I came to the realization a few minutes ago that I am moving rather rapidly through a strange day. It started at about 4:00 AM when a bright flash and a sharp report woke me. It was like a strobe light going off on the street outside. A few seconds later there was a whole string of reports and strobe like flashes. I got up and slipped on a pair of jeans and walked out on the balcony. A transformer a block away, behind the complex, gave quite an impressive fireworks display as it blew out. A few moments later the familiar sound of fire trucks filed the air.
It was an early wake-up, so I padded back into the bedroom and laid down to pull out another hour or so of sleep. When I rewoke, I got ready to go to work - and my Blackberry rang - it was work, asking me to attend an early morning east coast time. I fired up the computer and logged into the meeting. Which was followed by another meeting. I glanced at the calendar, ran through the shower, dressed and headed off to the office.
I stopped at the local coffee shop, only to find myself in line behind about ten people off a tour bus. I debated skipping my morning coffee - but I always weigh the time factor. I waited for my coffee. I climbed back into the car, fired up the Pogues, and started to work. It was a relatively smooth commute and I was halfway there and I realized...
I had left my employee badge at home. We use RFID badges and proximity readers to open doors and move about on the plant. Without your badge, you get a paper badge - which means anytime you go anywhere someone else has to go with you to open the doors, or you have to stand at the door and wait for someone to show up - and unfortunately that includes such simply things as going to the bathroom or going to the breakroom. A day without your badge is highly inconvenient.
So, I looked at my watch to estimate how big of a time window I had - I was right on the threshold. I could go into the office, go through the visitor center and get a temporary badge, or turn around and go home and pick up my badge and take another meeting from home, then try to go into the office. I decided to turn around and go home and get my badge.
I got home, picked up my badge, put it on and then logged into my computer from home and went to my next teleconference - which spilled into another teleconference - which spilled into another teleconference...
So it is chasing 10:30 AM Pacific Time. I've been working since 6:30 AM and have been to five teleconferences (with three more to go), so I gave up. It is nice to have the option to work virtually, and that is what I am going to do for the rest of the day.
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