One reason some workers in the New West experience a vague dissatisfaction with their careers is that a lot of us have uninspiring job titles.

"Hi, I'm Chip Douglas, executive vice president in charge of strategic blah blah."

So maybe we should bring back job titles from Old West cattle drives.

I mean, who wouldn't want to be called trail boss? Or drover? Or scout?

"Hi, I'm Shelly Dubinsky. I'm ramrod here. And I'd like you to meet Greg Brady, he's our drag rider."

Let's move on.

Multiple-choice: When little boys take a look at their adult male relatives and first wonder if they themselves will eventually go bald, what goes through their minds?

A) "Maybe I am not really related to these guys." B) "Surely they will have a cure by the time I am a grown-up." C) "You know, it's really not a bad look." D) "Perhaps it will keep me from getting carded." E) "Maybe hats are going to make a big comeback." F) Other.  

Just wondering: Do little kids ever play with fake money anymore or is cash an alien concept?

Slice answer: One reader suggested that Julia Sweeney could record the public service announcements for Spokane International Airport. Perhaps she could use her "It's Pat!" voice.

Of course, several generations -- both young and old -- would be totally baffled by that. But not getting pop culture references should be second nature to most of us by now. You can't know it all. And, frankly, you wouldn't want to anyway.

My 16th favorite moment in Sunday's two-hour "Mad Men": The fleeting allusion to trying to go after the Oldsmobile account. 

Just wondering 2: How often has the airport's Todd Woodard been asked about running for political office?

One of many differences between writing a newspaper column and a blog: In the case of the latter, readers realize you could make a bothersome item, uh, post, go away.

That's only happened two or three times since The Slice Blog started last May. In one case, a former colleague was worried that my rehashing some arguably off-color office banter (about an unnamed Spokane woman not involved with the newspaper) would come back to haunt him. So I deleted it.

Then just yesterday, someone at Avista was upset about something I wrote regarding the power company's online listing of safety categories and their possible application as names of condoms. I don't recall that he actually asked me to remove the post in question. And he was entirely civil on the phone.

After mulling it, though, I wrote him saying I found the post too ridiculous to be genuinely offensive. I added that I respected his right to disagree.

I think there was another instance, but I cannot remember it now.

Warm-up question: Have you ever recommended a TV series to someone and NOT looked on in horror as the very first episode he or she watched turned out to be atypically terrible? 

Today's Slice question: Do you note the anniversary of your starting work for your current employer?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. See you in the funny papers.

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