Missing my Office
Posted 08-25-2010 at 10:01 AM by EmmyNoether
It is a lot earlier in the day than I intended to write, but I need to vent. When I arrived in my office, located quietly in the basement, wedged between laboratories and other offices, my computer's disk broke and I was greeted with streaming text on a black background. I tried to work a while without the aid of computing, but I found that I needed more than paper and pencil. I ascended the stairs to the second floor computer cluster where I have taken a seat in the back as I try to work on understanding something that my adviser and I covered in a meeting or two ago. It isn't going well.
I have been in the basement for 4 out of my 5 full years here and I had obviously forgotten exactly why I moved. The second floor is known to be the "social nexus" of the math graduate students - and I just don't like to spend time in the office socializing quite as much as my peers. What I had forgotten was in addition to the 4 math grad student offices and computer cluster down this hallway, there is 3 or so physics grad student offices. Now, I don't know what it is about the individuals that decide physics is their calling (at least for the first couple of years) that makes them boorishly loud. I am trying to wrap my head around long-exact sequences but all I seem to be able to do is listen to guffaw-ing and chatter coming from that side of the hallway. Plus, it is the worst kind of laughing. Think Revenge of the Nerds Part III. There is a reason actors portray nerdery in a yuck-ity-yuck hysteria at the very mention of the physical inaccuracy of Star Wars. It's completely true! (and incredibly distracting)
So, instead of understanding why I am wrong in my calculations, I'm fighting my disgust of the state of this keyboard to write this entry and my personal rant against those across the hallway. Despite the fact that these computers don't look ancient, I'm awed at the crust of residue that has accumulated on the keys. It looks like some alien mold that has taken over the surface reminding me exactly why every time I moved offices I spent hours cleaning each crevice with a Q-tip and Fantastic. How is it even possible for a keyboard to get like this? I understand eating at a computer - I do it every day, but that usually results in crumbs... not... whatever this is that needs a Brillo pad to scrape off.
Well, as it turns out, I just received the email that informs me my personal, clean, machine is up and running in my little haven of quiet and solitude, so I'm wrapping this up. The physics students are still loud, the people in this lab never learned how to type without sounding like they are frantically and forcefully sending an urgent Morse Code message, and the headache that has been brewing these last days is making sitting here an excruciating endeavor. I never appreciated my little hole in the wall (without windows) like I do now. And yes, first stop before going 'home' is to the bathroom to scrub my hands until they are red and scum-free.
I have been in the basement for 4 out of my 5 full years here and I had obviously forgotten exactly why I moved. The second floor is known to be the "social nexus" of the math graduate students - and I just don't like to spend time in the office socializing quite as much as my peers. What I had forgotten was in addition to the 4 math grad student offices and computer cluster down this hallway, there is 3 or so physics grad student offices. Now, I don't know what it is about the individuals that decide physics is their calling (at least for the first couple of years) that makes them boorishly loud. I am trying to wrap my head around long-exact sequences but all I seem to be able to do is listen to guffaw-ing and chatter coming from that side of the hallway. Plus, it is the worst kind of laughing. Think Revenge of the Nerds Part III. There is a reason actors portray nerdery in a yuck-ity-yuck hysteria at the very mention of the physical inaccuracy of Star Wars. It's completely true! (and incredibly distracting)
So, instead of understanding why I am wrong in my calculations, I'm fighting my disgust of the state of this keyboard to write this entry and my personal rant against those across the hallway. Despite the fact that these computers don't look ancient, I'm awed at the crust of residue that has accumulated on the keys. It looks like some alien mold that has taken over the surface reminding me exactly why every time I moved offices I spent hours cleaning each crevice with a Q-tip and Fantastic. How is it even possible for a keyboard to get like this? I understand eating at a computer - I do it every day, but that usually results in crumbs... not... whatever this is that needs a Brillo pad to scrape off.
Well, as it turns out, I just received the email that informs me my personal, clean, machine is up and running in my little haven of quiet and solitude, so I'm wrapping this up. The physics students are still loud, the people in this lab never learned how to type without sounding like they are frantically and forcefully sending an urgent Morse Code message, and the headache that has been brewing these last days is making sitting here an excruciating endeavor. I never appreciated my little hole in the wall (without windows) like I do now. And yes, first stop before going 'home' is to the bathroom to scrub my hands until they are red and scum-free.
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