Thunderstorms and antennas

On the weekend, I was an absolute slug! I did get George and Kevin to come over. They brought fried chicken, some sort of Thai soup and lots of popcorn. We must have watched Babylon 5 for 8 hours! And that was just between Friday night and Saturday. Sunday we went out to the lake and we watched Brandy and Kevin play in the lake. Silly dog! She had so much fun chasing sticks far out into the water.

Yesterday, George and Kevin made sure I was safely in the office and then went to put the antennas back up on the tower. Kevin worked safety while George climbed the tower. It wasn’t too bad they said, until the wind picked up.

George was way up on the tower when a gust of wind nearly blew him off!

He lost his hard hat, and that nearly hit Kevin! So, he hurried up and got the new copper halo done and added the last of the antenna mountings and got down fast. By the time he was down, the thunder clouds had rolled in and lightning had started popping all over the place. George was freaking out about how fast that storm rolled in!

Kevin took pictures for me, which was cool and scary all at the same time. I hope to be able to go back out in the field later in the week.

My knee is much better now. It still twinges and I use the cane for long walks, like the store, but… I don’t need it just to get to the bathroom! I know that sounds silly, but you get up in the middle of the night needing to go and try to maneuver a cane. It isn’t as easy as it sounds.

My sister came by to visit and help me with my laundry. Mom had stopped by and brought me some chocolates and a tub of Godiva dark chocolate ice cream. Yummmm! Can you tell what I had for dinner? I’ll waddle to bed!

Techs blowing in the Wind

George and Kevin went out on at least two service calls where the wind had blown over the customer’s antennas. I thought they were joking at first, but no! Winds hit nearly 45mph at one point. Of course in the middle of this, they had to go up to the NOC as well. (Network Operations Center) Pretty fancy word for a 10ft X 10ft Tuff shed. Kevin thought that they were going to have to go up the tower, but luckily, all they needed to do was reset the server. The T-1 hiccuped. Not surprised really. Any time the wind blows or there is too much rain, all the phones in town stop working. I think that Mr. Bell put in the original lines! I’ve learned that the company does almost as many phone line repairs as they do computer repairs because the local service is so bad. Wiring that looks like spaghetti or so brittle that when you go to hook it up, it turns to powder in your hand.

George had to crawl up a ladder at one house and ended up hanging onto the roof with one hand and adjusting the antenna with the other. Kevin held the ladder still. They finally called it a day when they put the ladder up at one house and before they could climb it, the wind knocked it off the building. When they came in, George’s hair looked like someone had given him electric shock treatments. It literally stood out at all angles.

Meanwhile, I got to chase papers all over the office. I had my window open to catch a bit of the breeze, and before I knew it the wind had literally swept my desk. It took me twenty minutes to pick things up. Oh, and ten to close the window. It stuck!

Today was the busiest phone day as well. All the monthly subscriptions were up for the wireless service and everyone was calling in for instructions on how to sign in again. I don’t understand what is so difficult. You pay for the Internet on a monthly basis. Every month you sign in just like you did the month before. Idiots! Or, as Jake says… “It’s a Pebdac error.” (problem exists between desk and chair) Jake’s other favorite is an Id-10-T error. (idiot) Yes, more of those fun acronyms. Whee…..

When I wasn’t chasing papers and answering the phone, I actually got a set of minutes typed and some figures loaded into a spreadsheet. Wheeee!

Now it’s off to bed with a good book. I’m worn out.

A windblown day.

My mind is so not on work or anything that requires concentration. Not only is it a windblown day outside, but in my head as well. It has been cold and windy all day. There is even new snow on the mountains!

Thursday night, I went to dinner with my parents. They have this little Mexican restaurant that they just love. The food is good, but the music! Oh my… Well, I guess if you like Elvis, you’d be ok. However, I am not a fan and after the fourth time Blue Suede Shoes plays, I’m ready to leave. What was funny though is that my dad can eat really spicy hot food. He ordered the green chile with beans on the side and when asked mild, medium or hot, he said hot. I order mild, because even their medium stuff is too hot for me. Mom and I were eating our dinners and drinking lots of iced tea, because even the mild stuff was too hot that night. Dad is eating his, mopping his brow with a napkin because he is sweating so much. He even asks for an extra tortilla to cut the heat. It was way too hot for him, but he wouldn’t stop eating. After we finished, as we were getting into the car, he quietly said to my mom that maybe it was a little too hot this time! I never thought I’d hear my dad say that anything was too hot!

Friday at the office was quiet. Most of the techs were out and the phone only rang a couple of times. It was weird. At one point, I actually dug my knitting out of my bag. I sort of felt guilty, but there was nothing else to do. I had caught up on all the paperwork on my desk, the phone wasn’t ringing and even the inventory shelves were tidy.

Last night I went to see Iron Man after work. I got my popcorn and was sitting in the balcony all by myself when the next thing I know, George and Kevin are sitting down on either side of me. They just smiled and I just shook my head. It was like having two silly brothers with me. The movie was great. At one point, Robert Downey Jr. is doing all this cool stuff on the computers and I’m thinking how cool! Or, can they really do that? When he puts on the robotic suit for the first time and it shows all the moving parts, all I could think was how sexy that was. I started giggling and both Kevin and George wanted to know what I was laughing at, especially as it wasn’t a funny bit in the movie. I explained that I was laughing about the fact that I found the robotic suit sexy. That comment got me dubbed “Geek Girl” for the rest of the night.

This morning when I came into work, I found a cut-out of Iron Man pinned to my wall with G33k Gurl’s Pin-Up Centerfold written above it. All I could do was smile. Of course when Jake came in, George and Kevin had to tell him all about the movie and how I keep giggling and geeking out. He laughed too.  I will never live this down!

It has been slow enough this afternoon that I had time to write in this blog and even email my sister. Had to tell her all about the movie. It’s nice working half a Saturday and then be able to mess around on my work computer if I want to for a while. I really like this job.

No more French Fries,

No more cooks!

No more burgers,

Or dirty customers looks!

Wheeeee! Now for a two day weekend!!!