Do NOT Mock the Monocular

So when I was at the "sell weekend" for the job I took out of b-school the company put us all up at a very nice hotel and when we arrived we found a welcome/gift bag. In said bag was a monocular (think half a binocular) with a tag saying "keep your eye on us." I thought this was a silly gift as I am a firm believer in corporate gifts being something useful. And I doubt that any of the MBAs attending that weekend ever went bird watching for which apparently monoculars are useful. I had the great fortune to graduate just before the bubble burst and the amount of useless tchotchkes we highly courted students received was ridiculous. I felt strongly that the monocular fell into this category. I teased the very wonderful guy (and I will sheepishly admit I took the ribbing too far - far past the funny if it ever had any to begin with) who had organized the sell weekend for us to no end once I arrived on the job. I kept the monocular on my desk so that I could have a ready prop for mocking and making snark at a moment's notice. I got my comeuppance when the monocular was stolen.

If only I had known! Tonight's episode of 24 demonstrated the infinite usefulness of having a monocular handy for those times when a powerful electro magnetic field wipes out all power and you need to keep an eye on the bad guys. Who knew? Jack Bauer, of course.