babbling blue

I hope I’m not related to Dick Cheney. I mean, if he and Barack Obama can be cousins, anyone can be related to him. I’m trying not to hold this against Obama, but it’s hard. Family ties can be strong ones, even for eighth cousins.

This makes you wonder (well it makes me wonder, and it should make you wonder too) what other famous people could be related. Maybe Mel Gibson is a distant cousin of Mel Brooks. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump have some common ancestors. Getting back to presidential candidates, wouldn’t it be fun to discover that Hilary Clinton and Rush Limbaugh are related? Yes, it would.

This all gives me hope that I might have a distant celebrity relative. Now all I have to do is find out who it is and get in their good graces. Or at least in their will. Of course with my luck, I’ll probably find out I’m related to Karl Rove.

One of the things I don’t like about fall is the bipolar weather. There are really only two seasons around this part of the country: winter and summer. Fall and spring are merely extended transitions between the two.

One of the things I do like about fall is the proliferation of pumpkin products. I am a big fan of all things pumpkin, especially pumpkin pie. I have noticed the various coffee places advertising their pumpkin drinks. So far I’ve tried a pumpkin latte from Dunkin’ Donuts and a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. To my surprise, I liked the DD version better. The Starbucks latte didn’t have enough pumpkin (or spice) flavor and was just rather bland overall. The DD latte was sweet but not too sweet with a noticeable pumpkin flavor. My plan is to try Au Bon Pain’s pumpkin spice latte next, when I have the patience (the ABP near my office doesn’t sell many espresso beverages and they are always very slow when they have to make one, if you can even find the person to order from).

I had a pumpkin muffin from ABP this morning. It was OK, but not quite pumpkiny enough for my tastes. The quest for the best pumpkin breakfast pastry is only beginning. I’ll keep you posted on it as well as any new developments on the pumpkin coffee drink front. I know you want to know.

Last week at work, everyone got an email from the company about accidental calls to 911. Apparently the city’s 911 center has complained that they are getting 911 calls from us, and people frequently hang up when they realize they’ve dialed the wrong number. This results in them having to call back and–if they receive no response or voice mail–dispatch someone here to make sure everything is OK (or so they claim). The email asks us to be careful when dialing and to stay on the line and explain that we mis-dialed if we do call 911 by mistake.

What I want to know is, what genius decided it would be a good idea for most corporate phone systems to require users to dial 9-1 to get an outside line and make a long distance call?! After that, it’s a simple slip of the finger to hit another 1 by mistake. I’m sure there was a reason for this choice–and I’m too lazy/busy to research it–but honestly, what do they expect? It’s going to happen.

Also what makes people think it’s ok to hit/bang on my cubicle wall when they walk past? For my first 10 months or so here, I had a window seat. It was nice! Now I am in a terrible location; I’m on an aisle outside the print/copy room and across from the drinking fountain (the water from which tastes like it came out of a rusty bucket, so I use a different one). And people walk past and tap on my wall. I guess they think it’s a friendly greeting or something, but it annoys the shit out of me (and often startles me too). Knock it off!

Oh and I got a promotion.