Friday, April 13, 2018

Finding My Way on Thursday

We had cooler temperatures and very strong winds, today.  I went to the office without any problems.  There was a small "meet and greet" in the morning, hosted by one of the sections that moved to the new building with us; there was coffee and doughnuts and I skipped the coffee, but I might have eaten a doughnut! 

I had a fairly productive day and was able to send off some completed sections of one assignment. 

At lunch time, I tried using one of the two stairways to go down to the floor below, where the microwave is set up, but I found that the door from the stairway to the floor below was locked!  So, I walked back up to my floor (thank goodness that door was unlocked - I tried it to see before I closed it- otherwise, I might have been stuck inside a locked stairwell!)  and took the elevator down!  Tomorrow, I will try the other stairway - I was told that that door was unlocked!   I ate my lunch at my desk - leftover rice casserole and a fresh orange that I had picked from the tree this morning.  I haven't gone walking during my lunch breaks, yet, but, I am getting some exercise by walking to and from the bus stop, climbing the stairs from the street level to the lobby level to enter the new building, and taking the stairs between floors when possible.  I will resume my lunch time walks, next week, I think.

In the evening, I walked to the temporary bus stop without any difficulty and caught the correct bus going in the right direction!  Woo hoo!  I was also able to read another notice, posted at the nearby surface parking lot ($8/day) that monthly parking permits were also available!  I will walk there, tomorrow or next week, and ask how much the monthly permits will cost.  I got home at a reasonable time, today, and all was well, although it continued to be very windy and the lights flickered once or twice and I was wondering if there might be a power outage. 

Later in the evening, I made the curry puffs I had been planning to make.  To the previously browned ground beef, I added diced onions, diced celery, some green bell pepper, some tomato, a handful of frozen green peas, and some of the cooked potato.  Then, I added chili powder and curry powder and other seasonings.  By the time I prepared the ground beef mixture and allowed it to cool down a bit, the package of frozen puff pastry squares had thawed and I made the curry puffs.  I baked them and had one for my dinner.  I packed two for my lunch to take to the office tomorrow and put the rest in the fridge. 

Cousin P called in the evening and we had a nice chat.  After that, daughter and I video chatted.   

Today, I am grateful for:
- Finding my way to the new office and back without any further difficulties
- Getting some exercise by walking to and from the bus stop, etc.
- A productive work day
- Meeting a couple of colleagues I haven't seen in a long time
- Chatting with my cousin and my daughter; exchanging emails with a friend.

How was your day?  Do you find it take you a few days to get your bearings when you move to a new place?  Do you realize it will be Friday the 13th tomorrow?

20 comments:

  1. Oh, how lovely to be able to pick a fresh orange from your tree. I bet it tastes completely different from the ones we buy in the shops over here (UK).

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    1. It's a real treat, Eileen. You know it is definitely fresh! Organic, too, since I don't use any sprays, etc. I picked another one, today.

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  2. Soon everything will be routine, but new surroundings always take a little getting used to. Unlocked doors would help!

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    1. Yes, this is just the first week, so everything is new and different and requires conscious thought; I can't be on auto pilot! LOL! But, by the end of next week, it will all be familiar, I am sure, and routine. I am testing all doors before I close them behind me, just to make sure I can open them from the other side, as needed!

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  3. Phew! I must admit to not liking finding my way around new places. I got stuck between floors on a stairway once when I helped out MIL and FIL at their cleaning business. Not fun. Luckily one of the other cleaners saw me banging on the door and let me back in. I didn't do it again!

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    1. Sharon, that must have been scary! Glad someone heard you and opened the door for you!

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  4. It always takes a while to get my bearings when I move. It sounds like you are doing pretty well. And the extra exercise of walking and stairs that are build into your day are an added bonus.

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    1. I have no sense of direction and can get easily disorientated. It's useless to tell me to go north, south, east or west; I have to be told to turn left or right. And daughter always remembers the time she was learning to drive and I was telling her to turn "right" and she was turning right and I was shouting, "No, turn right, turn right!" Finally, she looked at me and said, "I AM turning right" and then I said, "I meant left!" Ha, ha. You know, the other right! :D She just rolled her eyes at me!

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    2. I have a big problem with left and right, too. If you tell me to hold up my right hand, there's a 50:50 chance I will get it correct.

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  5. I can't decide if I'd be banging on the door if it was locked or happy to just sit on the stairs until somebody found me - as long as it was the same day of course!

    Is your day much longer with the extra travelling to the new office?

    Your curry puffs sound delicious. I often have a portion of curry left over which I freeze so next time I think I'll give them a go - it's the sort of thing Mark would love. xx

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    1. I don't think I'd like being stuck in a stairwell! I don't like going down stairs. Especially when they just go round and round for several floors. I always feel I am going to fall! There was a spiral staircase in one building that I used to pass through when I worked elsewhere, and I used to freeze on those stairs! I refuse to go down escalators, too, unless they are very narrow and I can grip both sides! Going up the escalators is not a problem!

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  6. I would think that a locked staircase access is a violation of the fire code. What would happen in an emergency? I would report that to the powers that be. Is is a physical lock or one that you could unlock with your ID?

    Friday the 13th has no effect on me, I wouldn't have noticed had Greg not mentioned it at dinner last night!

    It takes me longer nowadays to get my bearings period, even in familiar locations. I know that when I drive on a road that I used to use a lot but that has somewhat changed (we have a lot of construction going on in Central Florida, always), I get a little confused sometimes. I used to know the roads on Disney property like the back of my hand, worked there for 15 years. Nowadays, I get a little turned around. Not sure if it's normal (I'm 50) or if it's a harbinger of some memory condition I should worry about. I'm secretly worried about it :)

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    1. The door going into the staircase can be opened, so people can enter the staircase and just go down to the lobby (or maybe to the roof - I think I saw something about roof access) in case of a fire. But, one can't open the door from the staircase to enter the floor.

      I believe the building maintenance people unlocked the door, but someone in upper management requested it to be locked - at least, that's what I heard. It is a physical lock.

      I found the 2nd staircase and was able to use that, today.

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  7. Much better day and you are doing so well at getting it all sorted out. Going down the stairwell and finding the door locked is certainly worrying. If you were actually exiting the building is it possible to carry on in the stairwell to street level? Working in a high rise it is extremely important to br aware of how you get out in the event of an emergency.

    Am enjoying my 11:00 am coffee and a little break. Hubby and I went out purchasing more topsoil, mulch and lots of lovely plants including three tomato plants which I think is to many but hubby does love tomatoes.

    To me Friday the 13th is just another day. Having said that I will not walk under a ladder if I can avoid it! Silly isn't it?

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    1. Yes, it was a better day. And, I like to think that I am regaining my equilibrium! I am an old stick in the mud! Never liked change, even as a child! My mother, on the other hand, welcomed change and used to say that change was good! I like change only if I initiated it! LOL!

      Yes, the stairway gives access to the 4th floor, lobby, and maybe the roof (need to verify that). There is an online building safety training session I need to take sometime before the end of next week, to familiarize myself with it.

      Sounds like you are getting ready to do a little gardening! I hope you get lots of tomatoes from your 3 plants. I planted 1 tomato plant, last year and it grew well and produced all of 6 or 7 tomatoes! So, I'd say 3 tomato plants won't be too many. I don't like to eat raw tomatoes, but add them to my cooked dishes. I often buy tomatoes when they are on sale, cut them up into wedges or slices and freeze them. Then, add them to whatever dish I am cooking. :)

      One can never be too careful, so, don't walk under a ladder! Hope you enjoyed your elevenses.

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  8. Like Nathalie, I was alarmed when I heard the stairwell door was locked. Those kinds of things were safety violations at my library and needed to be reported if and when we found them. I don't know however, if it is in this particular case, since you reported that you could leave to go out the door. It will be interesting to learn at the safety training course.

    I can't find my way out of a paper bag. My sense of direction is non-existent. I need to have landmarks in place to tell me where I am, so walking out into a hallway from a doorway, with similar doorways all around me, and I am completely lost. *laugh* I am also hopeless when told something is on the northeast corner of an intersection. You have to tell me to turn right at the Maternity Shoppe.

    Happy Friday the 13th. My grandson was born on Friday 13, so it means good luck to me.

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    1. I don't think it is a safety violation if the people on that floor can access the stairway. The doors are fire retarding, so, perhaps, it is meant for them to be locked from the inside of the stairways to prevent a fire from spreading to that floor. I don't know. I used the other stairway, today, and it was unlocked.

      Sounds like you have a good luck charm in your grandson against any Friday the 13th bad luck!

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  9. I find that as I read about your travels to and from and around your workplace in the big city, it reminds me just a little of living in a city myself and I enjoy your descriptions. Now, even a small city seems a bit much when we live out in the country, too many cars, too many shops and so on and yet I do need to get out to "the action" once in a while! Today I went for a pre-op for cataract surgery and I was fortunate in that it happened in a hospital 45 minutes away, not in the one where the surgery will take place. I was able to sit in a room with a large screen and interact with a nurse from 100 miles away. Wonderful to be able to avoid all that extra driving for a short interview and a brief checkup from a nurse who was physically present for me.

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    1. Bushlady, that's marvelous that you could interact long distance with a nurse for the pre-op! Hope the operation goes well and you will recover from it without any difficulties.

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