* * * * * An email intercepted by the NSA detailing the mundane life of an American citizen at work > From: Sean Conner > To: Sean Hoade > Subject: Re: Happy Birthday, Part Deux > Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2014 16:14:53 -0500 > > > From: Sean Hoade > > To: Sean Conner > > Subject: Happy Birthday, Part Deux > > Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2014 21:02:51 -0800 > > > > Young(ish) Mister Conner, > > > > I hope you had a fine day. I know you're extremely busy, but I just > > wanted to take another moment out if your day to tell you how much you > > are appreciated and loved. I'm getting sappy in my old age, but what the > > hell. :) > > > > All good thoughts, my friend. > > > > Hoade > > > > I did. > > Today? > > Today all I want is a nap. I am so tired. This morning, I had a dream where > I was so tired I want to go to sleep. How weird is that, dreaming that I'm > tired and want sleep. > > Tuesday at the office? Flew by quickly. > > Wednesday at the office? Flew by quickly. > > Today at the office? It's like time decided it has enough of flowing > quickly and was going to take it easy today and slowly drift by. The > bastard! > > So I'm sitting in my office, heavy jacket on (this is Florida, where it > tends to be colder indoors than out, but I think you know that already), > struggling, struggling I say! to keep my nose from hitting the keyboard. It > hurts when that happens. > > The project I'm working on has gone from the interesting 90% of the work to > the dull, boring, dotting-​every-​t-​and-​crossing-​every-​i nit picky > detail work that takes the other 90% of the development time to finish. And > it's not the mindless dull, boring, dotting-​every-​t-​and-​crossing-​every > ​i nit picky detail work, but the just-​mindful-​enough-​that-​I-​could- > only-​wish-​it-​was-​mindless dull, boring, dotting-​every-​t-​and- > crossing-​every-​i nit picky detail work that requires just enough mental > power to make it ever so tiresome. > > And you know what? Everything I typed so far? Take a guess at how long it > took me. Go ahead, take a guess. Nope. Nope. Still to long. Nope. Three > seconds. That's how much time elapsed from the time I started typing this > reply to the time I finished the preceeding paragraph. When did I start > travelling at relativistic speeds? Time hasn't moved this slowly since high > school English, which, in an odd way, is a nice change from the wait-​I- > just-​blinked-​why-​it-​is-​a-​month-​later time flying by, but it would be > nice if I didn't have to deal with this just-​mindful-​enough-​that-​I- > could-​only-​wish-​it-​was-​mindless dull, boring, dotting-​every-​t-​and- > crossing-​every-​i nit picky detail work that requires just enough mental > power to make it ever so tiresome. > > Sigh. > > Only another two seconds have passed. > > At this rate, I think I could churn out a copy of Atlas Shurgged [1] in ten > minutes. Hmmm … scratch that, I think I would only be able to slug out a > copy of _War and Peace_ [2] in ten minutes; _Atlas Shrugged_ [3] would take > eleven. > > Perhaps if I make another cup of tea … > >   -spc (I just blinked and now it's 34 years later … ) > [1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2001/10/23.1 [2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400079985/conmanlaborat-20 [3] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452011876/conmanlaborat-20 Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org .