My life is, for want of a less cliché word in the world of IT, dynamic.
A couple of Tuesdays ago i had to go to hospital in the morning for a seminar on “Pain Management”. I say “seminar”… only two people turned up for it. A few junior physiotherapists sat in just to make up the numbers - depressing. It was reasonable, mostly stuff i knew but a couple of interesting concepts.
After the seminar i jumped on a couple of trains, carried some bags for an English girl on her way back to university, and made it to work by lunch time.
After work i jumped on another train destined for Edinburgh, for my evening at Dorkbot.
Slumberland was calling through the dymanic stylings of drum and bass as we approached Haymarket station. As usual i considered the local sushi restaurant, and how infrequently i can sample it’s culinary delights.
“One of these days i need to go to Sushiya before i go to Dorkbot… But i’ll never have enough time… Actually i’ve got an hour… Ah, screw it!”
So yeah, i jumped off the train and headed up to Sushiya.
Inside i found just one person. Another English girl. Sushiya is about the same size as a Kinder Surprise so we ended up sitting at tables next to each other. Her American boyfriend turned up and we ended up talking about Coen brothers movies and I Am Legend after he accidentally fired an edamame bean at my chest. Yes, odd i know.
After Sushiya i ventured off into Edinburgh to discover the hardest rain i’ve experienced there in a long time. But, being the utter imbecile that i am, i decided to put my hood up and walk rather than jumping in a taxi. About half way to Dorkbot i stood on a lose paving slab and splashed about 15 litres of rain water all over my light denim jeans - that was awesome..
As usual i was the first person to turn up for dorkbot, and after about five minutes sitting quietly i found myself in the middle of a staff meeting for the cafe / community centre / hippy den we meet up in. After a while spent listening to people debate the prices of falafel and nachos my fellow geeks turned up and we got on with some projects. The most exciting being awakening a RROD’d xbox 360.
To test the 360 i went searching for a television. The search was led by a most excellent fellow called Gandalf. It was a perilous journey. It actually happened.
We could not believe it when the xbox actually booted. It had been stripped down with an ill fitting screwdriver and brute force, some of the parts had been mislaid, and was repaired using some old thermal paste and some internet-sourced bolts. But it yielded to our geekery and booted fully. Woo.
After a while discussing sterling engines and rack mounted synthesisers in the pub i caught the train home. An exciting evening completed.
Lets contrast this whole day again last tuesday.
Our server at work completely exploded.
Our backups completely exploded.
Half of the staff completely exploded. Well.. Maybe it was just my brain exploding.
I spent most of the day screaming on the phone to clueless tech support, or crying in the corner because my worst nightmare had just occurred.
It was pretty much the worst day at work i have ever experienced.. And to make things worse, i got home without the energy to play with these:
So, yeah. Tuesdays are strange.
Tags: dorkbot,
hardware,
lego,
problems,
stress,
tuesdays
