Fire alarm

It rang for real today. About 11:30 I thought I smelled something, but it was electrical, like a monitor blowing. It was for real – but the alarms weren’t going off, although you could see the smoke coming off the roof from the eastern facing windows. I got outside; I took my laptop, but not my jacket or phone – I don’t know where my priorities are. We found out later that they were working on the alarm system when the fire started in the Rio Grande restaurant. They put it back in quickly, but luckily a fire truck was passing by and saw the smoke and alerted some other stations.

We waited outside the front watching the smoke for awhile. We were supposed to meet on the side, but the smoke was blowing that direction, so we moved. After 30 minutes the fire still wasn’t out, so five of us went to Chicken Out (in Ballston Mall) for lunch, then I went and got a haircut. When I got back, the fire was out, but they were still flushing the HVAC, so we sat in the courtyard for another 20 minutes. Of course I’ve still got to get all my work done – good thing I was already planning on staying late for a show.