What dedicated souls some of us are. We come into work early, work through breaks and lunch. And we leave... late. Sometimes we take work home with us too.
Tomorrow I'm working late. Not really because I want to, but because that is the only time I can work late. So while everyone else on the floor is, well, drinking - I will be working. What dedication.
I should really point out that what I'm doing is actually pretty important and can only be done outside of normal working hours. It involves taking down all printing throughout the building, removing and re-installing applications and logging into each printer to make a small change. All going well, I should be done quite quickly as in done by about 8:30. About three hours in other words. And I'm looking forward to it as it's a wee bit of a challenge to do what I have to do in the short time available.
This has involved a lot of steps. Talking to vendors. Working with technical people. Working with project managers. A bit of data analysis. Talking to people. Teeing up "things" to happen. Crossing the i's and dotting the t's. Making sure I understand everything so I can ensure that everyone else understands. Great stuff. Tomorrow I'll probably zip around making sure everyone understands what is going on. I'll brief those who will be affected. I'll tell others what to expect while I'm away for a weeks training. That should be enough to get over any post-quake lethagy.
I have to admit. I don't have a great deal of admiration for those that work extremely long hours unless they are a) setting up a business or b) are working a job as a lifestyle. If they are slaving away just to get ahead, I believe they are setting a bad example. What are they going to do from there and if they have families, are they being sacrifaced just to allow this person to get one step ahead on the ladder?
I'll be content in the fact that work will be printing better because I worked late on a Friday. I hope they appreciate it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Earthquake Survival Guide
If you plan having an earthquake, have it at 4:35 in the morning
This will guarantee that most people will be safely tucked up in bed. The likelihood of large numbers of shoppers out on the streets will be eliminated and it's really only a few night owls who most likely will be too drunk to notice the difference.
If you have an earthquake at 4:35 in the morning, make sure your building code is up to scratch
No good having the majority of your population tucked up in bed if the house or abode comes crashing down around their ears. This sort of defeats the purpose of having the population off the streets during the earthquake.
Torches
You can never have too many of them.
Battery Radios
You can never have too many of them
Inverters
Realistically you can only have one, but if you have several cars... Also Subaru's would be good for inverters as they use batteries that could power a small town.
Water
The more the merrier. Keep it fresh as well, so that water that was stored away two years ago, won't be too flash.
Cooking
Barbeque's all of a sudden go from being a luxury to a necessity. Also gas hobs are great. You need not sacrifice that morning coffee.
If the initial earthquake is scary, aftershocks are just plain mean
They keep you awake, they send you scurrying under the doorframe, they damage stuff, they put you on edge, they are unpredictable...
Solar power during power outages
A little untested as the power wasn't off for long enough. The idea of solar power for the hot water is good, but I'm not sure if the pump works of the grid.
Canterbury people are as accurate as quake drums
Taken a bit of practice but we are becoming as good at measuring earthquakes as a quake drum. And it becomes a bit of a competition. Only major failure is everyone SWORE that 5.1 shake was much bigger.
This will guarantee that most people will be safely tucked up in bed. The likelihood of large numbers of shoppers out on the streets will be eliminated and it's really only a few night owls who most likely will be too drunk to notice the difference.
If you have an earthquake at 4:35 in the morning, make sure your building code is up to scratch
No good having the majority of your population tucked up in bed if the house or abode comes crashing down around their ears. This sort of defeats the purpose of having the population off the streets during the earthquake.
Torches
You can never have too many of them.
Battery Radios
You can never have too many of them
Inverters
Realistically you can only have one, but if you have several cars... Also Subaru's would be good for inverters as they use batteries that could power a small town.
Water
The more the merrier. Keep it fresh as well, so that water that was stored away two years ago, won't be too flash.
Cooking
Barbeque's all of a sudden go from being a luxury to a necessity. Also gas hobs are great. You need not sacrifice that morning coffee.
If the initial earthquake is scary, aftershocks are just plain mean
They keep you awake, they send you scurrying under the doorframe, they damage stuff, they put you on edge, they are unpredictable...
Solar power during power outages
A little untested as the power wasn't off for long enough. The idea of solar power for the hot water is good, but I'm not sure if the pump works of the grid.
Canterbury people are as accurate as quake drums
Taken a bit of practice but we are becoming as good at measuring earthquakes as a quake drum. And it becomes a bit of a competition. Only major failure is everyone SWORE that 5.1 shake was much bigger.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
What have we learnt from the last month
Hadn't realised it's been nearly two years since I updated this. Should make a better effort.
Anyway, the last month has been *interesting* for us Cantabrian's. As many people will know, on the 4th of September, most of us were shaken from our beds to the tune of Magnitude 7.1. For me it was a bit of a blur. I was sort of asleep at 4:35, but I wasn't sound asleep as 10 minutes before, one of our cats wanted desperately to go outside. Then my wife decided work was more important than sleeping. So just as I went back to sleep - RUMBLE, then BANG.
I grabbed my dressing gown and attempted to go to our sons room, but I'm pretty sure I was thrown off my feet and found it difficult to get through the door. In fact I have difficulty remembering much as it went on for so long. One thing I was sure of at the time was this was a big one.
I didn't know how big it was. I didn't know where it was. A chilling thought entered my head that hundreds possibly thousands could be dead. By the miracle of timing, no-one died but at the time who knew? I said to my wife that the Alpine fault had ruptured. I had read about it only two days before.
As things settled, I worked out the house was fine and we were safe. Despite the fact the kids both had torches, neither of them had them around at the time, so our daughter got the torch while our son had the iPod screen for light. Aftershocks followed pretty quickly but compared to the main shock, they felt small despite the fact they were in the vicinity of 5.6.
From there I had to find out what was going on. We had a battery radio that was on at the time so we listened to Vicky McKay on National Radio. As the reports started to come in, it seemed to take on a North Island bias. "Sounds like a North Island event rather than a South Island event" was what Vicky said. However, it soon became apparent, it was not only South Island event but a very local event. In fact, very near Charing Cross between State Highway 1 and Darfield. And to Vicky's credit, she was cool and reassuring and slipped into emergency mode without missing a beat.
As the morning progressed, I dared to clean up as much of the broken glass as I could with the light that was available. At this stage, the earthquake was 7.4 and there was widespread destruction whatever that meant. Then there was the Morning Report music on the radio. This must be bad because there is a special Morning Report. Mary Wilson was on and there was a lot more info coming in. Apart from the power not being on, the enormity of what was happening hadn't really dawned on me. The sun started coming up and I ventured out. The neighbours were all fine, but the church around the corner had lost it's cross.
I had been awake for about four hours on this Saturday morning that we would never forget. And there was more to go.
Anyway, the last month has been *interesting* for us Cantabrian's. As many people will know, on the 4th of September, most of us were shaken from our beds to the tune of Magnitude 7.1. For me it was a bit of a blur. I was sort of asleep at 4:35, but I wasn't sound asleep as 10 minutes before, one of our cats wanted desperately to go outside. Then my wife decided work was more important than sleeping. So just as I went back to sleep - RUMBLE, then BANG.
I grabbed my dressing gown and attempted to go to our sons room, but I'm pretty sure I was thrown off my feet and found it difficult to get through the door. In fact I have difficulty remembering much as it went on for so long. One thing I was sure of at the time was this was a big one.
I didn't know how big it was. I didn't know where it was. A chilling thought entered my head that hundreds possibly thousands could be dead. By the miracle of timing, no-one died but at the time who knew? I said to my wife that the Alpine fault had ruptured. I had read about it only two days before.
As things settled, I worked out the house was fine and we were safe. Despite the fact the kids both had torches, neither of them had them around at the time, so our daughter got the torch while our son had the iPod screen for light. Aftershocks followed pretty quickly but compared to the main shock, they felt small despite the fact they were in the vicinity of 5.6.
From there I had to find out what was going on. We had a battery radio that was on at the time so we listened to Vicky McKay on National Radio. As the reports started to come in, it seemed to take on a North Island bias. "Sounds like a North Island event rather than a South Island event" was what Vicky said. However, it soon became apparent, it was not only South Island event but a very local event. In fact, very near Charing Cross between State Highway 1 and Darfield. And to Vicky's credit, she was cool and reassuring and slipped into emergency mode without missing a beat.
As the morning progressed, I dared to clean up as much of the broken glass as I could with the light that was available. At this stage, the earthquake was 7.4 and there was widespread destruction whatever that meant. Then there was the Morning Report music on the radio. This must be bad because there is a special Morning Report. Mary Wilson was on and there was a lot more info coming in. Apart from the power not being on, the enormity of what was happening hadn't really dawned on me. The sun started coming up and I ventured out. The neighbours were all fine, but the church around the corner had lost it's cross.
I had been awake for about four hours on this Saturday morning that we would never forget. And there was more to go.
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