September 3, 2008

agony, easy bake ovens & electrical fires

this morning was one of those mornings. you know, when work is not at all appealing and facing the day seems insurmountable? yep, that kind of morning.

with a sigh, i climbed out bed, said my prayers, numbly got ready for work and steeled myself for a loooooong day.

i wasn't disappointed:
730 am--punch the clock.
8 am--no Starbucks run for my usual morning hot chocolate.
9am--had Starbucks, but time is still crawling
10 am--what? it's only been 1 hour? oh dear.
AGONY!
11 am--finally!! lunchtime! that HAS to pass some time.
1115 am--shoot. i should've eaten slower.
noon--hmmm. cleaned out my email inbox.
115 pm-- transmitted a payroll. now what?
130 pm--happily distracted by easybake ovens on ebay--diversion courtesy of idle conversation with coworker regarding cooking, as usual. boss, coworker and i surprised to see that an original 1964 easybake oven--complete with original packaging, no less!--is only $9.99!
140 pm--back to work: more emails to answer, problems to solve, questions to answer, paychecks to cut
2 pm--3rd phone call of the day with lame payroll company that shall remain nameless--this time i only had to wait 3 minutes to speak to a live person-yay!
203 pm--phone call goes dead. what the?!?
lights flicker on and off like something out of 'poltergiest' and computers on each side of me black out (stupid desktops). miraculously (or not) my computer remains on. hmmm. what's going on?
fitful flickers of light overhead, threatening migraine inducement. in the hallway outside the payroll cave where my team and i reside, i can hear murmurs of surprise and consternation. could it possibly be? trying not to get my hopes up, i watch my computer. . .power still on. . .
205 pm--my computer goes black. YES!!! the power is OUT and my battery backup died!
207 pm--still holding my breath--it's too good to be true--i go investigate. poor people-- everyone else in the company has laptops (except for the payroll team: security/data theft paranoia or wisdom, i haven't decided)--heads down, faces illuminated by the glow of their monitors, some are feverishly trying to continue to work.
220 pm--still no power, no news, no idea.
230 pm--fire trucks arrive outside, and rumors of a fire start circulating. maybe the construction guys tripped something while renovating Bill Gates' new office upstairs?
231 pm--funny, no fire alarm. hmmm. should i be worried?
235 pm--no ETA on restoration of power, but they did find out it was due to an electrical fire. here? yikes! no, don't worry, it's in the power vault in the street outside our building. phew!
245 pm--ice cream party in the cafe! 7 gallons of ice cream about to melt; hmm, guess i'll have to take one for the team
3 pm--still not able to work, due to continued powerlessness of said desktop computer and continuing darkness of payroll cave. time to go!! see ya!

freedom! i could hardly believe my good fortune. nothing helps pass the time like a power outage and ensuing chaos. the sun is shining and i can get a head start on my errands.

ironically, now that i am sitting on my couch, composing this entry, my motivation to continue powering through my to-do list is waning. i should sign off and salvage what is left of my willpower and be productive. cheerio!

1 comment:

Suze said...

LOL Gotta love what happend at 2:45pm. "Guess I'll have to take one for the team"....priceless!

I love reading your escapades. Even though I don't comment often. I miss you Erita.

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