Month: January 2006

UPDATE:

According to the maintenance guy, a representative from the elevator company arrived on-scene not long after my 5:30pm departure. Lynn was apparently rescued from the elevator car not long afterwards. The elevator dude left the building at 5:50pm according to the maintenance report. There is no indication there were any repairs made or parts replaced. The elevator was in service the day after the incident.

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Sometime after 4:30pm today I was at my desk writing some code when I began to notice a faint ringing sound in the background. It wasn’t loud enough to be a fire bell but it was intense enough for me to notice. It also seemed to be ringing at random intervals. Weird.

I ignored for several minutes when a co-worker sent me an instant message… “I think someone is trapped in the elevator”

Of course! It was the bell you ring when you’re trapped in an elevator. We both rushed to the elevator where several people had already congregated. Near the elevator bank someone was trying to talk to whoever it was through the doors. Our office manager was trying to call the security guard and elevator company. It turned out the security guard wasn’t on duty yet and elevator company wasn’t answering.

Whoever was trapped managed to yell out that she was Lynn or Lyn from the 4th floor. Then someone yelled back down to Lynn that we were having trouble getting help. I was thinking that wasn’t a smart thing to do. Don’t tell her that! Just tell her we were working on getting help to her. Anyways, we were herded away from the area, leaving just one working elevator for the entire building.

Shortly after I got back to my desk, an office-wide e-mail was sent out detailing the situation and that we were to use the remaining elevator at our own risk. Using the stairs was now the preferred method of transit. These elevators have been flaky for several months now. Sometimes they’ll go up before they’ll go down even though the arrow indicates the car should be on the way down.

Twenty minutes later, I went to the washroom and I could see no one had arrived to help this poor woman. Walking back to my desk, the office manager told a few of us that the man now in front of the elevators was Lynn’s husband. He was talking on a cell phone which I hope had his wife on the other end. He seemed quite calm.

Almost an hour later, I left work at around 5:30pm and no help had arrived yet. I threw caution to the wind because, you know, I’m a risk taker, so I took the elevator down to the ground floor. I arrived without incident and on my way out of the elevator, the security guard was on his way up.

I have no further updates on this incident but I will ask around tomorow. I need closure on this incident!

I am very eager to file my income tax return this year. I am brimming with anticipation. Why? Well, let’s discuss my income tax history. I’ve never made enough money in my entire life to have required me to pay taxes to the government at tax time. I’ve always received a refund. I’d like to see how the other half lives but there’s little I can do about that for now.

I am now making more money than I’ve ever made in my entire life. That’s not saying a lot for a guy that used to make $12.50 an hour but I digress. The government takes about 30% off every paycheque of mine. Because of the huge tuition and education credits I accumulated through grad school, I expect to get most of my money back come tax time. It should be the largest refund I’ve ever received. Most, if not all of it, will go towards my loan payments.

I can’t file my return just yet since I don’t have all the proper forms. None of my T-slips are in. Also, the CRA tends to make last minute changes to the tax forms. I usually wait until mid-March when the tax folks finalize the forms.

Since 1996, I’ve used Quicktax to help me prepare my return. It’s getting pricey at $40 now but I like how it carries forward all my financial info from year to year. Maybe I’ll get my family to pitch in some bucks since I’ve done all their returns since 1999. Seems fair enough doesn’t it?

On a related note, billionaire Mark Cuban gives his three investment tips for 2006. Now before you dimiss the link as some financial hooey that will make no sense, two of his tips are actually common sense type tips. It’s worth a read no matter if you’re a broker or a guy that stuffs his money into his mattress.

I really didn’t get enough sleep on Sunday night, so when I arrived at work on Monday morning, I was kinda tired. The commute, however, was awesome. There was barely any traffic so we zoomed right into downtown Vancouver in just under 25 minutes. I even got a whole row of seats to myself. I got to work nice and early.

When I arrived home that evening, I was exhausted. I felt like going to bed around 9pm and if you know me, that’s amazing. I managed to stay up until midnight and that’s when I crawled into bed. I was thinking that I’d get a whole eight of hours of sleep and wake up fully rested.

I awoke at 4:30am to find myself lying on top of one of my arms which had fallen asleep. After restoring bloodflow to the appendage, I tried to go back to sleep. I heard sirens though and it sounded like a few of them were going off. I was thinking it might be a police chase of some sort. I tossed and turned for a bit. Then I had to go pee. Upon returning, I did more tossing and turning. Then I started thinking about random stuff. I began to wonder if I was thirsty or not. I finally fell back asleep sometime around 5:30am (I think).

I woke up at 8:30am and I was tired. I hate that feeling when you wake up and you’re already thinking about the next time you get to sleep.

I was tired all day at work but I managed to get a decent amount of work done. We even went to Denny’s for lunch.

Thanks for sticking with me on this post. Click here for a fun Flash-based tennis game.

I received more Christmas cards this season than any other year that I’ve had a mailing address. This is completely impersonal but I’d like to use this forum to thank each and every one of you for spending postage on me and sending me your special greeting. As soon as I grow up, I will reciprocate. The card that came the farthest to me was from Hobart, Australia. Nenagh (Nen-nog) wrote me a wonderful little note. She is truly a 100% top chick in everyone’s books.

In completely different news, Grandma’s Boy, the movie loosely based on my life as a video game tester, opens this Friday. Click here for some clips from the movie. Be sure to check out the Dance Dance Revolution clip.

I go back to work on Monday. I got this month’s bus pass today. I also did some repairs to a sweater that had a rip in it. I’m all ready to go.