2 November 2001
Last year: Stay back. We're contagious.
You can't see me, but right now I'm doing the Happy Dance of Friday. It gets more joyous as quittin' time gets nearer, and culminates in my rushing out to my car and driving home, promptly at 4:00.
At least I have a programming assignment at work. (As opposed to testing. I'm going back to testing when this assignment is done, but I'm stretching my programming fingers, at least.) It's a very short-turnaround assignment - it's supposed to be done today - and although on the surface it looks pretty easy, I keep running into snags. Of course.
But the snags are all technical issues. The file I need isn't loaded on the handheld, and I'm not sure how to get it there and registered correctly. The program won't compile, and I'm not sure why. Like that. Problems that can be solved if I apply my mind to them.
They're not personality conflicts between me and a manager. They're not communicatons issues between me and a customer. They're the kinds of problems that I'm paid to solve, the kinds of problems that - despite all the cursing and complaining - I enjoy solving.
Too bad it'll end this afternoon.
For the last five minutes, I've been listening to this very soft, rhythmic sound. I've been assuming it's been coming from the server room, which is right through the wall behind me, and the reason I'm so adamant about bringing my laptop to work with me regularly - the beeps, whistles, whirrs, and chatters of the assorted equipment in that room drive me crazy unless I have my headphones on.
But then this rhythmic noise took on definite melodic tones, and I had to figure out what it was. Maybe someone in the server room was listening to music? I got up and went around the corner to the server room door.
Uncharacteristically, the door was standing open... But no music issued forth. In fact, I could no longer hear the original quiet chugging rhythm.
Nonplussed, I went back to my office. I could hear it again. Slowly, I walked around the office, trying to pinpoint the noise. I tracked it down to...
My officemate's headphones. He'd left his music running all night. And I can't turn it off, because he's locked his workstation. Well, okay, I could turn it off in one of a couple of different ways, but I hate to screw with other peoples' equipment without a really good reason. And now that I've located the source of the noise, it's easier to ignore.
(Yes, I could just put on my headphones to drown it out. But the time before about 8:30 in this office is usually still and quiet, and the server room is not making weird chirps this morning, and I am basking in the relative silence.)
Have a good weekend!
Word of the Day:
anathematize - 1: to solemnly pronounce an ecclesiastical ban or curse upon (one who is being excommunicated); 2: to denounce as accursed
Currently Reading:
- Infinity+
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Kris' afghan
- Hall stuff