Sitting in a satellite office at work, I was in unfamiliar surroundings. The cubicle was new. The cubicle was remote. All around me was quiet. I was alone. Alone in a strange place. Just me and my spreadsheet.

I entered data. Silence.

I summed the totals of columns. Silence.

I glanced up at the blank cubicle wall before me. Deadening silence.

“Pop!”

I nearly jumped out of my chair and over the low office wall. Someone at a distance had opened a can of soda and I nearly had a heart attack.

Dave Paulsen, living on the edge. A very over caffeinated edge.