I wanted to share a few things that happened this and last week at work, just because a) I like working there and b) it's not traditionally what you'd consider a work environment:

Thing 1: I pass a guy, my age, in a business suit waiting in the lobby, clutching his suitcase and BlackBerry. We exchange glances. This is what we communicate:
Him: (frown) You're my age. You are wearing ripped jeans.
Me: Yes. You don't look like you're having too much fun.
Him: I am slightly jealous although my calendar doesn't allow for it.
Me: I'm going to go ride a razor scooter now.

Thing 2: My boss punches a wall and screams at receptionist. It's true, he has a temper and also abruptly enters our office and authoritatively grabs community Cheese-Its from my desk. But it's okay: those Cheese-Its are a small price to pay for my life and as long as there's an average of 15 people between him and the back area, by the time he gets there, he'll have forgotten that we're all pretty much children and draw cartoon characters of each other when no one is looking.

Thing 3: I buy Magic Grow Sponge Capsules. Ben and I go to ToysR'Us to get him the new "Scrabble" (they've added a letter) and I get gag gifts for the office, including a set of stickers for Tyler that say "Taylor" (and feature decidedly non-gender-neutral decorations) and purple silly putty. The capsules come out lame but that doesn't stop half the office from so wishing they had one.

Thing 4: Our office is evacuated. A water main breaks downstairs and floods the Porcelanosa tile showroom which starts a small fire which we ignored for about an hour. Then Johnny Fire-Department makes us leave. I still say the safest way to exit the second floor (in case the stairs are unusable) is to have everyone remove their pants so we can tie them together and lower ourselves to safety. Story at 11.

Thing 5: We decide to bring back Lunch Swap. It's a kind of lunch potpourri, if you will, and also a mid-week exercise in game theory; if everyone brings great lunches, everyone benefits. Otherwise someone gets stuck with the banana and vending machine granola bars.

Thing 6: Totally serious client sees my Facebook profile as part of totally serious meeting and reads everyting in .2 seconds. To illustrate "Social Networking" (uh-huh), I offer to log in to Facebook, not rembering recent wall posts and their relative unprofessional nature. Realizing my mistake, I scroll around madly instead of lingering on anything, trying to show what I'm talking about but not allowing for any specifics about me or what I do with animals in my free time to be read. I am judged but do not care. If anything it adds to the confusion; yes I am building you a 20K web site and I am not normal. Also, you are sitting in a giant, orange-velvet hand we call "The Molestation Chair". Just groove on it.