Karin's Adventures

When I came into Zollner in the morning I noticed some kind of electrical fire smell. I didn't think much of it, because we have several labs in the basement were students do all kinds of experiments and we've had some peculiar smells coming from down there before.
I assumed there was a chemistry class going on. 

Then I saw colleagues from the buildings and grounds department standing in the hallway, discussing something, and just assumed they had been notified about the smell and were going to fix it. When the fire alarm went off half an hour later, I assumed that my colleagues had resolved the issue and were now testing the alarm to make sure everything worked.

Boy, was I wrong!
This was a real fire alarm, triggered by the batteries in our UPS exploding in the basement, pouring acid all over the cabinet. The fire department came to our rescue and we resumed work half an hour later.

Never assume!

If you have to go places, a huge snow storm like this one may be a problem. If you can just stay home, like me, it's fun. I didn't have to go to work today. So I slept in, had a big healthy breakfast, then got the snow-blower out and cleaned our driveway. Many neighbors were doing the same thing. Later on I'll have time to catch up on my homework for the current class.

Europeans tend to believe they 'invented' recycling, or at least they are way better at doing it. This is not the case! Fort Wayne has had a recycling program ever since we moved here, and before that. The two plastic boxes, containing recyclable glass, plastics 1 and 2, paper, cardboard, and metal, were being picked up on trash day every other week.

That was pretty good already, but now it's getting even better! When I came home from work  today I found a shiny new big trash bin with a bright yellow lid parked by our curbside. All neighbors along our street got theirs too!

The end of an old year and the beginning of a new year means plenty of opportunities to celebrate and carry on the traditions.

New Year's Eve calls for herring salad and home made pretzels, which I brought to our friends' party. Lighting off some fire crackers around midnight is also a must. Then watching 'Dinner for One' is a fun German tradition, which I can still enjoy, thanks to the internet.

We got home around 3:00 a.m., tired, happy, and well fed. 2011 just waited long enough for us to melt some lead and see what the future holds. My two objects are clearly recognizable as me, flying a kite.

I have no clue what that means for my new year, though.
Any suggestions?

Today I went and had a new piece of gold put into one of my teeth, replacing the old inlay that had been showing signs of decay growing under it for almost a year now. I had to wait for such a long time because I needed to save money to pay for this dental service.

Comparing today's price to what it cost for that same tooth to be filled with gold twenty years ago - about $50 out of my pocket plus $150 from my insurance - explains why I see so many people with lousy teeth in this country.

Here's what you can buy for $468, if you have insurance and a coupon (?!) from your dentist. Otherwise prepare to lay out $1,136 for 5 grams of gold.