You know you're thinking about work too much when...

One of my favorite moments during the week is catching "This American Life" on WPSU. It always makes me think and takes me away from the world of information technology (usually) . I like "This American Life" so much I brought it up for almost no good reason - except to say that something I heard on Terry Gross' "Fresh Air" while traveling between holiday break destinations really intrigued me.

Terry Gross often interviews interesting musical acts. Last week, the Philly public radio station she works out of aired her interview with the creative muscle behind the group Radiohead, Thom Yorke. During the interview he said something close to,

Playing together is one thing, but what we play for each other is really what makes us who we are.

So - you know you're focused on work when, you are trying to get away from it, it smacks you in the face.

His quote spun my head around and I really didn't understand it at first. He qualified it during the conversation and the work angle hit me: What we do is service, but how we serve each other is what makes us what we are. I think that's darn near perfect in terms of how we need to think about each other. If we serve each other well, we can serve Penn State well.

Never thought Radiohead would make me think of work, but it happened.