It's Monday mornin' (well, morning for me).   An easy walk. The sun peeking over the SLO hills, warming my face as I make the familiar way to work.  My pace picks up as anticipation of a warm cup of coffee and bagel lures me sleepily up the stairs.   I grunt my way past the front desk and into the kitchen of OWI.   You know, most people don't like Monday mornings.   Hehe, but then again most people have to actually work (i.e. driving, roofing, moving, etc.) for a living.   It's been four years, and of all those Mondays I have never dreaded one.   Being at OWI is not like drudging your day away at a meat packing plant, waiting for the lunch whistle. Metaphorically speaking, it's more like you're in one of those campy kung-fu movies, and you get to be the student of an ancient kung-fu master who drives you to do your best at all times.   It is an incredible amount of work, you are proud that you get to do it, and there always seems to be room to push yourself farther. I rather like the idea of being a kung-fu student-- it's a good way of describing it. We are all students here. Our "village" is OWI, our "kung-fu master" is Lorne, and the "fighting style" we are learning is how to define the potential of interactive entertainment.

Okay, back on track, coffee in hand, it's "g'mornin" time.   This is the down time between when you get your cup of coffee until you actually sit at your desk. When walking by all your co-workers it's time to "g'mornin" all of 'em. Ask how the weekend was, how are the kids, pretend you didn't know they were moving, etc.   It only lasts a couple of minutes, but it's one of my favorite times of the day.   It's a time when I really get to appreciate the range of talented people I get to work with. Just for fun, today I will picture them all as kung-fu students.   They won't get it, but it will be waaaay better than that "Waaazzuuuuuupppp" stuff!

Finally sitting down at my desk, I ask "does anyone else smell doughnuts?"   This is a great trick to subliminally plant a vision to the team of making a run for doughnuts.   You see, doughnuts are strictly forbidden fruit at Oddworld.   Due to our health conscious mentor and CEO, Sherry McKenna, we are all acutely aware of our health and the issues coinciding with being healthy.   I mean, how many bosses actually care if you are a lazy slob or not.   It's pretty cool that your boss cares about the team to the tune of free gym memberships, fresh fruit and vitamins. However, even though that's very cool, it still doesn't make doughnuts taste bad!   I'm not going into much detail, but lets just say there is rumor of an "underground railroad" of sorts for doughnuts around here.

Well now, here I am, sitting among incredibly talented people, eating a doughnut, errr "bagel," with a fresh cup of coffee, while working on a project that will significantly raise the bar for interactive design.   I surely have no complaints about this Monday morning. -- Rob