The Job Site

Well, I made it in one piece. It's just about closing time, so it's pretty quiet around here. I grabbed my stuff and walked down to the end of the block to the main entrance. The only other entrance is at the other end of the building, which also happens to be the other end of the block.

The building doesn't look too old. Maybe twelve years old or so. It has a contemporary “style” to it, or at least as much of a style as a ten story warehouse can have.

The bottom floor of the building houses three businesses on this end of the block. There's a convenience store (QFH Mart), the “Law Offices of Burnhm and Schmidt”, and an old barber shop (The sign just says “Barber Shop”) that looks like it's been closed for at least five years or so. The front window is filled with color posters from a travel agency, inviting me to a purple-hued Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or Jamaica. I think I'll pass. There's also one of those “swirly-barber-pole things” next to the door. I wonder what that means anyway? I need to remember to look that up later. I'll have plenty of time to surf the web once I start the backup.

The next few floors look pretty plain. Judging by the fluorescent lights and plastic plants I can see through the wide windows, I'd assume that this part of the building is where all the offices are located. Judging by the panel near the mailbox, it's mostly, doctors and lawyers (What is a Doctor of “Naprapathy”? )

The top few floors of the building are where I'm headed. That's where the data center is located. These floors don't have any windows and the walls are supposedly thicker up here. Supposedly, the building is built in such a way that, even if bottom floors are almost completely destroyed, the top part of the building will still be intact. Something to do with all the concrete pillars, counter balances and all kinds of other Architect mumbo-jumbo. That's all according to the kiosk in the lobby. Of course, eternal tinkerer that I am, I had to stand there and fiddle with the thing until I crashed it. Oops. Moving right along... :)

The elevator up to the data center is bigger than normal, but not quite a “freight elevator”. Our server cage is up on the top floor. The place is dead quiet when I get off the elevator, which is weird for a data center. They must have spent a fortune on soundproofing.