My first thought was the guy behind the newspaper was a spy. Wouldn’t an engineer’s conference be a great place to listen for possible information, drunk engineers and all?
My next thought was a federal employee (CIA, FBI, NSA, some other TLA – Three Letter Acronym) watching engineers and looking for spies.
My final thought was Jean, in disguise, watching Natalie’s discomfort.
Not taking the time to look it up right now, but Neil had to have that security interview for his clearance – working on the NASA stuff. Presumably, Rodge had to have one too.
I don’t know the level of the clearance they have to have, but back in the day when I was working in military intel, we had to report significant changes in relationships (a one-night stand thing, not so much. ‘Going steady,’ certainly.) so that the partner could be investigated and determined whether or not he or she posed a security concern.
Looking at it from a security perspective, you have this employee who suddenly starts to work hard and get noticed (presumably in order to be promoted/assigned significant work) where he had a history of slacking. Concurrent with his drastic change in behaviour, you have him beginning a relationship with an attractive, young woman who is a complete unknown (no record of her for social security records, immigration, birth certificates, past employment/rental histories, state or federal identifications (drivers’ licenses, passports). Her alleged ‘backstory’ doesn’t check out (where is she working as a librarian?).
So, the logical conclusion to leap to from there is that she is possibly an agent of a foreign power who has caught herself a susceptible engineer with access to classified material. Of course they are going to be keeping an eye on her, seeking to prove or disprove that conclusion. And to make sure that Rodge, when he is with her, isn’t passing over classified material.
Sure, a martian rover/orbiter/lander/whatever isn’t likely to be of great value to a foreign power (other than a prestige ‘we got there before you’ sort of thing), but that’s just one thing that the company does. Aerospace engineering covers a lot of ground, and a significant chunk of that is Department of Defense related.
In which case her being concerned at Rodger drinking tok much and losing inhibutions.should help since this would be a great time for a spy to pump him for informarion or at least not be genuinely concerned.
I think that’s supposed to be Alice there in the pink sweater, too, but between the less stylized hair and how not-about-to-kill-someone she looks, I’m not so sure…
To quote Dr. Helen B. Narbon (when her sysadmin was in a similar situation): She could be worse off than being forced to turn down dates from charming young men.
Ok children If you get turned into a attractive girl and get forced in to social situations. You best response to drinks bought for you is “I am allergic to alcohol”. This is the nice girl way of getting out of drinking and into deep water. The other way that works to is to say “alcohol has a negative effect on the powerful anti-psychopathic drugs is am taking to stop me from cutting people”. But this might make it hard to make new friends. Also remember rule 412 And all must follow rule -2 1/2 EVERYONE.
Since your sharing information is there anythig about eye contact since Natalie didn’t even realize she was turnig down ridge at first rather than a random guy.
I wonder why Nathalie dressed up so classy to begin with. Since Rodge knows she’s an engineer, she could have dressed down a bit, maybe like the woman that adressed her.
I do believe that Jean packed for her. Although Neil should have known how the women attending this conference dress, considering he’s been going for years.
Well, Neil probably never paid much attention to the few women at an engineering conference. He really went there for the technical sessions (and, if he buys _Playboy_, reads the articles carefully).
The next day, Neil discovers that Jeanie has packed short shorts that fit like they were sprayed on, and a see-through blouse. Also, five-inch heels. Which means that Natalie is going to fit in very well with the Vegas crowd, but not the one Neil wants to fit in with…
I think she told Rodge that she is a librarian. She talked about engineering with him on their date, but that doesn’t mean she’s an engineer. Some librarians can be very knowledgeable in a lot of subjects.
This seems like an appropriate place to take note in passing of the recent passing of Michael Ansara. Whether he played the Blue Djinn, King Kamehameha, or the astronaut who attracted all the women, his presence will be missed…
I would assume readers of this strip would get the reference…though many’s the time I’ve had to deal with parodies or homages of something when I had no idea what it was…
Offhand I’d say by now Natalie has a very good idea why you dont dress up for an engineering conference (wonder if she’ll get snippy with the other girl if she runs into her again for not warning her).
Also did rodge just leave her there alone while he was off drinking with the boys?
Just remember that Natalie didn’t have any choice about what was in the suitcase for her to wear. All chosen–very carefully–by Jeanie. But Natalie might do well to skip the makeup and careful hairstyling after this evening. Not that that’s going to help much, with Jeanie making sure that the rest of the clothes that were in the suitcase shows off Natalie’s bod. Remember that the first thing Jean did to Neil when she was vexed with him was the strip club?
I wonder: Does Neil have any cash, or can Natalie charge to the room? Maybe the hotel gift shop has XXXL sweatshirts and “mom” jeans… An engineer is supposed to be able to come up with solutions to difficult problems, right?
BTW, I’ve never been to a tech. conference reception that had an open bar. Free snacks, maybe, but even sodas were a couple of bucks (hotel prices). If Roger “stopped counting at 8,” he would have spent quite a bit. Keeping the conferees sober is the reason there is no open bar! (Not to mention the dram shop laws in most states.)
This is Vegas, right? There might be an open bar, especially if there’s gambling devices within reach, but well drinks will be basically liquor scented water.
[Hearsay only, I have no personal experience with Vegas.]
I am so sorry for Natalie. I honestly thought there’s be at least one guy at the conference who knew how to chat a girl up, and if not that, one engineer, male or female, interested in talking aerospace.
And nobody, absolutely nobody, appreciates the hard work she put in to looking good. Tramline’s right, if nobody cares, Natalie shouldn’t bother.
Natalie doesn’t want to be chatted up, but there should be more stereotypical nerds there who treat sex as a purely academic subject, and who she can happily talk shop with.
I disagree, those same nerds who would rather talk shop than sex would probably be too scared or uninterested to talk to someone that looks like an “escort”.
Just like we did, Jeannie probably envisioned that Natalie would be subject to a cascade of embarrassing and therefor hilarious sexual situations.
However, it occurs to me that Jeannie’s plan may have backfired. She put Natalie in such a sexy outfit that the nerds at the convention are intimidated, nearly tongue tied, and can only offer lame pickup lines and no conversation. Female attendees are avoiding her because they think she’s a hooker, or at least an escort.
Natalie’s not embarrassed, and is not remotely having a good time.
She’s just tired, bored, and irritated. Now she has to bundle Roger into bed, and take a rollaway herself. (Sure, Roger offered her the bed, but it’s going to be easier to get an intoxicated twit into the bigger bed, at least for tonight.)
…And so Jean’s evil plan comes to fruition. I picture her back at home, watching it unfold on a poofed-out-of-nowhere giant-screen TV and laughing hysterically to herself…
The question is, how many has Natalie had, and when will their full effect hit her? And Rog is an experienced drinker. He’s still talking sensibly (more or less), so he may not just pass out on the couch.
I’d say she’s probably still nursing her first one and sadly I agree with the poster below that she’s not going to get drunk and do something she regrets (even if we only saw the aftermath.
Wow; is it just me or is the engineer in the back Wally from Dilbert? In fact, as I was typing this it occurred to me that the one next to him is Dilbert himself! Awesome cameo!
That guy with the news paper is one slow reader.
“Don’t mind me! I’m just being inconspicuous!”
Maybe he had a tragic superglue incident.
My first thought was the guy behind the newspaper was a spy. Wouldn’t an engineer’s conference be a great place to listen for possible information, drunk engineers and all?
My next thought was a federal employee (CIA, FBI, NSA, some other TLA – Three Letter Acronym) watching engineers and looking for spies.
My final thought was Jean, in disguise, watching Natalie’s discomfort.
Not taking the time to look it up right now, but Neil had to have that security interview for his clearance – working on the NASA stuff. Presumably, Rodge had to have one too.
I don’t know the level of the clearance they have to have, but back in the day when I was working in military intel, we had to report significant changes in relationships (a one-night stand thing, not so much. ‘Going steady,’ certainly.) so that the partner could be investigated and determined whether or not he or she posed a security concern.
Looking at it from a security perspective, you have this employee who suddenly starts to work hard and get noticed (presumably in order to be promoted/assigned significant work) where he had a history of slacking. Concurrent with his drastic change in behaviour, you have him beginning a relationship with an attractive, young woman who is a complete unknown (no record of her for social security records, immigration, birth certificates, past employment/rental histories, state or federal identifications (drivers’ licenses, passports). Her alleged ‘backstory’ doesn’t check out (where is she working as a librarian?).
So, the logical conclusion to leap to from there is that she is possibly an agent of a foreign power who has caught herself a susceptible engineer with access to classified material. Of course they are going to be keeping an eye on her, seeking to prove or disprove that conclusion. And to make sure that Rodge, when he is with her, isn’t passing over classified material.
Sure, a martian rover/orbiter/lander/whatever isn’t likely to be of great value to a foreign power (other than a prestige ‘we got there before you’ sort of thing), but that’s just one thing that the company does. Aerospace engineering covers a lot of ground, and a significant chunk of that is Department of Defense related.
Let’s put the pieces that we know togetter:
1: male
2: has brown hair
3: reads
Conclusion: Robert the intern (wearing contacts) – fits all 3 things we know. Thus, it must be Robert.
In which case her being concerned at Rodger drinking tok much and losing inhibutions.should help since this would be a great time for a spy to pump him for informarion or at least not be genuinely concerned.
Sorry Gungrave, I asked CD this when Newspaper Guy first appeared. I would be tickled pink if it were, but it’s not me.
I know Robert, I was just joking around.
Is it my imagination or is Wally from Dilbert walking around wearing his green tie?
YES! Because in the 5th panel there is the guy with the tie that is flipped up. (I don’t know any of their names, but I recognize the characters.)
Hah, wow. I totally didn’t notice this! And Ty294 is right, that flipped tie means this must be a Dilbert reference.
I think that’s supposed to be Alice there in the pink sweater, too, but between the less stylized hair and how not-about-to-kill-someone she looks, I’m not so sure…
Definitely knew that was going to happen. The constant come-ons from increasingly drunken lonely guys has got to wear thin on her.
“‘Special’ friend”?
Natalie just got asked if she was an ‘escort’… o.o
To quote Dr. Helen B. Narbon (when her sysadmin was in a similar situation): She could be worse off than being forced to turn down dates from charming young men.
Perhaps but Helen liked being a girl how would she view being constantly propositioned by drunk young women?
Ok children If you get turned into a attractive girl and get forced in to social situations. You best response to drinks bought for you is “I am allergic to alcohol”. This is the nice girl way of getting out of drinking and into deep water. The other way that works to is to say “alcohol has a negative effect on the powerful anti-psychopathic drugs is am taking to stop me from cutting people”. But this might make it hard to make new friends. Also remember rule 412 And all must follow rule -2 1/2 EVERYONE.
Since your sharing information is there anythig about eye contact since Natalie didn’t even realize she was turnig down ridge at first rather than a random guy.
with boobs like that Nat probably doesn’t get much eye contact.
or she could just tell’em she’s a dude >>
I wonder why Nathalie dressed up so classy to begin with. Since Rodge knows she’s an engineer, she could have dressed down a bit, maybe like the woman that adressed her.
I do believe that Jean packed for her. Although Neil should have known how the women attending this conference dress, considering he’s been going for years.
Well, Neil probably never paid much attention to the few women at an engineering conference. He really went there for the technical sessions (and, if he buys _Playboy_, reads the articles carefully).
The next day, Neil discovers that Jeanie has packed short shorts that fit like they were sprayed on, and a see-through blouse. Also, five-inch heels. Which means that Natalie is going to fit in very well with the Vegas crowd, but not the one Neil wants to fit in with…
I think she told Rodge that she is a librarian. She talked about engineering with him on their date, but that doesn’t mean she’s an engineer. Some librarians can be very knowledgeable in a lot of subjects.
Didn’t male the connection between that and rog’s pick up line till now not bad for a guy who stopped counting after 8 drinks.
This seems like an appropriate place to take note in passing of the recent passing of Michael Ansara. Whether he played the Blue Djinn, King Kamehameha, or the astronaut who attracted all the women, his presence will be missed…
Assuming that everyone knows he was married to Barbara Eden…
I would assume readers of this strip would get the reference…though many’s the time I’ve had to deal with parodies or homages of something when I had no idea what it was…
Never seen any of the original show; never even had heard of Barbara Eden before finding this comic.
Anybody here who doesn’t know what “I Dream of Jeannie” was or who Barbara Eden is…well, you’ve missed plenty, buster.
Offhand I’d say by now Natalie has a very good idea why you dont dress up for an engineering conference (wonder if she’ll get snippy with the other girl if she runs into her again for not warning her).
Also did rodge just leave her there alone while he was off drinking with the boys?
Just remember that Natalie didn’t have any choice about what was in the suitcase for her to wear. All chosen–very carefully–by Jeanie. But Natalie might do well to skip the makeup and careful hairstyling after this evening. Not that that’s going to help much, with Jeanie making sure that the rest of the clothes that were in the suitcase shows off Natalie’s bod. Remember that the first thing Jean did to Neil when she was vexed with him was the strip club?
I’m more interested in what Newspaper guy is up to in the background… creepy…
It’s the same newspaper since early in the day. The Sudoku puzzle is really difficult this time…
I wonder: Does Neil have any cash, or can Natalie charge to the room? Maybe the hotel gift shop has XXXL sweatshirts and “mom” jeans… An engineer is supposed to be able to come up with solutions to difficult problems, right?
BTW, I’ve never been to a tech. conference reception that had an open bar. Free snacks, maybe, but even sodas were a couple of bucks (hotel prices). If Roger “stopped counting at 8,” he would have spent quite a bit. Keeping the conferees sober is the reason there is no open bar! (Not to mention the dram shop laws in most states.)
This is Vegas, right? There might be an open bar, especially if there’s gambling devices within reach, but well drinks will be basically liquor scented water.
[Hearsay only, I have no personal experience with Vegas.]
LOL, love it XD
This is where a tire thumper comes in handy.
I am so sorry for Natalie. I honestly thought there’s be at least one guy at the conference who knew how to chat a girl up, and if not that, one engineer, male or female, interested in talking aerospace.
And nobody, absolutely nobody, appreciates the hard work she put in to looking good. Tramline’s right, if nobody cares, Natalie shouldn’t bother.
Natalie doesn’t want to be chatted up, but there should be more stereotypical nerds there who treat sex as a purely academic subject, and who she can happily talk shop with.
I disagree, those same nerds who would rather talk shop than sex would probably be too scared or uninterested to talk to someone that looks like an “escort”.
Addendum:
I really wish Natalie was having a good time.
Just like we did, Jeannie probably envisioned that Natalie would be subject to a cascade of embarrassing and therefor hilarious sexual situations.
However, it occurs to me that Jeannie’s plan may have backfired. She put Natalie in such a sexy outfit that the nerds at the convention are intimidated, nearly tongue tied, and can only offer lame pickup lines and no conversation. Female attendees are avoiding her because they think she’s a hooker, or at least an escort.
Natalie’s not embarrassed, and is not remotely having a good time.
She’s just tired, bored, and irritated. Now she has to bundle Roger into bed, and take a rollaway herself. (Sure, Roger offered her the bed, but it’s going to be easier to get an intoxicated twit into the bigger bed, at least for tonight.)
I know I said it before, but REVENGE!!!
…And so Jean’s evil plan comes to fruition. I picture her back at home, watching it unfold on a poofed-out-of-nowhere giant-screen TV and laughing hysterically to herself…
Who is that man with the newspaper in background?
The question is, how many has Natalie had, and when will their full effect hit her? And Rog is an experienced drinker. He’s still talking sensibly (more or less), so he may not just pass out on the couch.
She could be in for a very educational night.
I’d say she’s probably still nursing her first one and sadly I agree with the poster below that she’s not going to get drunk and do something she regrets (even if we only saw the aftermath.
Much like a 15 year boy your dreams of coitus, here for Nat will have to stay in your dreams. I am taking bets at 99/1 on this.
Off topic but I love your pic.
You know, it occurs to me, Natalie is an engineer, but she’s at the conference as a plus-one, isn’t she? So… basically… this woman’s right.
Depends on your definition of escort.
I’d say that so far, Nat’s been doing precious little escorting, or anything else other than fending off worse nerds than Roger.
She’s there as his girlfriend not a paid escort.
Great comic, thanks for sharing. Nats eye in the fourth panel looks a bit odd. Probably just me
Later days
I think that someone will get fresh with Jean and to get back at him she’ll use her magic to deform him making him look like the elephant man.
Wow; is it just me or is the engineer in the back Wally from Dilbert? In fact, as I was typing this it occurred to me that the one next to him is Dilbert himself! Awesome cameo!
And Alice too!