There are two triangles near my house, and no squares that I am aware of. One of the triangles has a park in it and is called "Washington Triangle Park," while the other has an apartment building called "Spring Hill Highrise." The Spring Hill one is actually a trapezoid because there is a road that cuts through the tip. So the point of the triangle is actually separate from the rest. I still count it as one triangle rather than a triangle and a trapezoid, however. The cut off point has one of those community gardens with prairie plants in it, which is a good thing to spruce up the neighborhood a bit.

Now that I think of it, there is one square called "Chute Square" with a historic old house that is sometimes open for tours on it. So there is one square and two triangles.

Oh shit, I've pissed off one of the potheads here at work. Prepare for passive-agressive email attack!

The Germans. I've heard things about them but have tried to withhold judgement until I've seen it all first hand.

I've been dealing with the German FIFA World Cup ticketing organization lately trying to work out a problem with tickets. I was awarded one ticket to the USA - Ghana match at the World Cup this summer. Then, a few weeks ago, someone contacted me asking if I was interested in his tickets since he would not be able to go. He had three sets of tickets that included the three first round matches and the second round match if we make it that far.

The problem is that I need to offload my Ghana ticket before I can receive one of the ticket sets. The online ticket system only allows one ticket per match per person. FIFA has set up a transfer and resale portal for those who have tickets they don't want or can't use - people like me, in fact. But there is a complicated set of rules and procedures in place dictating who and when and why tickets may be transferred. I thought it was all designed to limit the ability of ticket brokers to sell tickets, but maybe not...

I submitted a request to transfer my ticket to a friend. IT was rejected because the reason I gave for the transfer was not good enough. The fact that I need to get rid of one ticket so that four may be transferred to me was not good enough! Worse yet, when I tried to contact customer service via an online form, it bounced with the message, "this address does not accept incoming messages." WTF?

This all comes after a process of months of signing up for ticket sale lotteries online, faxing applications, FedExing packages, and crossing fingers to get tickets in the first place. I feel like after all of the trouble I have gone through, a mere ticket transfer should be the least of my worries.

I've spoken with a few people who have gone to Germany or lived there and they all agree that the Germans are strict about the rules. I have German ancestry. I drive a German car. I follow rules. I was looking forward to going to Germany as a sort of return to my roots. But I am having second thoughts about the Germans. It seems like they have rules for the sake of having rules. I'm planning a trip to their country, where I will spend a lot of money on lodging and beer and trains and crap. They need it, no doubt. But some fascist in customer service rejected my ticket transfer and put my entire trip in jeopardy.

In the future, our home and work lives will intermingle. We will always be at work. Our social time will be spent in the workplace. Socialization will be a part of work. Work will be a part of personal life.

In the 20th century a job was a place one goes to work. You get in a car and drive to your job, and when you're done at work you drive home and switch to family mode. That was necessary when most work was of the manual labor sort. The equipment that was needed to manufacture a product was housed in a building somewhere. One had to be physically present to do the work.

Now that we are moving away from manual jobs to service jobs, we can do our work from almost anywhere. Portable technology is accessible to the masses. A person is no longer bound to a $5000 IBM PC on a desk that only an employer can afford.

If you can imagine a portable device with internet and cell phone capabilities, a color video screen, and a bunch of storage, then think of how it will change the way we work. Rather than maintain two systems of organization, we can store all of our files together or access them remotely via one device. It is more efficient that way. There is no need to remember which computer a file is stored on. We can have access to our stuff at any time.

We want to be more mobile and more dynamic. In fact, we can be more productive that way. We can do work while waiting in line or riding the subway. We can make social connections that are important to our work more effectively in a meeting place than in an office park somewhere. We can share our work via portable devices more effectively as we sit next to our colleagues than we can if we are separated by miles and email.

The notion of a job will change too. We may not be employed by a single entity any longer. We may not be bound by time sheets and benefits packages. A time will come to pass when we can complete a set quantity of work as we operate as a sole entity, a company of one. We will pay people to work for us too. We can sell our time on eBay. We can write a computer subprogram and sell it to the highest bidder. We can design a video advertisement in trade for product. We can meet a friend of a friend and provide them with job counseling, marriage counseling, or legal advice for a fee. Our friends will be our business contacts and our corporate partners. Our job will be to go out and socialize.

So say goodbye to your old job and hello to your new life. Your work will come to you and you can do it wherever you want to be.