Saturday, September 24, 2016

Streaming, or typing just for the sake of emptying my head.

It's embarassing, how long it took me to figure out how to add a new post.  I knew if I clicked things long enough, something was bound to work.

It's the first Saturday in Autumn, a bit warm, but a beautful day after a rainy and eventful week.

On Monday, I noticed the coffee pot in the office wasn't working, tried to track down someone in maintenance to check the breaker, but before anyone could respond, everything electrical on that side of the room started going nuts.  The copier began flashing, the light on the coffee pot got bright, then faded out, and then came the awful sound of something definitely not right, and THEN the smoke started pouring from behind the coffee pot.  Holy crap, it was a fire.

Once upon a time, I was good in emergencies.  Kept a cool head, took care of the situation and only then did my knees turn to jelly.  Those days are gone.  I came out from behind that desk, flew out into the hall calling HELP, MY OFFICE IS ON FIRE.  Luckily for all of us, there were a couple of quick thinking inmates in the hallway.  They rushed in, disconnected the surge protector, and in spite of all the smoke, there might not have been a fire, after all.  I don't know for sure, I was still out in the hall, eyes bigger than saucers, wondering what to say in the incident report.

My supervisor is the classification coordinator.  I asked if she could put the inmates who helped so quickly in for merit days off of their sentence, and she did.  One thing for sure...people make mistakes and pay for them, but when they do something meritorious, they deserve something for it. Both guys were in for nonviolent crimes and are getting out soon.  Another day or two wouldn't make much difference to society, but would mean a lot to them.  I wish them well and hope they make the most of the rest of their lives in a good way.

That little experience left me embarrassed and and with enough adrenalin to run the rest of the week.

The Parks family reunion is today.  All my cousins are gathering somewhere in Moore County, and while I want to go, I have decided to stay home and enjoy some peace and quiet.  A little meditation. A little mindless keyboard prattle.  Me time.  Ain't nothing like it.