An Exciting Evening

So there I was at work last night, having just about settled in, when the fire alarm rings.

'Don't worry', I was assured by the day shift, 'they have been testing all day.'

Then the PA says something about this is not a drill, that an alarm has been registered on the 30th floor, and listen for further announcements. I work on the 48th floor, and so I began to worry slightly.

I worried more when the next two PA announcements got cut off (good job post testing, guys!); the floor supervisor called our 19th floor center where the shift supervisor was, and was told that we should evacuate. Naturally, this being a fire situation, elevators were right out.

DAMN, it's hard to go down 48 floors on the stairs. Even now, almost 24 hours later, my thighs are still kind of knotted, the calves feel rubbery.

And naturally, as soon as we got out the door, we saw the fire truck disappearing (I guess the all-clear was sounded sometime when we were between the 15th and 25th floors). At least the elevators were on to go back up.

But now I appreciate further not only what the folks in WTC had to go through (we at least had lights), as well as the brave (insane) people who annually run in the Empire State Building Run-Up. 86 flights, UP!

Oy.

The Sounds of Cylons and More

Three free sets of audio you'll want to download:

1. A set of 20 lectures from University of Minnesota Independent and Distance Learning on science fiction. MP3 and Real formats available. (via)

2. Wizard People, Dear Reader is an alternative soundtrack for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone created by Brad Neely. I have not yet heard this -- the site has been hit heavily in its bandwidth, because it was mentioned in the New York Times. It's downloading (albeit slowly) now, and I hope to have a review of it when I have had a chance to set it up and watch.

3. An interview with Philip K. Dick (Link, Mirror, Torrent) (via) (This one is also currently downloading; reviews when and if I get to listen)

An Annual Annoyance

Interleague play in Major League Baseball sucks.

No, let me rephrase that. It is possibly the worst thing to happen to the game since the current Commissioner.

I don't necessarily like the designated hitter (DH) rule, but I accept that it makes the game somewhat different. And by restraining it to the American League, baseball had created an interesting dichotomy for its fans; to watch a more offensively oriented game in the AL or the classic, "pure" if you will, game in the National League. Even better was that the World Series had had a subtext of "which sort of baseball is superior."

Interleague play. in which teams from each league play each other during the regular season, breaks down all those barriers. Even more important, it allows games with teams from the other league to determine final regular-season standings. That's akin to allowing voters from Oklahoma or California to vote in New York's elections.

I say, if you are going to maintain a two-league system, with different rules, then the only reasonable thing to do is to preclude their teams from playing in the regular season. (Spring Training and the World Series, with occasional exhibitions like the erstwhile Mayor's Trophy Game in New York, are totally in bounds.)

So Put Back The Wall! Let there be no interleague dreck foisted upon us, Mr. So-called Commissioner! And while you're at it, how about finally selling the Expos so they can compete fairly again?