the west wing is a very very good show. it represents in part how my own life is going, but its also more creative and dramatic than my life.

sometimes i feel like the cheif of staff - in charge of a group of people. darrin encourages me to take charge and i take it as a compliment.

during this season two episode donna, josh's assistant, tries to get a job working for josh. within 5 minutes of meeting her, josh gets her 'story' - the stuff she wanted to hide. she says she dropped out of college and we learn its to pay for her boyfriend's medical school. who leaves her when school is done. its sad because at my first real corporate job i knew a guy who was married to a beautiful woman - he had a wedding photo on his desk. he was paying for her school. once she was finished, she divorced him. at least thats the story i heard around the office. i felt very sorry for the guy.

personal telco and the ops team feels strangely like the reed college d-lab. an ad-hoc team of geeks of which i was given some organizational power. i wonder if i will keep building teams like this for the rest of my life. i wonder if the parental role i feel i had to take up to some degree when i was young makes me a leader, or maybe just a healer.