Mr. Technology. I think he's probably a good egg. But he's got the whole of his identity invested, so that he lives for opportunities to use terms like "orthogonal," or "deprecated," or "homomorphic mapping."

"Becoming acronymonious in here," says the author to the room. Colleagues with glazed eyes watch one energetic fellow draw spaghetti lines on a white board. The glazed eyes turn, register puzzlement, remain glazed. The energetic fellow pauses, gets it, throws his head back with forced laughter that seems insincere. He's got a dry-erase marker in one hand and his shirt on inside-out. Turns immediately back to the board, picks up in mid-acronym, while the glazed eyes, turning again as a group, look vaguely sad.