Don’t mess with Texas
September 9th, 2008I concede that there is something slightly contradictory about having a to-do list for your time off, but one of my first steps after quitting was to make a list of things to accomplish during this sabbatical. I realized today after reading Schwinger’s comments, though, that these goals are actually projects, and as such deserve cool names.
The project getting the most attention when I was wrapping things up at work was related to TAXES, and was called Project TEXAS. My advice was, Don’t call it that. At best, people will think you can do very simple anagrams. At worst, they’ll assume you’re dyslexic. In fact, as it turned out, the following conversation became common:
— Oh, TAXES, I thought you were saying TEXAS!
— I was, it’s called Project Texas.
— Sorry?
If you are impressed by the Texas/taxes “connection”, call it Project Lone Star, or Project Don’t-Mess-With-Texas, or Project Longhorn. (I am morally certain that Microsoft’s Project Longhorn was named by or in honor of a UT-Austin alum.)
On one of my last days in London, I was walking through St. James’s Square on my way to Green Park, and passed Norfolk House, the building in which the allies planned Operation Overlord. Of course it’s hard to separate the name from the history, but doesn’t it give you chills? All projects should have such cool names.
I think Andrew understood this intuitively when he gave his own projects the following code names:
- PROJECT BLOOD-AXE
- PROJECT ROCKSTAR
- PROJECT HONGIAO
- PROJECT SKYHOOK
- PROJECT FISH MAMA
- PROJECT SCOOBIE DOO
So I have also asked him to name my seven projects — I’ve provided the details and we’ll see what he comes up with.
If your project has a silly, inappropriate, or namby-pamby name, feel free to send me a project initiation document, and I will get back to you with an appropriately cool project name either from my own background in mythology or from Schwinger’s repertoire of smackdown-style designators.