My office laid off 33 people yesterday and we've been told that until the end of the fiscal year we should expect further cutbacks and consolidation. In fact, the organization wants to cut spending by 50%. I guess I'm lucky to still be here, what with my lack of marketable skills. Today the entire building is a funeral parlor and I seem to be the loud-mouthed idiot who doesn't know how to behave.

I keep trying to discuss things in a "business as usual" tone and bring up plans for future projects, mostly about doing things like replacing costly business trips with web seminars and other things that I think are good for us keeping our jobs, and then I'm told I really shouldn't think about the future with so much uncertainty in the organization. So I'm the optimistic one.

Me? C'mon.

Maybe I'm too much a sociopath to feel the zeitgeist of the office. I mean, I caught myself not whispering while a guy cleaned out his cube on the other side of the dividing wall and that's a major faux pas today. So, I'm caught between being disrespectful to the "dead" by trying to think about the future, or looking unproductive by sitting around waiting for other people to want to work again. Scylla and Carbides.

Either way, I really want a double bourbon.

Hey, guess who's going to Miami next week!

Guess who's going there to fix servers that the staff of the Florida unit are too twitchy to fix!

Guess who really hates sunshine!

Guess which state is "the Sunshine State!"

Guess who's really not looking forward to being surrounded by spring break-ing college kids!

Guess who would rather have spent the free evenings in his studio actually writing some fcuking music for a change!

Can you guess who it is?

Huh?