I need to quit this habit of saying “The Times,” to refer to the NYTimes, as in “I saw in The Times today that…” I bet it makes me sound like an asshole to people walking by, and it makes me feel like an asshole when I catch myself. I don’t want to be one of those people that only reads “the Times” (or even worse, the Sunday Times). Besides, I don’t even read it. When I say that, I’m really talking about articles & NYTimes blogs that other people linked from Facebook or twitter. Or I read one article on the front cover as I make my coffee in the office kitchen, right next to where they keep copies of the NY Times.

I also find myself saying things like “Oh, I saw that on CNN/C-span today” which almost sounds like I watch CNN all the time. Again, not really. See, the lobby of my office has two giant flat screens that have CNN and another news station all day long, and I pass them every time I go to the bathroom or to the kitchen, which is stocked with free coffee/tea/Coke/Dr.Pepper/seltzer/Snapple (plus their diet versions) at all times. So I glance for 15 seconds, and those seconds add up until I have a general sense of what’s happenin’ in the news that day. Weird huh?

I’m an intellectual poser! Hmm. These points could actually be a lesson to people who try to fake being smart.