Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Tweener
There is a phrase used in football and basketball to describe a person who's physique does not fit into the normal proportions for any particular position on the playing surface. Those folks are called Tweeners.
We have the same on the calendar. The 6 days between Christmas and New Year's is a tweener. It has nothing to do with Christmas, but if one is working then one doesn't really want to work (or probably does so at all) and if one is off but sitting around the house one doesn't exactly enjoy the time off either. So here it is, the tweener time.
For me, the tweener time got more tweener when my bosses at AFLAC thought it best to give me comp-time for the week. I believe I accidentally guilted them into it when we had a debacle involving our change over to the new credit card system and I ended up missing the first night of Hannukah along with most of the following weekend. I was none too happy, and they knew it. So, they called me and graciously gave me the time off.
Unluckily, I am still doing work for my part-time gig. So for 4 to 5 hours a day, I am a working guy. So this isn't exactly a vacation, but it's not nearly as much work as I'm used to. So it's a tweener.
Tweeners are everywhere. I'm starting to wonder if Hillary Clinton is a tweener. She's not a bad Senator, but I abhor the thought of her as a President. It's not that she's incapable, as she clearly is. But part of the job of President is to inspire and lead the nation. We've seen from the W years what happens when the President either cannot or will not inspire us to be better. I see the same problem with Hillary. I just don't get her as an inspiring figure. Barack Obama has all that quality, but does he have the experience? Will he become a tweener too?
What I believe is that I'm in that tweener category also. I'm 45. I'm not young, but not old. I'm not cool, but I'm not stodgy. I'm not the most intelligent man on the block, but I'm not stupid either. Some say a tweener is versatile, but I wonder whether it is ultimately a hindrance.
Just ask Hillary.
We have the same on the calendar. The 6 days between Christmas and New Year's is a tweener. It has nothing to do with Christmas, but if one is working then one doesn't really want to work (or probably does so at all) and if one is off but sitting around the house one doesn't exactly enjoy the time off either. So here it is, the tweener time.
For me, the tweener time got more tweener when my bosses at AFLAC thought it best to give me comp-time for the week. I believe I accidentally guilted them into it when we had a debacle involving our change over to the new credit card system and I ended up missing the first night of Hannukah along with most of the following weekend. I was none too happy, and they knew it. So, they called me and graciously gave me the time off.
Unluckily, I am still doing work for my part-time gig. So for 4 to 5 hours a day, I am a working guy. So this isn't exactly a vacation, but it's not nearly as much work as I'm used to. So it's a tweener.
Tweeners are everywhere. I'm starting to wonder if Hillary Clinton is a tweener. She's not a bad Senator, but I abhor the thought of her as a President. It's not that she's incapable, as she clearly is. But part of the job of President is to inspire and lead the nation. We've seen from the W years what happens when the President either cannot or will not inspire us to be better. I see the same problem with Hillary. I just don't get her as an inspiring figure. Barack Obama has all that quality, but does he have the experience? Will he become a tweener too?
What I believe is that I'm in that tweener category also. I'm 45. I'm not young, but not old. I'm not cool, but I'm not stodgy. I'm not the most intelligent man on the block, but I'm not stupid either. Some say a tweener is versatile, but I wonder whether it is ultimately a hindrance.
Just ask Hillary.
# posted by Kevin @ 1:52 PM 
