Finding the 5th Way Out

It's been a long time and many things have happened worth writing about, but I have found it almost easier to write short snippits for Facebook. That aside, it's about time I addressed this year's Adapt Or Die at work piece. We moved to a new building, built just for us, something cool, that young people would love, and old folks would get used to. Bottom line, the company saved a ton of money and we all get to work like we are in a boiler room for a time-share business. The first day, I didn't think I was going to make it, I mean I could BE there, but I could not seem to work. I was truly struck numb by the volume of noise and movement of people. At the time, my best comparison to friends was I felt as if I had parked my computer at an end-cap at Costco. I quickly invested in expensive noise-cancelling headphones, but found they did not address the constant visual distractions. We had almost 400 people packed into this place and it seemed like all of them went by my desk at least several times a day. There were good things, really good, free coffee, and soft drinks, even Red Bull. The building boasted the best WiFi I have ever used and it is entirely possible the WiFi saved my life and sanity. When I was a kid, I read this Science Fiction short story by Robert Heinlein and I can still remember the dramatic first sentence: As part of an experiment, a monkey was put in a box with only 4 ways out...the monkey found a 5th way out. As I sit here, at a picnic table, outdoors in 60 degree weather, enjoying the sunshine, the sound of the wind through the trees, sipping good coffee, working on my laptop, I realize that I too, found a way out that was not imagined by the builders. Who knew that happiness was less than 1000 feet from misery...