Air Conditioning

So...I am trying super hard to be interested in my job, the problem is, I'm not at all. See, there is something about air conditioning that is just not interesting to me. I can't complain too much though...I do get heating and ventilation thrown into the mix every now and again (sigh). I have always been an extremely hard worker, with really endless motivation. I have never experienced what I am experiencing in this job however. I am so uninterested, and so bored, I am having a hard time staying motivated. I can only count my ceiling tiles so many times (18 total), re-organize my shelves (twice a day), and sit here (for 9 hours a day), doing nothing (except the occasional conversation about air conditioning) before I lose all motivation all together. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are benefits to this excess of boredom. I am now extremely informed on all the news…local, national, and otherwise, and I am so far from stressed, I forgot what that was like. The fact that I am one out of two employees under the age of 50 doesn’t help much either…not to mention, I’m the only woman engineer. Now you may ask…who would be interested in air conditioning? Well folks…I too used to wonder this…but, trust me…they exist. I’ve met them and I’ve actually witnessed (first-hand) what it looks like when someone gets excited about air conditioning. I even tried to get excited about it myself during a meeting one day (I figured, if you can’t beat them…join them!). It was short lived when I realized that whether or not the people have air conditioning is really irrelevant in the scheme of life. So what am I doing? Collecting a paycheck? Am I doing something that matters? Hmm…I guess one could argue…the people need cooling on hot days. Right….especially since it gets so hot here in northern Washington. In fact, why do we even put air conditioning in buildings around here? There is maybe one day a year which you *might* need it. So…heat. I do heating too! Oh yes, I’m keeping the people warm! Well… not really. The heaters in the buildings are only turned on during “the heating season.” Now what is the “heating season?” Well… it starts in mid October and ends in the spring. Now when it is not heating season around here, all heat is shut off. Literally all heat. That means it is freezing in all the buildings for a good chunk of the year (good thing we have that air conditioning). People walk around the office in hats, coats, and I’ve even seen gloves being worn while typing. Funny at first…not so much when you try it yourself. I solved this problem by bringing in a space heater and shutting my office door to keep the heat in. Well, today we got an e-mail saying that personal heaters are not allowed unless it is during the heating season. Hmmm…that makes sense. Back to the hat, coat, and gloves.
Nonetheless, I’m confident that great things are on the horizon. It is funny how we end up in the positions we end up in. Me…and air conditioning…why and how? Who knows, but…I do know it is just a sign pointing me in the right direction…and for that…I’m happy.