Work Imitates Animal House

We were having an imprompteau pow-wow in my bosses’ office, regarding the issue of the hour. We were coming up with various scenarios that could’ve happened to create the issue, how one thing led to another, then another, and so on. After a while it reminded me of Tim Matheson’s famous speech in the movie Animal House, so I chimed in with the last few lines, including the iconic “I for one am not going to stand here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!”  - and marched out of the room.

 

Here’s the text of the entire speech. It also reminds me how much things have changed. Nowadays the movie would go to great lengths TO badmouth the country – even at the expense of making the movie sound dated after a few short months/years.  

 

Otter: Point of parliamentary procedure!
Hoover: Don't screw around, they're serious this time!
Otter: Take it easy, I'm pre-law.
Boon: I thought you were pre-med.
Otter: What's the difference?
Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests - we did. [winks at Dean Wormer] But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but I for one am not going to stand here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!
[Leads the Deltas out of the hearing, all humming the Star-Spangled Banner]
Greg: Order!
Dean Wormer: You've done it this time buster! No more Delta! I'm calling the national office! I'm going to revoke your charter! And if you wiseguys do one more thing, one more, I'm going to kick you out of college! No more fun of any kind!

 

Tuesday: no leftovers to take for lunch, so I took the fixings for PB&J’s. Then there were leftovers from Monday and Tuesday lunch meetings. Potato salad and a chicken wrap. I was eating the wrap and it kept getting hotter and hotter. Finally unwrapped it and found jalapenos. Was trying to wrap things up to go home at six, then got called up for a plate of Dreamland BBQ and more potato salad. Couldn’t turn that down.

 

Ceil was still sick. I drove her to Whole Foods. I stayed up to watch the end of the Braves game. Not the best, but it looks good from a distance that they won 9-5 over the team that had just swept the mighty Red Sox.Not much else. Anna came over for a concert at Chastain Park.

 

More meetings (for other people) today and tomorrow, so there could be more food. Pretty sure I’ll be called into one meeting, and I’ll drag as many as I can in with me. Getting close to month end, and Friday three of six team members will be out of the office.

 

Ceil especially is super attached to Barney. She takes him to South Carolina whenever she goes. She’ll be really upset when he is gone. I will be as well.

 

Wednesday: this continues to be the week of eating, thanks to all the meetings going on around the office. Again no leftovers to bring for lunch, but it didn’t matter. I went lite on breakfast (a few peanut butter balls). Got to work and ate a small bowl of banana pudding, then a late morning snack: a small bowl of potato salad and a quarter of a chicken salad sandwich. Then a late lunch catered by Willy’s Mexican: nachos with chicken, beans, rice, and cheese. I’m guessing we’ll have pizza at some point (we did).  Worked past six. Ceil made chicken soup with rice.

Watched a new show on NBC called “Making It.” Six “crafters” make two projects on each show, then were judged on which was best. They made a hometown terrarium, a fort, a toy, an animal, a scrapbook, and a “quilt” from whatever material they wanted. The hosts are Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, who were on Parks and Recreation.   

Thursday: busy with month end. I was called in a meeting this morning. Mellow Mushroom pizza was brought in for lunch. I have leftovers for tomorrow, but in honor of football season everyone’s bringing in food: sausage balls, hot dogs, corn dip, buffalo dip, etc. There’s also potato salad and banana pudding.

 

After work Friday I’m leaving early for the Braves game. Meeting Will. I think it’s the first thing we’ve done together since he was in high school.

 

I like to wait until September to publish my annual football predictions. But with Georgia, Clemson, and Georgia Tech all playing on Saturday September first, I’d better go on record with my week one picks: GT, UGA, and Clemson will all win their first game Saturday.

 

With both baseball and football going on, September will be a busy month on my blog, so be sure to stay tuned in. Not written in stone, but a working syllabus:

 

Aug 31: a new list: shoes worn in August

Sept 1: September bobbleheads

Sept 2: Braves/Pirates recap

Sept 3: Georgia Tech season predictions

Sept 4: Clemson season predictions

Sept 5: UGA season predictions

Sept 6: Braves/Red Sox recap

Sept 7: week one football recap

Sept 8: family news update

Sept 9: Pirates/Red Sox jersey montage

Sept 10:  week two football recap

Sept 11: what we believe update

Sept 12: NL rookie of the year update

Sept 13: family news update

Sept 14: Camargo/Todd Frazier comparison

Sept 15: Braves/Phillies recap

Sept 16: Phillies jersey montage

Sept 17: week 3 football recap

Sept 18: family news update

Sept 19: what we believe update