Our old janitor/custodian at work disappeared last week. He's still alive and around somewhere, but when he clocked out on Monday they told him that starting Tuesday morning he would be working in a new building. I do not know why they do this with such surgical precision. The team that hiked six miles in pitch black and killed Bin Laden used less coordination and stealth than our custodial staff uses when moving people around. It's like an alien abduction (perhaps literally).

To save money on their contract, the custodial staff has now hired people with disabilities. The girl that now picks up our trash is deaf. I work in a basement area that holds less than a dozen people. Between us we can code in 20 different languages. None of us know sign language.

So, I am learning sign language. With Youtube.

15 minutes ago I knew no sign language. Now, I know how to say "hello," "goodbye," and can do the alphabet. What I need to learn how to sign is, "we need more toilet paper in the bathroom and the third stall is clogged again," but it's a start.

Also, my hands hurt more after doing the alphabet over and over for 15 minutes than they do after 31 years of typing on computer keyboards.