not an idiot free zone

I observed a meeting today in which I heard the phrase "data free zone." It was mentioned in the context of basically flying blind and having no baseline data with which to formulate an evaluation of department functionality and employee productivity. (how's that for vague industrial organizational speak? it was more interesting than that, but this is the obscure, safe-for-the-internet version)

Lately it feels like I've been making decisions from a data free zone. This might sound counterintuitive to anyone who has witnessed the tower of index cards I've been studying for the last month. But memorizing the levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs has done little in the way of illuminating my own needs. Do I need a career path (read: letters after my name and a 10 year plan) or do I just need a job? Do I need to go back to a head shrinker or do I just need to find a way to hang out with a dog (or 4) every now and then? Do I need to read the blogs in my Monday/Wednesday folder or do I need to start putting a little more time and attention into my own creativity? (finally, a simple question)

Do I need to look up grad school application deadlines or can I just make them up and check on them after I take the subject test GRE? A crucial question that I failed to answer correctly. Apparently the ballpark January dates that I had floating around in my head were a little off. Far enough off that I have run for the hills of pusillanimity. (okay, I had to look that one up to make sure I used it correctly, but it has a nice ring to it doesn't it?) You may be thinking, December? That's 4 weeks from now. You can do so much in 4 weeks! And I'm thinking, wow that scorched smell must be coming from my new Nikes. Better go jump in a lake.

Or as my new spanish idiom book from the library says: mandó al diablo*

*the idioms don't account for the idiots trying to apply them to different verb tenses, so I know there's something wrong with the verb. i may have just told all of you to go jump in a lake. sorry.