The River Green

In almost all cases of unlikely and random events, the occurrences number three. They are usually connected somehow and generally manifest within 24 hours or so, with the occasional overlap and pauses no more than 36 hours in length (you know... for the real doozies) here and there.

16 February was my birthday. Of all the random things to happen on my birthday, three utility trucks of varying sizes pulled in front of the house bearing the markings of Dominion People's Gas Company, followed much later by a backhoe. The quiet of my birthday morning was jackhammered away by three of twelve people intent on removing large portions of asphalt which until then constituted my parking space.

Just before moving the car to a safer location, I found out they were investigating a gas leak. One of them was smoking.

This is random in that there was a very low probability that this would occur on my birthday. It is accompanied by two other random events which happened the next day at work.

For those who do not know, my duties at UCSUR largely involve dialing a phone and conducting survey research on mostly unsuspecting people who may or may not fall within one or more ambiguous demographic or another. The particular research we are conducting presently is nationwide. Since I have worked for the University of Pittsburgh in one form or another after leaving college, I'm familiar with the habit of dialing '9' and then '1' to procure an outside line; dialing at UCSUR, I assumed, was no different. As a newer interviewer sat next to me, he shared an unusual tone with me that I immediately recognized as that which results from failing to dial the appropriate prefix in order to get the outside line. I instructed him to dial '9' and then '1' before the area code.

The look on his face was a mix between astonishment and disbelief. I came to find out that he had never dialed the '1' in any calling he had done for the research. After finally convincing him to dial the damned '1', the call went through with no problems. Curious as to how he could possibly have not been dialing the '1', I tried myself and found that it in fact worked. How strange. There existed a healthy balance of people who both dialed the '1' and those who did not throughout the office.

My curiosity was satisfied inasmuch as it allowed me to continue with my own assignments without worry of further course in the matter.

Remarkably, when I then dialed my next record with the '1', the phone produced the familiar tones as would any that failed in obtaining an outside line. Owing to my own slip, I tried again, paying close attention to the numbers on the base. No luck. Just then, the new guy said that he was getting the same tone. The survey managers then announced that long-distance dialing was down for the entire University. Opps.

I am not normally one to suggest that mere actions can have such wide-ranging consequences, especially in this situation... but it was, of course, our fault. For the next 45 minutes or so, the new guy and I pondered the connection to our actions and the phone melt down at the nation's 25th largest university. One of the managers did not quite understand the significance of our involvement and I decided it was for the best.

Seriously, though... what are the chances?!

The third random event to occur is only tangentially related by dictionary definition to the first RA of the previous day: construction and the presence of a backhoe.

Nearly an hour before my shift was due to end, I went outside for a smoke and discovered that the fire alarm in the neighboring building was active. An ominous voice warning against the use of elevators accompanied a blaring that could be heard clear over to Posvar Hall. The building is undergoing renovation and the alarm seemed to go unnoticed by any sort of emergency personnel.

I realize that these random events play no outstanding role in my life, but it is helpful and ultimately cathartic to document them.

Labels: random events