The Slice: Growth change is typically out, not up

One boring thing about being an adult is September sameness.

Unlike school days, when your peers can go through amazing physical changes over the summer, people at the office look pretty much the same year in and year out.

OK, let’s move on.

“If you don’t believe smoking is addictive: You must not have seen people hooked up to IV lines puffing away outside hospitals.

“Just wondering: I have a friend who describes himself as a “boat nut.”

It’s true. But of all the personality-profile seed fruit, that’s certainly on the attractive end of the spectrum.

So what kind of nut are you?

“Slice answer: Margie Dennis lived in North Seattle back when she learned that she and her husband were expecting their third child. Rather than wait for him to come home, she phoned him at his workplace in Tacoma.

A little while later, she received an e-mail from him. It was a poem.

2 is fine

3 is better

But for number 4

Let’s get an Irish setter

“Feedback: A reader who saw the what-if question about college football teams using only in-state players asked, “What would Notre Dame and BYU do?”

Well, if they could not survive using recruits from Indiana and Utah, perhaps they could go the religious-affiliation route.

Or they could do what everyone else does and rely on players from California and Florida.

“Slice answers: “The ideal corporate sponsor for Spokane would be Inland Asphalt and Paving,” wrote frequent contributor Gary Polser.

And in the matter of conclusions drawn from message T-shirts worn by fairgoers, a couple of readers suggested that a lot of these folks have an exaggerated estimation of their own sex appeal.

“Warm-up question: Weary of the beeping, whirring and human grumbling, one of my newsroom colleagues recently asked that a computer printer be moved from its position next to her desk. This reminded me of a long-ago features department configuration that had me facing a counter often used as a buffet surface. Maybe I’m just a grouch, but listening to hummus critiques and “Who brought these cookies?” got old. It was like I was the unofficial snack-tray host. And did I mention that a lot of newspaper people chew with their mouths open?

So what’s the downside to the precise location of your work station?

“Today’s Slice question: Does anyone wear aprons anymore?