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2004-05-04 - 5:25 p.m.
A matter of scale Time I got to work yesterday: 7 am.
Time the movers were supposed to show up: 9 am
Time the movers did show up: 12:15 pm
Time I finally got lunch: 4 pm.
Number of boxes unpacked: 15.
Time I left work last night: 8:45 pm.
Time spent this morning hanging the scale model of the solar system: 1 hour 15 minutes +Fetching a ladder from the truck lock: 3 minutes.+Unpacking pieces of the model and getting them ready to suspend from the ceiling: 10 minutes +Attempting to figure out which planet was which: 5 minutes
Deciding the planets didn�t look right (what do I expect from a child�s model?): 3 minutes. +Locating a reference tabulating the planets� sizes and studying the relative scales only to find them inaccurately sized: 7 minutes. +Abandoned the idea of identifying planets by scale. Attempting to identify planet by color/composition of the planet atmosphere: 12 minutes (with 7 spent arguing about where sulphuric gas [Venus] emission fall in the EM spectrum [color]. +Saying the hell with it and making Mars red and Neptune sea-green based on Greek mythology: 1 minute. +Measuring the size of the office and working out the scale distance placement across the ceiling: 10 minutes. +Suckering help with the measuring: 2 minutes +Time on ladder: 15 minutes (with interruptions from passers-by asking if we was hanging them to account for the inclinations relative to the ecliptic, which were ignored.) +Time to return ladder: 10 minutes. Why does it take 10 minutes to return a ladder, you ask? (Or maybe you didn�t, but I�ll tell you anyway.) Because I now live on a floor with some engineers and mostly paper-pushers, who were aghast at me (a girl) carrying a 8 foot ladder around without a work order or maintenance crew (read that as men) accompanying frail little ole me. Slender blonde woman stops me in the hallway (cause it�s always helpful to stop someone carrying something):
Are you okay?
Yes, I�m fine thanks.
Are you sure? I can get some of the guys to help.
I blink, but decide that I should be polite since I just moved into this area.No, I�ve got it.
Are you sure? You�re an awful little girl for that big ladder.Shocked, I think loudly �You did *not* just say that to me. Not in the 21st century.� But, I am saved from saying more because the elevator arrives and I exit stage center. When I went to fetch the drill and screw driver, I took the opposite route to my office, successfully avoiding the strange and frail creatures who inhabit the hallway near the elevator lest the thought of a girl with tools frighten them.
Time I started writing today�s 10 am presentation: 9:40 am. But (aaaah) the office is all set up.
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Scribble to Theo
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