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Quoted from an email I just sent to the head of my day-job's IT department and HR: This evening, as I was preparing to leave, my car's electrical system suddenly crapped out. No power, no turning over of the engine -- even the power locks and gearshift didn't work.
Not being particularly automotively-minded, this sent me into a state of panic.
In looking through my car's handbook, I figured I needed to check the battery and the fuses. I opened the hood, but could see nothing in the gloom. The parking garage of our building is dark, and I have no flashlight in my car (something to be remedied, indeed!).
I came back up to the office to see if I could beg, borrow, or steal a flashlight to check out the electrical issues. [M] and [K] came back down to my car with me. (User Support has a whole new meaning, here!)
When I tried to start my car when they accompanied me, it STARTED. I popped the hood again, and the [day-job] IT department quickly figured out the problem.
I just got back my car from some collision bodywork last week. Apparently, what happened was that the screw holding down the bracket that holds the car battery was either never replaced or not screwed in tightly enough. This caused the connections to loosen, denying my car of power.
With great speed and insight, [M] and [K] figured this out. They tightened the battery connections, and even found an appropriately-sized screw to fasten down the bracket!
They are my heroes.
I ask that this "going above and beyond the call of IT duty" be added to their records, and figure on their reviews for this year. Because not only did they ease my panic and fear, they helped me get my car going again.
(I'll check the bracket tomorrow morning, before I come in; if there's a problem, I'll hit up my dealership.)
Sincerely,
Chad Underkoffler
[day-job] Chief Editor In other news, I need to purchase a flashlight and basic tool kit for the car. Recommendations? Tags: day-job, gah, mental health, philosophy
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Got my car back from the body shop. WOOT! (Comparison: driving the rental was like when I'd go camping in Boy Scouts, wearing my sturdyhiking boots -- unwieldy, but able to be adjusted to. However, when I'd get home and put on my sneaks, I felt like I could fly. Same thing here between the boat-like Pontiac Grand Prix and my awez Toyota Matrix.) Spent some time hanging with awez gf ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ka_crow, and admired her new tats. Forced aforesaid awez gf to watch some Justice League: specifically, the 3-part pilot and "This Little Piggy." BTW -- kingofbreakfast, I do not know if you actually read me, but YOU WARPED HER MIND! "TLP" is possibly my fave JLU ep; I am happy to inflict it on others. HOWEVER, given Misty, I believe you, sir, are hacking the Matrix. ;) No dresden-work tonight, oh my droogies. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, after day-job work is handled, the laundry is in the machino, and the cats' ass sand has been scooped. Tags: batman, day-job, dresden, game design, gaming, work journal
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Today: * I telecommuted from the day-job, and did a vast amount of work. * Made time to have coffee with fenriss, where she gave me her and ericrowe's late Chadtoberfest presents: a B&N gift card and a set of devil horns you wear on your head, red and black, that she got at Faire. (I may try 'em on and take pictures!) * Stopped at the grocery to buy some supplies -- including sammitch fixings and an inexpensive one cup coffee thingy. ( tacschoene, I don't think I'll need yours now!) * Made a good start on the second (complicated and extensive) chapter I'm working on for the Dresden Files RPG from Evil Hat Productions. * Entered an arrangement (detailed hither and yon) with aforementioned Evil Hat Productions to ease some of my gaming production woes. * Made a strange little "quick chili-slash-spaghetti-slash-curry sauce" over whole wheat couscous for dinner. Was yum. Have enough leftovers for a couple days. Yay! * Figured out how to kill two birds with one stone. ( boadiccea, if I have this figured right, you'll owe me sixty-one cents!) * Am about to sit down and watch some Mind Control, yo. A very good day, indeed. Tags: asmp, chadtoberfest, day-job, dresden, evilhat, food, work journal
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So, I'll be leaving the office this afternoon around 4:30 to begin State College Palooza '07 by picking up benliblit at Nat'l. Then some running around, kitty-feeding, dinner-getting, duffle-grabbing, coffee-filling, and then it's late night drivey-drive-drive into the wilds of Central PA. Online communications will be spotty from tonight until Sunday, so if you have something you want me to look at when I get back, either post a message here or drop me an email. If it's an emergency, call my cell. Otherwise, be cool, mambo kats and kittens. Tags: day-job, trip
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Here are some updates on my recent polls and stuff: http://chadu.livejournal.com/472079.html* I'll pick up the first Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher tonight at work, along with some sweet Moleskine cahiers. (Was able to watch the TV show last night after the MG signing at B&N, too. Yay! Liked it, quite a bit.) * After I finish Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, I'll read the Jim Butcher. * After that, I'm picking up a Christopher Moore book. As I've said, I've read Practical Demonkeeping and Lamb, so I need to pick one. Note I usually prefer to read in publication order (take that, CS Lewis! Hah!). ( new poll )* I will be submitting ZoZ for the OAs, because bar_sinister is teh awezum. I'll also be submitting it for the ENnies, when they come around. * Many of you believe that the video for Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" was state of the art video-making in 1985. Many of you are apparently smoking crack while websurfing. http://chadu.livejournal.com/472634.html* I am probably gonna attend Balticon, because it's essentially local. * I am strongly considering going to Gen Con Indy. Strongly. I need to work out the travel, day-job vacay, and rooming issues, and overcome my nervousness about going to such a big con. Also, I'm feeling weird that GCI usually overlaps Chadtoberfest (actual), as it does again this year. http://chadu.livejournal.com/473574.html* I think I'm counting 4 maybes for seeing Pan's Labyrinth down here in Virginny. * Crap. I just noticed that Stranger than Fiction is playing at the Drunkhouse. Will it still be there on Sabaday night? That is all. Tags: asmp, day-job, dc-metro, gaming, movies, sf&f, trip, zoz
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still sick