My week begins early Monday morning when my wife rouses me briefly as she pulls the "snore suppressing" pillow from my face, kisses me goodbye, and heads off to teach the wretched little urchins that call her "Mrs. Linfield". After another hour of sleep (interrupted several times by my clock radio between snooze bar taps) I rise, shower, and climb into my car for the commute into San Luis Obispo. I live about 20 miles north of "SLO Town" in the sleepy hamlet of Atascadero, and my trip only lasts about 20 minutes. No, that's not a misprint. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I'm still amazed that I can push the boundary of the speed limit even during "rush hour" traffic.

Once in town, I head to the grocery store to pick up office provisions for the week. Oddworld tries to keep its Inhabitants happy and alert by supplying them with healthy alternative snacks. I load up on bags of whatever fruit is in season, bottled water, and French Vanilla nonfat nondairy creamer (we strive for good nutrition, but coffee is still the grease that keeps our wheels turning). At the checkout stand, I am usually subjected to an envious chorus of "Wow, look at all that fruit!", "Where's the party?", and "How do I get a job at Oddworld?". I just smile, answer politely, and while I head out to load the groceries into my car I realize that I work for a pretty special company.

When I arrive at the office, I distribute the fruit to various strategically placed baskets, grab a bagel from the kitchen, and settle in to check e-mail and update my to-do list. Some of my everyday responsibilities include maintaining office supply levels, ordering whatever weird things the art department needs for reference materials, chauffeuring guests to and from the airport, and running errands all over town. Therefore, my car (a trusty Saturn wagon) is a key element of my job.

By lunchtime, I've usually completed the mundane tasks of the day and I move on to some "special projects". I'm the resident handyman and decorator who looks after the maintenance and appearance of our workspace so sometimes I get to be a plumber, electrician, carpenter, picture framer, and seamstress all in the same day. I've been given the nickname "Ghepetto" due to my tendency to create attractive solutions to office needs using odd inexpensive stuff I find at the hardware store or in the supply cabinet.

Around 4:00 p.m., I get a call from the front desk letting me know the package "that absolutely has to get there tomorrow morning" is just about ready to go to Fed Ex. Dropping my paintbrush (or hammer, X-acto knife, or whatever tool I'm using at the moment), I sprint to the parking structure, drive across town and drop off the package exactly four minutes before they lock the doors.

Once I return to the office, I clean up whatever mess I was making before I left, pile another stack of order forms onto the convoluted filing system that overwhelms my desk, and then I head back to do a little organizing and labeling in the office reference library. We have an awesome collection of books and movies that our artists use for visual inspiration, and one of my favorite responsibilities is looking after this resource.

By 6:00 p.m. my workday is pretty much over, but I like to hang around, catch up on the news, and work on some personal stuff before I head home. If I didn't have a wife waiting for me at home, I'd probably stay even later. It's pretty nice to work in a place that I'm not always in a hurry to leave. -The End