In most ways, life is going very well. I love my job, and I have what seems like an embarrassment of time off, which a lot of people call "weekends." In other ways, life is depressing. Lately I've been waking up depressed, then I walk to work brooding, and finally snap out of it after a morning cup of coffee. So that's no fun.

Of course, I can't really write about work too much, but it's going well. We've been having a lot of fun with our American Idol office pool, which I am currently winning. (Coincidentally enough, I am also running it. Hmm.) I'm going to lose a lot of points as soon as John Stevens gets voted out (dear god, let it be soon).

Yesterday someone brought in a tape of World Idol so we could see the winner, a Norwegian singer who reportedly has "the voice of an angel and the face of a hobbit." I recognized him, because his cover of "She's So High" was on heavy rotation on MTV Europe in February, while I was there.

I remember thinking the video was inexplicable and that yes, he is funny-looking. (More than most people, even.) I didn't like his version of "She's So High" because it was basically the same as the original. Turns out he does have a great voice; on the winning episode of World Idol, he sang "Beautiful Day" and it was really impressive. My friend at work wants to get his CD if she wins the office pool, and I think I might consider it also. (Although then I couldn't get the Clay Aiken one, which would be a tragedy.) (That's right, Clay Aiken. Please stop throwing things at your monitor. You're only hurting yourself.)

My other recent obsession is The Office. I bought series two the day it came out and watched it all, then downloaded the Christmas specials because I couldn't wait to find out what happened. The Christmas specials are thebest episodes yet, and make the series really "perfick" as David Brent would say. It left me totally satisfied, physically.

If you can't tell already, I am sort of babbling. I know if I'm only going to post once a week, that one entry should be a well-crafted miracle of online journal goodness, but that's not this entry. Maybe next time!

The biggest grammatical mistake I see at work (I told you this would be random) is putting periods and commas outside the quotes. And since this is the kind of thing that keeps my paycheck coming, perhaps I shouldn't complain. But I do feel the need to make a PSA to the effect that it's incorrect.

In British English, periods and commas go outside the quotes, "like this". But in American English, although question marks and exclamation points can go outside or inside the quotes depending on what is actually being quoted, commas and periods should always be put inside, regardless of context.

Also: e-mail without the hyphen is wrong. I see it everywhere, all the time, and perhaps this is a losing battle, but I was convinced by Bill Walsh's argument in Lapsing into a Comma. He says, "The predominant spelling among the general public has become email, which is an abomination. No initial-based term in the history of the English language has ever evolved to form a solid word--a few are split, and the rest are hyphenated." Among his many examples: B-movie, G-string, H-bomb, Q rating, T-shirt, X-ray and Z particle. "It doesn't even look right... setting the letter apart makes it clear that the letter is a letter and that the one-letter syllable is accented."

So there you go. I've done my part. I don't know if email is an "abomination" but I definitely prefer e-mail with the hyphen.

I don't win every argument with the copywriters and art directors here at work, but there is something very satisfying about the fight for good grammar in advertising. I see our ads constantly -- on TV, on billboards, in magazines. I actually am, in a tiny way, having an impact on the culture. That's cool. I think that's incredibly cool.

And as it turns out, there's a rhetorical term that applies to the "got milk?" slogan. It's called enallage, and it is when one uses grammar incorrectly for rhetorical effect. Sexy, eh?

Speaking of sexy, I have landed myself in a middle of a huge debate on Pulp Fiction. I had better go wrap this entry up so I can go argue some more. Stay tuned for a less crap entry at a later time. I have pictures!