the important and the not-so-important

In important news, the trial of former Liberian strongman and supreme asshole Charles Taylor is finally moving forward. Last year he was the first former African leader to stand trial in front of an international tribunal, but then the trial was adjourned, until this week. I can't contain my excitement at the thought that Taylor could actually be found guilty and sentenced. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but this is such a great precedent in a part of the world that's seen many elusive strongmen who've done their country and their people so much damage.

I only wish I could get better updates than the sporadic and sketchy articles I can find here and there. Everyone knows how the media doesn't bother covering Africa. I need to find a good west African blog. Suggestions, anyone?

In not-so-important news, I almost lost my mind at work today. I have complained before about the behaviour of others in our open office grid. Well, today, the woman who recently moved beside me had a loud 20-minute conversation about one of her direct reports. She made a phone call (presumably to Human Resources) to talk about her review of a member of her team. Apparently this fellow (who she actually named, several times) was giving her a hard time because of the rating she gave him, since he believed he had outperformed everyone else. She actually used phrases like, "I just think he's completely delusional and I worry that when I tell him he has no grasp on reality, he may just lose it on me."

I sat at my desk, paralyzed by disbelief in what I was hearing. I don't know the person to whom she was referring to, but someone else in the vicinity may very well have. Shouldn't it be common courtesy to take a conversation like that behind closed doors?

I thought about making a fake phone call of the same kind to she how--or even if--she would react, but I think the effort would be wasted. She's just clueless. So upsetting.