I had a nice chat with some ex-work buddies today, and it really cheered me up. We have some very rough waters coming up at work. Some of those buddies felt that they copped out because they didn't stick around to deal with the stooges. I remind them that by not sticking around, they kept from being one of the stooges, or (worse yet) one of the stooges' henchmen.

Yes, a learning experience this has been. And when all the hand-wringing and shouting and political posturing is done, I get to go home every day and play with my kids. Kinda puts it all in perspective.