This morning I awoke out of a “can’t get to work” dream, as opposed to the usual can’t get home dreams.  I was somewhere where I had not worked for twenty years and the conditions where more like several years after I started, about 35 years ago.

     Back then we had three buildings in down town Seattle that were connected by underground tunnels.  1101 4th Avenue, where the switching control center was at that time, 1122 3rd Avenue, what we called main, had switches (both #1ESS and #5 X-bar when I started), as well as wiring frames and carrier bays, E6 repeaters, and other miscellaneous equipment, and 1200 3rd, what used to be the mutual building where there was more #5 X-bar and a #4ESS toll switch, more carrier and other gear and a frame.

     They had guard desks at the entrance of each building where you had to show your ID.  After hours sometimes you could only come in through one entrance and then use the tunnels to get to a different building.

     In the dream it was after hours and I went past the guards desk but then couldn’t find the elevator that would take me down to the tunnel.  I walked all over the building, including a lot of places that didn’t exist in real life, trying to find the elevators.

     I left the telephone company twenty years ago so not sure why it’s still haunting me except maybe that I’ve been able to reconnect with a lot of my old co-workers via Facebook recently.

There is a phenomena I’ve noticed at Alki.  Right after sunset, a breeze reliably kicks up for about fifteen minutes.  During that time all the Seagulls take flight and seem to totally delight in the breeze.  They say that hummingbirds are the only birds that can hover and maintain a stationary position in the air.  Not so under these conditions.  The gulls will often shape their wings such that, positioned into the wind, they get just enough lift to maintain a stationary position falling into the wind like a kite with no visible tether.