Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I almost died!


Well, almost is a relative term. (That means it should be divided by C2 if you believe Einstein.) Now, if you'll just sit tight, I'll tell you the story, but it's MY story, so I'll tell it like I want. : )

Up this double high flight of stairs and around a couple corners is the advising center for computer engineers where I had an appointment. I ran all the way up the stairs with my heavy backpack on and my scooter in my hand, but at the top I forced my self to walk calmly and breathe normally. There was a security guard up there, but she was ignoring me.

On my way back down, I considered sliding down the rail, which is particularly free of obstructions on top. I had on another occasion decided against such an action, but maybe I was just being overly cautious at that time, so I had another look. The top rail did look particularly inviting, itself, but there was an annoying hand rail a little bit below and sitting at an awkward position which would not lend itself to steady sliding. So considering the geometry of the rails and the vector of gravity in relation to the hypothesized Jack-and-rails system, I decided that the distance between my body and the earth would present too great a risk for the proposed benefit of a possibly fun slide to the ground.

Walking down the stairs, I reached out and slid my hand on the top rail. It was very slick. The projected amount of friction deemed necessary to maintain safety in the sliding trip was missing! I'm sure that I would have been fine regardless, but I don't do these things unless I feel safe doing them anyway.

4 comments:

Tamara Robertson Turner said...

Glad you did the math!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm glad that you didn't die and used math to figure out that it was unsafe. :)

Joanne said...

Yes, it is good to play it safe before you get married, but I have to admit, I was disappointed not to have a story about a great slide with the security lady running after you, yelling at you, as you scootered away!

CtrlAltJack said...

That's why I was breathing so inconspicuously. I didn't want the security guard to think she should be chasing me.

I was surprised that math actually saved me for once.

There is another staircase that I slide down all the time, but there is nowhere to fall on that one. One time I slid down a stair while I was with Tamara. At the bottom, it gripped my bottom and tore my pants pocket. We thought I lost my keys, but they weren't in that pocket in the first place.