Q: What can turn an office full of strong, focused, professional, feminist women into a bunch of giggling schoolgirls?

A: A surprise facilities inspection by the Oakland Fire Department's Station 8 in Temescal.

Hot. Damn.

So here I am at blogger, getting ready to hate on the fact that when I went newborn girl clothes shopping yesterday for a baby shower I'm attending, I found the vast majority of "girl" clothing emblazoned with passive niceties ("smile!" -- gag me) or equally uninspired things like "pretty" or "born to shop," while the "boy" clothing was mostly dynamic -- imprinted with statements touting their ability.

Creepy and not-so-subtle programming, right? Right.

And then I remembered, as if in a pleasant dream you wish not to wake from: six handsome, friendly guys with the kind of muscled arms and backs used to carrying heavy equipment -- most with those sexy firepant suspenders on, pulled down to hang loose around tight thermal tops that stretched across lightly rippled abs (oh, you better believe I looked!). Authoratative, but respectful, friendly, and chatty, they opened our office door and were confronted with an office made up entirely of women.

We were at their mercy. The office went from, "oh shit, pull the boxes out of the furnace room and find the fire extinguishers" to "why yes, big boy, I'll come by your open house this weekend and you can show me your fire hose."

I am slightly ashamed. I have nothing to say for myself. But I suppose the moral is that I guess I'm okay with a little selective programming!