Today I started another week of on-call duty. I have mixed feelings about the whole on-call thing. On one hand, the geek in me really appreciates the fact that I have the responsibility of on-call and that a whole telephone network is relying on my organization and knowledge to keep it running. God help us all. On the other hand, when I’m on call I feel like I have an electronic leash in the form of a pager. I’m unable to cross an imagined boundary around our house lest I get zapped and beckoned back. Last time I was on call I tried to eat in the mall food court. I had just paid the cashier and had been handed my chopsticks when “beep beep beep beep beep!”, a SigAlert for WonderTech. I shot away the food after nibbling one bite of my Bourbon Chicken and headed out, looking for the closest phone booth or better yet, a dark corner where I could spin into my WonderTech stars and stripes.
I had a friend who got one of those electronic dog collars for his dog. He proclaimed the wonders of the Invisible Fence. Being a true humanitarian, he tried the collar on himself and ran across the fence’s boundary to feel what it did to his dog. It knocked him on his ass.
What a fool.
This whole electronic leash concept can be frustrating at times. I’m not one to be bound against my will, kinky weekends in the woods notwithstanding. (Did you hear that sound like someone was falling out of a chair? It was my mother collapsing on the floor as she read that last sentence). Anyways, I think of myself as a free spirit. Quicksilver. A fleeting shadow, a distant sound… now I’m paraphrasing Endora’s speech in the second episode of Bewitched.
Anyways, when I’m on call I end up surfing the internet. A lot. You’d think I’d be sick of the computer since I have to stare at it all day and half the night. But I always find little interesting tidbits to look at. For example, way back in December I mentioned that Earl and I saw another bearish couple while we Christmas shopping but didn’t know who they were or where they were from. We just exchanged knowing glances, a wave and moved on. Surfing around for information on the upcoming pride celebrations this spring, I found one of the guys pictured on a site about a gay sculpture being erected in Rochester (It’s by the Atlantic-Beacon Sculpture Committee). That was kind of cool. It certainly makes this world seem like a much smaller place!
As far as Mondays go, this one hasn’t been too bad. I’ve started working out again. Thank goodness for my iPod. It makes cycling and jumping around like a fool, all in the name of exercise, bearable. I’ve found that working out in the morning kickstarts the day in a good way.
I’d tell you more, but my leash in beeping.
