right now

if you could see out my office window at this moment, you'd probably notice a young girl, looking not out of place in a black and white movie, gathering her dog in the basket of her bicycle, pedaling furiously down the road.

that is to say, it's looking like tornado weather. and i think the national weather service building, which is right in my backyard, has induced the local weathermen to stay on the air constantly. i'm not one to be mr. cynical, especially when the sky, from left to right, ranges from murky blue-gray to weird gray-orange, in about a 130 degree spread.

if this post stops suddenly in mid-sentence, you'll know why.

***

haven't had much to say lately, mainly because i've been too busy to be in the mood to gather my thoughts once the day's end rolls around. usually that's around 10 p.m., after having started at 6 a.m., and while i'm not at all implying that i work hard for a living -- i sit on my ass in front of a computer screen, or sometimes two screens at the same time -- i do work enough between SuitWorld™ and my palacial estate that sleep is only thing on my mind come sundown.

but SuitWorld™ ... our little team, which was started with so much fanfare about a year ago, has lost three more members in the past two weeks. two of them have not been discussed in this space, so i don't have nicknames for them. the third, semi-affectionately known as "the hammer" and described herein, has decided to move on. my first thought was to throw her a goodbye party. my second thought was not to invite her. my third thought was that my real feelings lay somewhere in between those two.

either way, if the hammer wants to move on -- hell, if anybody wants to move on -- it's probably A Good Thing.

except for one of the two non-nicknamed ones. she doesn't have a nickname -- she did, actually, a long time ago; we called her "shark" and for the life of me i can't remember why we chose that, because in retrospect it was about as far from her true personality as we could have gotten.

but, once a shark, always a shark ... so "sharky" she shall be.

sharky is the kind of teammate that you'd kill to have around. funny, intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful ... sharky is all that, and kind of a babe to boot, though i'll probably get in trouble for saying so. her role on the team changed a lot between her entry and her exit; i think that's the reason she's moving on.

another part of the reason, i daresay, involves the ridiculous procedure and paperwork described in the post above.

when people who are creative and talented and self-motivated are put in an environment where their skills are valued, they will thrive. when those same people are forced to become just another cog in the machine, they will wither and die. i think sharky saw that coming for her, and decided that it was better to move on and save what was left of her personality and passion for her job.

if SuitWorld™ cannot find a way to keep people like sharky, then its days surely are numbered.

i will miss her greatly, though i don't think she knows exactly how, or even why.