Entered on 16 October 2002 at 8:39 a.m..
Smoke & Construction
Let me begin this entry by saying that I really support the work being done by the human factors group here. I think it is extremely exciting and necessary. However after sitting through a few months of repeated construction, I'm getting rather fed up. Yesterday they even conducted a smoke test. Fair enough, however you would think that they'd have someone manning the fire alarm so that upon being triggered it could quickly be turned off. No, instead the alarm went off for a good 3-5 minutes before being disarmed. In the mean time I lost a good 10db off of my high range hearing. The only good news is that is prompted an early tea break for the MSc students since none of them had been told that it wasn't real. One of my friends asked me, "Karen doen't it worry anyone else that a firealarm went off and there is smoke in the hanger?" I reassured him that it was only a test.
Then for the rest of the day they have been banging and hammering right outside our office. I feel like banging my own head on my desk, but I know that wouldn't drown them out.