# 13 Dec 2005, 06:57AM: Conversation From Last Night:
[Context: A few of my friends have leads on job opportunities that would be pretty awesome, such as jobs at the Make-a-Wish Foundation and People Magazine.]
"Job interviewers can't ask you your ethnicity, or whether you're married, or a veteran, or disabled, or gay. But they can ask, [Darth Vader voice] 'What is your greatest weakness?'....'I'm a total chocoholic!'"
# 13 Dec 2005, 12:14PM: Mind Games -- The Good Kind:
My column this week discusses party games Taboo, Balderdash, and Once Upon A Time. I also address the fundamental problem to which party games are a solution.
Some of us need a foundation or a skeleton for a get-together, something to provide a structure for the evening, without which unalloyed conversation is as uncomfortable a prospect as a tightrope walk or an impromptu speech.
# 13 Dec 2005, 04:23PM: From Bangalore To Bengaluru:
My dad will probably be happy that Bangalore is modifying its name. I have a few questions. Won't outsiders get even more confused about whether Bangalore has anything to do with Bengal? Is "N. Gopala Swamy, a software geek" correct journalistic style these days for a first reference? What'll happen to the potheads who get such joy from the sobriquet "Bongalore"? The answer to that last one: not much, probably.
# 13 Dec 2005, 05:13PM: The Mildest Of Wins:
Worker: Did you just throw money at me?
Customer: I want to pay for my order.
Worker: *pick up the money and hold it out to him* Sir, I am not going to process your order until you treat me like a human being.
Respecting the dignity of the worker at the fast-food place is a wee part of "what we call 'manners', 'civilisation' or 'humanity', depending on the calibre of yokel you're trying to educate."
# 13 Dec 2005, 06:10PM: Work Into Play:
At Games of Berkeley the other day, I met the son of the woman who invented Set. An indexing system meant to help her find patterns of genetic inheritance turned into one of the most replayable and challenging games I've ever played.
# 13 Dec 2005, 10:39PM: Has Peak Oil Not Hit These People?:
Song and jetBlue have nice sales through this Friday, if you're fine with onerous blackout requirements.