January 2004 Archives

It seemed like the week had just begun, and here it was already Thursday. I guess a holiday and two days where working was just plain impossible will do that to you. Even though the past two days I had gone home from work very early, I had made it a habbit to come into work anyway. Thursday was no different. Naturally, I was hoping that I'd be homeward bound early again; but unfortunately that wasn't about to happen.

We met at about 10:00 or so, after a good majority of everyone had arrived and we were all told the good news.

"We have to get out of here," our human resources director told us. "They've decided that they need to pull up the rug and re-sheetrock the entire place and they can't do it while we're here." Silence filled the room, most people probably remembering the two weeks it took to move into this office space in July of 2002.

"Now here's where everyone's going," he continued. "With the exception of Lisa, Scott and Kathy, who'll be working from home and Darwin and Joe who'll be holding down the fort down here, everyone will be squeezing into Grasse Mount."

Squeeze was an understatement. Grasse Mount is the name of a 200 year old building where the other half of our staff was housed. It was about three miles away from our office and it was, for the most part, filled to capacity. Moving into that building was going to mean some major lifestyle changes, as we all had nice and roomy 8'x8' cubicles where we were now.

I went and packed up everything in my cubicle. I made two piles; stuff I wasn't going to need at a temporary space, and stuff I needed, no questions asked. Fortunately, I was able to condense anything I needed into only two boxes. Everything else was going into storage while they fixed up our office space.

So I had two boxes and my computer. I decided I was only going to bring one of my computers, and my 17" LCD screen instead of my bulky 19" CRT. A moving truck was supposed to come by and pick everything up, but I wasn't about to trust my stuff to them, so I pulled my car up to the door and loaded in everything I needed, including my office chair.

By the time I got up to my new office, surprisingly the room had been cleaned out and lots of the junk that was there had been taken away to storage. I instructed the movers on a few more things I didn't want there and then commenced to set my computer up. It didn't take me long to set my computer up and the rest of the was spent helping the few other people who decided to cart their own stuff get eveything set up.

Come to find out, it was probably a good thing I brought my own stuff over because the movers didn't show up until Monday morning. Everything since then has been hectic as could be. I haven't stopped running around to keep everyone up and running in their temporary spaces. Everyone seems to be uncomfortable, especially those now working on banquet tables and those packed six to an office. Only now, near the end of the week does it seem that people are settling in to their new atmosphere.

So soon things will return back to normal -- until we have to move back.

The other day while I was grocery shopping I was faced with the choice of whether to buy a 16 ounce bag of tortilla chips or a "super sized" 20 ounce bag of tortilla chips. Thinking that I am usually pretty unhappy when I run out of chips, I thought that the larger bag would probably be the best.

I was wrong.

Here's the problem: the thin corn chips on the bottom of the bag can't withstand 20 ounces of pressure. So after eating what I estimate as 16 ounces of chips, I was left with 4 ounces of crumbs that were next to impossible to eat.

So next time you're buying tortilla chips, remember that the best value is that one bag that will have the highest average of edible chips

Monday the 19th of January was Martin Luther King Day and I had the day off. Fortunately, this was brought to my attention the Friday before, so I knew that I didn't have to work. After the events of the weekend, I had considered going in, to see how things were making out, but after some careful thought I decided against it. I had already had my Sunday ruined by having to go in, why do the same to a paid holiday? Anyways, with everything off the floor and safe, there really wasn't much I could do that couldn't wait until the entire staff came back to work.

Tuesday came and so did the need to go into work. Apparently I didn't get the call telling everyone either not to come in, or to come in a bit later, because when I got there, there were very few other people at the office, and probably for good reason. In my opinion, the place was more of a mess than when there was six inches of water in it. All of the cubicles had been pulled away from the walls, and many were in pieces. The place I once called my work space was a pile of wall panels, shelves and filing cabinet pieces.

Nothing was where it was supposed to be, people's computers, files, and other work related items were strewn all about. The conference room table was littered with CPUs and monitors, most of the ones I had drained and dried a few days earlier. A brief moment of panic set over me, thinking back to the hours upon hours I'd put into making sure that my computer inventory was perfect, and how all that time was now a waste. That soon subsided though; there wasn't anything I could do about it. What had happened was out of everyone's control, it was done and now we had to deal. After a few deep breathes I start to take a few laps around our office space.

It was loud in there. Large industrial drying fans were spaced out through the office with names like "Tornado 3" or "The Wind Tunnel" and there were dehumidifiers with their plastic tubes running out the nearest door or to the nearest sink. The carpet under my feet made a slight squishing sound as I walked as it was still quite waterlogged and the air was heavy... musty... wet. Any walls that were sheet rock had been ripped apart, about 10 or so inches from the floor and any insulation had been pulled out. Bottom line, the place was a wreck.

We convened in our building's cafeteria, which although it was on the first floor, was on higher ground and didn't get any damage. Promptly I was told to go home, which was fine, I was able to work from my house thanks to my high speed internet connection. I was happy to go home, even if I had to work. I wasn't at home a half an hour before I got a call from work telling me to take the day and do whatever I wanted and not to worry about working. How unfortunate that I had nothing to do. Well, a day off is a day off.

The next day I went into work at my normal time. I don't know if it was just force of habit, because again after walking around the office and trying hard to clean things up, I was told to go home. I guess it makes sense, the dampness that the entire area still sustained was a prime breeding ground for bacteria and sickness, and everyone knows how prone to sickness I am. I'm still getting over being sick since the first of the year... and today's the 27th of January. So I went home and actually did what work there was to do, but mostly just watched daytime TV. Just a tip on that: Don't waste your time.

I had no idea how much the fun would continue the next day...

Stay tuned for "The Flood (Part 3) - The Move"...

A lot can happen in the space of a week, the past week has been proof of that.

It all started early, early morning on Sunday the 18th. It was 6:00 or so in the morning when I hear a banging at my bedroom door.

"Mickey, your boss is on the phone." I glance at the clock and get a bearing. Sunday morning, I think. Right?

"Go to bed," I snap back at him. I mean, it's gotta be a joke, right?

"No, really Dude," he hands me the phone.

"Mickey, it's Darwin." Wow, no shit. "We have an issue. Seems that a water mane broke down at the office and there's six inches of water running through the entire place." I don't say anything. I really don't know what to say. I had just woken up, the caffiene from the night before is barely still running through my veins. "You don't have to," he continues, "but it'd be great if you could go down there and assess the situation."

My job, amongst many other things, is the main PC technician for the Alumni Relations Division at the University of Vermont. Six inches of water in my entire office was not a good thing, and good thoughts did not cross my mind. Little did I know that the computers were going to be the least of the issues that followed in the next week.

"Alright," I told him. "I'll go check it out." The phone call ended with an apology for the early telephone call. I could deal with the telephone call, it was the getting up and going into work on a Sunday that really sucked, but I realized what I needed to do and got up and drove the five minutes to the office.

It was just as bad as I had imagined when I got there. Water was easily up to my mid-shin in most places, and the unevenness of the floor was very apparent. By the time I arrived, our server room was already bailed out. Sandbags blocked the doors, and most of the water had been removed. Fortunate for us, all of our servers are on wheels which raised them over the water level. Other than removing the water that was in there and making sure no other water made it's way to them, work there was done.

The method for removing the water from the server room was load after load of 12-14 gallon wet-vacs. This worked ok, as the server room may be a little more than 100 square feet, and water was stopped from entering the room by sandbags at the door. The thing is, after the water was removed from that room, the people who work for the property management company decided that using the three or four wet-vacs would be the best way to remove the water from the rest of the office.

So as I went cubicle to cubicle to save as many computers as I could, the other workers bailed out our 4000+ square foot office space, 14 gallons at a time, with total disregard that the entire 50,000 square foot first floor had standing water. At this point, the only way to remove the water that was present would be to use high-end specialized pumps and equipment made for water removal. Of course I didn't say anything to them, it really wasn't my place.

The next few hours were spent clearing the floor of all computers. Many CPUs had water in them and they needed to be drained. All computers were opened and allowed to air out and dry. I hoped that after a good drying, most of the computers would work like nothing happened. After that it was but a waiting game. I spent a little bit more time at work picking up peoples' personal items that may have been on the floor, then I went home, Sunday already spent having got up at 6:00 in the morning.

Stayed tuned for "The Flood (Part 2) - The Aftermath"...

After over three weeks off from work between holiday vacation time and being sick, I've found that getting up at 6:30am is a lot harder than I remembered. I find myself dragging-ass even after an early morning shower, so I decided to turn to the famed energy drink to help me through the day. The only thing is, there's just so many to choose from. So I bought one of each at the local convenience store and decided to find out which one was the best.

It didn't occur to me until part way through this morning that there was going to be no way at all I'd be able to judge which one "works" the best. They're all loaded with taurine, caffeine, sugar and whatever other "energy" herbs or additives that they've thrown in. I can kind of relate this to a night of drinking -- there's a point where there's not going to be a way to pin down exactly which drink got you drunk.

I really don't know what to do with myself at this point. My legs are shaking and keeping the beat to the bluegrass music playing through my headphones; my brain is going a mile a minute and trips to the little boys room are often.

I'm also aware that I didn't get "all" of the energy drinks that are out there. Everyone and their brothers make an energy drink these days, it's the "in" thing to do. I was only able to buy the ones that the store I stopped at before work today had. That being said, lets get started.

Red Bull: In my opinion, this is the original energy drink, and probably still my favorite. I was introduce to Red Bull a good four or five years ago when my mother worked at a beverage distributor which had Vermont's Red Bull contract. Red Bull's taste isn't the best in the world, I've heard it compared to "someone pissing on a bunch of Sweet Tarts". It's pretty close, but it's also an acquired taste. I don't mind the taste of Red Bull, and it goes great with vodka.

Red Bull also makes a sugar free version of their drink. I've never actually tried it, but I think it's great for those people that can't have sugar. I'd imagine it tastes very similar, with the distinct Nutra-Sweet taste that so many sugar free drinks have.

Amp: This drink is made by the original rocket-fuel maker Mountain Dew. Why they thought Mountain Dew itself wasn't a enough is beyond me, but this stuff follows suit very well. It's in a green and black can, it's colored a nice florescent yellow-green and even has a green taste. If a color could be attributed to a taste -- this drink does it.

This drink contains Maltodextrin -- an ingredient advertised in big letters on the top of the can. It's not something I saw that was apparent in the other drinks, so I did some research. The Maltodextrin Page- "A Must for Every Competitive Race Team". Uh... yeah....

Adrenaline Rush: Made by SoBe, this has to be the most offensive garbage I've ever tasted. I took three or four drinks out of this can and the rest went down the drain. It has a sour taste that almost closed up the back of my throat. Although I'm sure it works well as an energy supplement like it's billed, getting it down to the gut is an issue. Other than the SoBe Lizards on the can, there's nothing cool about this drink.

Piranha: YUM! I must say that besides the good ol' Red Bull this was my absolute favorite drink that I had this morning. Billed as a "Phunky Fruit Punch" (yes, spelled that way!) It tasted much like I expected it to. A good fruit punchy taste with the bite that you'd expect in an energy drink. The can has a neat looking piranha on it. Between the fish on the can and the intentional spelling of phunky with a 'PH' this drink appeals to the hippy inside me. Highly recommended!

Venom: Apparently made by Snapple, I couldn't find a web site devoted to this drink like I was for the rest of them. The link goes to the Snapple website. This drink really wasn't bad, but it really wasn't good either. The taste was a bit sour, but not so offensive where I wasn't able to finish it. It tasted a bit like grapefruit, not my favorite but it passes.

Rockstar Energy Drink "Party Like a Rockstar" it says on the can. I've partied with a few rockstars, and I can assure you this is not on their list of party favors. This stuff gets away from the familiar 8ish ounce energy drink can and doubles the size directly to 16 ounces. The serving size says "8 ounces" on the back, so you're pretty much getting two cans in one. The price is the same as all the other ones, so I guess it's a pretty good deal. The Rockstar energy drink tastes very similar to Red Bull, with it's own subtle nuances that I'm sure makes it unique to the market. Not bad, but I'd still go with Red Bull over this one.

Omega Energy: This stuff tasted very similar to the Venom energy drink. Very fruity with the taste of grapefruit, and apparently passion fruit. This drink comes in a 16 ounce big-can too, so it's more bang for your buck. Advertised on the side of the can is that the drink is "High Fructose Corn Syrup Free", but it does contain crystalline fructose as the second ingredient after carbonated water. I don't know the difference, but does it much matter when there's Taurine, D-Ribose, L-Carnitine, Inositol, and Panax Ginseng in it? Not a bad drink, but I won't buy it again.

So that's that. What did I learn today? Well, besides Red Bull, the only energy drink I'll probably buy again is Piranha, because it was pretty good. In all, I drank 9 servings of energy drink since 8 this morning; it's not even noon yet. This is not something I'll ever do again.

Here it is the 15th of January of the new year and this is my first post of the year. It'd be nice to be able to use the excuse that I've been busy, but that is the exact opposite of what really happened. Sick is more like it.

It all started last year. Near the end of December I thought I was coming down with a slight cold. I had the sniffles and a slight cough, but nothing that I thought that I should be worried about.

My New Years Eve plans were to go to Porland, Maine to see Strangefolk at the State Theatre. I was very excited about the show and counted down the hours until I left. I drove to Portland by myself, kept company by Keller Williams and Strangefolk in my CD player.

The show was incredible, a review would be a post in itself. I warmed myself at the show with probably four or so drinks, the beginning of what probably didn't help my situation in the weeks to come. Afterwards, the party didn't stop. I spent a good portion of the night and the next morning with Strangefolk's bassist, Erik Glocker and our friend Jim Beam. I don't know how much I drank, no one was keeping track; the bottle was passed back and forth and schwigs were taken from it. When the bottle was empty, another one showed up, and the morning melted into....

CHECK-OUT TIME. And at 1pm, it was a late check out at that. Vermont was four hours away. My head was full of Jim Beam and cobwebs. Was I still drunk? Was I hungover? Was I sick? I knew something I wasn't. Driving home.

The person at the Fairfield Inn counter could have charged me $300 for the room that I rented that day. I wouldn't have cared, at least at that point. I needed a shower, I needed a bed, I needed to clear my head. I rented a room and commenced the next 22 hours of my life which wasn't far from a living hell.

The next day I left for Vermont at about 11 in the morning. My hangover had faded and now I was left with a dull throbbing in my head and my entire body ached. It had snowed a few inches in Portland that night and there were cars and SUVs peppering the sides and medians of the Interstate and traffic was crawling. All I wanted to do was get home.

The drive took closer to five hours than the four that it should have. I ran out of windshield wiper fluid on the way back and I wasn't about to stop to get more. I found a trick though -- I would tailgate the nearest car for a few minutes. In that time I'd hope that there was more snow than mud on their wheels. My windshield would get sprayed and I'd run the wipers. With a bit of luck most of the dirt, salt and other stuff that was restricting my view would be washed away for at least a little while.

I finally made it home and the interesting part of my year ended. I was running a fever of 103 degrees. I hurt all over and I had no energy. I would cough and feel as if I were going to pass out. I was really sick. I saw the doctor twice in the next week and a half. I started out with a bad case of the flu and ended up with pneumonia.

My vacation from work was supposed to end on the 5th of January. Needless to say I didn't return on that day. I ended up taking the entire week off. I didn't do much of anything. I didn't feel like it. There's an ass-print on my bed where I parked myself for the majority of the time and Maury helped my knowledge of 200 pound two year olds and 14 year old hookers. I spent a few days on the couch at my parent's house hoping the change of scenery would help me get better.

I returned to work this past Monday. I feel so much better. I still don't have my entire voice back, and I'm still coughing a little bit, but it's a 3000% improvment from how I felt. All-in-all I lost about 10 pounds from not being able to eat -- enough where it's noticable and people have commented on it. Now to keep it like that. I cut my hair too while I was sick -- but I've been telling people I got so sick all my hair fell out. Believe it or not, some people actually believe me.

When it comes down to it -- I'm happy to be able to be a part of working society again.