Like you, I just finished watching the first episode of "Undercover Boss". The President of MY garbage company (Waste Management), spent a week doing menial garbage jobs and learning about what its like to be a poor garbage worker.

It was heart-worming. (side note: this is a funny way to say heart-warming). He really learned a lot about some people with some mental/physical problems and how shitty their jobs are.

End result:

Wait a minute, all of these productivity initiatives I've been enacting makes these people's lives worse.

They decided not to show the part that happened after this when he talked to the board and realized:

Wait a minute, I enacted these productivity initiatives to make MY life better. By making me more money.

So what is a guy supposed to do? Of course, his solution (gotta solve these problems!) was to talk to the people in middle management positions and have them change the things that were making it hard for the entry level folk. I guess we're also to believe that he repealed some of his productivity measures? Or did he put the middle management in the impossible position of having to increase morale and productivity at the same time?

Middle management seems like the absolute shittiest thing in the world. You don't deal with anything tangible, you have people above you who physically cannot see the actual work being done as anything other than money made/lost and people beneath you who you have to deal with, as people, in real world scenarios. You end up looking like the bad guy no matter what happens. And yes, I actually feel bad for Michael Scott sometimes.

So here is my summary of this (and all upcoming) episodes of Undercover Boss:

Boss is a nice guy, not some monster who doesn't care about the "people". Meets some people, is no good at their work and learns not only that the actual "work" of his company sucks, but that adults who work minimum wage jobs generally have a lot of unpleasant shit going on in their lives. Feels bad. Makes middle management look like the bad guys for trying to find ways to cut costs. Makes a big speech, forms some "committees" to look into a few public relations friendly problems and scolds the middle management for whatever they had done.

I'm against it, because it attempts to make people feel better about some real problems with the American work system without actually changing much of anything for the better.

I'm still sticking with my garbage company though.

(Just got back from snowshoeing, friday and saturday's posts will be coming this week)

Now I would never go as far as to post such a thing in completion here, but I think it should be acknowledged that today, a small number of us participated in an email thread that totaled over 100 posts (120 was my final count).  Kevin started it off this morning at 7:37 AM. Marcus specified quotas for us to help us reach our goal. Marcus's quotas were as follows:

Lee and Dane: Predicted: 0, Posted : 0. This was expected. For a brief moment, Kevin was demoted to Dane and probably did a couple of posts while he was the Dane, but that doesn't count.

AWK: Predicted: 5 maybe 6. Posted: 1.  This was based on an earlier prediction by Andrew himself, and he didn't quite meet his quota. His one post was quality.

Marcus: Predicted: 10, Posted: 18. Marcus blew his own prediction out of the water, posting during meetings, during PhD something, and some kind of database breakdown.

Jon: Predicted: 15, Posted; 16. Jon pulled out a lot of quality posts about being sick, and his upcoming superbowl party (that won't be at the Hilton).

Grande: Predicted 10, Posted: 19. Grande did a lot of good work today, nearly doubling his quota. Nice work Grande.

Jonathan: Predicted 15, Posted 17. Jonathan slept a lot of the day, and was at work for another part. He told us about a baby that died, and barely met his quota.

Kevin: Predicted 20, posted 17. Kevin said he wouldn't be able to make his quota, and he was right. He did try a lot harder than he acted like he was going to. No hard feelings, Kevin.

And finally, I was predicted to make 20 posts. My count is a little thrown off by a few accidental posts to only one person when I meant to reply all, but my margin of error has to be significantly less than my actual post count of 34 posts!!!

And the best thing is, Grande is buying us all mystery T-shirts for our accomplishment!!!! I'll be watching my mailbox.

Jonathan just posted again, and who knows when this could stop! Anyone who wants to know what happened today can just ask any of us, and we'll email you a play by play description.

Nathan just showed me this shit.

These guys are from South Africa, and they're hard as shit. Nothing is more Kinda Intense than this.  Maybe they're like the Streets, except fewer jokes and I don't instantly hate them. Sorry, all you guys who like the Streets. I mean, this is nothing I would ever bump in a serious fashion, but I feel like its the type of thing I should at least share with ya'lls.

Yes, it's a short post, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in existence.

Also watch this:

The trailer for the upcoming ICP blockbuster, "Big Money Rustlas" (the sequel to big money Hustlas). You'd think jonathan, who is afraid of clowns, would be extra terrified of the ICP. But surprisingly, he isn't. Discuss?

We are 1 minute away from the premiere of the last season of Lost. And not having ever seen an episode, or the 1 hour recap that is just ending, I feel I am the perfect candidate to review that episode. And by review, I mean give a scene by scene recap of everything that happens from the outsiders perspective.

Previously on lost: I'm ignoring this part because it will ruin my objectivity.....except the part where the well lady blows up the time bomb. Thats where I start.....

It all starts on a plane. An ordinary plane, that probably won't crash into the middle of some island. Oh wait, the plane is getting shaky. REAL shaky. I think the pilot is LOST! Is that how the show got its name? Now the main guy is going to the bathroom. His neck is bleeding. Is this season about vampires? No, false alarm.

Meanwhile, beneath the plane, under the ocean, there are a bunch of houses? And a shark. And a giant statue of a foot.

LOST: the titles come up. Yes, I am.

Now we're dropping the time bomb into the well. I know whats going to happen here so I don't need to watch it again. The lady falls in and hits the bomb and everything goes white. This is the third time I've seen this scene in 13 minutes. Its going to be a long two hours.....(note: don't expect me to review both hours).

Now a lady is in a tree. Hugging it, HARD. But how did she get up there? She doesn't know.I bet she was chased up by polar bears? Aren't there polar bears on this show?

She meets another guy who knows her and they realize something that I don't understand. People are sleeping on the ground all bloody. Nobody knows anything. Plane guy gets kicked in the face by angry guy. Apparently they were wrong about the time bomb and the well and what it would do.

Now we're back on the plane. More characters from that last scene are on it. I don't think it bodes well for this plane. I've seen some of these guys in commercials for Lost. Fat guy says he's the luckiest guy alive. How does he stay so fat? Haven't they been on the island for like 6 years?

Now fat guy is lying on the ground all bloody like everyone else. Wait, now the well lady might be alive beneath some metal stuff. But another guy is dying. God takes one life and brings another lady back. Or maybe they'll both live. God is funny like that.

Some evil-looking guy who isn't all bloody just surprised the fat guy!

And we're on the plane again. Everyone is talking about the plane crashing. Foreshadowing? Now, back in the past/future/island. A guy with a bloody knife cuts a red piece of cloth. An asian guy stares at a fire. Wait, on closer look, that guy is not asian at all. I think these guys just fought to the death.

Is that the mayor from the Dark Knight? I think he's about to get stabbed by the guy who looks like Creed from the office. Wait, that guy is dead.What?

Time to dig the well lady out of the metal. Fat guy is talking to the invisible guy by the van. Invisible guy is spilling the beans about some place where they can save some guy. The invisible guy is Jacob. Is that a surprise? I don't know which parts of this to be shocked at.

Ok we're on the plane again. Main guy is a doctor, and found one of the guys from Lord of the Rings passed out in the bathroom. Better stick your hand down his throat and pull out....a used condom?

They're going to pull the well lady out with the old van. How did a van get on the island? And a bicycle? Well good news, the well lady is alive. Also, this guy got shot and is bleeding to death. Better go to the temple.

Creed is still dead. Batman mayor is confused. Creed is also alive, inside the temple. What? Machine gun guy kills him anyway, with a machine gun. Well, he disappears anyway. Close enough to death for me.

SMOKE MONSTER?!?!?! HOLY SHIT. Grabs a guy, pulls him through a skylight! Grabs another guy and dumps him in the fire? Machine gun guy scares away the smoke monster. What in the fuck just happened? And now, Creed is back. CREED IS THE SMOKE MONSTER!

Well lady is still crushed by metal. But rescued by the beefy guy. She has a surprising secret, but instead she dies. Typical. The onlookers are sad. Beefy guy gives plane guy a death stare. Plane guy is on the plane again, and Pippin is getting taken away in handcuffs. The plane is starting to land, I guess I was wrong about this being a plane crash. Everyone is packing up their shit. The plane is landing. The plane is landed. Police come to arrest Pippin. Everyone gets off the plane in slow motion.