Well, the Aussie Wave has finally subsided and Possumblog has again returned to its normal low ebb of regular visitors and strangers searching for silly Walesa quotes. What a strange coincidence! Just the other day, Lech and I were relaxing with a couple of Diet Cokes and chatting about the Iron Bowl. Lech is a big Bama fan, you know, so I just had to tweak his whiskers a bit and tell him a story.

It seems that Alabama Power had hired a couple of crews of college interns studying to be electrical engineers, one group from the University of Alabama and one from Auburn. They were supposed to use the summer to work out in the field getting some first-hand experience in the hard work of electrical power distribution. One day their supervisor decided a good way to challenge their productivity was to have a contest. "Boys, each of your groups are going to be given a truckload of power poles and a five mile stretch of road to install 'em on. Here's your maps, and may the best school win!" The Auburn and Alabama students whooped and raced out of the shed and hopped in the trucks and blazed off.

Finally, near midnight the exhausted crew from Auburn came back into the storage yard, dirty and tired but elated at winning. The next morning, they showed up for work, but were alarmed to see that the Alabama interns had not gotten back. The supervisor became concerned, too, and just as he was about to call on the radio, the Alabama students rolled slowly back in, and dragged themselves off the truck in absolute exhaustion.

The supervisor walked up to the bedraggled bunch and said, "Sorry to tell you boys that you lost the contest, but doggone it, what took you so long!?" The crew leader leveled an angry gaze at the Auburn boys, "THEY CHEATED!" "What do you mean!?" said the supervisor. "We drove by and saw theirs, and they was leaving a good 20 or 30 feet stickin' up outta the ground!"

Lech looked at me blankly. "Power poles, Lech." Still looking blankly. "The Alabama guys were burying them all the way to the top, don't you get it?" A slight glimmer, and then slowly he chuckled. "But what about the power lines--did they not need to install the wires, too?" "Look, it's poking fun at them for...I mean, you're SUPPOSED to have the..." "And did not their supervisor go and supervise their progress while they were burying the poles? If so, he could have averted the catastrophe. Now the poles will have to be removed and set properly. This is what is done here in America? Is this the way the beloved University of Alabama is treated within the borders of its own state?"

"Oh, it's just a silly joke, Lech--let's talk about something else. Here, pull my finger."

Silly Walesa.
posted by Terry at 10:37:00 AM