Sam vs. the Sorbet, Part IV

From the archives:

In a close race, Sam figured out his dessert JUST before...

Explanation: The exciting conclusion of the Sorbet Saturday series! First, I should apologize for not finishing this series last week - I had to attend a family funeral last weekend and my mind was totally elsewhere.

Now, you're probably wondering where the rest of this status message went. I can paraphrase the conclusion by saying "JUST before we finished Service Work X" where Service Work X was a legendary work item our department had been working on for at least six years. In general, a piece of service work that has its first birthday draws management attention and must be dealt with ASAP. This item, which became service work once the development stream passed it by for the third or fourth release, was around three years old, I believe. It sure seemed that way. I would have specifically mentioned it here, but I have discovered that you can easily Google for it and I don't want to reveal too much about the inner workings of my company. Plus, any of you readers who work with me already can guess what I'm talking about.

Special Blog Bonus: Mike Stimpson's LEGO recreation of "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" by Charles Ebbets:

Sorbet Saturday, Part 3

From the archives:

In many ways, the weather today is not unlike Sam's sorbet was: It's really cold, it's coated with ice, and it'll take Sam five times as long as it should to get through it.

Explanation: Yes, it's time for yet another dig at Sam's sorbet difficulties. This one came during the dead of winter, which it isn't right now, but I'm guessing it's more brisk today than it will be next Saturday, when I run the exciting conclusion of the Sorbet Saturday series!

Special Blog Bonus: Just for the heck of it, here's a comic, too:

Sorbet Saturday, Part 2

From the archives:

sor·bet (sôr-BAY) n. A frozen dessert similar to a frappé, usually made from fruit juice and having a mushy consistency. [French, from Ottoman Turkish sher bet, meaning "Sam can't"]

Explanation: One dessert, four status messages! Of course, this is only part 2 in my series that mocked my coworker "Sam" for his inability to consume this complicated dessert in a timely fashion. For guidance on how to eat sorbet faster, I turned to YouTube, which offers the following clip from Emeril Live. I cannot imagine the brain freeze these gentleman got during this contest.

Sorbet Saturday, Part 1

From the archives:

One might think that a somewhat intelligent software engineer would be able to consume his dessert without operating instructions.

Explanation: A friend of mine (let's call him "Sam") ordered lime sorbet while we were at a department lunch once, several years ago. The sorbet came beautifully packaged in a giant frozen lime. In fact, the rock-solid lime appeared to be impenetrabble. Most of us were done with our desserts before "Sam" realized that there was a very fine seam along the top of the lime which allowed the top to be removed for consumption of the sorbet within.

Now, I'm not going to say that he was the only one confused by that particular dessert, but he ordered it, so he gets all the credit.