Pico de Greedo
by Scott Hardie on May 4, 2014
On Friday, my company threw a part Mexican, part Star Wars party in celebration of Cinco de Mayo and Star Wars Day ("May the 4th be with you"). It was a weird combination but it worked, with games like a lightsaber piñata bash. Kelly made "lightsabers" (pretzel rods frosted with blue and red frosting), but she really got interested when I mentioned that the salsa contest offered three prizes and only had three teams on the signup sheet. She made two jars of her usual medium-hot salsa, I borrowed art from a webcomic to made a quick label, and the result won first prize, over the six other competitors that ultimately entered. The prize was just a $15 gift card to Taco Bell, but it was fun, and fun was the point. It was a good day.
It's the first time that I've entered a work contest since joining this company last fall, and really the first one in several years. I regret the way that I behaved after winning a contest at the last employer and decided not to enter any more contests as long as I worked there. That company sometimes offered really amazing prizes, like a $700 gift certificate to a local restaurant who couldn't pay their advertising bill and offered the certificate in trade, so when various bosses started hyping the "amazing" prize being offered one December, my team went nuts making a gingerbread office. We were quite disappointed with the first prize that we won, a 15-minute massage for each of us at some local parlor. The second-place team got a paid night out bowling together, which we would have much preferred. We moaned and griped about the prize so much that I came to feel really embarrassed about how entitled and ungrateful we must have seemed, and I decided that I wasn't mature enough to handle future contests. Hopefully my modest gratitude upon winning a simple lunch for two at Taco Bell this weekend is sign that I've grown.
Happy Star Ways Day and Cinco de Mayo, everybody.
One Reply to Pico de Greedo
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
The News is Furry
I'm glad to see that CNN has continued their crackerjack, no-nonsense news coverage during ratings season: Go »His Name is Bond
[Spoilers for Casino Royale.] One of my favorite bits of any fan-invented mythology is the identity of 007: It is held by some series fans (and me) that "James Bond" is merely a codename. When one Bond is killed or retires, another one takes his place and assumes the same name, which is why you see a different actor every decade and the man doesn't age despite having been around since the Kennedy administration. Go »Good Company and Busy Nights
Highlights from my last two weeks, in no particular order: - Miah Poisson, his fiancée Ines, and her friend Denise have always wanted to see The X Files, and it just so happens I have the complete series on DVD. We've started getting together every Monday night to watch a couple of episodes and eat sandwiches. I'm taking the opportunity to do something I wanted to do the first time I watched the series, which is keep a kill-count. Go »Real Predictions, from a Guy Who Takes This Too Seriously
Some of my Oscar contest predictions are solely based on my odds of "winning" the contest. I'm curious to find out if what film I really think will win in certain categories comes out on top. Best Picture: Babel Best Original Screenplay: Babel Best Original Score: Babel Best Film Editing: Blood Diamond Best Costume Design: Marie Antoinette Here's looking forward to a good show tonight. Go »Gigantism
Thanks to a friend who couldn't use them, I scored They Might Be Giants tickets to replace the broken Valentines gift that I originally bought for Kelly. We took in the show last night with two other friends who happened to be going, Nathan and Raquel, and it was a great time. Most of my concerts have been metal, so I'm used to screaming and head-banging, and I didn't exactly know how to get into the music, especially since I was the least familiar with the TMBG catalog. Go »
Evie Totty | May 6, 2014
Good for you! I too have moments (too many) in my life where I let my ego run it.
And grats on the win! (It IS good stuff!)