T O T A L W A S T E O F T I M E

My company instituted a somewhat revolutionary policy a few years back that allows us to work whenever we want. Coming in to the office is not required. Asking for permission to leave is not required. There are no set hours or schedules. "All meetings are optional" (anyone who has worked in the real world knows this could never be true, but it's a nice tagline for the program). Whatever the case, this program is brilliant, because it emphasizes that results are more important than sitting in the office all day long. It's like being treated like an adult after having had a babysitter for the previous 20+ years.

Today was one of those rare days where I didn't have meetings for eight hours straight, so I left the office at 2pm and decided to go the movies. After a "yummy" lunch at the McDonald's inside the local shopping mall, I watched "Tropic Thunder", the new Ben Stiller movie. A brief synopsis of my experience:

The good:

- The part of the movie where I fell asleep.
- The part of the movie where the movie was finally over.

The bad:

- Everything else.

This movie was beyond lame. The boredom it induced was transcendent. I'd read a number glowing reviews about it and how funny it was, and I didn't find it funny at all. It was supposed to mock Hollywood cliches, and while I did recognize a few, I doubt most people who don't work in Hollywood would get any of this or find the movie that entertaining. Um, let me do that math...that's about 99.9999% of the population.

In short, don't waste your money--not on the theater, not on a rental. Eight hours of meetings would be more entertaining.