It's Time for the Office Football Pool (AKA "Give Us the Money!")

While in the throes of being an "empty nester," I started watching football.  

It began with college football (a much more civilized version than the NFL) and progressed to the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers (I can't pick a team).

A lot of this new enjoyment can be attributed to the "office football pool."   I might be inclined to be a bit of a "gambler."  

You see, around my firm, if you're a staff member, you either "play or get labeled."  Labeled as not one of the gang, labeled as a cheapskate, labeled as "un-American."  I tend to be a "pleaser," so I'll wager ten bucks here and there.  I'm sorry but I cannot give up my gourmet coffee fund for football.  I have not gone there yet and don't plan on it.

However, when someone told me today that I was guaranteed to win the first pool "7-1," I was ecstatic.  I have no idea how I'm guaranteed to win or even what I would win, if I was the winner.  Truth is, even though I've started watching football, I have no clear concept of the rules or how the game is played.  I do understand "touchdown."

And while we bask in 90 degree weather today, I must admit I'm looking just a little forward to football.  Between the office football pool and the Pumpkin Spice Latte, the Fall season has its perks.

The Rhythm of the August Rain by Gillian Royes

You still have time to catch up on your "Summer Reading."

New from Gillian Royes, creator of the Shad series, comes "The Rhythm of the August Rain"

Gillian Royes, Author

"The Rhythm of the August Rain" by Gillian Royes

"Shad Myers, the loveable bartender and town sleuth of Largo Bay, hunts down clues to a woman’s mysterious disappearance in this fourth riveting novel in the Shad detective series.Shannon, a photojournalist on assignment for a Canadian magazine, arrives in the impoverished but beautiful fishing village of Largo Bay, Jamaica. But she’s seeking more than a tropical paradise: She wants to know why a Canadian woman named Katlyn went missing there more than three decades ago.So she calls on Shad—“bartender by trade, investigator by vocation, and unofficial sheriff of Largo Bay” (Publishers Weekly)—for help. Together, they delve into Rastafarian life and history while preparations are being made for Shad’s wedding and the groundbreaking of his new hotel. But the deeper they get into the story, the deeper they get into trouble. And it’s clear that whoever wanted Katlyn buried all those years ago will do anything to keep the truth buried as well…As in her previous novels The Sea Grape Tree, The Man Who Turned Both Cheeks, and The Goat Woman of Largo Bay, Gillian Royes transports readers into a beautiful Caribbean setting where life is cheap but religion is strong, and one man is still trying to solve the island’s relentless questions."

See more at: SimonandSchuster

Available in bookstores everywhere and online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble

They're Back. . .The Return of the Cubicle

Just when you thought the role of the secretary had evolved - they're back.

I don't know about you but I sort of like the direction firms have taken over the past decade or so with open space desks.  I mean, granted you don't have any privacy, but did you really think your "cube-mate" didn't hear you on the phone with your roommate telling him it was time to shape up or ship out?

Cubicles give a whole new meaning to "faux-walls."  They're nothing but "perception." In reality, they're actually more confining and less "feng-shui friendly" than the desk you're sitting at right outside your boss's office.

I mean wouldn't you rather see him coming than have him sneak up behind you just as you clicked on "TMZ?"

Alas, there's nothing we can do because we just work here.

So, you might as well get those push-pins ready for next year's calendars.

The cubicle has returned and with firms making use of every single inch of space, I'd say they're here to stay.