A day in the life of

Danby, Seagull and I were shooting the breeze after an early conference call this morning. A conference call in which I announced helpfully, to a whole bevy of listening managers, "All those of you who haven't been able to attend this call please let me know and I'll schedule a catchup." How I had expected the non-attendees to telepathically hear the announcement I'm yet to figure out. But Big Boss M chatted me later to say it was funny, and one aims to please.

I knew it was going to be a long and busy day, and wasn't yet prepared to get stuck in. So instead, ('Why work when you can procrastinate?' says the HR bod) I suggested a quick jaunt down to Starbucks for a cuppa.
"I could be persuaded," Seagull agreed (without any persuasion, I should point out).
We all turned to stare at Danby's just-bought cup of coffee he had picked up from Starbucks on the way into work. He might not have needed a coffee, but obviously fancied a wander in the gorgeous weather outside as well. So five minutes later found the three of us meandering down to the Starbucks together.

This was my first introduction to the Starbucks Swipe Card. At first I thought the bright little card Seagull mysteriously produced from his pocket was a funny kind of credit card. But turns out dear Starbucks has launched it's own swipe card where you can buy drinks on credit. How come the whole world found out about this before me (as usual)? I'm intrigued. I'm going to poke my nose around - more info on this later.

The chai tea was just what I needed to kick-start the launch of my busiest day yet at the company. The next few hours brought a flurry of sending emails, attending meetings, hosting conf calls, and sending more emails (correcting, per usual, the misinformation sent in the first emails).

Later in the evening, as it became apparent that I still had a few more hours of work stretching in front of me, I started a bit of a whinge session with Seagull.
He laughed. "By this age," he said, "I had thought I would be a bazillionnare and be working 15-minute days and sipping cocktails the rest of the time. Instead, here I am now writing extension contracts".
I liked the sound of that. "Well I'm going to be a bazillionnaire in five years," I informed him peremptorily.
"Great," he responded, "how do I get in on some of that?"
So I've appointed him my Chief Profit Strategy guy (the one to come up with the ideas). Hmm. Let's see where that gets us.

Pipe dreams like that are fun. Especially when they have a total disconnect from reality.

It reminded me a bit of the time I'd once suggested to Eddie Dubs that we start a band of our own. "Great idea!!" he'd responded enthusiastically. "I play guitar. You??"
Huh?
"Well, err, I guess I could manage the triangle," I'd reluctantly offered.