It’s been pretty quiet this afternoon/evening, but I write most of that off on the impending winter storm. Unlike the last one, this might actually turn out to be the Great White Wall of Death. Already it’s more impressive than the last one…and we’re only a few hours into it.

Beth got out of school early today, since they cancelled before the end of the day (even though it was only 2:30). I waited at work until she got home (mostly so I could verify if I needed to get anything at the grocery store before I headed home). But, I was on my way out of work by around 3:20. Of course, by the time I got out of the grocery store (you seem to run into everyone you know when the place is busy), it was more like 3:45 by the time I was on my way home. Yeah, I used it as a convenient excuse to leave work early.

I honestly don’t intend to actually go to work tomorrow — it’s supposed to be worse after all. So after I did some regular work this morning (and up until lunchtime), I started gathering up items to bring home with me. That mostly entailed copying a load of stuff to my flash drive (and grabbing some CD’s and a book), but it still takes time. And it wasn’t a complete waste; I was intending to bring some of this stuff home soon anyway, because I’ll be working from home for a while after the baby comes. So in a way this impending snowstorm is a good thing for me, because I’ll have everything at home here configured for development and whatnot beforehand so it’ll be easier when it’s really necessary.

On a slightly different subject, I’d like to extend a hand to folks who work in customer service who actually do care about the average person. I had the fortune of working with a person over the phone today who, while she was simply doing her job, really did go an extra step. Going so far to suggest that I refer to her extension for any future questions. That’s not all she did, but I actually felt like I wasn’t just wasting her time and felt listened to. In a society that often treats customer service a lot like ‘next number,’ it seems as though it’s often difficult to find the people who enjoy their jobs and actually treat people’s concerns and questions as real. Or just do their jobs well.

Of course, the fact I wasn’t belligerent probably helped (not that I ever intended or had the need to be that way). By and large, I’ve had pretty good luck overall (I’d say 2/3 of my ‘customer service’ type of calls in the last six months have been what I’d qualify as ‘good’ experiences) as of late.

So yeah, that’s about all I’ve really got to note right at the moment.

Just because I found the video for it (and laughed a lot): Beer Launching Fridge

It’s a hell of an idea — and it looks mechanically sound. Very cool stuff.

Until next time…
–MZ