10:58 p.m. | 2004-10-29 What Goes Up Must Come Down. I went to work this morning, heated my breakfast and had just sat down to start working and eating when there was this hugely annoying beeping sound. I heard one of my coworkers yell: NOOOOO. I thought it was the smoke alarm indicating that the battery needed to be changed. So, um, I continued working and eating until I noticed that it was very quiet in the office. Except for the really loud annoying sound. I wandered into the common area and noticed that the fire alarm was going off. I figured it was a fire drill and wandered outside to the front of the building. Which is not where people are supposed to go when we evacuate, but everyone pretty much did. Cops arrived followed quickly by two fire trucks. When all was said and done, it turns out that someone pulled the fire alarm. Are we back in grade school here? Bizarre. After work, several of us were going to go out for a drink until a better offer came along. We received a special invitation to go to the top of a really cool building. It�s the kind of invitation you only receive if you know the right people. It�s hard to explain, but the top three stories are not usable space; they�re more architectural in nature. Pretty and majestic on the outside � hollow on the inside. Each of the stories has an outside walkway or area which is used essentially for maintenance and stuff like that. Anyway, we met up with the appropriate people and proceeded to a special access door. Then, we climbed three very steep ladders in narrow hallways. That got us to the first level. We walked outside and were awed with the view. It was pretty high up, but that was just the beginning. Next, we climbed � sideways � up a staircase on the outside of the building into the hollow part. Once inside, we climbed up two more steep stairways to the next level. We went outside and enjoyed the view some more. You can walk all the way around the building so we could check out the view from any direction. Finally, we traversed a suspended walkway to a spiral staircase which hangs in the middle of the hollow space. And climbed up about 100 more stairs. Spiral stairs. That shake when people climb them. In the middle of the hollow space. That tends to make a person a little dizzy. At the top of the stairs was a tiny outside area to stand in awe of a brilliant view. Absolutely incredible. Now, mind you, this is not a super tall building or anything but the hollow space combined with the challenging stairways makes it a very unique experience. Quite thrilling. We returned to the first level and hung around outside enjoying refreshments and conversation. Super cool place to hang out. Well, unless you suffer from vertigo or are afraid of heights. I don�t have any problems there. However, I do suffer random muscle spasms and have some spatial difficulties, but fortunately nothing bad happened. Great experience, without a doubt. your thoughts? seed flower