Raincharm’s Weblog

It was pointed out to me, by a certain son, that I had not posted since last Wednesday – and that it had momentarily confused the tyke.

I think he was actually trying to turn the tables on me for continuing to nag him to pack.
He has two more days to finish, and I still haven’t seen much of a start.
Of course, he has only been home one month, so perhaps he is feeling the packing done to get here from Montana is sufficient to take him from Seattle to Tennessee. Of course I would think he would want to at least get some school stuff out of the boxes first.

The last week was nothing to write home about, so I didn’t. Work, less weather, and a lot of crossword puzzles. Oh and I started our taxes,.

I have been considering the building’s general attitude over the last few years. One of the more interesting things it does is playing with the lights. Now for several years turning the lights on and off followed what most of us learned as small children. Find the switch, up in on, down is off. Except when there are multiple switches to operate a light – then the up/down thing is rather unpredictable. The building also has energy efficient lights that turn off if movement is not detected for a number of minutes. And we have some “switchkeeper” software that can be programmed to turn certain lights on and off on a timer. Apparently the switchkeeper does more than just this, which we use for parking lot lights. Hidden power.

Now back to the last few years and the lights.  There are two floors in the building, and each main area has a bank of light switches. Most people would assume that each bank would operate the lights in relatively near proximity. That is exactly how it worked for several years. But more recently the north first floor switch bank has been able to turn lights on the second floor on and off. The second floor folks can still use their switches to change decisions made donwstairs, but they do not get to do anything that changes the first floor lights.

Since most people work the same hours, give or take 30 minutes, it was not really noticed. But when the first floor folks put up their Christmas tree and added lights, they decided to turn off the lights and see how it looked. Of course the second floor was plunged into darkness, at least momentarily. This was repeated several times, until it was communicated that they should remember their actions did affect more than just the first floor area. The more usual impact is when certain folks are upstairs working with a smattering of lights turned on in the morning, and suddenly all of the lights turn on, making it brighter than some want at that time of the AM.

Now this was not always the case, and none of us can really figure out what changed (we all squint at the electrician though). The building is, after all, only 12 years old. 

Then it struck me – it’s entering the teen years. The next 7 years should be a fun ride.

Continued …
Since locking out the customers yesterday didn’t really work, and did not last, the building has embarked (or rather continued) on a different tact to keep us at bay, or slow us down.

As the temperatures outside have risen some, the temperature inside is dropping. The HVAC did not respond to turning the breaker on and off, and provided an error message that in-house personnel could not correct. Counselors are again called. [As soon as the call went out, it appeared that a little heat might be forthcoming …]

Coats and sweaters, and space heaters, are allowing us to continue.

Only now the lights are flickering …

So, I heard more than one person say that heading back to work on the Monday after the holidays was a real drag.
Some take it harder than others.
Our office building decided to take matters into its own hands, and locked the exterior doors.

This was discovered shortly thereafter, I assume when a customer tried to get into the building. [Us worker bees have alternate means, like badges and keys, but the average customer does not.] Taking control, of a sort, back from the building we taped the crash bar open, preventing the building from holding the door closed.

It took calling in the outside counselors to convince the building that it was OK, and that the customers sometimes brought us money that we used to keep it warm in the winter.

At the risk of being repetitive –
We took down our Christmas Tree today.
I planted it in one of our remaining front yard snow banks, which was a medium sized pile surrounded by a sea of green grass.  Ashlan left around 3:30. It was just starting to snow lightly.

By tonight, it is looking more like a Christmas tree – again. A flocked tree.

January 4, 2009

It has been a few days, so here is a synopsis of what we have been up to:
Movies (in home)
Walks (R&J)
Illness light (C) – unable to really eat anything, lots of naps, tired
Friends – (A & R, especially A)
Soccer FA Cup – (R&J) – first time I have been in a bar before noon in a long time.
Laundry (C&A) – and now that A is leaving in a few hours, the laundry detail has gone to doubletime.
Shopping (A) – always
Football watching – (C,R,J&A)
Regathering the house for the new year – everyone

And we’re off. Ashlan literally (soon), Jay (at least in the lists of the mind – TAXES, FAFSA), Carl – must feel better, Rey – not sure, but his mind is always moving at warp speed.

Well it is a new year, and Rey is working on plans for his next great adventure – Tennessee bound. Of course, everyone know that MI is between WA & TN, sort of.

Tentative routes are being explored, along with tentative locations to lay ones head. Assumptions? The grandparents can usually be relied upon, but if not, there is always NPJ. But wait, none of us west coast persons can remember actually seeing NPJ anywhere other than Borders or on Glenwood. Really. Over all of these years. We don’t even remember ever seeing pictures of a domicile.

We have an idea that NPJ really lives at Borders. (Rey indicated he would certainly consider that to be a viable situation, and may look into whether Knoxville has a branch.)

Planning, and speculation, continues.

To all those in the eastern time zone, you chance to celebrate is almost upon us. I may join you just to make it easier to say I made it until midnight.

So raise a glass of whatever you like best, and celebrate the start of a new year. We have much to look forward to.

Just finished dinner, with a desert of nuts – cracked straight from the shell. Sort of a winter tradition. I was doing great with the Brazil nuts, but the last one won. I don’t think I got even a nibble. I had been doing so well at getting them out in just a few pieces too.

Last night we also had nuts after the main course. Except that Carl was a bit behind in eating, so he used my plate. Pork chops and rice, mmmm. Except that apparently I had left a few small shell shards on the plate, and they kind of infiltrated the rice …

Realized it has been a few days – some busier than others.
The 27th was spent getting ready for and celebrating Rey’s graduation with friends. Luckily by this day the snow had declined to a point where it was easy to drive in most of the metro area.
Sunday was spent generally hanging out, although we did venture to Costco for some items. This was an interesting adventure as it was still the height of shopping with returns and restocking, especially for those that had not been able to get out for many days.
I even went to bed early, just to make sure I could get up and back into the work schedule today.