Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago, the dreary New England weather forecast looked a little like this…

…while I was stuck at work in a long meeting, in a dark conference room, discussing the ins-and-outs of a complicated spreadsheet that captured an array of health care data (are you bored yet?).  Blah.

Then, my coworker James (a super brilliant numbers guy) started diving into explaining the spreadsheet to my bosses and began referring to the term “Out-of-Pocket expenses” as “OOP.”  He kept saying OOP this and OOP that over and over and over again, to the point that the bosses pushed back a little and teased him for using that term.

Now I realize that for 99% of people I know, this would not be a significant trigger, and more likely, this acronym means absolutely nothing to you.

However, for me, on that dreary oh-no-winter’s-not-over-yet day in March, that was my ticket to freedom.  The second I heard OOP, I completely mentally checked out of that meeting, and excitedly (nobody noticed because my outward expression did not change) checked into a very vivid daydream of basking in sunshine, getting tan, and of course, that summer in 2006 I spent playing OOP! Meeting?  What meeting? I’m not in Boston right now!

“OOP?  What’s OOP” you ask?  Only the greatest game ever. (not that I was any good at it, but see the fun and games for yourself - if you look super carefully you might even see me from time to time in this video clip, or if you skip to 2:26)[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln2YIaPtt9I]

I guess you can take the  girl out of San Diego, but you can’t take San Diego out of the girl.  At least, you can’t take the memories of San Diego out of the girl.

Not if you put her through multiple winters in Boston anyway!  It’s just cruel, I tell you.

Sigh.

At least Spring will be in full effect soon!

-Jones