Friday, July 30, 2004
MORE WITH THE SPOOKY STUFF
Yeah, yeah, another ghosty post. It's just that I was reminded of this incident Wednesday morning at work. I'll start off with what reminded me:
Last year one of our engineers was killed in a car accident. No one touched her desk after that; they just left everything as it was when she left that last day. Later, we all realized that in the engineering cubicle section when all the lights were turned off, there was one that continued to burn even though the switches were off. Yes, you're right...it's the light above her desk. No one has a logical explanation for this phenomenon except that now her desk is haunted. Soooo, Wednesday morning at about 4 or so, my supervisor Nancy was taking some paper back there to dump in the recycle bin. She turned on the lights, dumped the paper then turned the lights back off. As she turned, she caught sight of a silhouette of a woman standing by the cubicles. Startled, all Nancy could think of to say was "Did I startle you?" "No," came the reply. "I just wanted to see who was out here."
"Would you like me to turn the lights back on?"
"No, I like working in the dark." And she proceeded to walk back TOWARDS THE HAUNTED CUBICLE!! Now, Nancy is convinced that this was a flesh & blood engineer but she admits that she couldn't see her and she didn't recognize the voice. And who in their right mind does engineering work in the dark? I think it was the ghost!!
Atmel is haunted, we've all known that. Someone died there once...heart attack, I think. Downstairs in burn-in is supposedly haunted pretty bad but I haven't ever been down there to check it out. It's not that I'm scared, I just don't have a reason to go down there. It's not my job. But I have heard stories about footsteps and lights going on & off....the same old stuff.
On my floor, I've mentioned before that we have a raised floor with big tiles...some of the tiles are crooked and bang when you step on them just right so you always know when someone is walking up behind you. I can't count how many times I've heard the tiles bang and when I turn around there's no one there. I see shadows out of the corner of my eye like someone is watching me. It can get creepy, especially if you're the only one there.
A few years ago, I was loading a machine that was in the corner and I had to stand on a stepstool to put the parts in. I was wearing my blue smock (this is an important detail, not just a fashion statement. Trust me.) and when I stepped down from the stool and turned around, there was somone standing right freakin there, in a blue smock, in my face and then GONE! It all happened in about 2 seconds, maybe less. Someone was there then not. I was alone at the time, Morris & Dona both on break. There was a metal bucket across the way from me and for a while I thought maybe I had caught my reflection in the bucket but I stepped up and down from the stool about ten times & never had the feeling that there was someone there again. It was really pretty scary!
Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll remember more ghost stories soon! :D
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Last year one of our engineers was killed in a car accident. No one touched her desk after that; they just left everything as it was when she left that last day. Later, we all realized that in the engineering cubicle section when all the lights were turned off, there was one that continued to burn even though the switches were off. Yes, you're right...it's the light above her desk. No one has a logical explanation for this phenomenon except that now her desk is haunted. Soooo, Wednesday morning at about 4 or so, my supervisor Nancy was taking some paper back there to dump in the recycle bin. She turned on the lights, dumped the paper then turned the lights back off. As she turned, she caught sight of a silhouette of a woman standing by the cubicles. Startled, all Nancy could think of to say was "Did I startle you?" "No," came the reply. "I just wanted to see who was out here."
"Would you like me to turn the lights back on?"
"No, I like working in the dark." And she proceeded to walk back TOWARDS THE HAUNTED CUBICLE!! Now, Nancy is convinced that this was a flesh & blood engineer but she admits that she couldn't see her and she didn't recognize the voice. And who in their right mind does engineering work in the dark? I think it was the ghost!!
Atmel is haunted, we've all known that. Someone died there once...heart attack, I think. Downstairs in burn-in is supposedly haunted pretty bad but I haven't ever been down there to check it out. It's not that I'm scared, I just don't have a reason to go down there. It's not my job. But I have heard stories about footsteps and lights going on & off....the same old stuff.
On my floor, I've mentioned before that we have a raised floor with big tiles...some of the tiles are crooked and bang when you step on them just right so you always know when someone is walking up behind you. I can't count how many times I've heard the tiles bang and when I turn around there's no one there. I see shadows out of the corner of my eye like someone is watching me. It can get creepy, especially if you're the only one there.
A few years ago, I was loading a machine that was in the corner and I had to stand on a stepstool to put the parts in. I was wearing my blue smock (this is an important detail, not just a fashion statement. Trust me.) and when I stepped down from the stool and turned around, there was somone standing right freakin there, in a blue smock, in my face and then GONE! It all happened in about 2 seconds, maybe less. Someone was there then not. I was alone at the time, Morris & Dona both on break. There was a metal bucket across the way from me and for a while I thought maybe I had caught my reflection in the bucket but I stepped up and down from the stool about ten times & never had the feeling that there was someone there again. It was really pretty scary!
Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll remember more ghost stories soon! :D
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// posted by Heather @ 4:42 PM 
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Update:
SONG OF THE DAY: "Stupid" by Sarah McLachlan. I was listening to this song
the other day in the car and realized it's fast becoming a Favorite Of All
Time. It's just such a cool tune and she sounds so haunted when she sings the
lyrics.
Remember Stan, my erstwhile trainee? Guess what??? He was terminated
yesterday! Don't get me wrong, I'm not celebrating; it's sad when anyone loses
their job but he was really asking for it! When you first start here at Atmel,
you're on 90 day probation. During that time, you have to be on your best
behavior i.e. no tardies, no call-in's, no screw ups of ANY kind. This boy
seemed to be going for some kind of record & encompassed them all into his stay
here. He was late at least 4 times & one time he didn't even show up! The
only thing that saved his butt there was that our supervisor had the night off
and she couldn't prove that he hadn't paged her to let her know he wouldn't be
in. Not to mention he simply stopped listening to me, his buddy trainer, the
one who KNOWS how to do the job. He started looking for short cuts and then
when I called him on it, he actually argued with me! Uh!! The noirve!
Anyway, the disturbing thing about Stan's termination was that Saturday night
when I got to work, my supervisor called me into her office & wanted to know
whether or not I wanted to keep Stan. Eep! Put all the pressure on me!! I
escaped that by asking what she was leaning towards and when she said "Firing
him" I simply agreed. But I still feel somewhat responsible. Nothing like
guilt to get me through a 4-day week! (Yes, I said a 4-day week. And those
are my long weeks!! Anyone want to work here with me? :D )
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the other day in the car and realized it's fast becoming a Favorite Of All
Time. It's just such a cool tune and she sounds so haunted when she sings the
lyrics.
Remember Stan, my erstwhile trainee? Guess what??? He was terminated
yesterday! Don't get me wrong, I'm not celebrating; it's sad when anyone loses
their job but he was really asking for it! When you first start here at Atmel,
you're on 90 day probation. During that time, you have to be on your best
behavior i.e. no tardies, no call-in's, no screw ups of ANY kind. This boy
seemed to be going for some kind of record & encompassed them all into his stay
here. He was late at least 4 times & one time he didn't even show up! The
only thing that saved his butt there was that our supervisor had the night off
and she couldn't prove that he hadn't paged her to let her know he wouldn't be
in. Not to mention he simply stopped listening to me, his buddy trainer, the
one who KNOWS how to do the job. He started looking for short cuts and then
when I called him on it, he actually argued with me! Uh!! The noirve!
Anyway, the disturbing thing about Stan's termination was that Saturday night
when I got to work, my supervisor called me into her office & wanted to know
whether or not I wanted to keep Stan. Eep! Put all the pressure on me!! I
escaped that by asking what she was leaning towards and when she said "Firing
him" I simply agreed. But I still feel somewhat responsible. Nothing like
guilt to get me through a 4-day week! (Yes, I said a 4-day week. And those
are my long weeks!! Anyone want to work here with me? :D )
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// posted by Heather @ 8:50 AM
Monday, July 26, 2004
BLOGGING FUN!
SONG OF THE DAY: "The Reason" by Hoobastank. Not only do I really like this song because of the lyrics and Doug Ray's voice but the beginning note that repeats for about 5 seconds or so matches the pitch of the dinging sound my BRAND NEW 2004 SATURN ION 2 makes when I hit the automatic lock button. It cracks me up everytime I hear it and wonder if that was the inspiration for that song!
So, yeah, I bought a brand new car!!! It's soooo pretty...storm gray is the official color. CD player, A/C, automatic locks...I love it. I always name my cars and this one is no exception. I tried to think of a name that started with I for Ion and came up with Isabella...now I call her Bella for short. My Kia was named Nathalie, my LeMans was Subzero aka Baby Blue, and my Honda CVCC was the CalvinMobile, thanks to the etchings done by Derek & Jay on the hatchback window of Calvin & Hobbes dancing. That was the only thing I loved about that car.
Anyway, now that I have a new car, I've been noticing everyone else's cars and how they drive them, etc, etc. Wednesday night I was at Fargo's Pizza picking up dinner and I was getting into my car when a fancy schmancy white Firebird came tearing down Willamette. Tires squealing, smoke flying. I figured it was a young kid showing off his nifty wheels. Then the car turned into Fargo's & I thought I'd see if I was right about the driver. I couldn't have been more wrong! When the driver's door opened, an overweight lady of about 60 got out, followed by her passenger, an overweight balding guy of about the same age!! I was really shocked!
Sorry about the lack of posts on my site. I'm still working with my Mom's computer and to post anything, I have to send it to Derek or Collin & hope they have time to post for me. So bear with me...one day it'll be a regular thing for me again!!
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So, yeah, I bought a brand new car!!! It's soooo pretty...storm gray is the official color. CD player, A/C, automatic locks...I love it. I always name my cars and this one is no exception. I tried to think of a name that started with I for Ion and came up with Isabella...now I call her Bella for short. My Kia was named Nathalie, my LeMans was Subzero aka Baby Blue, and my Honda CVCC was the CalvinMobile, thanks to the etchings done by Derek & Jay on the hatchback window of Calvin & Hobbes dancing. That was the only thing I loved about that car.
Anyway, now that I have a new car, I've been noticing everyone else's cars and how they drive them, etc, etc. Wednesday night I was at Fargo's Pizza picking up dinner and I was getting into my car when a fancy schmancy white Firebird came tearing down Willamette. Tires squealing, smoke flying. I figured it was a young kid showing off his nifty wheels. Then the car turned into Fargo's & I thought I'd see if I was right about the driver. I couldn't have been more wrong! When the driver's door opened, an overweight lady of about 60 got out, followed by her passenger, an overweight balding guy of about the same age!! I was really shocked!
Sorry about the lack of posts on my site. I'm still working with my Mom's computer and to post anything, I have to send it to Derek or Collin & hope they have time to post for me. So bear with me...one day it'll be a regular thing for me again!!
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// posted by Heather @ 8:02 AM
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
I didn't REALLY post this, but...
Greetings! I feel as if I've been on a court-ordered Blog rest but I'm doing what I can to get back into the swing of things!
SONG OF THE DAY: "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer. On Sunday I played a video game called Karaoke Revolution...you have a microphone and it's kinda like being at karaoke. You sing songs and you're judged by how well you stay on pitch and how the virtual audience responds to you. I sang this song and received a score of 100% GREAT which, according to Game Master Collin, had never been done before so yay me!! :D You can play alone or you can have head-to-head karaoke battles with up to 6 people...Collin & I did a head-to-head battle and he beat me pretty bad! He doesn't believe me when I tell him that he's better than he thinks!!
A while back, Derek mentioned the phrase "scared to death." It reminded me of a time about 12 years ago, maybe more, when Derek & his friend Ryan concocted a plan to scare Mom to death. While she was at work, they built a dummy using Dad's clothes and stuffing them with towels and pillows to resemble a body. They topped it off with a Halloween mask of an old man with long gray hair &beard and put a hat on his head & shoes on his feet. Somehow, they made hands and had him holding either the newspaper or a magazine, I can't recall which. I have to admit it was well constructed...when they set him on the toilet in Mom and Dad's bathroom, he looked amazingly real!
When Mom got home, the three of us followed her down the hall towards the bathroom, snickering the whole way. In retrospect I can't believe she didn't realize something was up! Of course she screamed like a loon when she saw the dummy and almost fell over in her attempt to backpedal away from the sight. I know it was mean but we all laughed for a long time over that one.
It's amazing that Mom survived Derek's childhood intact! Not mine, of course...I'm the sweet one. :)
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SONG OF THE DAY: "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer. On Sunday I played a video game called Karaoke Revolution...you have a microphone and it's kinda like being at karaoke. You sing songs and you're judged by how well you stay on pitch and how the virtual audience responds to you. I sang this song and received a score of 100% GREAT which, according to Game Master Collin, had never been done before so yay me!! :D You can play alone or you can have head-to-head karaoke battles with up to 6 people...Collin & I did a head-to-head battle and he beat me pretty bad! He doesn't believe me when I tell him that he's better than he thinks!!
A while back, Derek mentioned the phrase "scared to death." It reminded me of a time about 12 years ago, maybe more, when Derek & his friend Ryan concocted a plan to scare Mom to death. While she was at work, they built a dummy using Dad's clothes and stuffing them with towels and pillows to resemble a body. They topped it off with a Halloween mask of an old man with long gray hair &beard and put a hat on his head & shoes on his feet. Somehow, they made hands and had him holding either the newspaper or a magazine, I can't recall which. I have to admit it was well constructed...when they set him on the toilet in Mom and Dad's bathroom, he looked amazingly real!
When Mom got home, the three of us followed her down the hall towards the bathroom, snickering the whole way. In retrospect I can't believe she didn't realize something was up! Of course she screamed like a loon when she saw the dummy and almost fell over in her attempt to backpedal away from the sight. I know it was mean but we all laughed for a long time over that one.
It's amazing that Mom survived Derek's childhood intact! Not mine, of course...I'm the sweet one. :)
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// posted by Heather @ 1:18 PM
Friday, July 02, 2004
OH MY GOD A POST!!!
Wow! I'm actually posting! This is so exciting!
A lot has happened since my last post that has contributed to me not posting. I won't go into the sordid details here and bore all of you but suffice it to say that I don't have a computer any longer that I can post from. I'm using my grandma's computer in Grand Junction right now but when I get home, I have to use my mom's computer which kinda sucks. Thanks, Derek, for picking that one out. :P I can't post from that computer and the only blogs I can view are mine, Derek's & Collin's. I'm thinking of making my comment section my blog for a while. Haha.
So anyway, Derek, Heather & I made it to Jct in good time yesterday. We had good music provided by Derek...he even let me listen to The Dance Hall Crashers. Yay! We hit the family picnic and it was just like I thought it would be. No one talked to me like usual...my extended family is stuck up and they all just stared at my pink hair!
Went to WalMart and bought some cute clothes and called Collin...woke him up. Oops. Derek was yelling at him over the phone in a heavy Mexican accent. Derek said Collin sounded dazed. Derek's mean but we all know that. I guess I should go be social. Bye!
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A lot has happened since my last post that has contributed to me not posting. I won't go into the sordid details here and bore all of you but suffice it to say that I don't have a computer any longer that I can post from. I'm using my grandma's computer in Grand Junction right now but when I get home, I have to use my mom's computer which kinda sucks. Thanks, Derek, for picking that one out. :P I can't post from that computer and the only blogs I can view are mine, Derek's & Collin's. I'm thinking of making my comment section my blog for a while. Haha.
So anyway, Derek, Heather & I made it to Jct in good time yesterday. We had good music provided by Derek...he even let me listen to The Dance Hall Crashers. Yay! We hit the family picnic and it was just like I thought it would be. No one talked to me like usual...my extended family is stuck up and they all just stared at my pink hair!
Went to WalMart and bought some cute clothes and called Collin...woke him up. Oops. Derek was yelling at him over the phone in a heavy Mexican accent. Derek said Collin sounded dazed. Derek's mean but we all know that. I guess I should go be social. Bye!
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// posted by Heather @ 10:00 AM
