{"id":1907,"date":"2007-05-23T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-23T14:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/23\/wombats-r-us\/"},"modified":"2007-05-23T07:32:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-23T14:32:00","slug":"wombats-r-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/23\/wombats-r-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Wombats-R-Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

While in Mobile, Kate and I enjoyed treats that my parents brought back from Skip and Emily… including an incredibly thoughtful Mother’s Day card for me and birthday presents for Kate!
\"\"<\/a>Emily and Skip found a selection of Wombat stories<\/a> and a Wombat doll<\/a> for Kate. This has significance: Wombat is Paul’s moniker, a name by which he is well-known personally… and, believe it or not, professionally. When he was co-opting in college, a “WOMBAT” was a “Waste Of Money Brains And Time” and Paul, plucky guy that he is, picked it up as his own. (Yes, I have been called “Mrs. Wombat.” What can I say? I married up<\/span>.)<\/p>\n

This was primarily a personal call sign until a few years ago, when his teams of co-workers became filled with other Pauls… everyone used nicknames. Paul became “Wombat.” This continued into his telecommuting roles, which is where things get interesting. Paul rarely goes into the DC-area office (once in 3 1\/2 years) and is known as “Wombat.” He is also very good at what he does, creating a curious mystique about this super-smart guy called “Wombat” who no one has ever seen. I think this makes the perfect movie …<\/p>\n

Scene: Computer lab in some dungenous CIA facility. Top secret agent Denzel Washington is leaning over a computer screen where his leggy co-star, a mid-level employee unwittingly pulled into the fiasco, types frantically. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Co-star: “I just can’t do it. This is stuff that I don’t understand and can’t access.”<\/span>
Denzel: “We need more information! Isn’t there someone who can help us?” <\/span>
Co-star: “Well…there is one guy… he’s a legend. I’ve never seen him, few people have. He’s so good that some say he doesn’t really exist, but I’m pretty sure I could find him.”<\/span>
Denzel: “Who is he?” <\/span>
Co-star: “I don’t know his real name. He’s called ‘Wombat’…” <\/span>
Denzel: “Wombat???” (pauses) “Well, if you say he’s that good, we need him. Where do we find this ‘Wombat’ guy?”<\/span><\/p>\n

Cut to sunny fly-over shot of Beautiful New Orleans and bright sounds of New Orleans Dixieland…!<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what I see in my head when I think about Paul’s work. I picture stuffy CIA-officials that look like Denzel Washington trying to track down the mysterious ‘Wombat’ in the middle of a Mardi Gras parade. What can I say? The woman known as “Mrs. Wombat” has to get her excitement from somewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While in Mobile, Kate and I enjoyed treats that my parents brought back from Skip and Emily… including an incredibly thoughtful Mother’s Day card for me and birthday presents for Kate!Emily and Skip found a selection of Wombat stories and a Wombat doll for Kate. This has significance: Wombat is Paul’s moniker, a name by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}