The roof is on fire?

My classes for this semester are scheduled early in the week, leaving Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays open for writing.  While it certainly makes the early part of the week stressful and busy, I'm kind of enjoying this set-up because I can get into my writing "groove" in the Dungeon/Bat Cave* and not have to worry about being interrupted by classes, undergrads, or much of anything, really...

Except for today.

It was close to quitting time and I was hoping to get another hour or so of writing in before I left campus for the day.  I'm mid-sentence when the building's fire alarm goes off.  Eh, whatever...some fool probably didn't want to take an exam and pulled the alarm...it's happened before.  I decide to wait it out - surely they'll turn it off soon, right?  Wrong.  Alarm keeps going off.  I open my door and see classes evacuating.  Damn...it's probably a fire drill...guess I should leave so I don't get in trouble.  I take my sweet time in packing up my MacBook (rule #1 of doctoral programs: your laptop goes everywhere you go), cursing under my breath at the moron responsible for busting my writing "groove".  I trudge up the stairs and as I'm walking through the lobby to the doors...

3 firefighters bust through the doors in full gear with a hose.

Yup.  Apparently a real fire.  In my building.  There are already 2 fire trucks outside and we watch as 3 more come screaming down the street.  The dean of our college is running around (in high heels and a pencil skirt, no less - totally impressed), trying to figure out what the hell is going on.  Turns out a heater in the building overheated, sparked, and triggered the fire alarm.  So not quite a real fire, but still crazy.  The firefighters checked the building out and let us go back in about 15 minutes later.  But, of course, I couldn't get any more writing done and decided to just call it a day.

Moral of the story: undergrads should stop pulling fire alarms so I can take them seriously in the future.  Oh, and I shouldn't be a moron and try to ignore fire alarms.

*The Dungeon/Bat Cave is my windowless basement office that has a leaky ceiling, the occasional cockroach, and neither heat nor A/C - and sometimes the housekeeping staff even cleans it!  Another story for another day...