Dream: Urinal Cakes

I'm visiting my former workplace.  I've entered the building via an entrance other than the main entrance, and I encounter a few former coworkers.  As I hang out with them, I realize that I should check in at the front desk, and I tell the guys that.  One of them, JJ, looks me straight in the eye and says, "I'll go with you.  HR wants me to replace the urinal cake in the men's room."

JJ and the gang walk in the general direction that I go in, but their path is meandering.  In going up flights of stairs they switch between stairwells, for example.  So I dawdle a bit as I watch and wait for them to catch up.

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Commentary:

JJ is a talented process engineer.  The main idea with this is that the woman in Human Resources (HR) has given him a "lowly" task befitting a janitor.  JJ is not happy with it.  This representation of HR calling the shots mirrors my opinion that HR in large companies, acting as the company "bouncer," is getting out-of-control.  Or, they don't really know what engineers do or are capable of.

Quintessential New York Experience

Many times my most memorable travel experiences are those that are awkward or unexpected – mishaps, even, as I'm about to describe below.

My wife enjoyed taking bus trips to New York City.  Sometimes we were part of a group, but also we went on our own.

It was on one such occasion that I got the quintessential New York experience.  Before boarding the bus home, each of us had to present our ticket to the agent.  I like to make such encounters easy for people, so I opened the little bus pass booklet and turned it around to face the driver.  Or at least that’s what I intended.  Instead I fumbled the ticket onto the grimy concrete floor.

When I finally retrieved it and apologetically handed it to the agent in classic Woody Allen fashion, he bowled me over with a look that said, "What a MORON!"