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Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Monday Sheebie met Murphy...

Friends and Kitties!


Sheebie here, and I'm finally ready to talk about the horrible day I had at work last Monday.

Generally, my work day is quiet and routine; I'm basically there to monitor an automated system, and react to any unusual situations.  For a water treatment plant operator, a boring day is good one, but then there are the non-typical days...like Monday...when I had to shut the plant down.  On purpose.  

The treatment plant out at Lake Mead is over forty years old, and periodically it needs repairs that can only be accomplished without water in it, and I was the poor sod who had the shift doing the shut down, where I encountered Murphy, many many many times.

First, as soon as the last raw water pump went off the entire computer system crashed, due to a bug in the calculations that the scurvy knaves in I.T. were aware of and failed to pass along.  Myself and the maintenance crew ran around like crazy people getting everything shut down locally, instead of from the control room.  I.T. got us up and running in a few minutes, but it was butt-puckering until they did.  Fortunately where I work it's copacetic to offer feedback... 

This is filter #9.  You can see there's a piece missing--this is one of the repairs that was scheduled.

This was not.

Filter #17 was the second thing that went wrong, and the genesis of the rest of the entire crappy day, because we weren't able to isolate the leak effectively and ended up draining things that needed to stay filled and filling things that should've stayed empty.  There was a whole host of other things that went wrong as well; the day was ten hours of unrelenting awfulness.  Everything was under control by the time I left--Murphy had evidently left the building--but I don't think I've had such a stressful day in a long time.

So it was wonderful to have 60-degree windless weather on Tuesday and get out for a nice long bike ride!  I took a few photos of the trail; I did eight miles and I can tell I'm getting into shape because the hills are getting a lot easier. 
This is halfway down the mountain-ette, facing West.

And from the same spot looking East and down the rest of the hill, going towards the Park.  The elevation change from top to bottom is over 400 feet so it's a sizable hill; a blast to coast down and a bear to pump back up!  I only had to stop and rest twice this time, there's a couple of really steep sections towards the top that are killer to get over.  Soon...

This is one of the brand new sections of trail just past our house; since there weren't any lines painted I rode all over the road in a fit of rebelliousness.

Nothing like beautiful blue sky to erase all my cares!

Which will be returning--guess who gets to restart the plant this coming Monday?
*sigh*


Happy Sunday--Have a Better Week than Me!

XX  Sheebie  XX

47 comments:

  1. Exhibit 1 of why I am glad I'm not a human!

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  2. Maybe no one told Murphy about Monday...

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  3. Wouldn't it be nice if Murphy would let you know when he was going to visit. But then, that's not the Murphy we've all come to know and NOT love. Hope this Monday is much better than your last.

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  4. I think the cats should all pile on Murphy and keep him away...

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  5. The giving of feedback can be so very satisfying

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  6. We love the idea of a "fit of rebelliousness" and think our Mommy might have come down with that "fit" before. MOL!

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  7. goodness, you get all the fun. is it too late to swap shifts with someone?! Good luck!

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  8. Well, duh! They should let the kitties run it. The Humans just mess up efurrything!

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  9. Oh boy, I hope Merphy and his silly laws stay home in bed on Monday... fingers crossed!

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  10. Ten hours of unrelenting awfulness ! That's evil Nightmare !! Hiss off Murphy for you, Mom Trish
    and For my mom too, Just in case..Because she is going back to work on Monday too ; )

    Today is Sunday, Lie on your back on your sofa, a glass of wine..and listen to the sound of kitty purrs....All these should make you feel better. If not..Take some nip ; )

    Hugs

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  11. We think you are sounding a little hoarse. yes, and maybe there's a cough ? Is that an ache in your throat ? Oh yes. Bless you! Yes, your head is getting hot - maybe you need to go to bed and rest, not pass your germs on. Go on, bed rest until Tuesday!

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  12. Fingers crossed Murphy is done and does not return. Ugh.

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  13. Sounds like it was a really rough day for you. Glad you were able to get things under control. Have a good week. :)

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  14. I like the idea of your kitties all sitting on Murphy =)
    Hope things improve.
    Enjoy that blue, blue sky!

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  15. It was copacetic that Murphy was vailable last Monday to take the blame!!

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  16. Oh, your job is similar to my Ex's, only different. :)

    He had to keep the generators up and running for the hospital, and take some down periodically for maintenance. In the event of power failure, the hospital could NOT lose power. No pressure, right? Let's just say he saved all his frustrations from his peers and brought them all home to his wife. Bugger.

    Yeah, those were the days. And they can stay back there, too.

    YAY!! you on the bike riding!! Elvira has been hibernating for about a month. Between the early dark:30 and the cold and rainy weather, she's been snoozing in the garage. Does my big butt make my butt look big?

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  17. Well that did sound like a day from hell and that Murphy is one name you wish not to hear. Glad you got it all sorted in the end and can relax a little. Mum says everytime IT are scheduled to do work at her place they mess up and cause all sorts of problems and they never fail to do so. Hugs GJ xx

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  18. oh man... I hope this week is stress free for you... I am glad you got to enjoy the outdoors and help decompress

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  19. Feedback? Poor poor IT crew!
    Jane x (Maple Syrup Mob)

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  20. Wow, what a day...but we're glad to hear everything worked out...although not the way you would want.

    Nothing like getting out on the open road...with no one around...to clear the ol' head and renew. :)

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  21. We don't like that Murphy guy at all cuz he visits us sometimes too. You have a lot of responsibility - hope the kitties treated you all well when you got home.

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  22. I hope you took it extra easy this weekend to make up for all of that! Hugs!
    xo Catherine

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  23. what a great bike ride. that Murphy guy is just rude....mom has had more than a few run ins with him. Hope Monday is a better day.

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  24. Sounds just like the movie 'silkwood.'

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  25. Mr. Puddy's advice is spot on!

    The trail looks great, even though it was a long time coming! How wonderful to have that right out your door. Nice workout to help with the frustrations!

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  26. We've got to put together a kitty enforcer gang to get Murphy out of our lives-LOL
    Hope you have a better week-
    Jada

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  27. We had big water problems here too! During construction of the new Whole Foods just a few blocks away in downtown Minneapolis, someone broke a 36" water main. Downtown was flooded and shut down. Over 100 cars in an underground parking ramp were submerged in 12' of water...the streets looked like lakes, all in below freezing temps. I suppose that wouldn't be a real fun day at work either!

    Hope this week is a better one for you!
    XO, GG

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  28. Here, kitty kitty!
    You guys live in kitty heaven. I always love looking at your room.
    Mandu

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  29. Oh my that sounds like such a fun job. NOT!!! Sorry you had all that trouble. Hope it is all fixed now and all the machines behave themselves or whoever is running them. Take care. Love your bike trail.

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  30. Well Sheebi you handled that 200% better than my mom would have. she said she would have cried. MOL OMCs that is a lot of equipment to have fail at once. Bless your heart. thank goodness for good biking conditions
    Hugs Madi and Mom

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  31. Glad I'm not a Human! Wishing you a better week this week. Yesterday was MY day from hell.

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  32. Yikes, that sounds overwhelming to me...my paper pushing jobs is much easier.

    What a lovely way to de-stress!

    Hope this week goes much better and Murphy stays out of it!

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  33. That sounds worse than a day from hell! Hope this Monday goes better. I think I might be tempted to go sick until Monday was over.

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  34. Mommy thinks it would nice to goes out and works away from home, but then, when she readed your post, she remembered all the horrible, rotten, no good, very bad things that happens at work and she was happy that she works out of a home office!
    Kisses
    Nellie

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  35. WOW!! That did NOT sound like fun!
    We purr that Murphy keeps on going down the road! Mom is not too crazy about Murphy either!
    Have a boring Monday !!
    Purrs Tillie and Georgia,
    Treasure,Tiger, JJ and Julie

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  36. Could any more have gone wrong??? I doubt it. Hope this week is much better.

    cats of widlcat woods

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  37. It looks so parched out there! We hope you get a bit of rain.

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  38. Hope all goes well tomorrow! Murphy visited me too but he obviously enjoyed being with you way more. Hope he leaves us both alone for a very long time! Do you use kitty litter to control water leaks at the plant? :)

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  39. ha! you have all the luck :) Hope you'll have a smooth Monday.

    That is a nice bike trail! You should look into bar ends - will give you another hand position and they really make hill climbing easier for mountain-style bikes. I dusted my bike off today and aired up the tires. Thanks for the inspiration :)

    ~C

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  40. We hope you have a much better day tomorrow than last monday. We truly do.
    You are inspiring with your bike riding. Good stress buster, you are right. Keep it up. As you know, it will really help you with your job.
    Of course, kitties do help too.

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  41. Ugh. that sounded like a very bad day. Good thing you have bike rides. AND KITTIES!

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  42. We think the mafia should give Murphy some cement shoes!

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  43. I feel your pain. We had 8 weeks of Murphy last summer. I'll have to shar Edith you sometime. You could appreciate. (You would have quit!)

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  44. I feel your pain. We had 8 weeks of Murphy last summer. I'll have to shar Edith you sometime. You could appreciate. (You would have quit!)

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  45. there always seems to be something when it comes to human work places. Mom is pretty purrleased she just has me now and our office. you have a much better week Miss Trish, paw hugs, Savvy

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Oh Boy...this is gonna be GREAT!