Dear User,

To set the record straight, yesterday's post was an APRIL FOOL'S post.

I haven't quit my job.

I still work for Big Brother (as long as I can elude the Thought Police).

Though I have entertained the idea of using my new camera and editing gear to make some bar mitzvah casholah, I have not taken those steps... yet.

Speaking of The Job, I took the postponed "skills assessment" exam today. Five hours, no macros -- just WORD, EXCEL and POWERPOINT, stripped and manual. I've been creating pitchbooks for the better of two years now, but when you've got a host of macros at your disposal -- designed to make life easier -- it encourages an atrophy of knowledge. I got hung up on this one complicated formula in EXCEL that everyone else knew to memorize beforehand, while I tried in vain to figure it out on my own. During the break, though, one of my crafty coworkers slipped me the answer:

[=800]"2,000"; [>=1000]"3,000"; _##0

(Note: If you know EXCEL, this is actually really funny.)

Anyway, I really didn't think I'd fool anybody with yesterday's posting. In fact, it slipped my mind that it was April 1st, and I originally wrote a different post (which was decidedly less interesting, as reality usually proves itself to be) before scrapping it and fabricating the bar mitzvah hoo-hah. But it sort of took me by surprise that some people did buy it -- the sincerity of the two well-wishing comments that were left caught me off guard, as if their encouragement were saying, "You know, maybe it ISN'T such a crazy idea, after all..."

The wheels are turning.