Quote of the Day - August 9, 2008

Maybe if we all stop bathing, the water bill will go down.

- a piece of paper taped to the wall in the stairwell of my apartment building

Is That Suppose to be on Fire?

So, I finished my book report and made a bunch of notes on my trip report, so I rewarded myself with a spontaneous drive to Galveston. I took the "scenic" route, which passed a LOT of power lines and a couple of power plants. At one point, I noticed flames coming out of the top of a tower at a power plant (or did it have something to do with oil?). Unfortunately, I had my camera set to low resolution, so it's hard to see, but it's right in the center of the picture. When I drove back later, the fire was out. So... is it suppose to do that?

Quote of the Day - July 1, 2008

How did you manage that?

- a coworker, after another coworker announced that his wife was pregnant

Panic Like a Trapped Chipmunk

I was headed outside today at work when I spotted a chipmunk trapped in the airlock. (No, not that kind of airlock.) He was totally freaking out, running up walls and trying his darndest to get away from me and get out. Unfortunately, "away from me" was his top priority, so the fact that I was holding the door open to the outside made him somewhat disinterested in that exit. Having grown up with indoor/outdoor cats who were free to roam in and out of their own door (and bring friends in with them), I have plenty of experience dealing with panicked critters in confined spaces. I almost screwed up, however, when I pressed the handicap button to hold the door open while I swung around and chased the chipmunk outside. That particular button opens both the inner and outer door at the same time(defeating the purpose of the airlock, if you ask me). The inner door opened toward him, thankfully, and I discouraged him from scampering around the door and into the building by running into the doorway. Now that I was no longer standing between him and freedom, he quickly found the true exit and ran into the grass by the sidewalk.