What did we do before Cell Phones
Sep. 12th, 2002 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geminigirlSo, this morning during NOVA Commute Hell....
I'm on Telegraph Road, heading towards Duke Street, on my way to work. Some guy in a white van tries to cut me off. Badly. I slam on my brakes and swerve to avoid hitting him head on. I manage to miss him just barely. He clearly wasn't looking; I could see my reflection in his rear view mirror. So after that little heart pounding incident, I get onto Quaker Lane and it's backed up even more than usual...but I get anyway, and wade through the traffic, calling to let my boss know I was stuck in heavier traffic than usual and I would be a few minutes late. As I'm getting to the entrance ramp to 395, my car starts making an odd noise....I figure I must have picked something up and I'm almost to work, so I'll figure it out in a few minutes. I get onto the entryway, and the noise goes from thumpy to grinding. I pull into the only spot remotely safe to stop in (not a great spot...the ramp divides into three sections, I was in the median) to see what's wrong and my right front tire is totally flat. Pancacke flat. There's no way I'm getting to work flat. I call AAA from my cell phone, who say "Stay there, we'll call you back and let you know when we're coming." I make three phone calls to work to let people know what's going on-no one was in their office. I wait for AAA to arrive about 40 minutes after I call. In, out, over, the tow truck driver changes my tire. I'd have still been fighting to get the nuts off if I'd done it myself. I get to work about 90 minutes late. It could have been worse.
I fight with SPSS for the rest of the morning. On Tuesday while I was still home sick, my boss calls me..."You're the only one who knows SPSS. Gabe (the admin assistant who left last Friday) didn't enter any of the Youth Speak data. Can you do it tomorrow?" I come in Wednesday and thankfully don't have to start building SPSS databases, just get the data entered. And there were a few things that would have caused a crisis if anyone else had tried to do it, that I could resolve easily. But because of the messes, it didn't get finished til this morning. At least it's done. I've gotten more thanks than I could imagine for doing it. Hello...it was data entry.
Lunchtime. I go to Sears to see if they can patch the tire, figuring if they can't, I'm already there to buy new tires. A.A., my co-worker offered to go along with me...just to be sure that no one tried to mess with me, tell me I needed stuff I didn't, and so on. I decide on two new front tires, and offer to buy AA lunch. He looks at me, he says "You just bought tires. You don't need to buy me lunch...you spent a lot of money."
We have lunch, wander the mall, go back to get the car, but it's not ready. He takes his car back to the office, I hang around Landmark Mall and wait for the car to be finished.
I did find an incredibly sexy pair of boots. On sale too. I didn't buy them, I need to try them on with a shorter skirt...but they're almost knee high, with a low, chunky heel, and they lace all the way up, plus they've got a side zipper, so they're really speed laced. I'm thinking they might be a go. But they're sooooo sexy. I went "swooon" when I saw them. I also wasn't wearing hose today and I'd need to be wearing hose to try the boots on.
Tires and associated costs, plus an alignment for the car was about $200. Feh.
But I come back to work and uberboss A. is thrilled that the SPSS stuff is done.
Amusing moment of the day...
J. our assistant director is a sort of busty woman. She's also a nursing mom. S., JM and I were sitting together, and J came in to ask about my car. S. joked that J and the department should pay for it. J. comments that she already did her part...by getting A. to go with me. J. then says, "do you know what my best assest is?" with her hands just about cupping her breasts. Not one of us failed to notice and we were all giggling. The breast-cupping was totally unconscious.
Things that made my day a bit less grumpy...
1. Hearing uberboss A. say "You look thinner, have you lost weight?"
2. Getting a hug from uberboss A. when I grumped about the rotten week I've had. (Two days sick, having to battle with SPSS, flat tire...)
It's just nice to be able to get a hug from someone when your day sucked. Hugs are important. (And I realize a lot of people will think that it's weird that people in my office are affectionate...but hugging is fairly common here, and I. my officemate doesn't leave Fridays without a hug goodbye.)
3. The surveys from my program are being analyzed by our evaluators...and it looks like my program has been going very very well. I won't know until I see the final data, later on.
I'm on Telegraph Road, heading towards Duke Street, on my way to work. Some guy in a white van tries to cut me off. Badly. I slam on my brakes and swerve to avoid hitting him head on. I manage to miss him just barely. He clearly wasn't looking; I could see my reflection in his rear view mirror. So after that little heart pounding incident, I get onto Quaker Lane and it's backed up even more than usual...but I get anyway, and wade through the traffic, calling to let my boss know I was stuck in heavier traffic than usual and I would be a few minutes late. As I'm getting to the entrance ramp to 395, my car starts making an odd noise....I figure I must have picked something up and I'm almost to work, so I'll figure it out in a few minutes. I get onto the entryway, and the noise goes from thumpy to grinding. I pull into the only spot remotely safe to stop in (not a great spot...the ramp divides into three sections, I was in the median) to see what's wrong and my right front tire is totally flat. Pancacke flat. There's no way I'm getting to work flat. I call AAA from my cell phone, who say "Stay there, we'll call you back and let you know when we're coming." I make three phone calls to work to let people know what's going on-no one was in their office. I wait for AAA to arrive about 40 minutes after I call. In, out, over, the tow truck driver changes my tire. I'd have still been fighting to get the nuts off if I'd done it myself. I get to work about 90 minutes late. It could have been worse.
I fight with SPSS for the rest of the morning. On Tuesday while I was still home sick, my boss calls me..."You're the only one who knows SPSS. Gabe (the admin assistant who left last Friday) didn't enter any of the Youth Speak data. Can you do it tomorrow?" I come in Wednesday and thankfully don't have to start building SPSS databases, just get the data entered. And there were a few things that would have caused a crisis if anyone else had tried to do it, that I could resolve easily. But because of the messes, it didn't get finished til this morning. At least it's done. I've gotten more thanks than I could imagine for doing it. Hello...it was data entry.
Lunchtime. I go to Sears to see if they can patch the tire, figuring if they can't, I'm already there to buy new tires. A.A., my co-worker offered to go along with me...just to be sure that no one tried to mess with me, tell me I needed stuff I didn't, and so on. I decide on two new front tires, and offer to buy AA lunch. He looks at me, he says "You just bought tires. You don't need to buy me lunch...you spent a lot of money."
We have lunch, wander the mall, go back to get the car, but it's not ready. He takes his car back to the office, I hang around Landmark Mall and wait for the car to be finished.
I did find an incredibly sexy pair of boots. On sale too. I didn't buy them, I need to try them on with a shorter skirt...but they're almost knee high, with a low, chunky heel, and they lace all the way up, plus they've got a side zipper, so they're really speed laced. I'm thinking they might be a go. But they're sooooo sexy. I went "swooon" when I saw them. I also wasn't wearing hose today and I'd need to be wearing hose to try the boots on.
Tires and associated costs, plus an alignment for the car was about $200. Feh.
But I come back to work and uberboss A. is thrilled that the SPSS stuff is done.
Amusing moment of the day...
J. our assistant director is a sort of busty woman. She's also a nursing mom. S., JM and I were sitting together, and J came in to ask about my car. S. joked that J and the department should pay for it. J. comments that she already did her part...by getting A. to go with me. J. then says, "do you know what my best assest is?" with her hands just about cupping her breasts. Not one of us failed to notice and we were all giggling. The breast-cupping was totally unconscious.
Things that made my day a bit less grumpy...
1. Hearing uberboss A. say "You look thinner, have you lost weight?"
2. Getting a hug from uberboss A. when I grumped about the rotten week I've had. (Two days sick, having to battle with SPSS, flat tire...)
It's just nice to be able to get a hug from someone when your day sucked. Hugs are important. (And I realize a lot of people will think that it's weird that people in my office are affectionate...but hugging is fairly common here, and I. my officemate doesn't leave Fridays without a hug goodbye.)
3. The surveys from my program are being analyzed by our evaluators...and it looks like my program has been going very very well. I won't know until I see the final data, later on.
