Reenigne blog

I had a meeting with my manager's manager today. Managers' managers at Microsoft like to have a chat with their direct reports' direct reports occasionally to make sure they're happy there, that everything is going to plan and to give them a chance to tell them anything they might not want to tell their managers directly.

(By the way, those of you who don't know where to put your apostrophies, or who get the words "their", "they're" and "there" mixed up might want to study the previous paragraph in detail and bookmark this post for future reference. You know who you are.)

Anyway, most of said meeting went very well - I talked about some of the features that I thought it was important that we implement, and justified these with my theories on how the uses of Pocket PCs and Smartphones will change in the future. However, at one point in the conversation I did a terrible thing - a thing of which I am greatly ashamed. I used the word "paradigm". I couldn't help it. Words were coming out of my mouth, and as the thought formed and turned into a sentence I could see that word coming but could do nothing to stop it. The good, decent part of my brain was screaming "find a synomym, quick, you moron" but I couldn't think of one before it was too late and the word was out there in the air like a particularly malodorous flatulation.

Please comment with your suggestions on how I should atone for this atrocity.

So we went to see Stephen Wright (no, not Steve Wright) at The Moore last week. My belief that he is the funniest person in the history of the universe was confirmed. I have never laughed so hard for so long in my life - it felt so good. I laughed so much I nearly had to be carried out of the theater on a stretcher - no really! I was getting so much oxygen that my hands and legs started tingling due to the change in pH of my blood. Fortunately I recognized the symptoms - the same thing had happened to me on a boat in Florida on New Year's Day - I was breathing deeply to try to combat the seasickness, and ended up laying on the deck unable to move or see, and almost passing out.

So I tried very hard to laugh/breathe less, which was really hard because the guy was so funny. Some highlights: "They have digital numbers now", "She was wearing unscented perfume - the sort that comes in a little empty bottle" and "I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography".

If you really want to understand British people, you could do a lot worse than reading this. What a chore researching that must have been...