Friday, January 24, 2014

FFOT: static, messed-up power cords, office space

So, yesterday was cold.  Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.  Cold enough that I decided to wear insulated leggings (my nylon ones were all I could find) under my flannel jeans.  Did you know that causes massive static, just sitting still?  Not fun.  Static can fuck off.

I keep a spare power cord in my bag of holding for office days.  My laptop gives me two and a half or three hours of battery time...and I used most of that while my kids were writing their papers.  So, I plug it in after I get settled in for office hours...and discover that the power cord has developed a break somewhere between the transformer and the end that plugs into the laptop.  So, yesterday's office hours were really unproductive, and that can fuck the fuck off.  Four hours that I could have been writing wasted. 

Speaking of office hours...last semester, I held my office hours in my classroom.  It was decently comfortable, and I had a padded seat and a desk.  This semester, there's a class directly after mine in my classroom.  Which means I had to hunt for someplace where I could settle and focus to do work.  I tried the adjunct office but it made me jittery and jumpy like you wouldn't believe.  In four hours, I was able to write less than a thousand words.  And I should have managed six thousand or more. Yesterday's attempt in an out-of-the-way nook of the library would have been much better, but...yeah.  I'm paying for the seating today with an awful backache.  A lack of office space where I feel comfortable can fuck the fucking fuck off.

What's messed you up this week?  Tell it to fuck off in the comments.



10 comments:

  1. The fact that my university's Physical Plant is apparently incapable of keeping the heat in my classroom and office building to a tolerable level can FTFO. It's currently 64 degrees in my office and colder in one of the classrooms.

    No, we are "not permitted" to have space heaters, something about fire risk or overloading the electrical circuits. I get cold at work and it takes me hours to warm up when I get home. I'm a middle aged woman on beta blockers so I can't endothermically heat myself as efficiently as I once could....

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    Replies
    1. Have you thought about an electric blanket at work?

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    2. I have, but apparently they're taboo also. Something about electrical load.

      I should probably just bring in a regular blanket (or better, get one of those blanket-with-sleeves things As Sold On TV) and wear it in my office. And especially wear it if any of the high-muckety-mucks come by, and hope they feel shame that their professors have come to this.

      I wonder if they still make the Snuggie with Spongebob on it, and if it comes in adult sizes....

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  2. Unemployment can FO. On general principle.

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  3. I have a boss, who spent the months preceding the new year advising he was semi-retiring and would pretty much stay out of the picture.

    Right before Christmas, he announced he was retiring completely, which is fine, except he's meddling. He won't call me (I don't want him to. He can go screw himself) but spies on my project through other people. That's chickenshit and a cowardly way of being a nosy piece of shit.

    Maybe that's why he won't call me. He knows I don't give a shit what he thinks and doesn't want to have his heart broken when I tell him so.

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  4. Well, let's see. The cold is killing off my cats and chickens. The pipe out to my shop and the apartment froze last night while it was 2 degrees outside. When I can get out off the mountain without running the risk of skidding over into the ravine and being killed, I'll have to buy a new battery for my Jeep. The cold has murdered it. I have spent more on propane in two months now than I usually do all winter. I was backing my wife's car up and hit a tree with it. Other than that, things have been ok.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like that's enough to make the week suck. I wish I could help.

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    2. It's ok. Other than backing the car into a tree, which was humiliating, I can handle the rest of it . The cats and chickens could have stayed alive if they had stayed in the shelter available to them. I don't know why they went off into the meadow and froze to death. The additional expense for all the propane and electricity is just part of living up here, though this winter has been the worst I can remember , ever. The pipe is a bit worrisome but I'll figure out a way to make sure there are no underground leaks which would cause my pump to run continuously. It's already thawed and there's running water in the shop and the apartment again. I don't spend much time out there in winter anyway.

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