I almost died today.

I almost died today.

Well, not really... but this isn't a joke!

They have been doing some major repairs / renovations on the front of the building where I work. They're also doing work on the visitor's parking lot.

Employees park in underground lots that under but still part of the building. We drive up a little lane next to the building and use access cards to open the garage doors. You can't see the front of the building from this lane. Because of the construction they have lifted the "no stopping or standing / no parking" rule on this little lane as well. Visitors are allowed to park along the curb where it says "no stopping or standing." As a result this lane gets crowded.

This morning as I arrived at work, I noticed that the access lane was more crowded and more congested than it's been in a long time. It reminded me of the days of Katrina. (They've been doing this construction for a long time.) But aside from the congestion, I didn't notice anything unusual. There were cars in front of me that swiped their access cards and pulled in to the garage. When it was my turn... I swiped my card and pulled in.

I found a parking spot. I swiped my card again to get access in to the building. I got in the elevator and rode up to my floor... the third floor. There were others going to the fourth, fifth, and sixth floor.

When I got out of the elevator I noticed a person from housekeeping was cleaning the men's room. She had the door propped open and she was going in and out of the room to get supplies.

I got to my office, unlocked my door, started to boot up my computer, and took a breathe. Suddenly I realized it was very quiet. Too quiet. I walked out of my office. My admin wasn't at her desk... but she could have gone for coffee. I walked up and down the rows of cubes and no one was there. This was odd. I went to the window. There were hordes of people standing in the fire / disaster waiting area. I started to walk back towards the elevators / stair wells.

I ran into a couple of people I know. They were as perplexed as I was. We were trying to figure out if this was a real emergency or a drill... after all our key cards worked in the garage, the elevators let us up, the house keeping folks were still keeping house, there were no flashing lights or sirens and actually no evidence that anything was wrong at all. This just seemed like it wasn't anything more than a drill.

Yet, I had a queasy feeling about it. But just as the other folks were saying that they were going to go back to their desks to work; a security guard got off of the elevator. He started to yell at as. Why were we still in the building? Didn't we know there was a REAL fire? This was not a drill. He wanted to know why didn't we evacuate with the rest of the folks? Huh, I thougth??? He told us to take the elevator to the lobby and get out of the building. Good safety procedure that was, wasn't it...

You know of all the places one could work... you'd think my employer would do fires a little better. Also considering that we're identified as a high risk target for terrorist operations, you'd think they'd do a little better with security.

About three minutes after I got outside to the desginated area, they sounded the "all clear" and we were let back into the building. I never did find out where the fire was.

Oh well, I'm going to go check my documents to make sure everything is in order. OOPS! I forgot, I don't have a will. Oh well, I'll have to give that one a higher priority on my "to do" list.