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michael say it ain't so! you are tarnishing your legend! don't get greedy, stay on the sidelines! i'd love to see you dust the floor with kobe and iverson, but i've got a feeling it's going to be the exact opposite, like when magic johnson decided to stage a comeback. you've already staged a comeback before for a spectular double threepeat, and i've got your last final with the jazz on tape that i occasionally pull out and watch, but come on! do you think it's going to happen again? with the washington wizards?

but know what? if you come to the fleet center and go up against my beloved boston celtics, i will pay big bucks to watch you play in person!

today at our monday morning it was finally revealed to everyone that rob had been let go. rob was one of the fun centers of the company. without his presence at work, the office becomes a little bit more serious, a little less fun. when i think about srm, rob is part of that equation. with him missing, the company is not the same. these things are always so awkward, but i like to think i know how rob feels. memories of my letting go last november still seems fresh in my mind even though it happened almost a year ago. rob was actually at work today, collecting his stuff. he said good bye to everyone downstairs, gave us his contact info, and just like that he was gone. it's so cliche, but definitely off to greener pastures.

during the meeting, everyone was introduced to alex, the new project manager. we went around the room saying our name and telling him what we do at srm. i was the first person to go, and i wanted to make sure he really remembered my name, so i said, "my name's tony...tony macaroni." after the meeting, he told me he didn't remember anybody else's name other than mine. mission accomplished! also, i don't think alex looks like conan o'brien as some people have mentioned, although he does look like the curly haired guy that's occasionally featured in some of conan's skits.

amanda and i went running today, being that it's monday, and being that on mondays we traditionally run. it was almost as painful as pulling teeth, persuading amanda to come out. i nearly left the off on my own because i'm not her personal trainer, not paid to motivate her to exercise. if she wants to become a fatty bombatty, that's her constitutional right! the temperature was much warmer and more humid than i originally thought, but we ran in much hotter weather before. before we ran amanda warned me this run would be asterisked, and as predicted, it was. we pretty much stopped at the 2 miles mark and walked the rest of the way. because it was so hot, we sat on the pier and dipped our feet into the charles river. it was just a beautiful day, warm, blue skies, white clouds, the water was cold but after a few minutes it felt good enough to jump in (we each dared the other to take a dip, but we both chickened out). we headed back and i got my lunch at alinda's.

from alinda's i got the bird, which is a turkey sandwich with cranberry and stuffing and mayonnaise. immediately after i finished my lunch i was ready to sleep. the combination of the turkey plus the run (i'm usually very tired after the run) plus the fact i sleep late again last night (3am late) completely pooped me out. that's why i promise myself i'm going to sleep early tonight, but it's already getting late so i'm probably going to break that promise. sleep, the silent victim.

laurie wore a hooded jacket today and i'd been itching all day to get her to put on dan's big sunglasses so she could become the unabomber. the only thing missing was a tom selleck mostache. was it a convincing portrayal? hey, i get goose pimples just thinking that i work with a terrorist impersonator!

(note: 010911 when i wrote this, the terrorist attacks hadn't happened yet. it's kind of eerie though, a creepy coincidence, i happen to be joking about terrorism and bombs one day, and then the next day it really happens.)