Special Ops Engineering: SW4G

Something lighter, for a change. ^^ A tounge-in-cheek review of accumulated swag.

In the last year, the Special Ops Engineering force has received many $Company-themed gifts. Early in the year, there was the $Company duffel bag (carry-on sized, for all that last minute travel), filled with such toys as the $Company wine set (M's was destined for re-gifting), $Company out-door thermos and mugs set (for when you're in the wilderness, fixing robots, and need a coffee mug that will clip to your backpack), and yet another $Company bright white LED flashlight. M and I have both ascribed to the LED re-gifting program, lest we end up with our pockets full of sparklies and unintentionally become the non-denominational holiday light display. We receive one per training class, and a geek can only have so many LED flashlights... of the same color.

Recently we have received our matching $Company-themed black jackets (for all your jumping our of airplane needs) and a nifty $Company laptop-friendly backpack. I confess my first thought about the backpack was "That will be really handy when M goes back to Uni!" Perhaps the out-doorsy mug set presaged the latest backpack upgrade. I daresay it will make us look like a very elitist pair of hikers.

Stranger: $Company? Whatever is that?
M: Oh... it's rather exclusive.
Stranger: I've never heard of it!
K: I don't imagine you would have. It's Swiss.

On one hand, we are now walking billboards for our employer... on the other, a lot of our swag is directed at the type of life-styles we lead. They're all high-quality gifts, and targeted toward busy professionals trying to squeeze the most out of their work days and their weekends.

These are some of the perks of Special Ops Engineering (along with ample opportunity to optimize your rental car mirror adjustment technique for both speed and precision). It's not all bad out here; it's just intense. ~_^