Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Turkey Day at Laws R Us

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving at my workplace is Turkey Day. Okay, it's not officially called that but it is the day they give every employee a turkey. Giving away six or seven thousand turkeys is quite a production.

During the two weeks leading up to Turkey Day, everyone is given a turkey ticket. You then have the choice of hanging onto the ticket and turning it in for a turkey or you donating your turkey to Second Harvest (which I did).

Early in the morning on Turkey Day, they cordon off a large area near the front door. Why a large area? Well, they need to park four or five large moving trucks full of turkeys nearby. They also need room for the conveyor belt that runs from the truck parking area to the front door.

Early in the day, the boxes containing 14-17 pound turkeys start rolling down the conveyor belt. Third shift workers pick up their turkey on the way home. Some people pick up the turkeys at lunch time and head home. Retirees come in for lunch and a turkey. During the day you see people walking around the building carrying the boxes.

At the end of the day (people start leaving in droves at 3 p.m. and stream out until 5 or 6), you can either just take a turkey off the belt or drive up to the conveyor belt and have a cheerful volunteer puts your turkey into your car. I suppose they're there distributing turkeys until the end of the second shift in manufacturing.

Turkey day kicks off the holiday celebrations at work. That will be the subject of my next post.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Hiding Places

(Okay, summer, construction projects and the elections are over. I have no excuse not to blog.)

I thought I would ease back into it by writing about something light--my hiding places at work. Wait, they're not hiding places, just places I go when I want to get away from the attractive nuisance of email and the piles of things to do sitting on my desk. Sometimes I just need a relatively quiet spot where I can think through my next step on a project or read through some background material.

My favorite space is back behind the "university" classrooms on the fourth floor. The space is divided into three small areas with four comfortable chairs in each. It's a great place to sit and think because it's a relatively quiet spot in a not-very quiet building.

This space is next to big windows that look out over...some parking lots and a big package express factory--but that's only if you're standing up. If you're sitting down you see some pretty hills and a lot of sky. It's a nice place to watch the weather on stormy days.

The best part about this spot is the big sound-reducing baffle-things hanging from the ceiling. They not only reduce the noise floating in from the elevators/cafeteria/classrooms but they very effectively hide me from anyone who might want to interrupt my thoughts by talking to me about their favorite topic.

There are a few baffle-enclosed tables nearby in the library area. I would sit there too but there are usually groups there doing their collaborative projects for classes. I suppose I could go the huge library downstairs (my daughter's former turf) and sit at the single table but the library workers would think that was really weird.

I also sometimes sit at one of the small tables next to the windows in the cafeteria, again on the fourth floor. That side of the building has a view of...parking lots. Oh well. Actually it also has a good view of the "back door" of my building so I can watch people coming and going. You can also see a very pretty city park that is next to the Laws R Us property.

I like sitting in the cafeteria spot. I don't think I've ever run into someone I know there but, unfortunately, the shortage of meeting rooms has forced many people to hold their meetings in the cafeteria. If the person running a nearby meeting is loud I have to slink back to my desk.

I almost forgot about the far corner of the OTHER cafeteria. Unfortunately I always see people I know there. They don't always talk to me but they do that quick look and move on. I know they're wondering what I'm doing sitting there....