This Isn’t Funny…Really, It’s Not…

When the project first started, there was a guy here who was working for the lending agency sponsoring this project who wasn’t in the best of health, to put it politely. Well…he ended up having a heart attack, and there wasn’t any suitable medical care, so he died. This part is the part that really and truly isn’t funny. I never met him and don’t know who he is, but anyone dying just isn’t funny. HOWEVER, his position was never re-filled by the lending agency. We were then criticized for not coordinating our efforts with him as we were writing the initial phases of the project. Right. So, TL’s very diplomatic response to this particular piece of criticism read as follows:

Since we are well aware of the situation resulting from the death of ____ shortly after he joined the project, we did not comment on the lack of coordination.

The less nice version of that? “Um…guys? HELLO!!! It’s pretty hard to work with someone who is dead.” I don’t know why that struck me as funny, but it did.

There are some anti-Western protests here, because of that big controversy about the Danish and other European newspapers printing that caricature of Mohammed. Now, I’m not going to weigh in with my personal opinions on it, but I have to admit to being slightly relieved that at least the US isn’t presently at the bottom of the international crap heap in terms of image in the Middle East. (Make no mistake – no one is going around chanting “We love America”, but at least we’re not the particular object of fury at the moment.) In any case, it’s a little strange and unsettling to see. We get horns honking at us around town and people shouting. Oh, the good times.

Gifty wanted to add me to his Yahoo IM list. Given that there's no need for him to contact me outside of work, I politely wrote back and said that I only used IM to contact friends and family when I was traveling. That's actually a fairly accurate statement. But really - he works 20 feet from me, there is no need for it, kids.

I crashed pretty early last night, so I was glad to have worked out a little in the morning. With no dysentery this time (not yet, anyway), I’ve got to rely on actual healthy food and exercise to maintain a normal weight. What’s *that* about? Sheesh.

If I get sick after this, you all have permission to laugh at me.