Pass the Smoked Salmon: Muse Meets Mayor

Last night my wife and I attended an early evening bash thrown by the local chamber of commerce. These shindigs are usually pretty good with door prizes and drinks and fancy-pants hors d'oeuvres. I was milling about feeling uncomfortable as I often do in a "non technology" crowd. I'm a talker by nature but in these crowds the conversation usually goes something like this:

• Bob (who owns a car dealership): So what does your company do?
• Muse: We are a web application development company specializing in complex applications.
• Bob: Oh I see... you design web sites.
• Muse: Well yes, but that's really a small part of what we do. We are really more on programming and problem solving side of the equation.
• Bob (glibly moving on): Hey, you work with computers let me ask you something.
• Muse (heart sinking): Ok
• Bob: When I try to print sometimes I get this error. Why is that?
• Muse (wishing a fight would break out and distract Bob): Well... (small sigh) ... I'm not sure. What does the error say?
• Bob: I don't know I click OK and it goes away. But when I try to print again it comes back.
• Muse: And what does it say the second time?
• Bob (Unaware of the Pavlovian Cycle he is in): I don't know I click OK and it goes away. What do you think it means?
• Muse: I'm afraid I have bad news. It might be time for a new printer.
• Bob: Rats... I knew it.
• Muse: Bob, let me ask you something... you work with cars right? I have this little chirping sound coming from the trunk of my 78 Nova every time I turn left on a Tuesday.... What do you think that means?

Anyway, yesterday I was sort of not in a mood to mingle. Ann and I were in a line for some little mini roast beef sandwiches (thank you Brandeis catering) and we were chatting to ourselves waiting for the door prize drawings. A man who was working the room came up to me and said, "How are you this evening?" I turned and said fine and shook his hand and said "I'm Mark Kruger". He shook my hand with a practiced grip and said, "Nice to meet you I'm Jim Suttle". I nodded and made a comment about the food and then turned away.

Something was tickling the back of my mind... nagging at me like bad mayonnaise in the back of the fridge. Finally I got it (Ann's poking me helped a little too). Jim Suttle is Omaha's new mayor. I turned back and said "I'm sorry I guess I didn't put two and two together. It's really nice to meet you Mr. Mayor." He laughed and I laughed and Ann laughed and the waiter (a charming fellow with half an ounce of gold in his mouth) laughed. I could think of little else to say other than "You are shorter in person than on TV" - which I thankfully kept to myself. Anyway, it was an awkward moment for me and funny for everyone else. Sometimes I wonder about the Muse... I have no lack of confidence yet I seem so inattentive at times. I wish I had brought my good friend Tom Long with me. He's got a sales radar like an Ageis cruiser. I bet he could have held the mayor's attention for 5 minutes or more. Anyway, now that the mayor and I are on speaking terms I'll have to invite him to one of my candelight suppers.