I have this lamp at work. I got it from my friend J. when she sold her townhouse to move to another town to go to law school.  It's sort of beat-up, with chipped black paint and a rather unstable shade, but I'm not the kind of person to demand high fashion in my cubicle, so I took it off her hands.

When I left this job in 2005 to go work for another company, I left the lamp here. I was going to work from home in my new job, so I didn't have any place for the lamp.  When I arrived back in 2006, someone handed me back my lamp.  Then we moved buildings.  So here I am, still with this lamp, three years later.

Today I bought a five-year, energy-saving light bulb.

As I was replacing the old, normal bulb with my super-energy-efficient-making-me-feel-better-about-driving-an-Explorer light bulb, I wondered - will I still be sitting her in five years?  Will I outlast my light bulb?  After all, the lamp has almost as much tenure here as I do, despite it arriving two years later than me. It stuck around, even when I left. 

And so, I'll leave you to think about my light bulb as I take a week-long hiatus to go skiing with my beloved, while the little angel frolics with my parents and Sybil, the seventeen-year-old, thyroid-medication-demanding cat.  Hope to return with lots of new stories. See you later!