Clean Surfaces

Came out after work to find a clean lot – very few cars still on the parking deck – so it was easy to find my car.  More familiar too – getting adjusted to the overall perception of the place – but the deck still seems pretty alien.  Way too much stark concrete without greenery, depending on your view, and it’s got those charmingly reassuring vibrations as cars drive along.  Don’t even get me started on the lovely dark underworld of the lower parking deck.  How can something so close to the sunshine seem so gloomy?  Can’t wait to see how it looks in the winter.

I must admit, though, one of the advantages of the recent move:  Everything in the cubelet is still so clean.  The mice and I haven’t had time to accumulate piles of paper or too much new odd stuff.  Everything still gets put away neat and tidy.  I kinda like it, though it’s very unusual for me.

The whiteboard’s still clean too, as is my work schedule for the next week.  Happy vacation daze to me (and others), and we’ll see folks in a fortnight plus.

Try not to have another reorg until I get back, OK?

Musical Interlude

Our regularly scheduled coverage is pre-empted at this time. 

Instead, we invite you to join us as we enjoy the dulcet tones of David Allen Coe and Johnny Paycheck. 

Over and over and over.

Module H176, Entry CA24

=== BeginEntry ===

Observation of Subject ZDB and others over the last 72 intervals has resulted in little useful data.  Subjects appear stressed and distracted, periodically rearranging and adjusting objects within their respective enclosures.  Several small items of apparent significance – primarily small totems and images of various Subjects in a social context – have been placed in prominent locations for shared viewing.  Occasionally, Subjects in adjacent enclosures will mimic each others’ behavior and arrangement patterns.  (Logistical Note:  Some of these arrangements are contrary to established procedures and may have to be normalized.)

Subjects are primarily engaged in activities concerning the reconstruction and repair of their occupational subsystems.  This has been a primary focus of theirs, even during their enclosure transitions; several Subjects performed these activities at great expense to their sleep cycle, thus exhibiting behavior even more unusual than normal.  The pace of these activities, while still intense, is becoming somewhat less frenetic, as we optimize our own systems to anticipate and more properly handle the interactions between Subjects and their new environment.

We have provided Subjects with access to suitable nourishment, including the usual grain-dairy-vegetable discs offered on the transition day.  While these foods normally are considered acceptable – often preferable – to Subjects, in this case reaction was mixed; Subjects seemed discontent, perhaps due to a lack of differentiation in the supplied discs.  Usage of the supplied standard food chits, designed to expose Subjects to more varied nutritional stimuli, is within expected parameters and should conclude this week.

Overall though, adaptation to the new habitats is progressing on-schedule, and with minimal casualties.  Subjects’ initial agitation is waning and they are resuming predicted patterns of behavior (other than a few notable exceptions).  Once Subjects completely acclimate to their new surroundings, we are confident that our research can continue with minimal additional disruption.

=== endEntry ===

Kubler-Ross, Stage Three

In the Kubler-Ross model, the third phase of grief is bargaining. This seems like an appropriate commentary on the day, as today we encounter various, evolving stages of grief. The irritating kind, not the sad kind.

Makes me very glad that we have a few folks who are doing their best to minimize the grief. Hang in there, folks; the move-related insanity will be mostly over soon.

Then we can get back to our regularly scheduled forms of insanity.

Moving Day: Relocation

Arrived at the new building today, to unpack stuff into the new cubelet. Found it difficult to put two crates of binders and magazines into an absent book case. Cubes are theoretically the same size, but usable desk space is much smaller. Heck, usable everything space is smaller.

On the bright side, I get to experience the joyful conversations of multiple neighbors and passersby on a regular basis, and it’s very easy to find people in their cubes. Why, simply by standing up, you can see a marvelous vista into over 9000 cubes from a single comfortable location.

Delightful.

Moving Day: takedowns in progress

The desk stuff is done and really wasn’t a problem this time, as most of my own books and sundries are already at home. The “Lab” stuff, however, is not quite an unholy nightmare, but definitely is more tedious and taxing. Lots of dust, pieces and cables. (No mice spotted yet though.)

I hear that the decabling part goes much better and easier with scissors. 😀 So far, haven’t had to resort to that. There’s been a few treks through the netherworld that exists underneath the lab tiles, though. Brrr.

Going pretty well. This is the “easy” part, though. Monday should be interesting…

Moving Day

Most of this week at work devoted to move preparations.  Since we recently did an in-place “compression” move, apparently designed to identify those folks likely to go postal in smaller cubes, the amount of cube junk lying around is already greatly reduced.  It’s still a giant pain in the butt, and costing us several days of productivity, not to mention disrupting our work routines completely.  One good side effect, though, is that the lab space gets all rejiggered and nicely organized.

I wonder if we’ll have mice in the new building.  It took long enough to train the old ones…

Sphere of Inference

Welcome to my Sphere of Inference.  I reserve the right to infer anything and post it here.

To be frank, the name Sphere of Ignorance probably works just as well.  And, while I didn’t take forever thinking about this, some other choices considered were: Sphere of Exfluence, Sphere of Effluents, Sphere of Impudence, or Sphere of Imprudence.

Of course, depending on the post content, any one of these titles may yet prove to be appropriate.