Usually, at the this time of the year, I do this thing Ask Roger Anything. That still holds; more anon.
But THIS time only, gentle reader, you ALSO get to give me unsolicited advice about what I should do upon retirement from my job, which will be very soon.
Some of you braver folks have already offered me suggestions in this area. They contain the “You can take on…” statements, which I assiduously ignore. The “let’s think on that” category comprises things like travel, if we can figure out what to do with the cats.
Now the clearly clever people have come up with ideas such as taking naps – brilliant, I say!; reading that stack of magazines that have piled up; and watching those shows still clogging the DVR. I did mention naps, right?
Here’s the other thing. When you TELL Roger Anything, Roger can haughtily ignore your ideas. Whereas when you ASK Roger Anything, he HAS to respond to that, usually within the month, to the best of his ability. Obfuscation is allowed in ARA, but it’s not generally employed.
Of course, if you were extremely clever, I suppose you could get your “tell” to sound like an “ask”. And you can ask anything, no matter how mundane. I can do mundane especially well; wait for the next round of my ABC Wednesday responses.
As always, you can leave any of your questions and/or suggestions, in the comments section of this here blog or on Facebook or Twitter; for the latter, my name is ersie. Always look for the duck.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s swell, but you need to SAY so specifically. E-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, or send me an IM on FB and note that you want to remain mysterious; otherwise, I’ll assume you want your names to be up in lights like the Broadway star you want to be!
Oh, yeah, I still need to finish watching the Tonys…
I’m laughing, because in academia (at least the science-flavored end of it where I work) there is a running joke about That Guy* who gets up after a conference talk and asks a question that is actually more of a comment. (Usually, but not always, it is a “look at me and my research” comment designed to either downplay or negate the research just presented, sometimes quite tangentially).
(*Sometimes That Woman, but more usually That Guy)
So your “Tell Roger Anything” is maybe “Comments taking the form of a question”?
I wonder if other areas of endeavor (other than conferences where people present research) have That Guy (sometimes That Woman) offering a comment in the form of a question?
fillyjonk – I see it with fans of pop culture, telling the musician/actor/artist that their website/blog has adjudged a particular work to be the worst tripe ever./ The question: “What were you thinking?!”
TELL: You should write a book!
ASK: What obstacles would you have to overcome, and/or what would you need in place to write a book?