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 »
Dodgy
"Is that a Dodge Dakota pickup truck? I heard that Native American tribe is really upset at the commercialization of their name." "Yeah. Go »This is Me Getting On With My Life
Any advice for a newly single guy? After five months, Denise and I are no longer seeing each other. I won't get into the causes out of respect for her point of view; let's just say she and I each wanted the other to behave differently and it wasn't going to happen. Go »Space Out
As Denise suggested I do, I've gotten partway through the Unsolved Mysteries set on UFOs. (link) It's not my favorite topic, but the show is entertaining no matter what it covers, and they put on a good show. The problem is that most of it is so hard to believe. Go »WGW: If It's Good Enough for Dan Marino, It's Good Enough for Me
This is more like Weight-Gain Wednesday after a week and a half with Kelly, bouncing around Sarasota restaurants and Disney World. No matter how many thousands of calories I burned walking around that theme park for three days, I'm sure I consumed twice as many, and that was just in fudge from the Main Street Confectionery. Now that I'm back and I've done some very scientific research – asking a friend whether she hated one – I have chosen NutriSystem over Medifast as the exclusive supplier of my every meal. Go »Long Live Scott's Other New Car
I never thought I'd write these words, but I'm the delighted new owner of a Hummer H2. It's all black, brand new in perfect condition. I've already got it tricked out with glowing ground-effects lights on the undercarriage and special extra-thick tires for off-roading. 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!)