So, this post isn't so much as a family update, as much as it is an explanation. Someone in the family recently caught me saying, "MOP!" as an exclamation, and asked what exactly that meant.

It's a long story.

Many years ago, I worked for a high-tech video company, and we would often get sent to various trade shows. This story took place in Los Angeles, at a show called SigGraph.

At the last minute, the powers that be decided that we would have a user group meeting at a local club. In order to facilitate this, it meant ripping out tons of equipment at the trade show booth, setting it up at the event, and then tearing down and setting it all back up at the booth before the show opened the following morning.

It was about 4am by the time that we finished setting everything back up at the booth, and we were exhausted. Two of my coworkers had to make a quick pit stop before we sleepwalked back to the hotel room. As Mike turned the corner into the rest room, he appeared to slip. Casey ran in after him, yelling, "Mike! Are you okaaaaaaaaaaaiiiah...!" and slipped on the same wet bathroom floor. As Mike was holding his bruised head, and yelling, "Where's the #%$$# Sign," the woman cleaning the floor (who Mike described as a "generic cleaning droid") looked up at the two of them, pointed at the implement in her hands, and timidly said, "MM...MOP!"

And thus, any time something bad happens that should never have happened in the first place, I utter the single word, "MOP!"