What a distraction!

It's hard to imagine what could distract me from thinking about my upcoming trip to Berlin tomorrow, but on Thursday afternoon at work, something did.

In order to encourage people to meet certain goals, our company awards points for such things as attendance, handling accounts properly and efficiently, etc., and then these points can be used to bid in competition with others for various prizes and gifts. Yesterday afternoon, a drawing was held for the grand prize for a two month long competition and I was the lucky guy who was the grand prize winner! The prize? A Panasonic projection TV that is HDTV ready. Panasonic's website details the specifications for the set. I was overwhelmed and delighted.

I called my son, Mike, and asked whether he could borrow one of his company's trucks and come out to where I worked. He said, "What's wrong with the car?" I replied, "Nothing, I won the TV." Frankly I think he was more excited than I, if that is possible. He arrived right at 5:00 PM and we carted the new TV home and set it up. It almost swallows up my tiny living room, but I made room. It is 47" wide and 23" high, and has the 16:9 ration that is characteristic of this new breed of TV.

I'm going to have to wait till my return from this upcoming vacation to enjoy this newest addition to my home, but I am looking forward to enjoying it throughout the coming years. While I was thrilled to win it, I do know how much I and the others in competition with me wanted it, so I can appreciate their disappointment at not winning.

Now I can never again say "I never won anything of significance." What a wonderful gift to receive from my company!

These words of J. D. Salinger capture my feelings right now.

I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy. -- J. D. Salinger (1919 - )
- posted by Perry @ 6:36 PM