The First International Take MacGyver to Work Day

I called Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver) yesterday to let him know Wednesday is 'Take MacGyver to Work Day' and that we should probably do a test run today. He said "Sure - pick me up at 8."

After the horrendus traffic to Malibu, I arrived at his house a bit late, as I went off the directions some stalker posted on a fan website, but after finally locating the house, he was ready to go, dressed in MacGyver duds. He did mention he had to swing by Home Depot to pick up some Duct tape, so that set us back a bit, but we got here about 9ish, and he got started right away on making my chair into a projectile bomb.

I didn't know you could make coffee from an old phone and my 'recognition of service' award, but after just a few minutes with his swiss army knife and that duct tape, I had a Starbucks grande latte on my desk. I think he hand-drew the green logo, but it tasted excellent.

He took up station at my co-workers desk, making a smokescreen so I could get out of a 11am meeting, and then it set off the fire alarm. He later revealed was part of his plan to get us out of the building, so he could use a paperclip to seismically retrofit the foundation for safety. He's so thoughtful.

The day suffered a downturn when he insisted on using his belt to jerry-rig a ripline to swing out of my 4th story window for lunch, but we only fell about 10 feet into the restraunt, and we did manage to escape my boss without notice. Mac is a bit paranoid about 'Murdoc' showing up, so he barricaded us behind the bar for a light lunch of cheese and bruchetta before we had to return to the office. This time, he hot-wired a Harley behind the restaraunt, and we rode it into my parking garage. He dismantled it, taking the gas tank and some wiring for 'later'.

The post-lunch meeting was delayed due to his oil slick in the hallway, and despite my amusement, it did ruin my shoes. I chastized him, but he seemed too interested in his knockout gas set in the break-room microwave to notice. We were only out about 2 hours, but it did put a serious time cramp in my afternoon schedule.

He dissapeared after that, but at 5pm I found him in the parking garage with my Jeep setting up tire-ripping fenders he obtained by gutting leftover computers in our storage room. Despite the cost involved, it sure did decrease the traffic back to Malibu.

All in all, I think Take MacGyver to Work Day was a success. He is a bit high-maintenence, as I consistently had to be on the watch for what project he was going to come up with next, and the fact that he called me 'Pete' all day was a bit annoying. But he thwarted all evil and guns that came my way, and even managed to get Jack Dalton to come by for about an hour to entertain the office.

Next week we're going to the Challenger's Club to help some at-risk youth who might get involved in a gang. It should be interesting.