Tuesday by the Numbers

600: total signatures signed on Holiday cards

300: signatures forged on Holiday cards

5: CPU stands assembled

2: emails to David

1: Gingerbread cookies eaten from the bag on the kitchen table

So, as you can see from above, I picked up a new skill this morning, which will be invaluable if I
decide to pursue a lucrative career in identity theft. A coworker went on vacation and hoped that someone (me) would sign her name for her on all of the office Christmas cards. It was mundane work but sort of fun, and a lot harder than I thought it would be: an artistic challenge. If I did it really slowly, the shape of the signature was close to the original, but it looked fake. If I did it quickly, the line thickness appeared genuine, but didn't look like her signature. So, it's a fine balance. By the end, I started to pick up on the subtle nuances, and though it was difficult to control my hand against its natural inclinations, the repetition made it easier. If I ever need to forge someone's signature for a more significant purpose than holiday greeting cards, I will first practice really slowly so that my hand gets used to the motion (muscle memory) then speed it up so that I can do it quickly and accurately. Judging from other people's signatures on the cards, there is wide variation in a person's own signature, so I would need to develop my forgery from a set of several samples to determine that my copy is not mimicking a fluke. Funny how much your mind can wander during repetitive tasks.