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gnomiSo, this morning I get up and leave for work as usual. I get my bus (on time, even, which has been odd for the 66 recently), get to Harvard Square and go down into the T, where I observe an Inbound train pulling out of the station. No problem -- it's not even 7:15, so I have plenty of time to wait for the next train and still be able to get to the office by 7:30. But... the T is slow to come. No train until about 7:20, so I don't get to Kendall Square until 7:30. Not a big deal, but annoying. But because I'm running just that much late, I decide that I don't have the extra luxury time to make my coffee the way I usually do (I have a Coffee Caddy that my mom bought me a couple of years back; I can make just one cup of the coffee that I prefer. But it takes longer than just grabbing a cup from the coffee urn at work, so it's something I skip when I'm running late). So I stopped at the Au Bon Pain right near the T to get a cup of coffee.
Coffee in hand, I head down Main St. to my office building. When I arrive, I see that the lobby is much more populous than is normal for 7:40 AM (and, in fact, more populous than is normal for any time of the day. I go up to the desk and go to swipe my access card, and the security guard says, "The building's closed; the power is out." One of the building management people (whom I recognize because she and I took a building-sponsored self-defense class together three years ago) says, "You're from [name of previous owner of my company], right? I haven't seen anyone from there yet." "When do you think the power will be back on?" I ask. "It's been out since about 8 last night, and NStar's saying it won't be back until at least noon," she replies. Hrmph, says I, and I decide to callmabfan to tell him what's going on.
"My building has no power, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm going to call [my boss] and see what she says."
"You could always come here,"mabfan says.
"I'll give you a call back when I know what's going on," I tell him, and hang up.
A coworker (but not from my group) comes in, and I tell her about the power outage. She figures she should call another coworker (who is a manager-type) and find out what he's thinking. I see yet another coworker enter, give him the info, and all three of us start making calls. I call my boss' cell phone and get her voicemail. I don't leave a message, figuring I'll call her home number (since she frequently works from home on Thursday), but before I get a chance to dial, she calls me back.
"Hey, Nomi," she says.
"Hi," I say. "The building has no power, and they say it'll be at least noon before it's back."
"Yeah, I heard from [editor at work who gets in around 6:30 AM most days]."
"She's gone home, I figure?"
"Yeah." My boss pauses. "They're still saying noon at the earliest?"
"Yup. I'm not sure what I should do."
"Go home. Take the day."
"Uh, but... I have no work at home. And [male coworker] says the exchange server is down."
"So, take the day. Have a day off. If the e-mail comes back, check your e-mail, but otherwise just take the day."
We talk a bit more, during which time I express my discomfort with this whole "having a day off" thing and she sympathizes. She and I then determine that we should probably call others from our group to let them know about the power outage and all, and then we hang up.
I callseborn and get her voicemail. I leave a message and then call mabfan back.
"[Boss] is sending me home," I say.
"OK,"mabfan says. "Stop by here and meet my coworkers on your way home." I ask mabfan to e-mail twitch124, since I don't seem to have a phone number for her in my handheld.
As we're talking,seborn calls me back, and I tell her that, no, she's not dreaming and, yes, we have the day off, nominally. She says she'll pass the word along to twitch124, and we hang up.
I head toward the T, calling my parents on the way to tell them why I won't be calling at the time they expected me to call. "I'm being sent home from work," I tell Abba.
"Why?" he asks, with a tinge of "What did you do?" in his voice.
I explain about the power, the exchange server, the conversation with my boss, and tell him I'm off to visitmabfan and then go home. Ima picks up the other line, and I retell the story. "Take the day for you," she tells me. "Do something you don't usually do on a workday."
So, I go tomabfan's office, meet his coworkers, see saxikath there, and then I get back on the T and head home. Where I am now. So far, the "something [you] don't usually do on a workday" seems to be "sit at my diningroom table and surf the Internet." Not overly exciting, I know, but a nice change nonetheless. :-)
Coffee in hand, I head down Main St. to my office building. When I arrive, I see that the lobby is much more populous than is normal for 7:40 AM (and, in fact, more populous than is normal for any time of the day. I go up to the desk and go to swipe my access card, and the security guard says, "The building's closed; the power is out." One of the building management people (whom I recognize because she and I took a building-sponsored self-defense class together three years ago) says, "You're from [name of previous owner of my company], right? I haven't seen anyone from there yet." "When do you think the power will be back on?" I ask. "It's been out since about 8 last night, and NStar's saying it won't be back until at least noon," she replies. Hrmph, says I, and I decide to call
mabfan to tell him what's going on."My building has no power, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm going to call [my boss] and see what she says."
"You could always come here,"
mabfan says."I'll give you a call back when I know what's going on," I tell him, and hang up.
A coworker (but not from my group) comes in, and I tell her about the power outage. She figures she should call another coworker (who is a manager-type) and find out what he's thinking. I see yet another coworker enter, give him the info, and all three of us start making calls. I call my boss' cell phone and get her voicemail. I don't leave a message, figuring I'll call her home number (since she frequently works from home on Thursday), but before I get a chance to dial, she calls me back.
"Hey, Nomi," she says.
"Hi," I say. "The building has no power, and they say it'll be at least noon before it's back."
"Yeah, I heard from [editor at work who gets in around 6:30 AM most days]."
"She's gone home, I figure?"
"Yeah." My boss pauses. "They're still saying noon at the earliest?"
"Yup. I'm not sure what I should do."
"Go home. Take the day."
"Uh, but... I have no work at home. And [male coworker] says the exchange server is down."
"So, take the day. Have a day off. If the e-mail comes back, check your e-mail, but otherwise just take the day."
We talk a bit more, during which time I express my discomfort with this whole "having a day off" thing and she sympathizes. She and I then determine that we should probably call others from our group to let them know about the power outage and all, and then we hang up.
I call
seborn and get her voicemail. I leave a message and then call mabfan back."[Boss] is sending me home," I say.
"OK,"
mabfan says. "Stop by here and meet my coworkers on your way home." I ask mabfan to e-mail twitch124, since I don't seem to have a phone number for her in my handheld.As we're talking,
seborn calls me back, and I tell her that, no, she's not dreaming and, yes, we have the day off, nominally. She says she'll pass the word along to twitch124, and we hang up.I head toward the T, calling my parents on the way to tell them why I won't be calling at the time they expected me to call. "I'm being sent home from work," I tell Abba.
"Why?" he asks, with a tinge of "What did you do?" in his voice.
I explain about the power, the exchange server, the conversation with my boss, and tell him I'm off to visit
mabfan and then go home. Ima picks up the other line, and I retell the story. "Take the day for you," she tells me. "Do something you don't usually do on a workday."So, I go to
mabfan's office, meet his coworkers, see saxikath there, and then I get back on the T and head home. Where I am now. So far, the "something [you] don't usually do on a workday" seems to be "sit at my diningroom table and surf the Internet." Not overly exciting, I know, but a nice change nonetheless. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 02:54 pm (UTC)ahem.
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Date: 2006-10-26 03:00 pm (UTC)But, yeah. That's a good idea. I've got 2.5 fingers and the thumb to do on the second of a pair of funky-striped gloves. I could make a dent in that today.
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Date: 2006-10-26 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 03:32 pm (UTC)Yeah -- I've been told I have an overdeveloped sense of duty.
So now I'm figuring out this "goofing off" thing. :-)
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Date: 2006-10-26 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 03:33 pm (UTC)See you soon!
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Date: 2006-10-26 03:34 pm (UTC)As opposed to what you do at work, which is sit at your office desk and surf the Internet. :-)
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Date: 2006-10-26 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 03:55 pm (UTC)Go buy yarn...go buy yarn...go buy yarn...
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Date: 2006-10-26 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 04:30 pm (UTC)Actually, these are just things I want to do instead of working today. So I guess I just want to live vicariously through you.
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Date: 2006-10-26 07:09 pm (UTC)Well, so far today, I've faffed about on the Internet, read a bit, had lunch with a friend, and went grocery shopping. Now I'm back to faffing about, and I've got knitting and writing in my afternoon plans. Sound reasonable for the vicarious living?
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Date: 2006-10-26 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-26 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-29 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 03:49 pm (UTC)And, yeah. I felt bad for the coworker I encountered as I was leaving the office and he was coming in -- he has to take the commuter rail from somewhere out far, so he'd just schlepped all the way to the office, just to be told to go home.
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Date: 2006-10-29 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-27 03:51 pm (UTC)I had a nice relaxing day yesterday, planned Shabbat meals, went on a brief grocery trip, had lunch with a friend, and got a good chunk of Shabbat cooking done. In all, a very nice island of unexpected calm right before my crazy pre-Shabbat work-and-prep day.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-30 02:31 pm (UTC)