Meet my newest newsroom neighbor

This arrangement, standing at 4 feet, arrived at the office for me yesterday and my first thought was, "Surely there has been a mistake." The delivery arrived mid-morning. When Peaches called my name and pointed at the gigantic arrangement, the only thing I could do was point to myself and say, "me?"

To my surprise, she nodded yes.

I haven't received flowers in a long time, and I had no idea who they could be from. The only reasonable answer was that some florist had made a mistake. I walked over to Peaches' desk and checked the card. Sure enough, they were for me and photographer Val Horvath.

Everyone in the office wanted to know who they were from, and there was some shock when I said, "a biker bar." Val and I recently did a story on steak night at Coyote's Bar and owner Leslie Conger sent flowers to say thanks.

They currently sit to the left of my desk, towering over me, and they've been a conversation starter for our newsroom. Here are some of the comments from myself and fellow Times staffers:

"I think Rod's going to offer it a position on the copy desk."

"It's like you're sitting underneath your own personal shade tree."

"Those flowers were in my dream last night."

"I keep thinking they're going to lean over and start pecking me on the head."

"I'm not sure who's taller, you or the flowers."

"You never know what to expect during the day. But you never plan to come to work and see something like that."