First of all, it’s Friday, which means that the second excerpt of The King of Oblivion is up, for which I offer my sincerest apologies.

Health-wise, I’m happy to report I’ve lost 1.5 pounds this week.  Yay.

This evening I watched two horror movies.  The first was The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a more or less forgetful film with decent special effects and acting on Jennifer Carpenter’s part, but not much else to recommend it.  It was predictable and too full of gotcha-type scares for my taste.

I also watched Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane, which I won in a contest on Pretty-Scary.net a few months back.  This film is pretty much what you’d expect: an outbreak of zombies on a commercial flight.  This film barely tries to give any sort of realistic explanation for the outbreak of the zombies; it’s a sort of "mosquito virus", or some mutant strain of malaria, or something done by some evil corporation run by some mad scientists.  But other than that, this film was surprisingly fun.  I won’t say it was good, but it was certainly a fun horror/comedy that got a few laughs out of me, though certainly no chills.  The acting was halfway decent, and the script wasn’t all that bad either, once the zombies showed up.  It reminded me of one of those old Airport movies, but with zombies, with a touch of Abraham/Zucker insanity.  It was not the best horror/comedy film I’ve ever seen — that honor definitely goes to Shaun of the Dead — but Flight of the Living Dead certainly is worth a viewing or two.

Work-wise, we had a division-wide meeting on Wednesday in Davis, wherein we determined that our organization is going to be a "strengths-based’ organization.  Everyone in the organization took a "Strengths Quest" quiz developed by the Gallup Organization to determine what our "signature themes" were.  We each ended up with five; mine were "Input", "Intellection", "Harmony", "Relator", and "Includer".  I found it interesting that two of these are intellectual themes, and the rest are social.  Under the fold, I’m including the brief summary of these themes so you can decide whether they really apply to me or not.  This isn’t the silliest management theme I’ve encountered (I still crack up over "Areas of Opportunity").

Our organization has had a good year, and my department in particular is doing quite well. There’s enough work coming down the pipe to keep me busy for months.  I have no worries at all of being laid off or anything like that.  Each unit gave a visual presentation to discuss their progress and upcoming projects.  I had no idea that our unit was going to be giving a "Wizard of Oz" themed presentation; and after seeing my boss dressed up as Glinda, I may never be able to take him seriously again.

And that’s it for now.  Be sure to visit Underpopetown and say hi to the neighbors.

Beneath the fold, my "signature themes", and their brief explanations.

Input
You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information—words, facts, books, and quotations—or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

Intellection
You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.

Relator
Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

Harmony
You look for areas of agreement. In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum. When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer them away from confrontation and toward harmony. In fact, harmony is one of your guiding values. You can’t quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others. Wouldn’t we all be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and instead looked for consensus and support? You believe we would, and you live by that belief. When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, and their fervently held opinions, you hold your peace. When others strike out in a direction, you will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify your
own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic values do not clash with yours). When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, you steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.

Includer
“Stretch the circle wider.” This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. In direct contrast to those who are drawn only to exclusive groups, you actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. Regardless of race or sex or nationality or personality or faith, you cast few judgments. Judgments can hurt a person’s feelings. Why do that if you don’t have to? Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on a belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. Rather, it rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.