meet 'n' eat

We have our weekly Linguistic Technology Group all-hands meetings here on Thursdays at 1:00, just as we do in the San Francisco office--because if you expect me to give up any of the thirty or forty functioning brain cells I have left just to remember two different meeting times depending on what country I'm in, you are going to have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands. Today in a shameless bid for the hearts and minds of my employees, I ordered fancy cake to be brought in for the meeting, since this is the last Thursday I will be here for a while. When I say this was a bid for the hearts and minds of my employees, I am of course joking ha ha. In truth, given the smallish nature of our group at the moment (13 people plus me plus Big Anil minus Ksheeroda who is out on leave and minus Kulajit who is out with chicken pox), it was an excellent way for me to present myself as a thoughtful and generous manager while simultaneously near-guaranteeing that I would have leftover cake to take home. And so has it come to pass that my dinner tonight was coated with chocolate ganache, and now I have a headache and am in a sugar coma, possibly exacerbated by the fact that my lunch also consisted entirely of pastry (see above reference to 1:00 meeting time).

All this is just further proof that it was wise of me to join the gym near my apartment today. Near my apartment in San Francisco, I mean. Now, I am as technologically savvy as the next girl (provided that the next girl regularly discovers that the "problem" with her computer is that it is not plugged in), but still it delights me to no end that thanks to the Magic of the Internet, I am able to sit 10,000 miles away from the Club One at Fillmore Center and yet still take advantage of their current "Join in February and Get March Free!" offer without so much as lifting a phone or faxing a document. Now I am eagerly awaiting the day when the Internet can also do my workout for me, because it is on that day that I will know we have truly achieved utopia, and presumably by then I will also be able to get my cake via a personal Star Trek-style replicator while simultaneously enjoying a bergamot oil scented foot rub from Patrick Stewart.

Speaking of Star Trek, earlier this week I was cc'd on an email of which one of the only four other recipients was Adam Nimoy, son of Leonard, and that made me feel either extremely cool or extremely dorky, I'm not sure which. The reason for my tangential brush with Hollywood royalty involves my providing "notes" on a friend's screenplay-in-progress that shall remain nameless for now, but which involves the use of paintball as a metaphor for...well, I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Alert readers may have noticed that it is Thursday, and may recall that the latest promise extracted from the charlatan gypsy flimflam artist person from whom I recently ordered multiple salwar kameez sets was that they would be couriered to me on Wednesday. Guess what remains uncouriered? I finally managed to get her on the phone today after an embarrassing scene involving our office manager reminding me about that time a few weeks ago when he asked whether I needed the local line on my desk phone and I said no, just the VOIP line was fine, and also the throwing of my hands skyward while exclaiming "Punit, your country's technology baffles me!" and also a short tutorial on How To Use Your Indian Cellphone (You Moron). So after all that, I learned that it is allegedly a single custom dyed dupatta (shawl-y thing) that is holding up the order, and swear-to-ganesh it will be ready by Monday. To which I replied "Sujata, beeyotch, do not go playin' me like that." Actually no I didn't.

Meanwhile, today I wore yet another new ethnic outfit and it was the source of many delighted comments. Anuja, our lead HR admin person, stopped in her tracks and exclaimed, "You look *totally* Indian!" "It's the blond hair, isn't it?" I said, delicately primping my locks. I am seriously considering wearing only salwar kameez here from now on, because Casual Friday is nothing, my friends, compared to Wear Your Elaborately Embroidered Pajamas To Work Day.