Do You Have A Minute?
At the office, we use Windows Messenger. At times, it’s a good alternative to Email or the phone for communicating with colleagues.
It’s also handy when I’m feeling mischievous.
Our administrative assistant sits outside of my office. It’s common for people to stop to chat with her. With my office door open, it’s hard not to hear these drive-by conversations. When something that is said strikes me as odd, I fire off an instant message to the admin.
The goal: make her laugh at an inappropriate time and hopefully cause an awkward moment.
Yesterday, her computer was infected with a fake security alert malware. One employee mentioned that, at home, he had a three year old Mac that he used for the web, and a twenty-five day old laptop.
Employing my superior math skills, I did a quick calculation and IMed:
“The PC is 25 days old? Who talks like that? In that case, I’m 18,253 days old.”
I listened for her reaction. She held up for the moment, but we laughed about it later.
I was about to close the spreadsheet, but paused to contemplate the number.
18,253 days?
Oh my Lord, I’m old!
Even though I already knew this, seeing my nearly fifty years represented in days was unsettling. I was curious, so the ridiculous numbers game continued:
438,072 hours
26,284,320 minutes
1,577,059,200 seconds
With so much time in the past, how much can I expect to have in the future? I can almost hear the tick, tick, ticking in the back of my head now. I suddenly feel like rushing.
At least, I now know what my answer will be the next time that someone asks:
“Do you have a minute.”
“Hell no!”
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Do you think about your age often? If you’ve already had many, do you still enjoy celebrating your birthday?
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I have a quote on my wall that says, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” Age, like weight, is just a number. Some days I like the number and some days I don’t. But for all the years my brother laughed and said I would never be his age I have to laugh. Jokes on him because he will always be 3.5 years older than me!
Hm, that’s a dangerous quote on your wall, Tristan. Depending on the day, I could actually end up being older!
As a boy, I desperately wanted to be older. What was I thinking?
Yes, age, weight, salaries, and even prison sentences are just numbers. Some are much easier to live with than others. Ray
Ray, do you have a minute to read my comment here again? Our perception of time is strange and mysterious, don’t you think? Why can a minute seem like an hour? Or an hour fly past in what seems like a minute? Why do some people feel time so acutely, while others act as if they had all the time in the world? I think some numbers are better forgotten if we use them to define and limit us. Geologists believe that Earth is 4.5 billion years old (I think that’s 4,500,000,000, but since you’re the accountant, please check the numbers). That makes us all babies in time, so we might as well embrace our future and enjoy stretching our imaginations into what is essentially infinity. Thanks for commenting on my blog, Ray – if you have time (dare I ask?) please visit the sorry state of Mount Fuji I just posted about – Catrien Ross.
Good one, Catrien. Yes, I have a minute to read your comment.
The ways in which we perceive time is mysterious in the ways that you’ve mentioned. During the years that I went to night school, in the 90′s, to earn my degree, I needed more time to manage school and work. Gradually, I reduced the time that I slept until I got to the point of needing only 4 hours per night. My internal clock has remained on this schedule ever since, making these early morning hours, when the house is still, my favorite time of day.
When compared with Earth’s 4.5 billionth birthday, my years are just a blink in eternity. Ray
Hi Ray,
I do still enjoy celebrating my birthday, although, with two small kids at home, a celebration for me would be settling down with a great book and having a few quiet hours alone to read it.
I have never thought much about age – to me it really is just a number; albeit a very large one if I counted in seconds or minutes like you did
As corny and cliche as it sounds, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot wiser and more comfortable with myself as I’ve gotten older. And more patient too. So whereas my answer to that question “Do you have a minute?” would have been the same as yours years ago, now it’s usually “Suuuuure, what do you need?”
Anyway, thanks for the chuckle!
Hi Tisha, I’ll admit to enjoying a bit of birthday celebration myself. At home, the celebration is muted (cake; a gift or two, and of course singing) but it’s fun. Growing wiser with age is a must. If we didn’t feel that way that would be a sure sign of trouble, I think.
I guess that I could be less stingy with my minutes and change my answer to “sure!” I’ll try it and see how it goes.
Ray
Ray, interesting post. This actually made me bring out the calculator!
Time is so valuable because it’s something we can never stop. It just keeps ticking away. We should all learn to use our time wisely. One second that passes by is a second we can never get back.
Thanks, Faizal. It’s always good to have a calculator handy.
Yes, the clock pauses for no one. We certainly agree that we can’t allow time to pass us by. Ray
You know … I just re-read this post today and it really hit me, because something happened that made me feel old yesterday.
I took a year off between attending a Jr College and going to Berkeley (GO BEARS!). During that year, I taught at a private Jr/Sr High School.
Yesterday, I got in contact with one of my students. He was one that I had kept in contact with for a few years after I left, but hadn’t seen in quite some time.
He’s now 30. With a kid of his own.
I’m not old enough for MY STUDENTS to be 30!
Hi Doug,
A reread post. Awesome!
Moments of recognition like the one your described can be jarring. I can understand the dismay at the realization that a former student of yours has turned 30. The years do speed by, don’t they? As I said to a much younger colleague the other day, “don’t blink!”
Fortunately, we get busy with our lives and the angst passes — at least until we are faced with the next reminder.
Ray