April 05, 2005
Well, after a rather rough day: irritated friend, trouble with work, Annie telling me with tears in her eyes that I spend too much time at work even when some people at work don't think I'm doing enough, I thought I'd make myself feel better by telling a story on myself that makes me chuckle.
About six years ago (has it been that long?), I was working on a research project that involved a number of experimental processor modules that were constructed for me. These modules were the same form factor of a set of modules that were in high demand at the time. Many people I worked closely with had machines that could use these modules, and I had the latest and greatest, because I was in charge of the modules for our discipline. This was before relationships or children for me, so I was working long, long hours (nothing else to do).
After working very late one night, I took a couple of days off of that project (some people call it the weekend). When I returned to the project, I was missing two modules. I was furious. I scoured the entire area that I was working. No modules. Convinced that someone came along and thought "hey, look, spare modules", I wrote a fairly scathing e-mail to the group. Whatever moron confiscated my modules was going to pay. I continued working with the modules I had, steam pouring out of my ears. A few hours later, I decided to raid the refrigerator for a drink. Before the market crash, we would at times stock the closet with snacks and soft drinks for when we worked late hours. I opened the refrigerator with what I'm sure was an irritated yank to find my missing modules. Oh yeah. Late the previous night of working, I had wondered if the temperature of the modules might impact their emissions, and put them in the refrigerator.
Chagrined, I removed the modules (by the way, the temperature had no measurable impact... in case you were wondering). I would like to think that I generally admit when I'm wrong, so I sent another e-mail apologizing for my offensive e-mail, and admitted my wrong doing, and even described what had happened. Perhaps that was a mistake. For the past six years, this has been a common joke in my group. Anytime someone loses something, either someone else asks if they checked the refrigerator, or they comment that they checked the refrigerator. The last time this came up, I asked if this was going to follow me should I ever leave Sun. The answer? Absolutely...
Keep checking the refrigerator, but my sanity isn't there...
About six years ago (has it been that long?), I was working on a research project that involved a number of experimental processor modules that were constructed for me. These modules were the same form factor of a set of modules that were in high demand at the time. Many people I worked closely with had machines that could use these modules, and I had the latest and greatest, because I was in charge of the modules for our discipline. This was before relationships or children for me, so I was working long, long hours (nothing else to do).
After working very late one night, I took a couple of days off of that project (some people call it the weekend). When I returned to the project, I was missing two modules. I was furious. I scoured the entire area that I was working. No modules. Convinced that someone came along and thought "hey, look, spare modules", I wrote a fairly scathing e-mail to the group. Whatever moron confiscated my modules was going to pay. I continued working with the modules I had, steam pouring out of my ears. A few hours later, I decided to raid the refrigerator for a drink. Before the market crash, we would at times stock the closet with snacks and soft drinks for when we worked late hours. I opened the refrigerator with what I'm sure was an irritated yank to find my missing modules. Oh yeah. Late the previous night of working, I had wondered if the temperature of the modules might impact their emissions, and put them in the refrigerator.
Chagrined, I removed the modules (by the way, the temperature had no measurable impact... in case you were wondering). I would like to think that I generally admit when I'm wrong, so I sent another e-mail apologizing for my offensive e-mail, and admitted my wrong doing, and even described what had happened. Perhaps that was a mistake. For the past six years, this has been a common joke in my group. Anytime someone loses something, either someone else asks if they checked the refrigerator, or they comment that they checked the refrigerator. The last time this came up, I asked if this was going to follow me should I ever leave Sun. The answer? Absolutely...
Keep checking the refrigerator, but my sanity isn't there...