1. made some decent food, without a lot of time spent in the kitchen
2. won best-of-three Parcheesi (this is definitely a first)
3. tracked down some materials to help me study for the MSW licensing exam
4. won best-of-three badminton (also a first)
5. listened to a lot of The Smiths, Mazzy Star, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, The Cure, and the like
6. run a 10-minute mile (not impressive for anyone who's halfway athletic, but for me, it's off the charts)
7. NOT thought about work
8. seen Karate Kid for the first time
on my lunch break the other day, i got a book and went down the hallway to read for a while. there's a sunny spot with floor-to-ceiling windows that opens onto a garden area, with the parking lot beyond it. i had been reading for about 20 minutes when something distracted me, and i glanced up at the parking lot. just then a large bull ran along the edge of the parking lot and disappeared behind my office.
huh, i thought, that's odd.
a pickup truck and another truck pulling a livestock trailer careened through the parking lot in pursuit. a moment later, the bull reappeared, running across the parking lot and into the park on the far side. the trucks followed, circling the edge of the park but clearly not sure now how to get close to the bull. a couple of police cars arrived, but they seemed content to be spectators.
i walked out into the garden, where a couple of coworkers were observing the action from a better vantage point. by this time, the bull had been shot with a tranquilizer, and the pickup truck had driven onto the grass; the driver was now holding onto a rope that was tied around the bull's neck. the bull, standing several feet from the pickup, still had quite a bit of fight in it and got a couple of good hits on the truck before keeling over on the grass.
now. how to get the bull back to the stockyard a mile down the road, where apparently all of this began?
the trailer backed up to the downed bull, which still had the rope around its neck. one coworker: "that guy's got a stick." second coworker: "that's a cattle prod." in a moment, the woozy bull was on its feet, though obviously still reluctant to get in the trailer, and making a lot of noise about it. another prod, and in it went, with the gate slammed shut behind it.
i have a pretty exciting job, but this was definitely a first.
