It's amazing I was never fired

Over the past two years, my desk area has ... grown. I don't like blank walls, and I like to surround myself with things that represent me and/or make me happy. So ... I had a bit of fun with decorating my cubicle. Coworkers call it "the lounge" or my "apartment." What's a desk without a magazine rack, a TV and some throw pillows? What is it without places of honor on the wall for the Time magazine cover of Ronald Reagan crying photoshopped tears, and the Texas Monthly Bum Steer cover that was a delightful ode to Cheney? Where else am I supposed to put my shrine to Stephen Colbert?

Sometime last year, I realized that a TV wasn't be used. It was just sitting on the old online editor's desk about 15 feet away or so. I ran a long cable across a good bit of the office and under cubicles to my desk so I could watch TV without having to turn around and look at any of the five or so TVs around the newsroom. Too hard.

Apparently, it was a "safety hazard," but some maintenance men ran some cable for me from another TV nearby to my desk. I didn't ask them to. I almost felt bad about it.

Then in December, a coworker and I decided we should move a couch next to my desk. It was off in a lounge area that no one really used, except when we were forced to by an editor to hear either a mock-inspirational speech or a lecture on the depressing state of the industry and how we have to get used to doing "more with less." The couch needed a better home. And some pillows.

This month, I introduced the magicness of the Quote Board to the office, capturing gems of verbal diarrhea sure to get us all written up.

I've been needing to dismantle it before I leave for good Friday, but it's harder to do than I realized.

An Actual Conversation I Had With Coworkers

Scene: Me, walking out of the building toward my car at dinnertime. Two coworkers, a man and a girl, are standing outside talking. I call her a girl because she's my age and I'm not a woman, therefore, neither is she.

Girl: Hey Sarah, did you see "Juno"?
Me: Yes.
Girl: That's what we're talking about. Did you like it?
Man: Did you love "Juno"?
Me: Yes, I liked it. It's cute.
Man: Did you see "Superbad"?
Me: No.
Girl: I liked "Juno." Ooh, I want to see "Smart People!" It has the same girl from "Juno" in it. It opened like a few weeks ago.
Me: Yeah, it's been getting mixed reviews.
Girl: Oh, I never listen to reviews. I never read them. I like to go into things without and prejudgments. Now, if a friend who has really similar tastes to me recommends something, then I'll listen.
Me: You know, you could find a critic with similar tastes to you and listen to them.
Man: [smiles]
Girl: That's true. I hear film critics are a dying breed.
Me: That's the word on the street. ... My brother's a critic.
Girl: Ah, in LA ... the film industry capital ...
Man: We don't need film critics.
Girl: Yeah, we really don't.
Man: Why do we need critics?
Me: OK. ... That's what I did in school. [walks away]

I then went to Hastings and rented "Lars and the Real Girl," which was recommended to me by a film critic with similar tastes whom I trust. Go figure.