PBL, Professional Rogue

For nearly every day over the past 8 years, I've had the misfortune of seeing the same guy's ugly mug. He goes by many names (the Deuce, Juicebox, and the Duckbilled Paddypus), but a convenient shorthand name for him is Paddy. We were roommates in college, then we went to work for the same company, then he moved right down the street from me. He is clearly stalking me, but I never objected because I like the attention.

Stalker or not, we had a good thing going. Notice the past tense there; Paddy's last day at work was Friday, as he left for a better job offer. For the foreseeable future, my life is Lioi-less. I was thinking about this yesterday after work, trying to decide to whom in the office I'd start IMing puns. I would start with that, then build up to dissecting that week's episode of the Office, and finally I'd bring in my profanity-laced tirades about Visual Studio. If I chose the right person and proceeded slowly enough, I might eventually get a Paddy replacement.

I was thinking all of this over while in line at the grocery store, and I happened to look across the way to the checkout line next to me. Who was standing there? Of course, it was Paddy; much like women who live together, our time together must've synchronized our grocery cycles. Was it a coincidence, or is he just finding new and interesting ways to see me each day? My money's on the latter. Once a stalker, always a stalker.