Rambling Rhodes

Column Conundrum Here I am

Column Conundrum
Here I am again on a Wednesday pondering the topic of this week's newspaper column. I have a host of ideas to draw from: last week's wedding, summer vacation plans, fireworks, etc. I'll labor in front of my home computer for a couple of hours tonight, and I'll detest the finished product but send it anyway, and then I'll get feedback from family and friends the next day telling me they really liked it. It's just easy to hate what I write. Plus, my friend Lisa wants me to meet her for drinks tonight, so that could keep me from writing all together. I was also supposed to see "Attack of the Clones" with my officemate and her sisters and friends, but she's sick today so that's probably off.

I'm not a real movie theater enthusiast. To hear my officemate describe the experience, you'd think all the world's ills could be cured by sitting in a darkened theater. I think the last movie I saw in the theater was "The Blair Witch Project," which may explain why I don't feel drawn to theaters. Gawd, but that was a horrid flick! I was actually sitting there, saying things out loud like, "Oh, give me a break!" and "I am now officially cheering for the witch!" Seriously, the scariest thing about the movie was that I paid $7 to see it.

I still have a job at IBM. Well, at least for the next 90 days. It seems as though there's some sort of shake-up in my department that may, or may not, result in a better arrangement for me. Whatever happens, I'm currently working under an ominous cloud of doubt that is likely affecting the quality of my work, mainly because I keep toggling between writing articles and surfing through jobs on Monster.com. I may have to move to the cities to find stable employment. Here in Rochester, you can work at the Mayo Clinic, IBM, or you can be sandwich artist at Subway. Your choices are pretty limited. I like my job, I like the work, and I like the pay, but the way this company operates makes me wonder sometimes if the executives are consulting a Ouija board that is channeling the spirit of a drunken Enron custodian. Well, back to work/job searching.

I think I'll write my column tonight about driving to Milwaukee for last week's wedding. There's an idea.