The Monday after DST
DST (Daylight Savings Time) is a Bad Time for me. It leaves me discombobulated for three days to a week before I can re-sync my internal circadian rhythms with the new times. The shift doesn't seem to bother most people I know, but for me it's a real pain; I seem more prone to vascular migraines during this period than at any other time of the year.
I could tell that this was going to be a Bad Monday when, stepping out of the Prius in the office parking lot, I looked up into the beedy eyes of the one of the local vultures, sitting on the roof edge, staring back down at me.
Grabbing my notebook shoulder bag, I hurried into the building foyer before the vulture decided to swoop down and take a chunk out of me, or worse, take a poop.
Walking into my office I immediately noticed the newly delivered UPSes that I'd ordered the week before. I wheeled them into the lab, then hurried back into my office, powered up my notebook, and performed my morning mail ritual. I should have stayed in my office and done Official Office Work, but the UPSes called out to me bewitchingly, so I shambled into the lab as one possessed and started to unpack and prep them for installation.
I'd gotten the new UPSes because the older ones were at their end of life, and they weren't the proper capacity anyway, which was one big reason why they'd reached end of life. While underneath a desk, trying to unplug a stubborn AC plug, I managed to short a plug prong across metal and blow the back lab wall's circuit breaker. The staff in the back of the office knew what had happened by the near simultaneous load bang and my loud curse. Unfortunately I also took out two other offices next to the lab, interrupting two other hard working engineers in the process.
So, while the power was completely off, I pulled out all the old UPSes, cleaned up the cabling all around, placed the new UPSes, got everything plugged back in, and then went back into my office, head hung in shame, to work and to wait for the circuit breaker to be reset.
Yes. Wait. When I killed the power I went up front to the office admin and asked, rather embarrassed, where our office circuit breaker panel was. Turned out it was in the middle of the building, behind a locked door, and only the omnipotent building supervisor could unlock that door and reset the circuit breaker. It took about two hours to reset the breaker, in spite of it being phoned in as high priority. And this in a very High Rent area of Orlando.
Lunch came and went, tasks were worked on, there were no more adventures, and then I headed home. On the way out of the office complex I came upon Yet Another Orange County Sheriff's Speed Trap.
This time they were on the south-bound edge of the Corporate/Quadrangle intersection, aiming their little radar gun at traffic coming down from the north. I have no idea why they switched sides, but this makes the third trap they've set up just this year. Since I'd worked until 5, and they were here this late, I assume they were hitting the folks headed home from the offices that are on Corporate Blvd, north of the Corporate/Quadrangle intersection.
I had to stop by a local Publix and pick up a few things for supper. While there I noticed it was getting close to 6pm. So, standing there in a Publix isle, I whipped out my smart phone, got onto the local public radio website (WMFE.org), and made a pledge through my smart phone. Ain't technology wonderful?
I know I got more than one strange look from other shoppers as I was frantically typing on the virtual keypad of my myTouch 4G, simultaneously clutching my credit card so I could punch in the credit card number before 6pm.
I wanted to make a pledge to support public radio during this particularly nasty political season, and I wanted to do it before 6 so I could register for the new Apple iPad2 they were going to give away to one lucky pledger. Since I haven't heard anything from WMFE I can only assume I didn't win, but at least I made the pledge.
Oh well. Time to finish this and do some "home work". This week is going to get very, very busy indeed.
I could tell that this was going to be a Bad Monday when, stepping out of the Prius in the office parking lot, I looked up into the beedy eyes of the one of the local vultures, sitting on the roof edge, staring back down at me.
Grabbing my notebook shoulder bag, I hurried into the building foyer before the vulture decided to swoop down and take a chunk out of me, or worse, take a poop.
Walking into my office I immediately noticed the newly delivered UPSes that I'd ordered the week before. I wheeled them into the lab, then hurried back into my office, powered up my notebook, and performed my morning mail ritual. I should have stayed in my office and done Official Office Work, but the UPSes called out to me bewitchingly, so I shambled into the lab as one possessed and started to unpack and prep them for installation.
I'd gotten the new UPSes because the older ones were at their end of life, and they weren't the proper capacity anyway, which was one big reason why they'd reached end of life. While underneath a desk, trying to unplug a stubborn AC plug, I managed to short a plug prong across metal and blow the back lab wall's circuit breaker. The staff in the back of the office knew what had happened by the near simultaneous load bang and my loud curse. Unfortunately I also took out two other offices next to the lab, interrupting two other hard working engineers in the process.
So, while the power was completely off, I pulled out all the old UPSes, cleaned up the cabling all around, placed the new UPSes, got everything plugged back in, and then went back into my office, head hung in shame, to work and to wait for the circuit breaker to be reset.
Yes. Wait. When I killed the power I went up front to the office admin and asked, rather embarrassed, where our office circuit breaker panel was. Turned out it was in the middle of the building, behind a locked door, and only the omnipotent building supervisor could unlock that door and reset the circuit breaker. It took about two hours to reset the breaker, in spite of it being phoned in as high priority. And this in a very High Rent area of Orlando.
Lunch came and went, tasks were worked on, there were no more adventures, and then I headed home. On the way out of the office complex I came upon Yet Another Orange County Sheriff's Speed Trap.
This time they were on the south-bound edge of the Corporate/Quadrangle intersection, aiming their little radar gun at traffic coming down from the north. I have no idea why they switched sides, but this makes the third trap they've set up just this year. Since I'd worked until 5, and they were here this late, I assume they were hitting the folks headed home from the offices that are on Corporate Blvd, north of the Corporate/Quadrangle intersection.
I had to stop by a local Publix and pick up a few things for supper. While there I noticed it was getting close to 6pm. So, standing there in a Publix isle, I whipped out my smart phone, got onto the local public radio website (WMFE.org), and made a pledge through my smart phone. Ain't technology wonderful?
I know I got more than one strange look from other shoppers as I was frantically typing on the virtual keypad of my myTouch 4G, simultaneously clutching my credit card so I could punch in the credit card number before 6pm.
I wanted to make a pledge to support public radio during this particularly nasty political season, and I wanted to do it before 6 so I could register for the new Apple iPad2 they were going to give away to one lucky pledger. Since I haven't heard anything from WMFE I can only assume I didn't win, but at least I made the pledge.
Oh well. Time to finish this and do some "home work". This week is going to get very, very busy indeed.
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