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dsrtaoSome people keep Playboy in their bathroom. I've never understood that, really -- are they teenagers? Got to hide it from the kids? Yeah, right.
I keep SF magazines and technical documentation there, of course. Nothing quite so relaxing, when I'm tense, than to read about the relative merits of pointers and references.
New subject. Metahacker and I were discussing features that really ought to be available in IM/text message/SMS systems, and that led to a quick extrapolation of what cellphones would have standard in three or four years... now a smart phone has a 300 or 400MHz CPU, so 2GHz is not out of line; now it has 128MB RAM, so a gigabyte is not unreasonable... those are current-day laptop specs, of course. Coupled with a decent increase in bandwidth, and Charlie Stross' _Halting State_ is going to be right on target. MH hasn't read it (time constraints) so I'm going to push my freshly autographed copy on him.
I've had four good conversations with MH in the last two days, which reminds me (a) why we're good friends and (b) that we don't do that enough. I should have a party focusing on good conversations. Wait, that's all of our parties... time for another one. Winter sucks, where's my spring?
I was complimented strangely several times during Boskone: that's a nice shirt (Eliz's tie-dye); you can say things on LJ that would sound like whining from anyone else (ok, if you say so); in an alternate world, I would have made a good intelligence analyst (but I keep asking the wrong questions, such as why the heck would the US invade Korea when I'm supposed to be focussing on how to assess the resistance).
Oh, and my gaydar was apparently totally wrong about someone; married to a person of the opposite gender. I think that people tend to overestimate their accuracy, so I'm confessing to a major error.
I keep SF magazines and technical documentation there, of course. Nothing quite so relaxing, when I'm tense, than to read about the relative merits of pointers and references.
New subject. Metahacker and I were discussing features that really ought to be available in IM/text message/SMS systems, and that led to a quick extrapolation of what cellphones would have standard in three or four years... now a smart phone has a 300 or 400MHz CPU, so 2GHz is not out of line; now it has 128MB RAM, so a gigabyte is not unreasonable... those are current-day laptop specs, of course. Coupled with a decent increase in bandwidth, and Charlie Stross' _Halting State_ is going to be right on target. MH hasn't read it (time constraints) so I'm going to push my freshly autographed copy on him.
I've had four good conversations with MH in the last two days, which reminds me (a) why we're good friends and (b) that we don't do that enough. I should have a party focusing on good conversations. Wait, that's all of our parties... time for another one. Winter sucks, where's my spring?
I was complimented strangely several times during Boskone: that's a nice shirt (Eliz's tie-dye); you can say things on LJ that would sound like whining from anyone else (ok, if you say so); in an alternate world, I would have made a good intelligence analyst (but I keep asking the wrong questions, such as why the heck would the US invade Korea when I'm supposed to be focussing on how to assess the resistance).
Oh, and my gaydar was apparently totally wrong about someone; married to a person of the opposite gender. I think that people tend to overestimate their accuracy, so I'm confessing to a major error.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-02-18 07:25 pm (UTC)Many people choose to socialize with co-workers. Aside from socializing outside of the office, people connect to each other on a personal level by sharing some degree of information about themselves while in the workplace. It could be hobbies, exercise plans, restaurant recommendations, vacation locations or activities, stories about previous work/co-workers, etc. People who don't engage in that sort of light social interaction could be seen as standoffish or cold, and it's uncommon to find someone who won't share at least a little bit of their life outside of work. I knew that Ed loved to golf, I knew my boss had adopted his grandaughter and had a sailboat, I knew Matt was married to a woman in Facilities, I knew Jessica wanted to be a singer and had cut a single, I knew Larry's wife had cancer, Leslie was a single mom, etc. These things seem little, but can help grease the interaction wheels. Personal life comes in to the workplace, like it or not. There was a day I had use the unspoken knowledge that one of my employees was gay to understand that she was upset and distracted because Melissa Etheridge had broken up with her long-term girlfriend (Michelle eventually expressed that she was upset because if ME hadn't been able to find a long-term same-sex relationship, what hope did M have?) Another day when Matt felt comfortable telling me his wife had had a miscarriage. The day I had to comfort Meggie when she found out her semi-estranged husband had bought a house with his girlfriend (and all three worked at this company). And so on and so on and so on.
So no, no obligation, but it's common anyway.