Molly's cubicle, aka "The NASA Center", has continued to be a side-show attraction. We found even MORE stuff that I didn't list last time, mainly because it was hidden out of the away, unused. This included an adjustable angled foot stool (for proper typing posture), quality keyboard-length wrist pad, and a two piece tray for propping up documents to the side as you type, and one of those digital PIN generators for logging in to check up on your stock options (simply NOT something you should leave lying around). Somebody gave me a brand new feather duster still in its package, yet another odd item Molly left behind. The custodians come by to dust every night, but I digress. Animta claimed Molly's special seat, with its abnormally tall back, detached arms (found in the cabinet) and 6 controlling levers. You'd think Molly moonlighted as an orthodontist, with that large chair, reflective computer light, and the hands-free phone piece that looked like a water pick!

I was standing there with Daisy, Anita, Kole and Alex, the head of development for our product. He couldn't get over how much stuff was there. Actually, you could tell what was really bugging him -- the fact that so much of this special stuff was bought for one person. "This is state-of-the art stuff," he said uneasily. Alex is usually the calm & cool manager, very professional and very dry. But even his soft voice was cursing on this one. "Who NEEDS this?" was the rhetorical question that kept coming up. "Jesus Christ," he said, looking at Molly's keyboard. It was the smallest useable size it could have been. And wireless. And with a built in track ball and mouse buttons. A separate piece stood next to it, which resembled a car's radar dector. It was actually a separate piece to display the lights of the keyboard (Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock) presumably because the keyboard itself was too small or flat for this stuff.

So how much did the company spend on the little whiner? Later on I went back to her cube and started taking down the names of the products she had lying around. I did some quick searches on line for prices. After taking note of both list prices and various bargain prices, my broadest ranged total guess is $800-$1500.

Kole is still working here. And is still driving me nuts. Her latest bullshit has been ANOTHER one of these "teamwork" books. She had me photocopy the entire thing for everybody, AND have the specific duty of giving a talk about it at the meeting. We all had a week to read it, but only I was given the extra task of reviewing it. Some would say that I should be flattered for being singled out to give reports like this, but somehow I just don't feel flattered. And she told me about 5 times "Don't pick out the negative parts of the book; I know you can do that." And I told the rest of the group at the meeting today what she had said, and added "So with THAT, combined with the fact that I didn't complete the book...I don't have too much to say on it." But I managed to pull some of that reviewing bullshit off. Who the fuck else in this entire company is giving BOOK REPORTS? What the fuck is this, 3rd grade?

I may just go and shred my copy of the book tonight. No sense in keeping an illegally reproduced book lying around. Just like how I deleted that database program we were using, and only had access to because Kole gave us a highly illegal registration number cracker (which she got in turn from a DBA). Why do I get the impression that if my manager was male, he wouldn't be managing like a grammar school teacher? Maybe I'll stop by HR tomorrow.