E.A.G.L.E. C.L.A.W. ... caw caw!

It's magnificent, isn't it?

At the 9-to-5 the "employee of the month" award is called the E.A.G.L.E. C.L.A.W. It originated as a way for the account and project management teams to show their appreciation for the other groups. The recipient gets a ridiculous trophy that gets passed around all year, accumulating one totem from each winner. Surprisingly, last month, I was the recipient of this honor!

Also, as part of the award, you get your face Photoshopped into some creepy background. The hilarious thing is that when I first saw this I was trying to figure out how they got a high school photo of me. Because I looked REALLY similar to that back then. I mean, REALLY SIMILAR.

Seriously.

I hate being the center of attention—which probably makes no sense coming from a guy that has fronted bands, and climbed on bars during karaoke and loves throwing quips out in the middle of meetings. But in all those cases I get to control the attention, and when something like an award unexpectedly pops up I end up blushing and hemming and hawing and stuttering and looking totally goofy.

But I have to admit that winning the award actually did mean a lot to me. I truly enjoy where I'm working and I love that the people I work with genuinely enjoy what they are doing and truly enjoy each other's company. So to get a tip of the hat from my peers did make me a little, figuratively,  misty eyed.

Today I pass the award on. I was honored to have it towering over my desk for the last month but it's time for someone else to bathe in it's glow. And what did I add to it? A button from my failed presidential campaign (but that was O.K. because I'm cool with the guy that won).