It’s been a very strange week, workwise, and not just because I’m cranky about my job. Monday my company got whang-dang-doodled by the Sasser worm, though somehow my laptop managed to escape contamination. We also had a power outage midday, which freaked all the jumpy, paranoid laptopless folks out. Yesterday I was in a meeting with some folks, and Rebecca suddenly jumped out of her chair with a freaked expression on her face: there on the floor behind me was a 3-inch-long brown bug with wings and long antennae. That broke up the meeting right quick (I wonder what the woman in Amsterdam on speakerphone must’ve thought when the commotion and screeches started? Sad but true: when it comes to bugs, I am a big dumb screechy girl.) We told the office management folks, but they didn’t want to squish it and didn’t have any lethal spray, so they put a paper cup on top of it — and there it stayed in its little insect yurt for the rest of the day.
Then late in the day yesterday, we got an email from the office manager:
Hi everyone,HazMat crews are on-site to remove a bottle containing hazardous material residue from the dumpster in building 300. The MSDS (material safety data sheet) is in the hands of the fire department and this is a precautionary measure.
When I receive a full, written explanation from the property managers I will pass it along.
A whole bunch of emergency vehicles were pulled up behind our building for the rest of the day. But that wasn’t the end of the HazMatazz, nosirree! About 20 people, many in suits and some with clipboards, were gathered around the manhole behind my office building. One guy was taking pictures of whatever was down the manhole, and some other guy was recording the whole procedure on video. No updates from our office manager as of yet, but I’m going to hold her to her promise to tell us what the hazardous material was, by gum.
And finally, someone at my company seems to have left a tiny bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All in the ladies’ room. Maybe that’s not so off-kilter in some work environments, but I can’t help but wonder what someone was gluing. (Someone in my pod suggested — in all seriousness — that it had been used for huffing purposes.)
Before this week’s work weirdness, I had a delightful, if subdued, birthday. The boy plays by the Hickson Rules — a friend of his who claims that your birthday begins 24 hours before and ends 24+ hours after your actual time of birth. We spent the actual day bowling with Ted and Teresa (I got 78, whoo!), and then drove all over creation to find a restaurant south of the city so Tomoko could meet us without suffering too long a drive from Providence. I was a little sad that she forgot it was my birthday, but I’m glad she was able to join us. We et good.
Miscellania
American Heritage (what the coolest librarian I know calls “King Thud”) guidewords du jour: typewriting to unappealing.
“The beef burrito is so good here, you’ll be screaming ‘Jose Cortez’!“
Pigs.
You are as kind as you can be, sweetie! I do frequently need to put on my frumpy librarian cardigan to keep from being too cool out at the reference desk. But given my profession, I’m obliged to correctly cite my sources - “king thud” is a coinage of our mutual friend w/double Fs, whose bloggaroonie I have linked in this entry.
Rose and I have been known to celebrate birthday months…
Also, though Janet is doubtless the coolest librarian you or anyone knows, I must claim credit for the term “King Thud.”
So, is the person in charge of calling the HazMat people named Matt? Cuz then someone could ask, “Has Matt called HazMat?”
The whole HazMat thing sounds like an episode of Kolchak, The Night Stalker (for you kids, that’s a more “hip” reference than The X-Files). Let us know what they found!