We have a user email list at work that people can send mail to and have it distributed based on some permission algorithm that I don't understand. It's convenient for system status updates and whatnot.

Today, someone with a higher admin level than I would have expected him to have sent an email FROM that email address to about 60 people. Within thirty seconds, I had fourteen autoreply emails from people on the list who were out of the office. Within ten minutes, the number had jumped to 29.

First of all, why in the world are 50% of the people in that organization (The State Department) who use our tool out of the office?

Second of all, who sends an email FROM a group address? It just means that any replies go to all, even if the replier doesn't hit "reply all".

Third of all, it's 3pm on Friday. I should totally not be thinking about work anymore.

LifeHacker | IM Can Reduce Workplace Interruptions, Study Shows

It has always driven me crazy that so many workplace IT departments block various web pages deemed as harmful to productivity. My philosophy is:

• If I'm using too much bandwidth, reprimand me
• If I'm not doing my job, reprimand me

Otherwise, trust me to be an adult and do my job. Who are you to say what web sites I might need to do my job? At my previous job, we used GTalk all the time for legitimate work purposes (In addition to non-work purposes) before they blocked it. Dozens of times I've been researching a work problem and come up against a blocked website.

I spend A LOT of time on the computer. Too much, some might say. And some of it is time spent at work on non-work things. I freely admit this. But I get my job done. Sometimes, GTalk helps me do that. Sometimes some sketchy-looking forum helps me do that. Sometimes Google Documents helps me do that. And sometimes I just want to putz around on eBay for fifteen minutes to clear my head.

I think if employers started worrying more about actual employee productivity than micromanaging internet access, we'd all be a lot better off.

The wife and I took the bus today (Stupid rain on Bike to Work Day), thinking that would keep us dry. We slept with the window open, and it was raining pretty steadily when we woke up.

When we walked out of the house, it really wasn't raining much. We could have walked, but then we would have had to go back inside so I could change.

So we continued on to the bus. Three of them came right away, so we managed to get a seat together, and were off.

Then it started to drip. Inside the bus. Luckily, we were wearing our handy matching raincoats, so that wasn't too big a deal.

Then we got off the bus and went our separate directions. I turned onto 15th, and just before I crossed New York Avenue, I stepped on a loose brick in the sidewalk. It splashed a substantial amount of dirty rainwater onto my right pant leg and shoe.

The moral of the story is that rain sucks and we should have just walked.

This is posted in category "work", but it really should be posted in "the utter lack of anything resembling work", because I am totally free this week. Friday was my last day at my old job, and I don't start the new one until a week from today.

So here I am, wide awake at 7:53AM. Some vacation, you say.

Well, it is. I'm up now by choice. First, I rarely sleep in anymore, so if I lay in bed until what most would consider a reasonable hour, it would throw off my whole day. Second, I have things to do. I have a novel burning a hole in my head that needs to come out. I've planned this one more than anything else I've ever written (Although still way less than anyone who writes for a living would have), and I want to get started. Novel Writing Month isn't getting me any closer to having a novel fit for sending off in search of a publisher, so I'm trying a different technique.

So I'm going to start writing as soon as wife gets off to work and out of my hair.

Then, later, I have to take the cat to the vet. Then we're going to check out some day care centers this afternoon, and we have tickets to the Nationals game tonight (Assuming it's actually done raining).

Anyway, big day. And I see my coffee is finished brewing, and the wife is heading out the door, so I'm going to get started on my vacation. Sorry to all of you who have to work today.

I am annoyed (probably irrationally, I know) by people who use the little roller bags instead of a briefcase or something at work. I'm not quite sure why I'm annoyed, but I hate them. Every time I see one, I think to myself, "That person thinks he/she is more important than he/she is".

I'm okay with roller bags when traveling, although I don't really like to use them myself - they make too much noise and they bug me. But I see the utility, and occasionally even use them. Maybe if they had rubber wheels . . .

Anyway, part of my irritation was the gentleman using the restroom on my floor who had left his roller bag in a particularly inconvenient spot. But it goes beyond that, and I'm at a loss to explain why.

Part of it may be that people tend to be less maneuverable with these bags. They expand their personal space, sometimes infringing on mine in the elevator (And we all know I don't like elevators). But I don't think that fully explains it, because I don't even like to see people far away from me with these bags.

Any ideas? Do YOU like roller bags at work?