Monday 13 September 1999
|
Pic of the day: Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present: The house
that made me think about Sim City! (In yesterday's entry.)
Wow. Today the new computers arrived at work. Panic set in. They were not supposed to show up until tomorrow. Staffman tried to get Tollpost to take them back and come back tomorrow, while others invited them in. This really got to Staffman, who is in charge of this particular part (and very little else, though he has most of the boring staff work). He did not shout or shake his fists, but very little of what he said made sense for a while. Too bad he hasn't an online journal, it would have been fun to read. Bossman grinned all the time, while the two female leaders kept low. Smart gals. Perhaps they smelled the whiff of superheated testosterone under high pressure. So now the whole office complex is starting to look like a giant Chaos Node. Big boxes with computers or large monitors are stacked in the corridors. It takes some getting used to: Phone Girl momentarily looked another way, and flopped over a waist-high stack of crates. I can't help but think that crate-flopping would make a great spectator sport. Today was also the last day for sending a big file to our national computer center in Oslo. As we ordered the computer to send the file, it politely informed us that another file had to be sent first. It now turns out that there should be at least one day between the two files. And tomorrow the technicians from Siemens come to screw the machines together. I am pretty sure the delay will cause no problems. But it adds to the level of confusion here, which is already pretty high. As an example of how things were here, I didn't get out for lunch until after 2 PM. And mind you, lunch is verging on the holy here in the bureaucracy. On the bright side, the Italian food (cannelloni!) tasted good enough to make up for it. Perhaps this will help give me back my small but noticeable stomach bulge. I looked down today to discover that my tummy had somehow become almost entirely flat. I blame it on the gut-wrenching bacteria.
One benefit of the stress was that I did not fall asleep, even though
I was quite tired. I had been up half night, hypochondring (?) about
the tightness in my throat. In reality, it is probably more likely
that my morning cheese cakes will be the bane of me. (I did not have
one today, though.) My med student friend was shocked and horrified
to hear that I ate cheese cake for breakfast. Well, they don't taste
nearly as fatty as other cakes. I dislike cakes that taste fatty.
I thought of a lot of stuff last night as I was sitting in the dark of the night. For instance, in my mind someone was playing a cut from Chris de Burgh's song "Tender hands". While most of the song is sooo not applicable, what played in my head was the single line, ... you know that I can not always be strong ... And I wondered. I am strong. I am incredibly strong. I mean, I am so complete in myself that I usually have a great time in my own company, needing no one. And when I go out among others, I am Mr Nice Guy. Calm, patient, friendly. Sharing my surplus with those less fortunate. Sometimes people will ask me: "Does nothing get to you?" But you know that I can not always be strong. "I have emotions too, you know" I said as we were driving home alone in the night. "I know you have emotions" she said. Of course you have emotions, her voice said. "Would you mind not driving so fast?" I said. "I am afraid." "We're almost alone on the road, and these roads are good. The people who drive off the road drive this fast on small, winding roads." "I know. I am just afraid." "OK" she said. And we did not talk about emotions any more than that. |