Big excitement at work yesterday when the place started filling up with smoke. The conversation between my co-worker and I:

ME: Hmm, do you smell smoke?
Chris: Yeah … I think I do.
ME: But not an unpleasant smell – is it … is it…?
Chris: It smells like incense.
ME: Do we do that around here?
Chris: Who knows … could be.

[ chatter from outside ]

ME: Wait, are they talking about the smoke out there?
Chris: Yeah – maybe we should be concerned?

[ from outside: “it’s like a fireplace at Christmas” ]

ME: She’s right. Kind of odd to be smelling here, though.
Chris: Think we should be concerned now?

[ from outside: “Hey, is that smoke coming from your office?” “Yeah, I think it is.”

ME: Yes.

We walked out of our office to see the area getting decidedly more smoky, and somewhat less Christmas-y in the odor. It was then that I looked up at one of the vents to see smoke billowing out of the vent. LOTS of smoke. Someone else noticed it just as I did, and the cry rang out:

Everyone out – there’s a fire. Get out of the building – NOW.

Not one to argue with authority over a fire, I quickly grabbed my coat and started to head for the door. Selfish preservation made me pause, go back and unhook my iPod and grab it and my briefcase to take with me (heck, if the place burned down, no reason I should lose my music, right?). So, we all started heading for the exits as the smoke was getting visibly thick throughout the floor. Now, keep in mind that there were two distinct thoughts going through my head at this point:

1) I never heard any fire alarm
2) Why the f**k did this have to happen just when winter finally decided to arrive in Philadelphia?

Standing out in the bitter cold for what seemed like forever, and watching the fire trucks race to the scene, I couldn’t help but think, “Would this be a good time to go get a hot tea over at the Barnes and Noble?”. But as we talked and everyone wondered just what was going on – and tried to keep circulation going as the Blood-flavored Icees pooled in our toes, I realized something more important – of all the days to do this, since I was fairly sure that we wouldn’t be going back in today, it did it on the day I was supposed to stay in the city for an Phi Chi seminar at 6:30. I.e. even if they sent us home, I had to wait another 3 hours for this seminar (I didn’t – sorry, sitting around Philly for 3 hours just wasn’t going to happen).

Turns out that the ‘fire’ was the result of welders on the 9th floor who accidentally caught the paper wrapping around the vents on that floor on fire. Although the fire was out, it smoldered for a while, and the smoke leaked directly into the ventilation – and right into one of the few occupied floors in the building (ours). The irony is that the reason the alarm didn’t go off was that the welders disabled it because they were afraid it would go off from the welding. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t welding a fire hazard? And wouldn’t that be a good case for keeping the alarms on?

Either way, we were sent home early to prevent us from breathing the acrid smoke. So, I made it home early enough to work on stuff until 7:30 at home, and return early this morning after Day 3 of the Great Pet Poo Fiasco*. Ahh, the life…

Links to Keep You From Working

• Kitty Washing Machine (via FuriousBall) – cruel, but I so want one of these right now…
• Scientists videotape rare Frilled Shark – that is one funky-looking shark.
• Microsoft tries to BUY Wikipedia entry – What? You’re surprised?

* The Great Pet Poo Fiasco – if you read this far, you’re either crazy or stupid. Suffice it to say that 3 out of 4 pets are having some gastrointestinal distress that has required far more baths than I’m happy to give. Hence, the first link above.