Friday, August 7, 2009

What's this "BAC Cave" anyway?



There is a sign in the hallway outside my office identifying the office as "The BAC Cave"; the graphic is displayed on the upper right corner of the blog. It's a bit of a story how that name came to be.


Not too long ago I was in one of the larger one-man office spaces upstairs at Alerton. It had a northern view, which I appreciated because it never got direct sun. All was well.


Until I started reading LEED standards. That's when I stubbed a toe, inadvertently setting off on a new journey.


I began to realize I didn't really like the overhead (indirect) fluorescent lighting, so why not save a little energy and utilize the conveniently-provided individually-controlled light switch ("Controllability of Systems, Lighting," the credit is called in LEED-CI/-EB/-NC/-Schools, and earns one point towards a LEED rating), and use lower-energy task lighting instead? A brief adjustment, then it was good.


Until winter's glaring white skies arrived. I was up often to adjust the blinds.


In the meantime others had questioned my dimmer office, calling it a cave; I just said I liked it that way and it used less energy. After a while, I noticed someone else had begun to do the same.


But Alerton was growing, the larger offices were being doubled-up, and eventually "The Cave" was targeted for two new hires. There were few available spaces; I could move down to "the pods," double-up in a larger office, or take a smaller single office. (My job puts me outside the normal organizational structure of R&D, Sales, Marketing, etc., so I could relocate anywhere in the building.)



I chose an office at the end of this hallway around the corner (this is R&D-land, believe it or not, engineers occupy those offices!). "'The Cave' would now be at the back," somebody noted. Since I was working in the arena of Building Automation Controls, it naturally became "The BAC Cave."

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