| 16:53 | Power flickers and then shuts down in my building. The lights, save for those connected to emergency power, go out. Fans and hard drives in computers spin down to a sudden silence. People begin to stand up in the dim light, talking over the cubicle walls. "Glad I just saved my work!" "I wonder if it's a brownout?" "Is it just this building or all of the campus?" "If it doesn't come back on soon, I guess it's time to go home." |
| 16:58 | Being one of the few in my area with not just one, but two laptops, I resume working on battery power as several others file out of the building. The network switch in this building must be on backup power too, because my laptops can still access the rest of the company intranet. Machines in other buildings respond, so they must still have power. |
| 17:09 | Emergency lights go out. The soft glow of my two laptop screens emanates from my cubicle, a solitary source of light stretching out into the blackness. Confused voices at the other end search for a wall. I continue typing. |
| 17:16 | Reflected sunlight bursts through an open door near the other end of the large room. A voice calls out, "Anyone still in here?" "Yeah." "We need to evacuate the building." A flashlight swings its way towards my location. Damn, I still have work to do! Guess I'll head down to the lab in building "B". I save my work, close the lid of the laptop, grab my drink and my iPod, and follow my escort to the door. I distinctly remember grabbing my iPod. |
| 17:22 | I arrive at the lab in the basement of building "B". They've just moved all the people out of this building in preparation for its closing - the first and second floors are now sealed off. But the lab will remain here for a few more weeks until its move date, the last holdout. Nobody's here, just as I suspected. It's the Ghost Town lab, as Dana fondly calls it. I settle in at the Power Mac G5, titan, setting my drink and my iPod on the desk. I specifically remember the iPod being there. Right next to the drink. I resume working. This software change needs to be ready for peer review tomorrow. |
| 17:42 | I notice the clock on the screen. If I want to call my wife and discuss evening plans, it's now or never. She gets off work at 6. The only phone down here is the one in the Special Test Equipment room, so I walk over there, navigate the maze of electronics hardware, and place my phone call. No answer. Darn! While I'm at it, might as well check my voicemail in case someone called while I was in the lab. Hmm, message from my manager, wants to talk about software purchases. Ok, I lock up the lab and walk over to his office in building "C". |
| 18:09 | I arrive at the lab, back from my manager's office. We may have actually accomplished something in those 20 minutes or so! Back to work. |
| 18:14 | I reach over and take a drink. It's getting a bit watered down. As I set down the drink, something's not ri... OH, SH**! WHERE'S MY iPOD? It's not on the desk. My hands slap my thighs, not in my pockets. Frantically looking around - no, nowhere to be seen. |
| 18:15 | I jump up and begin scouring the lab for an iPod dressed in a blue and black hand-sewn carrying case. Did I leave it on a table? A bookcase? In a drawer? No, that would be silly. I would remember putting it in a drawer. Absent mindedly leaving it on top of something, maybe not, but definitely would remember a drawer. What about the Special Test Equipment room? There's lots of junk in there, maybe I set it down to use the phone! I scan and re-scan every surface and every crevice that might possibly hold an iPod. Surely I just set it down somewhere, right? I do that all the time at home and then spend 20 minutes cursing myself for not remembering where it was. No, the lab is a very open space with very few places that wouldn't be seen during a 20-second walkthrough. I walk up and down maybe 10 times, eyes darting around, straining to see that familiar blue and black shape. Nothing. I check all the drawers in all the desks - you know, just in case. Nothing. I re-check them all. Still, nothing. What about the bathroom? No, I didn't go in there at all today. Check anyway. Nope, nothing. |
| 18:22 | Wait! Maybe I left it in my manager's office. Yes, that must be it! Nevermind that I rarely bring it with me except when I'm going to or from the parking lot. This had to be it. I make the trek back over there, retracing my steps. On the way, I think about my hands and my pockets. I was standing by his desk, left hand in my pocket fiddling with my keys. Right in in the other pocket rattling loose change. No iPod. Maybe I held it in my hand and set it down on the bookcase as I entered? It was a long shot but I had to check. Hey, that security guard across the way is walking the same way as me. As if he were coming from building "B", maybe. Do you think...? Nahh. But he would be one of the few people at this hour to have access to that lab. Either security or maintenance. Nobody else would get past the lock. Could it be? Surely not! Arrive at my manager's office and ask. Nothing. |
| 18:34 | Back in the lab again. Still no iPod. I walk up and down the floor another 20 times, look in every box, every drawer. Nothing. What are the chances that someone got into this locked lab, walked by this particular desk, saw the iPod, and swiped it? Nobody ever comes around here. Ever. Seriously, what are the odds? One in a million? Surely I just left it somewhere that I can't remember. Surely! |
| 18:48 | I head over to security to file an incident report. What are the chances that it's back there, but they're not giving it up? These guys are essentially rent-a-cops, after all. Not exactly the cream of the crop. Nah, I'm being paranoid. The guard takes my report. Not sure if he'll do anything with it at all. |
| 19:03 | All right, it's time to stop looking. It's not here. It's just a $400 toy, not the end of the world. Though it was a gift. I feel really bad that I apparently didn't take good enough care of it... I should have kept it on my person at all times. Should have, would have, could have. Oh, if only I'd been running that SGI program I once wrote that captures pictures from the webcam and saves the ones that changed. Then I could have nailed him. Should have, could have. If only I would have. And it was so personalized! My musical identity was on that device. Some personal pictures, too. That's what bugs me about all this. That creep could be looking at them now. Not that there's anything too private, but I feel violated. Ugh. If only the power hadn't gone out! It would still be safe in my office. |
| 19:09 | I admit defeat and head to the parking lot. I'll just have to finish that software task tomorrow. I'm in no mood to do it now. What are the chances that it's still there, that I really did set it down in some obscure spot that I can't even remember? That I'll find it tomorrow and all will be right again? Or maybe that the security guard, thinking I was gone for the day and trying to be a good Samaritan, picked it up for safe keeping before finishing his rounds? Probably slim. Really slim. Still, what are the chances that someone at this late hour, with access to a controlled lab area that nobody ever visits, just happened to go in there, just happened to walk past that desk, happened to see the iPod (cloaked in its blue and black sheath), picked it up, and TOOK IT?? All within that short twenty-minute or so timespan? The mind absolutely boggles. |
Wicked, tricksy, false!
