Everybody Needs a Break

Coworkers can be lifesavers, no matter where you work.

Slacker

I took a brain vacation yesterday. I couldn't make the thing work anyway, so I didn't have much choice.

Usually I work at my desk. I write stuff, move paper around, organize things and generally make myself look important to myself. But yesterday I could not figure out which paper went into which pile.

Coffee was no help. That brain would not apply itself to the meaningless crap I had to prioritize. So I left everything and went outside.

I repotted a plant. I swept the back porch. I chopped up the rosemary that's been taking over the back yard. (Hey! There's a passage around the side of the garage. I'd forgotten.)

At my desk once again, I moved a piece of paper. It didn't seem to be in the right pile.

So I went out for a cup of coffee. I took a note pad. I wrote things on it while I drank my coffee. It was the most work I got done all day.

It felt strange not to be my usual productive self. As most freelancers will tell you, when you work for yourself you work seven days a week, much more than 9 to 5. A day off is an anomaly. But I guess I needed it. It's a good thing my boss wasn't paying attention.

Lights, Camera...

When John came home and told me he'd seen inside our sewers, I had to go look. Woohoo! The Advanced Sewer Technology truck had appeared on our street like the Wells Fargo Wagon, spreading excitement, joy and sewer video.

Hey, this stuff doesn't happen every day.

The monitor in the upper left of the photo shows the main sewer line under my street. It's quite clean, considering.

The gentleman in the photo was handling cords and lines, making sure they didn't get stressed or caught up in anything. Another person on the truck operated the underground camera, which can go as far as 6,000 feet.

These guys were inspecting the main sewer line as well as lines to individual homes. The man I spoke to said the camera couldn't get through in some places because of tree roots. (Pasadena has a lot of trees.) Advanced Sewer Technology reports such glitches to the gas company, who hired them to look for gas pipes in the sewer tunnels.

To the workers and companies involved, this means safety and problem prevention. To me, this means there's a manhole on our block I hadn't noticed before. Strange how you can drive over something every day for five years and not know it's there.

(Meanwhile, my newest article is up on South Pasadena Patch: The Gabrielinos: Life at the Mission is second in a series.)

As Lucky As Lucky Can Be

They look like they're sailing a ship upon the high seas, don't they? Or harpooning Moby Dick at the very least.

I doubt anything much larger than a dead bird's gotten stuck in that chimney but even so, when you need one, a chimney sweep is a hero equal to any leviathan of literature. It's not like I have a tool long enough to grab whatever's gotten itself lodged in there, do I? And even if I did, I wouldn't want to climb onto the roof to reach for it. And even if I did, what if I failed?

It's like flying a plane, performing surgery or coding html. Some situations require a professional.

iPhone Wednesday #7 - Shovel

John got this close-up of a shovel near the Devil's Gate Dam not long ago.

There's still much work to be done over there. After rain last weekend the water has risen again, collecting debris behind the dam. Workers have corralled the debris (everything from driftwood to plastic bottles to stray socks) so when it's time to release the water, the debris won't be released with it.

shovel detail

John took a lot of photos of this medieval-looking thing. I'm fascinated by the irregularity of it, not to mention the colors. As John said, some forms of technology have been with us for a long time, and there's no need to change them.

Busy, Work

Forgive me if I'm short on copy for the next couple of days or if my photos bear scant relation to my words. I'm busy busy busy sprucing up my presentation for this Thursday, April 1st, and setting a bad example for myself.

If I haven't already bugged--uh, mentioned it to you, I'm leading a salon at the Pasadena Women's City Club called "Blogging for Your Business: Ten Tips for Putting Your Best Cyberfoot Forward." I hope you'll be there.

If you plan to come, be sure and make a reservation so the Club knows which room to put us in and the kitchen knows to prepare enough appetizers. I want to be damn sure we have enough appetizers.

I think this truck bed makes for an interesting photo but I'm not sure a blog is what this guy needs.

Reservations: (626) 796-0560 or wccpas@sbcglobal.net.
The Women's City Club is at the edge of the Fuller Theological Seminary campus, 160 N. Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There's free parking in the rear. Enter the second driveway south of Walnut on Madison on the west side of the street. Dress is business casual. Men are welcome. $6 charge includes those appetizers. Come as early as 6pm for cash bar and networking. Salon begins at 7pm.

I Can't Take the Suspense

What is that, four stories? Five?

Aw hell, that's not so high. Ahem.

This man's hanging from a cable on a little chair. He has a bucket, and it looks like he's got a speaker of some sort so he can talk to his cohort on the ground.

My camera's got a telephoto setting but I rarely use it because it diminishes the photo quality. I didn't get a good close-up. However, I believe he's smiling.

Today's the Doo Dah Parade. Expect your favorite Pasadena bloggers to come up with something odd and/or silly for their next posts.

Elevator

These roofers told me they had to get their equipment to and from the job via ropes because they didn't have an elevator. I had fun taking pictures of them. They were friendly guys. Resourceful, too, I thought, using ropes to raise and lower their tools. I watched them send down ladders, shovels, brooms and bags to their counterparts at the truck below.

As I post the photo I'm thinking, if the only way to get the equipment up there was with ropes, how did the men get up there? There must have been a stairway. Too much trouble with a ladder, I suppose?