in” or "user investment" to indicate that the requesters of the project are behind the project and will continue to be supportive of it. Usually, because we hold some piece of data or process hostage until they agree.

I find that using punctuation marks in different ways is extremely helpful in this type of discourse (board posting). It is not the sort of punctuation that I would necessarily use when writing a letter, a memo, a white paper, a poem, technical specifications, etc.

~Perdu
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 9:33am
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Quote I love the dash. . . . I tend to use them where most people would use parenthesis. I'm not fond of parenthesis to interject a thought of my own into a sentence—parenthesis seem to imply that "this thought isn't as important as the non-parenthesised though—but that's never true. It's a different thought—not an inferior thought.


Oh Ryan, I am so with you on the dash — it helps add ideas to a sentence and shows my train of thought (not always a good thing).

I also love the elipse for trailing off a sentence.

AND my capital G is probably the same as yours! Same with my Q — I draw the circle, do the little tag thing and connect it to the u. I always hated the weird cursive G's & Q's, too. Of course, spraining my thumb in 3rd grade when I was being graded on cursive didn't help. Probably why my handwriting looks as it does today . . .

KuKu
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89538 by Samsonite
May 2, 2007 10:05am
Thread (disabled) Board
As a personalization artist / Calligrapher, I love letters

I like my G's and Q's
They are modified C's and O's, easy enough

But finding a good capital 'I' has always been tricky for me.

Mebbe I should post my work

=0)

S~N~K
scribe
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89474 by The Yorkshire Tortoise
May 2, 2007 10:13am
Thread (disabled) Board
How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -


You type — or – to make the em dash (—) and en dash (–).

It's basically HTML code since there isn't a key on the keyboard to do it directly.

I have acquired a fondness for ~ but that is more flowery


Yes, that is a bit flowery. I can't use anything too flowery—people might get the wrong idea about me. ;o)

Same with my Q — I draw the circle, do the little tag thing and connect it to the u.


Yep, that's how I do my Q's as well! =) I forgot about the cursive capital Q—probably because I don't use it very often.

— Ryan
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89574 by Green Tortuga
May 2, 2007 10:18am
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My cursive capital Q always ends up looking like a 2. I've given up trying to do them right.
Re: Mad Grammar & George Carlin
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89545 by Perdu
May 2, 2007 10:23am
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That's funny! Language is so interesting!

TTT :o)
Re: VP Easter Egg
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89351 by wassamatta u
May 2, 2007 10:43am
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OH - that is just tooooooo funny!!!! I am splitting a gut laughing!!!! I wish I could have seen it!!!

LtW1
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89579 by 3Bears
May 2, 2007 10:46am
Thread (disabled) Board
I have always crossed my 7s and Zs. When people would ask why I would say "That's the way my dad does it. I guess I learned it from him."
Sometime in my mid 30s I was watching my dad write something and I noticed he didn't cross his 7. I asked him when he stopped doing it. And he told me he never did. (And he didn't cross the Zs either.)
I was so confused. Now I have no idea where I learned it from. But it always winds up being a conversation starter.
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89598 by Mn8X
May 2, 2007 10:51am
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I picked up the habit of crossing 7s and Zs when I lived in Germany. I still do it when I address letters to friends there. Crossing the 7s cuts down on confusion between 1 and 7 and crossing the Z cuts down on confusion between 2 and Z. At least, that's what I was told.

Did you perhaps learn it from a European grandparent?

Knit Wit
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89567 by Sits N Knits
May 2, 2007 12:33pm
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Quote Mebbe I should post my work


Please do post your work!

I do calligraphy too — actually, just dabble in it.

If people ask me what font I have done, I tell them it's a modified Johnsonian font. (My last name is Johnson and I have just kind of modified a basic font with my own things.)

Getting my capital I to come out looking good has also been a struggle for me!

KuKu
Re: Mad Grammar
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Reply to: #89599 by knit wit
May 2, 2007 12:37pm
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All of my grandparents passed away before I was born, except one and we did not live close to her.
None of my brothers or my parents do it.
I had several teachers from Latin American and Spain when I was in college, but I started the habit long before then.
I also put a diagonal cross through my 0s.
My students from Europe think its cool. I guess it reminds them of home. I just have to be real careful that I don't teach my younger students to do it. The district would frown on that!
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89468 by Green Tortuga
May 3, 2007 10:15am
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My capital, cursive G's look more like printed G's with a single extra stroke to connect it to the next letter


Mine looks like a lower-case g...only taller. I find many people "cheat" on many of the capital cursive letters, either using a taller lower case one, or a print version that's connected to the rest of the word...so don't feel strange or furtive when you do so. Many of the cursive ones don't attach anyway, and most of them look stupid.

I always wonderd who thought of using a curly number 2 for a capital Q when it was a lot easier to make a circle then join the cross-part to the next letter.

and I love the em dash also--I feel as you do, that it emphasizes, rather than de-emphasizes the parenthetical thought.

night writer
Re: Mad Grammar - Capital Gs
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89796 by Romana
May 3, 2007 10:28am
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This conversation has been lots of fun, making me question the whys and hows I write. The standard joke here is that the only 'needs improvement' in grade school was handwriting. The topic of Gs in caps made me laugh, though, as I've always thought those big Gs with the two loops in either corner at the top gave them a horned owl appearance. As for the Qs, they're just like starting an O in the upper left corner, then bringing the slash down across the whole letter diagonally in one continuous swoop.

Here comes the set up:

What do you get when you add 5Q to 5Q?
Re: Mad Grammar
Board: Postals
Reply to: #89474 by The Yorkshire Tortoise
May 3, 2007 10:54am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote How do you type them? I only seem to be able to do _ and -


On a Mac, you just hold down option and the hyphen key to get an en dash ( – ), and option+shift and the hyphen key for the em dash ( — ).

On a PC you hold down the Alt key and type 0150 on the right-side keypad for the en dash, and Alt + 0151 for the em dash.

-AG
once a typographer, always a typographer....