Last night I snuggled into my bed and turned out the light about 10:30. Shortly I was annoyed to note an unusual light. There is a fire alarm device in the ceiling that emits a tiny strobe light about every five minutes. I have learned to ignore it. But now there was another, dimmer, blink from the ceiling. Of course it’s just a blur without my glasses. I get up and investigate. There’s a thing with two green LEDs that have never been lit before.
I turn on the light. It’s some kind of smoke detector, or possibly CO2? It never blinked before, but now it’s blinking. I stand on a chair and look for buttons or something. Nope. Well, I know detectors, I’ve installed them. I’m annoyed with this one, so without thinking it through, I reach up and give the sucker a twist and remove the active unit from its round mounting plate. I put it on the kitchen table and go back to bed, happy that the annoying light is gone.
Five minutes later my doorbell rings. And somebody knocks on my door. I get up, find my glasses, turn on a light, put on my bathrobe, open the door while grabbing a mask. It’s our night security guy who apologetically explains that there’s some kind of an alarm going off, indicating a problem in my unit. Doh! Of course, this isn’t a simple suburban home with a simple stand-alone detector; this is a recently-renovated floor of a group residence, and the smoke detector is wired to a whole security network. When I took it down, I set off a beeping red light on a console somewhere.
I explain, and the security guy has me wait while he sends for the night Facilities guy. He comes, looks, and goes away to see if he can find a duplicate detector. Comes back; no; the day Facilities manager will be in touch. I thank them and apologize and at 11:30, go back to bed.
Monday 6/8/2020
Went for a run, a few minutes earlier than usual so I can be back and showered and dressed before the Facilities crew starts work. Of course they don’t call until 4pm. That Facilities guy reinstalls the detector. Its two green LEDs are now on constantly. I ask if he has any black tape. He has, and does a neat job of putting little black patches over the LEDs.
I write a lengthy argument in favor of an in-house TV channel and send it to the Tech bulletin board, plus a few other people. Over the course of the day there are responses, the most important being from from Vanessa, our staff IT manager. She says in fact she has been working with Comcast and one other vendor on creating just such a channel, and should be able to present their offers soon.
At various times I work on the car model, finishing the interior. Here are some pictures. The main pieces before assembly.
The interior assembled.
And how it will look installed in the body. All that detail, hidden.
For a few weeks my hummingbird feeder was pretty much ignored. Then, about a week ago, I began noticing a hummer on it frequently. And as of today, they are lowering the level in the jar about an inch a day. Sitting on the balcony this afternoon I observed a lot of hummer activity. There are at least three working this face of our building, maybe more. There are no doubt hummingbird feeders on many of the balconies, but the little buzzers still have to argue over them.
Codgerville 