Email

Have U.S. Americans become too reliant on the exclamation point in electronic office correspondence? A common email I send looks like this:

Hi XXXX --

Yakitate 25 misc text is done! I've left final pdf in your folder for approval.

Thanks!

I don't remember always using the "exclam" in my sign-off and I'm not sure when it became a habit. Anyhow, their response usually looks something like this:

YAKITATE 25 misc text is approved!

Thanks!

Other times it will be like this:

YAKITATE 25 misc text is approved.

Thanks

When I get the last one, it does seem to affect my mood considerably. It makes me feel sullen and unloved. I feel betrayed when they're not sharing in the excitement of this good news. I know it's ridiculous that this one character can make such an impact, but that's where we stand today as a society. Perhaps it's to atone for the lost art of the handwritten letter or the look-you-square-in-the-eye handshake; email can be cold and impersonal--the exclam brings it to life. I feel like I've been to a marvelous party when I get one! Don't you have the same feeling now?

In your inbox
This one ticks me off. Is there any way around saying "I've left the proof in your inbox?" I don't like the two "ins" right next to each other. You can't say "at your inbox."
"At your desk" might work but not if it really is in the inbox. Call me a pervert but you can't say "I've left the proof in your box;" it sounds sexual. You can just leave it on someone's chair, which a lot of people do. But I hate when people do that. It's presumptuous to impose an additional urgency on a project like that. If you put it on my seat, I have to work on it or at least think about it before I even sit down!

Dog show

Went to a dog show at the cow palace ages ago--think it was like '06. Anyhow, been meaning to throw these photos up. This guy was crazy. He loved Star Trek and his dogs so much that he fused his two loves together--what a showman:This fastidious young man was a gentle soul:So was his dog:DP getting silly:These ladies don't look too nice--but they were nice enough to let me photograph them and their dogs:Love this lady:Gotta have the one pic of the guy that resembles his dogs (sorry for blurriness):Getting artsy with the kitsch:I was big on the long-and-short in 06:

New font obsession: Eurostile extended

I spend a lot of time looking though font books while I'm at work. Came across the listing for Eurostile extended and was floored by how dope it was. What's weird is that because it's so ubiquitous, it's never really registered or been on my radar. Two words come to mind when looking at this typeface: futuristic and serious. Take a look at how it's being used today:See what I mean? Serious. Def-Con 4. The Terminator never fucks around. He's totally serious:The venerable granddaddy of newsmagazines, 60 Minutes, is serious: As is the local news and the Guardian:The tone of the Geico ad campaign isn't really serious--but the nature of their business is:Futuristic:Sometimes you can't explain why a font has been chosen:This photo is exposed perfectly (thanks anonymous Flickr person! Don't sue me!):Love this: