Friday, April 6, 2018

Shaking Things Up on Thursday

This morning, I dropped the tax papers off at the tax preparer's office, before I went to work.  That will give her a little time to look through them before my appointment with her on Saturday afternoon.  If she needs more time to review them, I can reschedule the appointment, to another day during the week; her office is open till 9:00 p.m. this week!

I didn't go to the farmers' market, today, after all, because, someone had brought doughnuts to the office and that was enough of a treat!  Also, I heard that there is a farmers' market near the other building, as well.  I don't know if it will be the same group of stall holders, but I can always catch the shuttle bus and come down to this farmers' market, if I want to.

Well, I am all packed up and ready to go!  Nine boxes, a coat stand, a wooden shelf that I use as my footrest, and, that all important waste bin!  At first, I planned to go in tomorrow.  But, our computers will be moved early tomorrow morning and the movers will be coming to move the boxes and whatever furniture that is going to the new office, at 11:00 a.m.  My supervisor said he'll work from home, tomorrow, and another colleague said she's working from home, too, and, between the two of them, they persuaded me that I should work from home, tomorrow, myself.  Especially, since I wouldn't have access to the computer as it will be moved and it will be rather noisy and probably rather chaotic, too.  Only those who are still packing up and cleaning their cubicles will be there, tomorrow.  So, I finished packing up the very last few bits and pieces I had kept out since they were being used (my day planner, stapler, a couple of pens, etc.), changed my voice mail greeting to say my phone number has changed, called a few people whose projects I'm working on to give them my new phone number, and handed in my keys!  Apparently, some of my colleagues who are leaving the office, today, are leaving behind plastic cockroaches on the computer keyboards and work spaces of other colleagues who will be coming in, tomorrow, for them to find!   Too funny!

Shortly after 12 noon, today, we had a moderate earthquake, 5.3 on the Richter scale.  I barely felt it.  I had just opened the overhead bins so it would be easy for anyone to see that they had been emptied when the upright dividers in the bins began to vibrate and kept on vibrating.  At first, I thought it was because I had flung up the doors (which slide over the bins) with too much force; then I heard a few of the others in the office asking, "Was that an earthquake?"  Somebody checked the USGS website and confirmed, yes, we've had an earthquake.  Then...we went back to our packing!  LOL.  We are Southern Californians; we get more excited about a shower of rain than a 5.3 earthquake!  Had it been stronger, I suppose we would have gone under our desks and held on as we've been trained to do, and then, evacuated the building.  But, as it was, we just went on about our business.  We are in a building which underwent extensive earthquake retrofitting, in the 1990s.  The whole building is on base isolators, so we are only supposed to roll when there is an earthquake (although who knows what will actually happen when the Big One strikes?)  I did email daughter to say we had an earthquake (too far away for her to have felt it).  


Flowers from a Colleague

The girl who occupies the cubicle next to me gave me a bouquet of flowers just before I left.  I thought it was very sweet of her to do so.  She and her unit will be staying in our current building.  She thanked me for being a good cubicle neighbor and said she'll miss me.  I put them in water as soon as I got home; I might cut the stems and put them in smaller vases, tomorrow.  They have been put in the spare room for the night and the door closed, so that Dancer won't be tempted to eat them!  

I spent a relaxed evening.  I was going to do more paperwork and filing, but I decided it can wait till tomorrow!  

Today, I am grateful for:
- The earthquake was moderate and we didn't experience any injuries or damage 
- Flowers from a colleague
- Getting all my decluttering and packing done early
- Getting the tax papers to the accountant 
- Being able to work from home tomorrow

Friday's To Do List:
- Work from home
- Paperwork and filing
- Do the dishes
- Water the indoor plants

How was your day?  Did you have a good day?  Have you done your taxes, yet?  

 

13 comments:

  1. I'm surprised that you didn't feel a 5.3 earthquake. The construction on your building must be good. Good luck with your move.

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    1. I'm surprised, too, Live and Learn; the epicenter was in the Channel Islands, but that is not that far from where we are. I would have felt it more if I had been at home, I'm sure!

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  2. I look at https://earthquakes.volcanodiscovery.com/ website every day because I am interested in the way in which the earth is continually moving and I learn geography from the maps as well. So today I just had to go to Bless's blog to see if Bless had felt it! So glad is didn't cause you any problems. How kind of your cubicle neighbour to give you the flowers, and how wise to keep them locked away from Dancer!
    I have to work on my taxes today, also have some sweaters that need washing and a small amount of ironing to do.

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    1. Bushlady, I must take a look at that website. It sounds very interesting. Yes, it was very kind and thoughtful of her to give me flowers. I appreciated it, very much. And, no, Dancer isn't getting any! LOL.

      Sounds like you have a busy day! Good luck with getting your taxes done.

      Good luck

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  3. How very thoughtful of your cubicle mate to give you a nice bunch of flowers. I think you will get far more work accomplished at home than the mad house at your former office. Have you decided on public transportation or driving this coming Monday to your new office?

    LOL "we get more excited about a shower of rain than a 5.3 earthquake" so true!

    Yes our taxes are done, filed and small State payment mailed off.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. The flowers were a very kind and thoughtful gesture on her part and I appreciate it very much.

      I can only imagine how chaotic things are at the office! Dusty, too - not good for my asthma; I had to take my rescue inhaler, yesterday, due to all the dust in the air!

      I actually have the day off on Monday, so I won't be going to the new office until Tuesday. I am glad I have the day off, because apparently, our new office chairs won't be delivered until sometime mid-morning on Monday! Around 11:00 a.m. is what the memo said and "until then, staff can unpack their boxes and set up their workstations". Indeed! What if staff can't stand for 3 or 4 hours and needed to sit?! Do we perch on top of the work counter? I am really getting too old for all this nonsense, Sandy!

      I am planning to drive in on Tuesday.

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  4. Glad the earthquake wasn't too bad. We've had a couple of small ones here before - I didn't think they ever happened. None of us were exactly sure what the first one was until we heard about it on the news lol.

    How nice to get flowers from your cubicle neighbour.

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    1. Sharon, I imagine earthquakes are rather uncommon there! I like the ones that are so mild that we aren't even sure if it was an earthquake or not!

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  5. That was lovely of your workmate to give you flowers. earthquakes can be very unsettling I find but then we have had some big ones recently here, the last one some shops in town and a church had to be demolished. Its good that you didn't notice it.

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    1. Yes, it was very kind of her to do so and totally unexpected. :)

      I know you've experienced some very strong earthquakes in recent years. Glad your own house didn't suffer any damage. I'm glad I didn't feel it; I am especially glad that it wasn't followed by another, stronger one!

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  6. Our region in Eastern Ontario have very mild earthquakes, (apparently a big one of 5.1 about 5 years ago). They are so mild, I haven't even felt them although I've been informed they had happened. Funny, because I could certainly feel the blasting going on everyday last summer.

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    1. I'm glad that they are mild in your area, Susan, and you haven't felt them! I hope you never experience anything stronger than the 5.1.

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