comedy of errors

If nothing else, this season in Antarctica has been a comedy of errors or miscalculations.

For example,
...just when I feel like I have this job figured out and my reports sorted, the department manager decides to add another monthly report.
...or, when I finally get back into a workout routine and scrounge up the motivation to consistently run and walk after work, my neck plays games with me and knocks me out of commission with a huge cramp (most of this week has been a medicated blur).

So, I shouldn't have been surprised that while I was busy finishing up week-end reports and multitasking for the Mid-Winter Dinner preparations with about seven Outlook, database, Explorer, Excel, and Word windows open, that I found smoke wafting out of my computer today. At first, I, momentarily, convinced myself that it was low on my priority list and I would 'get to it later,' before realizing that smoke usually comes from fire, and that typically does not wait for me to finish my e-mails.

Then I couldn't figure out what was smoking, but quickly realized it was my computer. I powered down, called the fire department, paged my supervisor (because if a fire extinguisher needed to be used, I certainly wasn't in the best shape to lift it with my 'pain in the neck'). Seeing as how it was just smoking, I stood by the extinguisher, ready to pull it off the wall at the first sign of flame-age; and then the smoke subsided.

This is really a pretty boring benign story, but in a town of a 153 people, when the fire truck actually gets called out for a 'real' call, it's a big deal. I went to lunch and had all sorts of comments referring to me trying to intentionally stop working, or wanting a new computer, or smelling like smoke, or creating drama for the rest of the station. When I finally came back and got logged in on a new computer (with my old --unharmed--hard drive), I had these lovely e-mails, as well:

From Bethany, the Fire Dispatcher: It's cause my emails to you were just SO hot!! right! thanks for calling, gave the crew some excitement.

From Ken, the IT Systems Administrator: What did you do? If you wanted a faster computer all you had to was ask…

I find it crazy that the town's a-buzz over such a small incident. But, it's the little things that keep us occupied through an otherwise "Groundhog Day" sort of existence.