As many of you know, I wear fire retardant coveralls to work every day. While very convenient in the fact that I don’t have to decide what to wear nor bother with makeup, hair, etc., they have the side effect of often times feeling less than lovely. So, a while back, I decided that on the Fridays I have to work, I’ll dress up (normally meaning jeans, a nice shirt, and done hair). Fridays are an ideal time to not wear Nomex, because there are fewer people around and less chance of needing to go outside to the unit (which is why we wear the Nomex). With the hurricane, holidays, and other happenings, I haven’t been able to do this to regularly, but today I figured I could.
Last night, in preparation, I washed my clothing of choice and set my alarm for half an hour earlier. I normally get up at 5:45 am so I can leave by 6:00 am, but with a morning shower (as opposed to afternoon), doing my hair and makeup, and etc., I figured I’d need a little more time. When I woke up at a quarter after I jumped out of bed (instead of trying to steal a few more minutes) and started getting ready. Shower: check. Hair blown dry: check. Hair curled: check. Teeth brushed: check. Clothed: check. I was just getting ready to put on my makeup when I decided I’d better check the time. I had a feeling I was running a little late, which would limit the amount of makeup I’d have time to put on. Sure enough, it was a minute after. . . except, not a minute after 6:00 am like I expected. No, my bedroom clock read 1:01 am! I thought something had happened to it. I rushed to the living room to check the clock there. Same time. Finally I pulled out my cell phone, since it automatically updates. Sure enough it was just after 1:00 am. I must have woken up naturally at 12:15 am (only 2 hours after I went to bed) and still been so tired I somehow missed that a) the alarm hadn’t gone off, and b) the clock said 12 and not 5! I felt so stupid! To make matters worse, I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there for a few minutes trying to wrap my head around what had happen and figure out what to do next. Eventually I put on some clean jammies and went back to bad, but not to restful sleep. No, no, I had terrible dreams about being late to work because I was right and the clocks were wrong. Just as I was calling my supervisor to let him know I was going to be late, I turned to look at the time, and as I did I woke up and was looking at my clock: 2:40 am and it was still dark out, so I figured I wasn’t missing work. I finally fell back asleep, woke up at 5:45, got all pretty (minus the shower and hair, since that was already done) and sure enough, was late to work, though not the three hours I had dreamed.
The kicker? I ended up having to go outside anyway, with my Nomex pulled over my nice clothes. And since it was a pretty hot day, I was all sweaty when I came back inside. Too bad for looking pretty!!!
Friday, December 30, 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
12/05/2005
For any of you who know my mother's "hah faws" (high falls) experience with southern accents (and even those who don't know), you may be interested in knowing that I have had a "hah faws" experience of my own.
I was out at the unit picking up some samples to take to the lab. I had gone over straight from the morning meeting and hadn't been able to get a little go cart, so I was driving my own car. As I was taking the samples out to the car, Don, my production specialist, told me I better protect my little car by taking some "why paws" to put underneath the sample basket.
"Why paws?!!" As in, why would paws protect my car? And what paws are we talking about anyway? No way I'm letting one of the many feral animals we have near my car! I was utterly confused and I'm sure it showed. "You know, why paws," Don repeated as he handed me a few of the heavy duty napkins we use in the refinery. When the confused look remained, he got out the box they had come in. "WypAlls" was written on the front.
"Oh, WIPE ALLS," I said, exaggerating the 'p' and 'l' sounds. "Yeah, why paws. Don't they teach ya'll to speak up there in Yankee country?" By this time, the rest of the operators were practically rolling on the floor in laughter and I had to stick up for CO. I pointed out that at least in CO, we learn how to spell. No wyp instead of wipe for us! At which point he ungraciously had to point out that "WypAlls" were made by a Denver company, which he backed up by pointing it out on the box to me.
"Well," I replied, "it's probably a company created by some of you Texans who are taking over our beautiful state!" So we diverged into discussing the relative merits of our respective states, the truck versus shoebox (as he calls my car) debate, and all other manners of friendly banter.
Gosh, it's hard work being an engineer! ;)
I was out at the unit picking up some samples to take to the lab. I had gone over straight from the morning meeting and hadn't been able to get a little go cart, so I was driving my own car. As I was taking the samples out to the car, Don, my production specialist, told me I better protect my little car by taking some "why paws" to put underneath the sample basket.
"Why paws?!!" As in, why would paws protect my car? And what paws are we talking about anyway? No way I'm letting one of the many feral animals we have near my car! I was utterly confused and I'm sure it showed. "You know, why paws," Don repeated as he handed me a few of the heavy duty napkins we use in the refinery. When the confused look remained, he got out the box they had come in. "WypAlls" was written on the front.
"Oh, WIPE ALLS," I said, exaggerating the 'p' and 'l' sounds. "Yeah, why paws. Don't they teach ya'll to speak up there in Yankee country?" By this time, the rest of the operators were practically rolling on the floor in laughter and I had to stick up for CO. I pointed out that at least in CO, we learn how to spell. No wyp instead of wipe for us! At which point he ungraciously had to point out that "WypAlls" were made by a Denver company, which he backed up by pointing it out on the box to me.
"Well," I replied, "it's probably a company created by some of you Texans who are taking over our beautiful state!" So we diverged into discussing the relative merits of our respective states, the truck versus shoebox (as he calls my car) debate, and all other manners of friendly banter.
Gosh, it's hard work being an engineer! ;)
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