Decline of civilization

[pphaneuf]

Forgot to link to my photos and azrhey's photos.

It rained twice this week, both great thunderstorm. Ironically, azrhey and I got caught in the first one biking home from some shopping downtown, for a swimsuit.... I also scored both of Nouvelle Vague's albums (thanks to azrhey), yay!

After the second thunderstorm, it cooled off the weather a bit, and while I was happy when they repaired the A/C at the office (which was previously swelteringly hot), I found out this Friday that their "fix" had been to simply short-circuit the thermostat, running it full-tilt at all time. Turns out that this is exactly what's needed when you have a heat wave, but that when you have normal temperatures, it was freezing in there. Thankfully, there's a shut-off switch for the A/C when the windows are opened, so that we could avoid freezing to death.

This fancy A/C switch on the windows leads me to another so-called "feature" of our futuristic office space. The lights are not controlled by wall-mounted switched, but rather by television-style infrared remote controls, each of them controlling three ceiling lighting. This "great innovation" leads to such excitement as random turning on and off of lights, as people struggle to find the right button for the light they want to trigger, when they don't simply have the wrong remote altogether. No to mention when they aren't outright misplaced. Decline of civilization indeed.

Saturday, azrhey and I went shopping for a few essential items for our new apartment, such as a fridge and an espresso machine (which, niftily enough, is also a regular coffee machine). We also bought an iron and a mixer. We nearly got arrested after going to Carrefour after we smuggled in our loot from our previous shopping. Upon leaving, we had to deal with security and all, much fun...

Heading to the bus stop, still in the mall, we went past a mechanical walkway that came from underground. Wondering what it lead to, I leaned over to look, and while I couldn't see that, I found myself staring right at a rather hot girl coming up in a low-cut top. azrhey commented that the worst thing was that I was so shiny, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't mean to do that. Well, no, I didn't mean to, but I didn't regret it, despite not really seeing what I did mean to see!

Comments

[sfllaw.livejournal.com]

Civilization must be maintained! You're the only ones left to do it, I'm afraid.

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, this phenomenon seems to be fairly localized to my office space. Everywhere else, they have sensible light switches.

[sfllaw.livejournal.com]

How much do you know about electrical work? ;)

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

Do not underestimate how space age my office space is! The walls here are all modular affairs that can be moved around with a certain level of ease (I haven't seen it done, but it looks like cubicle-type design that goes up into rails in the ceiling). Hence one of the reason why they have the wacky remote controls in the first place, so that they don't have to run wires in the "walls".

[dcoombs.livejournal.com]

In Europe? Nothing!

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

Like that'd stop you... ;-)