Welcoming June

Current Conditions
Temperature: -9F
Wind Chill: -37F

We just had our monthly two day weekend for June, and man, was it a doozy.

Friday
My department (Science Support) has our weekly safety meeting on Friday afternoon. Since we didn't have to work on Saturday this time, we knocked off immediately after the meeting and hung around for a few drinks to really start the weekend off right.

After our pre-party, I headed straight to the pub, Gallagher's, where Shandra, Caesar, and Lisa had planned a happy hour complete with mixed drinks, food and live music. Kish played some improvisational acid-jazz and I joined him for a flamenco-esque dueling guitars. Then I strummed a few songs with Jen, a couple myself, one with Jim and Tom, and finally busted into "Gin and Juice" for my first live performance on the mandolin, all the while slurping down cocktails from our gracious hosts.

After that, the BFC hosted a martini bar, where, of course, we drank only beer or wine, as mandated by Uncle Ray-Ray and the NSF when in a work center. The BFC had been completely transformed from its normal warm and cozy gear shop into a stylish and formidable establishment, complete with a red vinyl wrapped bar, alternating red and black pile-liner walls, and multiple martini gurus and servers. Here are Dom and Chopper soaking up the ambiance (they stood patiently still for this shot until Jen walked right through it, quickly enough to leave only a subtle transparent stripe):

Coats were provided for as many of the guys as possible. Check out John wearing a coat over his hoodie, while he drinks what must be a blush wine:

And Liz should be commended on her responsibility for having water along with what looks like Chardonnay. I wouldn't normally recommend a lemon and lime twist in a white wine, but I think Meghan may be on to something:

Thanks to Liz, Meghan, and Sal, looking snazzy here:

for such a great evening of beverages and merriment:

Yes, those are lightning bolts, and no, that's not Scotch. I'm not sure what's so funny, but I'm guessing my right hand is out for balance.

My walk home was through a Condition 2 storm that showcased extremely fine snow, blowing and swirling in every direction. A veritable winter wonderland. Immense flocks of tiny snowbirds diving and twirling in choreographed harmony. Abandoning my normal brisk pace through such weather, I slowed to a stroll.

Saturday
Well, technically, most of the previous shots were taken on Saturday. I got home at around 3:30am, so naturally, I wasn't feeling my best at 10am, when I got up. Fortunately, there's an easy fix for that; just throw down two ibuprofen, swallow, and then realize they were sleeping pills.

Oh yes, I did.

Needless to say, Saturday was fairly uneventful. I spent most of the afternoon in a vague battle to maintain conscienceness. By evening, the party had begun again at the other end of my hallway; one of many "redneck" parties, all of which I've managed to avoid. This one was well done, though, with several tires, duct-taped couches, plenty of flannel and torn white tee shirts, and a screen door on a dorm room, which is humorous on multiple levels. The rule was to drop your beer can on the floor when you finished it.

I really didn't need to attend, because the party kept coming to me as I sat in RaJa's room watching a movie...

Until the power went out. For two hours. And all the rednecks had to go to work. This included myself, since most of my projects' UPSs don't last that long. Fortunately, the weather was too bad for me to drive up to Arrival Heights, so I did that on...

Sunday
It took about half the day to get everything squared away. So much for two days off, I got none. A lot of other folks had the same situation, though. Especially the firefighters, who were up all night Saturday dealing with multiple alarms that stemmed from the power outage, and got called in Sunday afternoon on an alarm in Building 155. These were not fires, but general building alarms that are usually malfunctions of some sort.

Then, to top it off...

Monday
The MCI drill was called first thing in the morning, which involved most of the town running around like headless chickens for several hours.

So, after our two day weekend, we're all ready for a nice long two day weekend. How far away is July?

Sorry about the abundance of TLAs in this post. Here is a key:
TLA: Three Letter Acronym
BFC: Berg Field Center, where all the outdoor gear is kept.
NSF: National Science Foundation, from who's pockets the carefully delegated money flows.
UPS: Uninterruptible Power Supply, or "battery" for all intents and purposes
MCI: Mass Casualty Incident