Soon, It Will Be Drop By Drop

My water glass is mysteriously getting larger

Maybe you're just getting more pessimistic.

As everyone is aware, pessimists see the glass as half empty, optimists see the glass as half full.  A politician will tell you the glass is more full than it would be if the other party was in charge, a chemist knows that the glass is full, but half of it is liquid and the other half gas, and a psychiatrist will ask you what your mother thought of the glass.  An engineer like myself will tell you that either the glass is twice as big as it needs to be, or will explain how the rest of the water is stored off-site in a redundant glass.  

The company that installed the new water filters in my building at work will tell you something else entirely.  See, not long ago, there were some complaints made about the quality of drinking water here at work.  Some of those complaints came from state governing agencies, so something needed to be done.  In-Line water purifiers were installed and all of the drinking fountains replaced with "Hydration Stations."  It sounds cooler.  To be sure, these things are pretty cool...though they're based on completely unnecessary technology.  Drinking fountains aren't very difficult.  You push or turn some form of valve, and water shoots out into a cup, bottle, or face positioned above.  The new "Hydration Stations" are tough-free so that when a cup of bottle is placed in front of a sensor, water is dispensed.  There is no longer support for face-direct dispensation.  When the cup or bottle is removed, the flow stops.  Simple enough, but more complex than a button or handle...not a big deal. 

Here's where it gets weird.  Apparently, the things have an auto-shut off, so that they don't sit there pouring water non-stop.  But, of course, rather than have he cut off based on a volume of water dispensed, it's based solely on time.  This is becoming an issue.  I have a Lexan cup that I use when getting water from the machine.  It holds 18 fluid ounces of water.  When the machine nearest me was first installed, the time-out was perfect.  In one shot, without any second thoughts, my cup was filled to the top with icy cool purified water, and I took it back to my office, pouring a bare minimum of it out onto my hand.  Over time, the flow rate of the dispenser has gone down to the point where now, the machine times out when my cup is only about 3/4 full.  I have to pull the cup away, wait for the light to go out and re-position it, then pay attention to the fill level as it completes the job.  

Now, I am an engineer, so without data to back it up, I can't say with 100% certainty that the flow rate is the issue here.  I haven't designed an experiment to conclusively say that my cup hasn't grown from its former 18oz size.  All I can say for sure is that with one dispensation of water, my cup no longer runeth over.


And with that, I'm sorry to inform you that Jeremy Is In The Office will be Out Of The Office next week, while Jeremy tends to some beach-going.  We'll return on August 6th with more of this sort of stuff.  I'm told you like it, though I'm not sure why.