I had lunch today with three former members of my company, two of whom were my last two managers, one of whom was the vice president they themselves reported to and another friend, still with the company, who is into food and cooking and has put these particular lunches together from time to time now for the last six years. I was definitely the low man on this lunch time totem pole and did my best to keep my ears open and my mouth shut and not make any of my usual off the wall remarks. These are nice people and they are willing to forgive, but you can only push your luck so far. Off the wall remarks make you look stupid in this particular culture and, although I've long known I have no interest in becoming a member, I still want to be considered someone with manners who can be reasonably predictable company at a table, if not overly smart.

Part of writing the way I like to write is thinking most of the time about things in ways that result in off the wall remarks, some of which can be crafted into phrases and paragraphs and other useless things such as stories, providing they can be written in a single not too stressful evening. I've always been that way. People who work in the writing trades know what I'm talking about.

So, lunch was nice, the afternoon passing quickly, my manager going on vacation starting next Monday and not returning until Wednesday the 30th. Seven whole working days. Bliss. We'd originally been told he wasn't returning until the first week of June, which we naturally rationalized to be the last day of the first week of June, but what the hell, Monday morning, either way, everyone will be smiling. I've decided to redo my entire set of web sites in preparation for the new big deal intranet design that will be sprung on the company next month, hence my thoughts, perhaps, about company culture and off the wall remarks. I might be willing to more perfectly practice this corporate culture stuff if I were spurring on a project specifically related to the web. I might be willing to return, at least for a couple of years, to the all consuming, self absorbing discipline of making a (web) project work. Then again, maybe I've had too much coffee. Or not enough.