Liveblogging the Penultimate Work Day
What better way to wrap up what will most likely be the last productive (read: quasi-productive) work-day at Lutron Electronics than dumping my stream of consciousness on the site as the day progresses? What a wonderful idea! I hope it sticks.
9:45am - Just used Dostoevsky in a metaphor. Tree, you're going to love this. Let me see if I can re-create the conversation, but replace technical mumbo-jumbo with layman terms.
Me: There's nothing in this error log to indicate the problem he's seeing.
Tech Support: So the log is bad?
Me: No, the log is fine. It reads like a book. The i's are dotted, the t's are crossed. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are spot-on. The words, when looked at by themselves, are fine. But when you step back and look at the book as a whole, you're horrified to find out you're reading fucking Crime and Punishment.
Tech Support: What? Law & Order?
Me: *sigh* Just give him all new shit.
10:30am - Successfully wasted the interval between the last entry and this one shooting the shit with a few folks here. Did you know the Germans are still using Diesel-electric submarines? Who knew? I would like to thank Sean (the new guy) and Umair (the terrorist) for blowing threw these last three-quarters of an hour with me. My hat is off to you.
10:45am - I hear applause in Atrium. Somewhere, someone is getting promoted. That, somehow, does not inspire excitement in my colleagues.
10:50am - Booyah! Without getting too deeply into it, I don't consider myself to have much of a political affiliation, but when someone (in this case, a Republican) tries to fly a mess of untrue shit past my radar, I am bound my duty to react.
Elephant: It's true, studies show Republicans are smarter than Democrats.
Me: Really? 'Cause I saw a study that proved the exact opposite.
Elephant: Bullshit.
Me: No, I'm not kidding. See?
Elephant: You just ruined my day. But you'll be gone soon, right?
11:38am - I realized a little bit ago that I forgot the primary support phone at the apartment. I might not have explained this before, but the department has a pair of cell phones (a primary and a secondary) that rotate amongst the engineers that are direct ties to Tech Support here. I'm supposed to carry the thing around and answer it like the bat signal. Well, it's at home. Which means every time it rings and I don't answer it, the guy with the secondary gets the call. Which means now, he's getting 100% of the calls. Poor bastard.
11:43am - Talked to the guy on the secondary, I'm just going to hold it for him the rest of the work day. That sucks for me, but at least it's the last time I'm ever going to have to worry about it.
1:15pm - Kim's Diner. A lunch venue I've never been to and one of the odder mealtime experiences I've ever had. People have raved about this place for several months now and I finally caved to the hype. As it turns out, the woman has converted the entire first floor of a house into her kitchen, completely transparent to the diners, and runs the place by herself. Kim, which must be a last name as she's Korean, takes your order at the counter, writes nothing down, then just starts bringing food to your table 15 minutes later. I didn't say she brings your order, she just brings words that kind-of, sort-of relate to what you might have ordered. I've heard of people going in there, not even ordering, and she just brings food to the table until you tell her to stop. A couple of us ordered Chicken Parmesan Subs, she brings out two Chicken Parmesan entrees, an Eggplant Parmesan and a tray of fruit. But, at like six dollars a person, no one complains.
3:00pm - Operation: Slackoff is going well. Spent the last bit of time talking speakers and AV stuff with a few people here. Much better than writing farewell documentation.
4:00pm - Ha! I swiped some Lutron branded screwdrivers! Take that, corporation!
4:43pm - 15 minutes left in the day and I get hit with a shitload of "oh, by the way"'s. Go figure. Gotta wrap some stuff up, we'll be checking in with you later. The stream is finished! Adieu.
9:45am - Just used Dostoevsky in a metaphor. Tree, you're going to love this. Let me see if I can re-create the conversation, but replace technical mumbo-jumbo with layman terms.
Me: There's nothing in this error log to indicate the problem he's seeing.
Tech Support: So the log is bad?
Me: No, the log is fine. It reads like a book. The i's are dotted, the t's are crossed. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are spot-on. The words, when looked at by themselves, are fine. But when you step back and look at the book as a whole, you're horrified to find out you're reading fucking Crime and Punishment.
Tech Support: What? Law & Order?
Me: *sigh* Just give him all new shit.
10:30am - Successfully wasted the interval between the last entry and this one shooting the shit with a few folks here. Did you know the Germans are still using Diesel-electric submarines? Who knew? I would like to thank Sean (the new guy) and Umair (the terrorist) for blowing threw these last three-quarters of an hour with me. My hat is off to you.
10:45am - I hear applause in Atrium. Somewhere, someone is getting promoted. That, somehow, does not inspire excitement in my colleagues.
10:50am - Booyah! Without getting too deeply into it, I don't consider myself to have much of a political affiliation, but when someone (in this case, a Republican) tries to fly a mess of untrue shit past my radar, I am bound my duty to react.
Elephant: It's true, studies show Republicans are smarter than Democrats.
Me: Really? 'Cause I saw a study that proved the exact opposite.
Elephant: Bullshit.
Me: No, I'm not kidding. See?
Elephant: You just ruined my day. But you'll be gone soon, right?
11:38am - I realized a little bit ago that I forgot the primary support phone at the apartment. I might not have explained this before, but the department has a pair of cell phones (a primary and a secondary) that rotate amongst the engineers that are direct ties to Tech Support here. I'm supposed to carry the thing around and answer it like the bat signal. Well, it's at home. Which means every time it rings and I don't answer it, the guy with the secondary gets the call. Which means now, he's getting 100% of the calls. Poor bastard.
11:43am - Talked to the guy on the secondary, I'm just going to hold it for him the rest of the work day. That sucks for me, but at least it's the last time I'm ever going to have to worry about it.
1:15pm - Kim's Diner. A lunch venue I've never been to and one of the odder mealtime experiences I've ever had. People have raved about this place for several months now and I finally caved to the hype. As it turns out, the woman has converted the entire first floor of a house into her kitchen, completely transparent to the diners, and runs the place by herself. Kim, which must be a last name as she's Korean, takes your order at the counter, writes nothing down, then just starts bringing food to your table 15 minutes later. I didn't say she brings your order, she just brings words that kind-of, sort-of relate to what you might have ordered. I've heard of people going in there, not even ordering, and she just brings food to the table until you tell her to stop. A couple of us ordered Chicken Parmesan Subs, she brings out two Chicken Parmesan entrees, an Eggplant Parmesan and a tray of fruit. But, at like six dollars a person, no one complains.
3:00pm - Operation: Slackoff is going well. Spent the last bit of time talking speakers and AV stuff with a few people here. Much better than writing farewell documentation.
4:00pm - Ha! I swiped some Lutron branded screwdrivers! Take that, corporation!
4:43pm - 15 minutes left in the day and I get hit with a shitload of "oh, by the way"'s. Go figure. Gotta wrap some stuff up, we'll be checking in with you later. The stream is finished! Adieu.
You are such a slack ass. I did quite enjoy the "Republicans are smarter" bit. Also, apparently Monday is a holiday, so public schools (such as mine) dont have class. Assuming I dont have anything pressing to do in the lab, I could probably help you out most of the day.
Ha, you public school fools. (Yes, I know, I'm a working fool, I get it)
Well, we'll be getting over to the apartment place promptly as they open. Whenever you wake up or are done with labs, give me a call and I'll give you the affirmative to be our first house guest/volunteer mover.
Just a tidbit of legal advice, I wouldn't recommend advertising that you're swiping company goods online, 'cause that is the sort of shit you could get in legal trouble for. And then what would we all do while we waited for you to get out of jail? :(
best of luck to you dan. hope you and the wife enjoy life closer to home.
TW
Haha, nobody cares about plastic screwdrivers. Promise. I swiped my name-plate too. On guard, big-business!
We're hoping the move is going to get us some stable careers and a social life. It's a nice thought, anyway.
Photos of the new apartment?
If I recall correctly, the comments by Elephant were not "passed off" they were prefaced by "in my experience"
Also IN MY EXPERIENCE republicans have more athletic ability than Democrats, this is referencing data that I've gathered, where it was found that butterfingers democrats could not even catch iphones when softly underhand tossed to them.
Dan,
I like this article. You should have written about your koberrors.