Category: Stories

Yesterday was the big day. I have been planning it with the help of 16 other people since June. Food and drinks for 350. Indian food from Iravat and Akbar, Greek food from Greek Isles, Caribbean food from Taste of Islands, and the list goes on…

Texas Instruments has a Diversity Fair every year to showcase the importance of Diversity in the workplace. What is interesting to note is that TI really does a great job of catering to various cultures and religions. We even have a “Serenity Room” where Muslims, or other people of varying religions, are allowed to go and pray.  I bring up this point because recently I was supporting the TI Diversity Leadership conference and they played a sound clip of a man who was talking about his internship at TI and how he was afraid that his religion, which required him to pray 5 times a day, would interfere with his job. On his first day at work he met another Muslim that told him about the Serenity room.  When his internship was over he left TI and for 10 months worked at another company that did not have a place for him to pray and was not as accepting of his religious requirements. He left that company and came back to TI.

So making a point to bring Diversity and cultural awareness to all of TI is important on many levels. TI wants everyone to feel included because when you feel like you are accepted and part of the team you are happy and happy people are productive people.

This year was our 6th annual diversity fair and every year I have been a part of it. Normally I do a dance routine for the talent show and last year I did a skit with the new employees and a dance routine. This year, I led the Diversity Fair, did a dance routine and wrote and directed a skit and thankfully all three of them went well.

So now that the fair is over I feel like I am free. I am on my honeymoon without a care in the world. I can finally get back to reading, working out, and in general living my life.

If my life were a headline on the front page of the Dallas Morning News it would read, “Area Man Defies Thermodynamic Laws”. It seems that I am able to turn back time, to be in multiple places at once, and when necessary, stop time. Yep, I’m an X-Man, or a “Hero” or a Superfriend, whatever you want to label me, label me, because it’s true.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve managed to work full time, design websites for work, juggle a new relationship, visit friends at various parties, go to the movies, design stages, design and cut 400 invitations, make curtains, and an entire 21 table room design single-handedly. This design includes table clothes, curtains, 50 plus slides containing information about various countries, write and direct a skit about DLP involving 10 people, choreograph a dance piece for the talent show and somehow do so good at my regular job that I got a bonus from one of the people I support. Now tell me if you don’t believe in my super-powers now?

However, in each and every activity that I involve myself in, I tend to go a little overboard. I’m excessive at times and I include superfluous items in my design that are most likely overlooked by the average observer. Thus, my super hero identity would be Super Fluous. Whenever I walk into a room I’ll yell out, “SUPERFLUOUS!” and suddenly all this unecessary stuff will appear along with an insurmountable pile of work.

Also, my super power requires me to almost always work alone because I am too anal about my projects to allow any other creative input from others. What is more, I so often find that people lack true creative depth and so asking most people for input would be like Einstein asking me for assistance with a Euclidean geometry question. 

So… tomorrow is the big fair that I am in charge of at work. Today all the detail work must be done and you know what they say… the Devil is in the details. (what does that mean anyway? )

So if you see me flying over your neighborhood and someone yells, “It’s a huge bird! No, it’s Plane!” You can correct them and say, “Nope, that’s Superfluous!”

I’m sure some of you have seen this, but I hadn’t until this morning. It’s a prison in the Phillipines using dance as a way to limit fighting.

Click here to see the video!

It’s 7:15 am and I am still at the Marriot Hotel Dallas Solana. No one is wearing jeans or shorts, the place is so nice it practically has a dress code – business casual at a minimum.

So I’m sitting here  outside the conference room checking email on my laptop and sipping my Starbucks when I see this dude without any pants on and no shoes walking down the hall. I do a double-take and realize he is wearing a Speedo! With a long shirt and no shoes!

The shirt came down to a point that you could just barely see that he was wearing a Speedo, or maybe they were just boxer briefs – I don’t know. My point is, it is much too early to see white chicken legs at this time of the morning and buddy, take that towel that is in your hand and drape it around your waist next time or throw on some shorts. That would be the proper thing to do.

P.S. Supporting meetings in hotels is fun – for the first 2-3 days, but by day 4 I am starting to get Cabin Fever. I’ve also eaten everything you can imagine and I can feel myself swelling up. I just have no governor on my mouth when it comes to free food!