Contemplating the Office

My world is changing.. Suddenly, my whole way to mentally process information and make business decisions has changed. I didn't see this coming. All of a sudden.. It just happened. And now I find myself struggling in ways I never imagined. And what caused this whole new style of thinking? A little show.. called "The Office".

I must admit, although I arrived late at the party just joining in late last May, I am now an "Office Convert and Addict" for the NBC American version of the show (I have yet to see the British show it was based upon). Having joined up with this peculiar bunch of workplace misfits late, I have been playing catch up on the series, watching season one from Netflix, and having received season two for Christmas. Over the past week, I finally finished watching all of season two, finally now understanding the complexity of the Jim & Pam romance, and all the other character nuances.

It is an outstanding show, one of the few that can actually make me laugh out loud, spit up food and drink, while I cringe uncomfortably on the couch. But now that I have watched all the episodes, I find that it has entered into my subconscious.. and makes me question my day to day activities.

Office fans, especially those that work in the private sector themselves, always say that one of the best things about the show and all the different wacky personalities on it, is that they can identify people in their own office that fit each personality type, So, that then begs the question... Who am I? Which office character do I act like, or do people think of me as? It's this line of thinking that sudden makes me question how I handle my daily situations. Am I a Michael Scott? Am I a Dwight? or Am I a Jim?

As an example.. two weeks ago, we were under the gun to get a new website ready to launch. And not just any website, but the website for all of our corporate dealings and business. Managing the new site construction and design was a large project, a lot of fun, but there were a lot of details to work out. Five days before "launch day", the Marketing Manager flew in to help review the site in it's final week of construction, and I had a meeting in my office to do the review. Since I like to do things visually, I was in the process of setting up a projector, screen, etc in my office to do this so all the attendees could have a clear view of what we were talking about. But as I was dragging the screen in from the conference room, watching one of my team members roll his eyes at my "wanting to present our work in the best way" style, when a simpler "flip my monitor around" tactic would have worked just as well, I had to wonder... Am I being a Michael.. or a Dwight by doing this? And suddenly I was second guessing my behavior.. all based on a fictional TV show.

So let's analyze...

Am I a...

Michael:
The boss.. the idiot that holds the show together. Michael thinks of himself as just the greatest boss ever. He constantly goes off about his views of the world, everything making perfect sense in his own mind and ego, he's an awesome boss, good guy to work for and running an effective group. But all those around him see him as an idiot who doesn't really know what he is doing..he's clueless, and insensitive.

So.. Am I a Michael.. Sheesh, I hope not. Yes, my world makes sense in my own mind, as each person's should. Yes, I am a manager, supervising a team of people, trying to get the best out of them. But hopefully I know what I am doing, and that knowledge is agreed upon by others. I don't mind public speaking, but I am not an entertainer like Michael professes to being and I am not about to rap in front of my office.

Concerns: Michael enjoys the opportunity to make his own "films" on his "Mac at home" and use them in an attempt to inspire his employees. While he thinks his "films" are just amazing ("A Michael Scott" Joint) all who watch, including the audience see them as painfully cheesy to watch. So while I too enjoy making my "films" please tell me they are not as painful to watch as Michaels.. And I DON'T use them to inspire my employees! Usually...

Dwight:

Dwight is the office nerd.. the suckup.. the manager "wannabe'. He is constantly throwing his title at people to try to gain authority over them calling himself "Assistant Regional Manager" typically corrected by others as "Assistant TO the Regional Manager". Dwight is intense, has no sense of humor and is filled with delusions of grandeur. You've got a story? He can top it. And WAAAAAAY top it!

So am I a Dwight? Holy cow, NO! In almost every sense I am in no way similar to that guy! My only concerns are when they show him as the office "A.V. guy.. a role that I often fulfill. And in the first episode of Season 2.. "The Dundie Awards" he is DJing the office party... a sight that suddenly had me fearful that I was treading into Dwight territory. (90% of my DJing work comes from people from work, and referrals from others they have recommended me to).

Jim:

Jim is the "everybody" guy.. the laid back office worker, outstanding salesman, the character everyone seems to root for to succeed. One of the key subplots of the show is Jim and office receptionist Pam's flirting, with the country waiting patiently to see if they will ever just decide to pair up. Jim does have a sense of humor... he's the office prankster, typically enjoying his torturing of Dwight. He's known for putting Dwights office supplies in Jello molds, (or the office vending machine) and at one point even moved Dwights entire office space into the Men's room.

So am I a Jim? No. For one, I don't spend all my time flirting with girls in the office. But I do enjoy pulling off a good prank every chance that I get, as blog readers can probably attest to.

The point of all of this is simply this... Here I have a fictional show with characters that I like. But suddenly when these characters begin creeping into my subconscious, making me question my own tactics at work "Am I being a Dwight? Is this something that Michael would do or say", then I have to begin wondering if this is normal...

I don't wander the office thinking "Is this something Jack Sparrow or Han Solo would do?" No, not even for a second. Yet the office characters seem to stick, and make me question my own tactics..

So, am I Michael? Dwight? Jim? After thinking for awhile, I believe I'm a little of each, which is probably true to some degree with every fan of the show. And that's why people find the characters as endearing as they do. Nobody embodies all the extreme characteristics of any one character, but most can take a piece from each character to form an "office version" of themselves.

Just call me Calvin Midwijim.

Snow Days

IT'S SNOWING!!!!! There is snow outside my home!!! A whopping 4 inches! Now, for many people this will not seem like an eventful thing! When my folks in Colorado, still recovering from getting 3 and a half feet of Christmas snow, hear that we got 4 inches they roll their eyes. But to us, here in Oregon's Willamette Valley, this is big news and a very odd event. The last time we had accumulating snow was 4 years ago.

Now sure.. we don't get snow a lot.. and when we do.. mass hysteria ensures all over town as people try to figure out what to do with the stuff (and how to drive in it), schools get canceled and businesses close. When other parts of the country hear about this, they laugh and call us wussy names. But what they don't realize is what happens in Oregon when it snows. There's a little more to it.

I learned this lesson after first moving to Oregon. During my first winter here, in 1995, we happened to have a snow storm similar to the one we are currently experiencing.. 3 - 4 inches on the valley floor. When looking out my window upon hearing that my college classes had been canceled, I was shocked that school could be closed. (I had just moved from Rexburg, Idaho having just had 2 years of record setting deep snow). I marched outside to see what all the fuss was about, and promptly fell on my butt. Ouch.

What I failed to contemplate... was that in Oregon, in the winter... it rains... A LOT! And so our roads and land, are constantly wet, with lots of flowing water running every which way, sometimes enough to flood places. So when it finally does get cold enough to snow, all that water on the roads... freezes solid. So however much snow ends up accumulating, no one ever thinks about all the frozen water underneath it, that turns everything into one big ice skating rink. That is what makes Oregon snow so crazy and entertaining (especially for the people that live in the hills, with all the uber steep paved roads). And so we get cars sliding (I like the one that slid down a steep driveway and through a garage door... I won't mention names) and all manner of sliding, falling chaos.

And so today is day 2 of snow days: No school for Little Calvin and for Dawn, who works at a college. They get to stay home, build snow men and relax in the blankets. Me... my work doesn't close. Ever. We are an industry who can't afford to just shut down for inclement weather. And so I get to come to work, brave the elements.... and do cookies on the way into the office, treating my car like a snowmobile with a loud stereo, whooping loudly and proudly "YEE -HAAAAWing" to myself as I sail sideways through intersections. At least this year I have an office with windows so I can watch the snow fall. It's a wonderful sight!

Freaky Teeth

My son.... has become a shark.

A few days ago, he came to me complaining that his teeth hurt. I looked in his mouth and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. So I dismissed it as just another random aliment being used as an attempt to delay his bedtime. But a couple days later, he came to me with a new concern: He had a loose tooth.

For Little Calvin, this was a first.. a milestone.. the first tooth to become loose, leading up to what will eventually become the first tooth to come out, which will lead up to the first visit of that winged fairy. (It's disturbing.. having watched the Santa Clause 2 over the Holidays, now all I can think of in regards to the Tooth Fairy, is some big lout wanting to be called the Molinator, flying into my son's room in the middle of the night.... creepy!)

But when the report came in to me of a loose tooth and I looked to see what was going on in his mouth, I was startled. When looking to investigate, I happened to see not one set of teeth.. but 2. Now, according to his dentist, who we quickly called, this is quite normal for kids. But since I had never seen it, it looked just wacky and abnormal.

What happens is that his baby teeth are in place and solid. It's now time for the new, permanent teeth to come in, but rather than coming up directly under the baby teeth, thus pushing them out, the teeth come in.. elsewhere, not affecting the baby teeth.. thus giving my son two sets of bottom teeth, the new set just inside of the old ones.

What now is fun is showing this off to others and watching their reaction to the kid with two sets of teeth. They usually glance in, realize what they are seeing, recoil back and go "Whoa" in a deep "Ted" voice from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". Little Calvin doesn't seem to mind or take offense. After all, he loves the ocean and studying sharks. And if Sharks have two sets of teeth, then why can't he.

Now, I am still a little unsure of how, when the front teeth actually do fall out, things will all line up, and this could bode well for his future in braces... to line all of this up, but for now, it's just the freaky teeth.