the alternative is only one

Returning to work after a long holiday break was enough of an ordeal. Booting up my workstation and having the power go out in my cubicular neighborhood was Providence's little way of gilding the lily of aggravation.

I first though my surge protector was to blame. It's a cranky old beast which has been in use for over a decade, and is covered in a thick rime of carpet dust and other unpleasant accretions. I dug a replacement from the office's store of surplus tech-junk while waiting for the facilities guy to reset the breakers.

He eventually did, and everything was hunky-dory for a whole half hour before the power cut out again. After I composed myself and made sure that the throbbing in my skull was not the sign of an impending cerebral hemorrhage, I did some low-level detective work (i.e. "asked around") and discovered the true source of the problem: motherfucking space heaters. Apparently everyone in this circuit node, apart from myself, has one of those ingenious devices which convert the flow of electrons into a nosebleedingly high utility bill and a very small, very localized amount of heat energy.

(Seriously, it is a long-held belief of mine that space heaters -- along with their culinary cousin, the toaster oven -- are the unholy offspring of an alliance between the electrical utility overlords and a shadowy organization dedicated towards causing house fires. Nothing anyone can do or say will convince me otherwise.)

So, as I banged my head off the back of my ergonomic computer chair and watched the better part of what ought to have been a productive work day slip though my grasp, the space heater enthusiasts tried to determine a work-around to distribute the power drain more evenly while the facilities guy tried to explain that the building simply wasn't wired for that level of electrical use.

Like all institutional buildings, the climate control here does tend to be poorly distributed, but rarely to actionable extremes, and never to an extent that can't be solved with a sweater (or in my case, an insulated flannel shirt -- because once a punk rocker...) Then again, maybe I've never noticed any problems because I've apparently been surrounded by space heaters on all sides. Maybe I should invest in some flame retardant undergarments.

I hope today's experience doesn't serve as an augur for the rest of the work week. In any case, I managed to wring another self-conscious post out of the idiocy and finally got on opportunity to unleash this most guilty of pop-rock pleasures:

Peter Wolf - Lights Out (from Lights Out, 1984) - 1984 was a big year for dancing in the dark, apparently. Here the former J. Geils Band frontman eschews awkwardly tripping the light fandango with Courteney Cox and instead chooses to groove to the radio, oh.

...and if you're the cautious sort who doesn't want to sprain an ankle or stub one's toes while booglalooing in a darkened room...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Electricity (from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, 1980) - And thus the "alternative energy rock" subgenre was born. Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round"? It's about the need to build wind farms, honest.

Röyksopp - Circuit Breaker (from The Understanding, 2005) - Preventing negative mood overloads though the power of well-constructed Scando-tronica.