Back in mid 1990 I had a roomate who played bass, spent all his money on CDs and music equipment, and was a Mingus fanatic. He never paid any rent that I recall but I got a good introduction to a lot of music I'd never heard before.

He used to bring lots of free pizza home from his delivery job. That dude lived an improvisational life. Never knew what he was going to do, or where he was going to go, next.

And Mingus was always on the sound system.

Bob, honey, if you are surprised by the tales of workplace stupidity at IWorkWithFools.com, you have obviously been out of newsrooms a long, long time. The stories I could tell.......

I don't think I said I was surprised. I'm amused and frightened. And as for newsrooms, don't think you have a monopoly on fools. They're everywhere, sorta like that Zappa song "Flakes."

http://www.hjp.at/lyrics/frank_zappa/flakes.html

I will, however, be eagerly awaiting your posts on IWorkWithFools.com. They should be a hoot.

IWorkWithFools.com makes me glad to have left corporate america (only another weeek and a half until it's official and final). our workplace was becoming downright caustic. 'haven't doubted my decision for a minute... the past few weeks have been awesome!

Surprise precedes amusement and fear, generally. I'm too busy compensating for the fools in my workplace to write about them at a web site. But to quote Brando again, "Oh, the horror, the horror......"

So, Jo: Now that you've escaped corporate America, would you happen to be looking for a apprentice chicken farmer who suffers from an acute case of false class consciousness?

come join the farm! i was hoping to become caretaker of your tennessee estate but your little lot doesn't warrant a full-time worker (and i don't do housework... in case you haven't noticed). i'm hoping to expand to turkeys and/or pheasants soon.

Jo, you're making chicken farming your livelihood? Really?

no. you have to do it on a massive scale to actually make money from it... my calculation is that i would require about 3000 birds to replace my previous income. i think that i would run out of range (and enthusiasm) pretty quickly.

we only have chickens for our own use and to share cruelty-free, fresh eggs from happy birds with our friends and neighbors (and the blacksnakes which have, unfortunately, discovered the coop).

i still don't know what i'm gonna do when i grow up. 'thought about paralegaling but you have to work with lawyers... thought about small-town journalism but around here, that's volunteer... thought about construction work but understand that most women find the workplace very hostile... thought about music production but have had a few frustrating experiences with flighty musicians... thought about being a cop so i could get paid to play with dogs and ride motorcycles but ryck reminded me that people shoot at you...