A little news




Yay.   Now if I could qualify as the only employee in the county......

 

It was a Red Touch Yellow Snake!!!!

The date was June 16th, 2011.  The Lieutenant had just walked past my cubicle on the rug between my opening and the one just across the way.  He passed beyond the cubicle opening and was heading towards his office door when he turned back to say something to me.  Instead, I heard him say, "Is that a snake?  Who put that there?  Is it a rubber snake?" 

I turned in my chair and looked back to see this colorful snake stretched out along the rug, just beside the wall of the cubicle across from me.  Maybe ten feet away.  About the time I turned and Lt. was taking a step towards the thing on the rug, it moved!  I picked my feet up and Lt. took a step backwards.

Things got a little frantic.  The office became a hive of activity with two of the guys headed for higher ground and two more heading towards the little visitor on the rug.  One of the guys plopped a trash bin upside down atop the slithering serpent as it tried to round the corner and take shelter under our briefing table. 

Oh, no!  The snake managed to escape the Rubbermaid receptacle.  Using the edge of the can to sweep the colorful thing backwards from the table, he managed to push it towards the cubicle wall near the opening.  Oh, that's good, but it wouldn't be trapped.  Another of the guys rushed up and together they stomped the snake against the rug and the cubicle wall.  Finally they managed to get their shoes on the body of the snake pinning it down and the one man leaned down, whipping out his knife and opening the blade up.  Slice.  He cut  the head off.

The body was tipped into a bag and the guys thought the head was there as well.  It wasn't. 

After a search in all areas the guys had moved around with this snake-in-a-bag, the head was located on the floor in the very area where it had been cut from the body.  The guy who decapitated the snake kept saying that this variety didn't have fangs and couldn't strike at anyone.  He said it needed to get hold of soft tissue and chew on it, in order to kill prey.  That wasn't much comfort to know.    I think I blurted out that I didn't really need the snake's resume - just please, please PLEASE find that head!
Thank goodness, I work with brave men and women.  The guys surely know how to take care of snakes and the lady with her camera was able to document the actions of some of the non-snake handling men.




Coral Snake - held by the snake killer and hero of the morning

 



 

Poor Copy Machine.

We have a fantastic copy machine at work.  It is a real workhorse that holds a ream of  8.5 x 11 paper in each of 3 trays, plus a ream of legal size in the fourth tray.  This modern marvel copies, sorts, collates, scans, faxes and dispenses coffee from a special stainless steel pot that sits on the left hand side.  Well, I may have exaggerated about the coffee.  We have to make that ourselves and pour our own from the thermos carafe.

 And the coffee station is nowhere near the copier. 

But the thing does just about everything else and is such a fine color copier that nearly everybody in the building runs by our office when they need a special job run.  We can scan in images and send email from the copier in TIFF, JPEG or Adobe formats.   We have forms in the document server that print at the push of a button The company that gives service to the machine has been known to send out a service technician just because they haven't heard from us in a while and wanted to be sure things were going well.  Oh, and while on site, they may as well check and clean the device.  No charge.  The company does not have an X in the name.  I will not tell the actual corporation - but the name rhymes with havin'.  As in, I'm not havin' any other brand of copier on the premises.  Others may extol the joys of the ex-rocks copier.  I'll keep what I got. 

All this to say that some folks ran into a panic situation this morning.  The FDLE employee who works out of our office went to the copier to run some forms through.  He picked the finished job out of the paper tray and then went "Uh Oh!" 

"What's wrong", someone asked.

I wasn't really listening, being concentrated on researching some stuff on my computer.  I kind of picked up the problem by osmosis.  It seemed there was a paper clip showing up on each page of the finished copy.  Right about the middle of the page.  Someone said  to open the document feeder and see if a clip had fallen in - Another person said to stop running copies in case there was a clip inside the machine and we caused a jam, or worse - by continuing to run copies.   Another voice chimed in to say we needed to call for service before we messed the machine up. 

At that point, I sat up and looked over at the briefing table where a couple of folks were inspecting the flawed copy.  One of the employees who knows me pretty well saw me looking on and said - Oh, it's April first.... April Fools!  That was you, wasn't it, Nancy!  I had to admit it was.  I had gone to the machine and put a paper clip on the glass and then pushed 5 and print.  Opening the paper drawer, I returned the 5 sheets to the top of the stack and closed the drawer.  All I had to do  from that point  on was wait!  And not laugh.

It was funny and fun.  I tip my hat to  our daughter in Alabama.  It was her idea first.

Changes. Everything changes. Eventually.

We are ramping up a new CAD system at work.  Some parts of the agency have been online for a  while, putting information into the system.  Others of us have been waiting.  And waiting.  And... well just waiting. 

We have been able to get information about what's going on in the  closed-off parts even though we don't have direct access.  The agency website delivers public information and we can  tap into  those files and get pictures and descriptions of - uh, "clients".  I'm trying to be a little genteel, here and not call them anything that might identify where I actually work.  I just feel it's not something that needs to be shared around.  My immediate family knows and I just don't think I can say right out loud - Hey, I work for ... who I work for.  The leader holds an elected office and a lot of our files don't become public record right away.  The less said, the mo' better!  Anyway - when I ever retire, I plan to blog about the place and write a tell-all book and do all kinds of things that will  let whoever reads these musings figure out my career choice. 

Just last Friday, I went into the part of my computer that shows daily activity and Calls For Service that come in on a 24/7 basis.  I was looking in the late afternoon and to my great surprise there had only been one CFS.  My first thought was that something was very wrong.  We have calls being logged in nearly by the minute.  My second thought was that the system was down.  My third thought was that the call center had been switched  to the new CAD system without providing an alternate way for us to access the information coming in.  My third guess was correct.  The supervisor and 2 girls next door knew about the switch and were supposed to be getting a way to give access to those of us who need it.  Sometime.  Or, other.

By the time I got all that information, it was getting on toward 5:00PM which is going-home time in my part of the world.  So, that's what I did.  This is a three day weekend and I don't have to  worry my brain about the access, or lack thereof until Tuesday.  I'm sure someone will have figured out something for Tuesday.  Or not.  We do start training in 2 weeks for the new system.  Maybe by then, we will have figured out some of it by looking around on our own. 

Or, alternately - I can take a 2 week vacation.  I have 300 plus hours annual leave.  If I were an ostrich my head would be shoulder deep into the sand by now.  But I might look around under all that sand and be able to see the IT Tech looking back.  It has to be stressful for him, don't you agree?

Note to self, buy antacid tablets... wonder what brand the IT Tech uses.

Good points & bad points.

I enjoy using my cell phone to access the social networking websites and to send messages back and forth to family and friends.  Our parents kept in touch using a clunky black telephone with an uncurly handset wire and a wire that plugged into the wall, tethering them to the unit when they wanted to reach out and touch someone.  It had a 3 digit number when I was small.  That number went to 5 digits and sometimes the old telephone number, 27155 - floats to the top of my mental soup when I least expect it.  By the time we moved from the house where I was raised - the phone number had enlarged to 7 digits.  The cord had become curly at some point along the way.  And, the phone came in many colors, to match your decor. 

We never could have dreamed of all the improvements to come in telecommunications, much less the computer advancements that lay ahead.  Nowadays, I can dial the phone from any place there is a signal.  I carry it with me in the car, the grocery and the office. 

With all these advancements, would you think someone could have standardized the keyboard shortcuts so that a person could move from the cellphone keyboard to a computer keyboard without having to think about things like punctuation and  capitalization?  Do you realize how many times I've been forced to backspace over my typing because I forgot I was on my computer instead of thumbing the phone.  There are not shortcuts on a computer or typewriter that allow a quick double spacebar to place a period at the end of the sentence.  It is a good idea on a cell phone but you have to actually do some work and put that little dot at the end of the computer generated line.

You can't just hold down a letter key until the capital letter comes up.   You have to shift it into place.

 The letter U doesn't replace the written word You.

 You're is not shortened to U R.  At least it isn't done that way in a formal message to the boss. 

The person who comes up with a button that recognizes the keyboard and tells the computer to repair those lines of type will probably be otw to making a ton of $$$, imho! 

Oh my!

I have this Facebook friend who keeps commenting on the people he sees at Walmart.  He even posted a shot of one lady who was holding a shopping bag and who had laid her purse on the counter.  Visible near her hand was a Crown Royal bag.  Okay, so - there is a website available.  For real.

It's called People of Walmart

Go ahead, click the red link.  You know you want to!

Happy 5th of July, too.

We are now on day three of a 3-day weekend.  This means the rest of the week will be four days and by Thursday we will be more than ready for Friday to dawn!  We can dwell on memories of the 4th of July holiday to get us through the work week.

The flag pictured at the left flys over Fort Morgan, Alabama.  The Alabama Group  went there for their Fourth of July and I  snagged the flag from Suse's Facebook page.  I think it's an outstanding shot that sums up what the holiday is all about.

I rode with Elder Sister to Walmart on Saturday and she was telling me how she gave her horses some watermelon and their reactions to the  treat.  Bella - the one with the white on her face ate some and came up drooling, she thought it was so good.  Savanah at the other end of the fence took a bite and belled out her lips and showed her teeth, which seems to be the horsie equivalent of, "Eeee-yuck!!"  She did not like the taste at all.  At all! I missed the whole show but maybe there will  be an encore and we will catch the performance. 

Meanwhile, it has turned into a cloudy day and a fine one for reflecting on our blessings; like the ones we have that come from living in a country that affords us the freedom to worship, live and work without fearing the government will batter down the doors and take us away for speaking out against injustice.  We can lay our heads down at night, assured that we are  living in the best nation in the world.  We don't even have to wait until night to prove that blessing is true.  We can take a nap right now - this very minute!  I love it when a plan comes together, don't you?

Not exactly your game of Pong.

I saw on Google News where it is the 30th anniversary of Pac Man.

Wow, who keeps track of these things! And to celebrate, you could play a game right on the World Wide Web, within the Google logo. It wasn't just the familiar colorful letters as per usual. It was a game of Pac Man with the playing field around the name Google. I don't know how they did it but I took full advantage of the offering. I played Pac Man. Right on the computer at work, where access to almost everything fun, exciting or family oriented is blocked on the server.

It was just like stepping back to those early gaming days. I felt giddy, like a kid who is getting away with fooling mom and dad.

I shared the information with the one other person who happened to be in the office at the time. Pretty soon the Pac Man theme was wafting across the office and I heard the other player's voice over the music. She said,"Neat!"

It takes so little to satisfy, sometimes. Thanks, Google!

There's talent and then there's - - - talent?

Well, Thanksgiving is gone and Christmas looms. Zeta has welcomed a family member to the Blogging world and when I checked out her website, I was most impressed. Additionally, I was inspired to decorate the office tree in the same style but not necessarily with the same grace.

Piccpipper's tree is so lovely that I showed a printout of it to the two - ahem, gentlemen who come to our offices daily - from a facility where the clothing choice is either an orange jumpsuit or else a vivid green shirt and khaki pants. Both items are marked on the back with the facility name and the designation"property of"

Enough about that. One of the gentlemen had set up the office tree earlier in the week and had been returning to our area to decorate it as his duties allowed. Today the two of them came by and took out our storage box of decorations and I encouraged them to use the blue ribbon as streamers down the tree - they used only blue, silver or white ornaments. It's not as gorgeous as Piccpipper's tree but it looks quite nice in the corner of the office. Welcome, PiccPiper, to the blogging world and it's great to finally visit with you in this fashion.

Fine Dining Experience

Years ago, when I worked in Miami - my proximity to the jail used to garner me the occasional invitation to walk over and partake of some jail food. It wasn't bad. Cooked in bulk as it was, the chefs still managed to infuse taste and interest in even bland white mashed potatoes. The corrections officers were served from smaller steam tables located in a different area of the facility than the inmates. I enjoyed meals with friends in the unusual setting and scarfed down some pretty tasty meatloaf.

This year, our local jail has invited the sworn and non-sworn employees to have the annual Thanksgiving meal with them. It will probably be set up with the entrance in the Sally-port and food will be lined up along tables against the wall. The seating will be folding chairs set at folding tables extending out into the courtyard We have heard the menu will include turkey and venison - plus a couple of hogs shot by the Sheriff and other meats cooked by the kitchen at the jail. The non-jail employees will be bringing the side dishes and desserts. I expect everyone to need a nap after this repast. I've offered to stay at the office and handle the walk-in trade. There will be one person in Records and there will be a skeleton crew working. Someone will bring me a plate. The rest of the day will be slowed and have a kind of holiday feeling leading into a weekend where we will recover from over-eating. Then we can gear up to do it again on the coming Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Expecting my eyes to have glazed over from all the food coming our way, let me take this opportunity to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving and for those with anniversaries in the near future; Happy Anniversary to Ranger and J. E.

Same old. New old

I mentioned before that I used to work in a facility that had a pungent rat odor about it. It was solid red brick and two stories tall. Years ago it had been the county jail. In fact, most people knew the place by its designation of The Old Jail. We used it for office space. I wish I had taken a photograph of the place but the closest I can come is an overhead from the Property Appraiser. The front entrance would be down toward the bottom of the lowest building in the red outlined area. Behind that stood a generator building and the antenna and then the top building was a storage area.. Yesterday I met my daughter at a nearby hospital to sit with one grandson while the other went to x-ray. When we left the hospital, I drove her to her car which was parked down the road. Sitting in the lot, I glanced towards the building I had worked in for so long.

I didn't recognize it. You could have knocked me over with a feather! The entire building was clad in a light shade of stucco and the outside appearance was so changed I had a little trouble finding the windows of my former offices. The building is close to a lake where the county sets off Fourth of July fireworks every year. We used to be able to go up to the office and get out on the flat rooftop to watch the display every year. Now the open roofing is gone and the second floor sports a lovely covered porch. The front stairs have been entirely turned around although the entry door looks approximately in the same area. The front of the building faces left in the photograph. Rumor has it that the interior was gutted to the inside brick and completely redone. I'd think the odor of rat would be eliminated. The ginormous antenna is still out back and that's about the only thing recognizable.

You can depend on it. If you ignore something for a few years, it will morph into something entirely different.

The grandson will be okay. We try not to ignore anything really important!

A Great Big You're Welcome!

There is a person in the organization where I work who deals with peope who are victims. She is a recent graduate of the higher halls of learning but totally skilled and capable of handling the requirements of her chosen field. When she was hired, I hadn't realized she was going to have a baby. She's petite and really wasn't showing - plus nobody said anything so who would have guessed. Then, a couple of months ago, she went to the ER and was safely delivered of a lovely-but-tiny girl. She had only been into maternity wear a couple of weeks which was my first clue! The baby came a bit early but was born healthy.

The young lady hadn't had much time to earn sick-leave so she was kind of in dire need of some donations from her co-workers for maternity leave. I gave her some of my hours. So did others. Two weeks ago she came back to work and we held a welcome back to work-baby shower, combined. It was a fun thing and mostly she got some very cute outfits and blankets. I gave a baby book with a matching photo album and a toy that lights up and plays a lilting tune when you squeeze the tummy. It was kind of hard to tell what it was, since it was all pink. It had a bug face, so I'm thinking dragonfly.

Today, I got a thank you for the baby shower gift - a clear plastic box with Hershey Kisses nestled inside on a bed of tissue and tied with a silver ribbon. Under the clear box was a white cardboard box wrapped in a blue ribbon. Inside that box was a Ferro Rocher truffle and three fun-size candies. This was a thank you for the time I donated.

I will say I quite like the way the new mommy said thank you. It was done very low key. She didn't make a big production of things, but we managed a neck-hug. She reminds me of her own mother, with whom I worked several years back when I first came to the agency. She was always a class act and I enjoyed her friendship until she left; giving a general explanation to most but privately citing a more particular reason to those of us she was close to. Now the daughter follows in her mother's footsteps. It's going to be fun to watch for glints of the mother shining through in the actions of the daughter.

All Sweet, All the Time

The place where I work has some stressful moments and sometimes when everybody gets up and heads out the door in response to an emergency situation - I have noticed quite a few stop at my desk and dip into the candy jar. I think the little burst of energy from the sugar keeps them on their toes when they need to be sharp and it's my contribution to their well-being.

That's one theory.

Another is that I just work with a whole bunch of folks who indulge a major sweet tooth.

Their dentists probably love me. I used to bring lollipops. Then it became lollies and candy bars. Now it's candy bars, lollies and most of the major brands of chocolate, plus chewing gum. I stock up on the weekends and replenish the supply in the jar when it runs low. When I leave on Friday, I make sure there's a full jar. When I return on Monday it is easy to see what kind of weekend we had by how far down the supply has dropped. I finally put a sticker on top of the jar, in hopes of slowing the outflow from a flood to a mere trickle. It may be working.

Visitors to the office have been known to ask if they can have a piece of candy, too. They and their children are mostly polite and say please and thank you. I love it when a parent uses the candy as a teaching moment with their youngsters, "What do you say....?"

Biohazard is not the right answer!

Moth-Ra?

You just never know what you'll find hanging out where my office is. It's in a former bank building and we have been in the facility for about 2 going on 3 years now. Before that, we were in a building that had rats in the walls and an strange odor on rainy days. It used to be the county jail at one point, so it was called "The Old Jail." We are glad to be in a nicer and much improved work space with lots of light. Our building has a lobby that is locked between the front desk and the rest of the building. The receptionist at the front desk can open the outside front and inside hallway doors by buzzer. You just feel more secure in our facility. Unless you look down.

We are in an area that hasn't had a lot of traffic and the lot next door is overgrown with bushes and fruit trees. We are also near a national forest. There is an abundance of wildlife in the area. Snakes. Moths. Snakes. Rattlesnakes.

When our Finance Department first moved out to the new location, they would sometimes find a snake slithering on the floor of their storage closet. The closet is close to the outside employee entrance so they would gently urge the snake back outside with the tip of an umbrella.

More recently, we had a supervisor who walked into the area where I work. He was the first arrival of the day and as he entered the office, he glanced down and saw something on the rug. As he stepped over it - it moved. You might know it; a rattler.

He made it to the couch and the top of a file cabinet in no time. Someone heard him calling from the hallway and finally came to see what was wrong. They had a sharp instrument. They dispatched the unwelcome visitor. We had another rattlesnake at the driveway entrance to the complex. Another sharp instrument. Another kill. I'm sure we also have non-poison snakes around but the fact is, I haven't seen them and don't want to. I keep a sharp eye out for whatever might turn up looking for shelter but I'm not too concerned because I come in the employee entrance. There is a concrete sidewalk and parking lot - you can see anything that may be lurking.

This morning I saw a large triangular shape on the side wall. As I got closer, it resolved itself into a really big moth. It would have filled my palm if I had picked it up. I wasn't even considering making a move to capture the beauty on anything but film.