I was performing some kind of experiment up in the Arctic. It was a comms/radio experiment much like the one we're doing down here in GA right now. For a while, we were all (30-50 people) working in one location, then we traveled to another location, and as we were returning to base (on a truck-pulled convoy of personal sleds [about 0.5m square) we passed that original location, and I saw that I left my laptops there, namely, this one, and a work one. I was able to grab the work laptop while we were sledding, but I missed my personal one. Fgrir Qnivqfba (one of the guys in charge at my current experiment, and a Enlgurba employee) was in front of me, and called for a halt for me. Everyone piled off in excitement that our journey was paused, and I retrieved my laptop.
I'll take, "I've been here for too long" for $200, Alex.
PS: I have used ROT-13 to Google-proof key details.
I've been here for nearly a week now, and I feel I can make some pronouncements: 1) There are a whole lot of pawn shops, loan companies, title loan companies, and such. I guess that speaks to the poorness down here? I wonder how many of the people that patronize these institutions could save tremendous amounts of money by not doing so. 2) Rush hour here moves much faster than back home. You'd think this would be a good thing, but it feels just as congested as the NYC metro area, just we're going 60 instead of 5. This, plus the construction, makes for very stressful driving 3) I still feel a little weird watching soldiers go by. Like they're too conspicuous, so I have to look away, just like I did in the city. I suppose after some more time, I'll get familiar with them, and this will go away. It'd be best if this went away by Monday, though, when I have to give a class to 25 of them. (And again on Thursday, and again on Friday.)
There is a guy out in front of our building today, protesting. He's across the street, on public sidewalks, so it's absolutely legit, but it's a little strange. He's wearing hunter's camo (i.e. screen printed pictures of trees and leaves, not the pixel camo or the patches camo that actually work), and has a sandwich board and a sign. He's been there all day from 8am, and I'm pretty sure he's still there now.
The front of the sign says "PERJURY", "FELONY", and "FIRE CEO YBERATRE*" with the famous Obama/Joker picture in the middle. The back of the sign says something along the lines of, "Watch out, Terrorists Ahead!" The front of the sandwich board says "VGG* DISCRIMINATES AGAINST AMERICANS!" And the back of the board implies our company should "DEPORT" all H-1B visa holders.
The really, really ridiculous thing is that we have no foreign nationals in this building, let alone H-1B holders. We have very particular rules about who is allowed in the building, and when foreign nationals are in, we are all alerted and must not discuss business in hallways, and so forth.
I'm not annoyed by him, as he's providing exactly no nuisance, but I am amused at the lack of research he did, and I wonder what corner he came from. My coworkers theorize he applied for a job here and was turned down. They also joked it was a recently (well, actually about a year ago) laid-off mutual coworker, but it's not.
* All identifying marks have been ROT-13 encoded for Google-protection.
My coworkers are discussing various methods of avoiding getting raped, should they end up in jail. The amount of agreement with the sentiment that suicide is preferable to (forced) anal sex disturbs me. "Yeah, I'll be dead, but at least I'll be an ass-virgin."
They also all agree that I would not be able to defend myself in prison.
Crabbiness Planning Not sleeping (not insomnia, just lack of time spent in bed) Walking around Back pain Moving Getting married (soon) Work slowness Rain Difficult decisions Lists
So it appears that there is some major problem with the test I'm currently running at work, but the bigger problem is that while my coworkers were trying to debug the issue yesterday, they managed to trip the breaker for our bench's UPS, causing the whole thing to shut down. Now I have to bring the bench up from a cold boot, which is always fun. Luckily, someone already reset the breaker, which is good, because I wouldn't want to flip the wrong switch on the UPS!
There's snow on the ground here. It was wet in Secaucus. Dry in Harlem, if I remember right, which is doubtful as my memory doesn't work so well at 6:30a.
Missed the MSI show last night due to a bunch of unforeseen circumstances. At least I have a few albums of theirs on my work computer.
No one's online, but it's good because I need to finish what I'm working on so I can... I guess retry the broken test yet again?
I'm not really sure what 'herm' is, nor why it might be on a disused Verizon cart.
I really need to stop going to bed so late. Especially now that I have class again. When I get to work, I need to remember to print out this week's reading. Yeah, I should've read it over the past 2 weeks when I didn't have class, but that would have required remembering to copy the assignment onto another sheet of paper, which is evidently too difficult.
I hope I don't pass out at work or at class. Also, it's beginning to look a lot less likely that I'll hit my train leaving Penn, which will prove that searching for where I left my umbrella this time was a totally great use of my time. My own fault for trying to fix my computer by nearly breaking Erin's instead of getting ready for today. Never mind, I made it with about 30 sec. to spare.
A lovely piece commenting on and written on a SVA ad.
Shifting my sleep schedule this week is sucking a whole lot thus far. Saturday night fun kept me away from home and distracted until nearly 4. (Don't misunderstand me, it was a very good time, I should have just been more careful.) Last night chores and TV kept me up past 1. This morning sees me up at 540, like usual. Maybe I need some caffeine, or maybe I need a kick in the head to be more responsible with my sleep patterns. Tonight, I have TKD in Brooklyn with Howard. I should go straight home after that, as I'm often tempted to go to my parents', which always gets me home late.
School still hasn't refunded me the 3k they owe me and my credit card bill is due in about 2 weeks. I'm rather annoyed, as you might imagine. I sent an email asking for further info on Thursday (previous messages said the refund period was starting on the 8th). If I don't hear from them today, I'll be calling my CC company and disputing the charge.
Below is a very happy sight. NJTransit turns off signal lights when there are no trains around. So it is very nice to see the lights come on at 1130, telling you that you're about to head home.
I just got my mom one of her birthday presents. I think I'll install it tonight so she won't have to deal with it. Also because I'm a cheapskate and got her an open box version. Gotta love Best Buy. I plan to get her some other things, and split it with one of my brothers. Sounds fun, right?
Being on 2nd shift has screwed up a lot of my normal routine. I'm down to 2-3 big meals a day, instead of 5-6 small ones, for instance. I also haven't been posting nearly as much. And I've been lazy at work because there's no support. Whatever, I'll be back on 1st shift next week, and all will be good.
I also picked up 'Foot Fist Way', which was hilarious in theatres and I can't wait to show to Howard and Pat. I think they'll get a kick out of it as the lead does everything wrong.
Isn't it lovely? Found a few months ago in Penn Station.
Time to be a fanboy: Dorian Spencer is now in the final 2 on NYC Soundtracks! Vote for him on msg.com/soundtracks Voting continues through 8p tonight. Do it!
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Yesterday was a slow day filled with chores. Which is a good thing, especially as one of those chores was laundry, something that needed to be done pretty badly. Erin went with a friend of hers to a museum in Jersey, as she was expecting me to be working. I was going to work on Saturday, but our test got stuck on Friday in such a way that we needed Software's help to fix it, and all the relevant people had gone home for the weekend. I'm not sure what my benchmate did that night, but I know it had nothing to do with that test.
2 days to my birthday, and I still haven't got any plans made. So very lazy. Or busy. Or tired. I think I'll be working 2nd shift next week. That'll be interesting, for the variety, at least.
Please note the melted light. Also note that the light is still on, even after melting its casing.
Yesterday got better as the day went on. I finally got moved off the test I've been troubleshooting for a week, and we got to try a new one, AND quickly found the bug in the test plan that hopefully will allow us to pass it. If it has passed, there's a good chance we won't have to come in this weekend, because we've finished this round of testing. Or maybe we'll pick up another bench's, and hopefully finish that one today. The overtime pay is nice, but I'd like to get to TKD this weekend if I can.
Speaking of, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe yesterday in practice by landing funny during a jump in a form. Stupid carpeted room. I've splinted it because it's all nice and swollen and purple (that's what she said), but it doesn't hurt. I sent in a photo last night, but it hadn't posted by bed. I took some Advil last night to handle some of the swelling. I should do the same at work today.
I did not need a message, signed 'US Govt' on my whiteboard in the lab criticizing my work ethic and negatively comparing me to my benchmate, while mocking my habits (tea, many meals, etc.). I did not need a (accidentally) passive-agressive note from Erin over my Graffiti Wall (regarding my cleanliness habits). But I especially did not need 3 different species of roach crawling around in the clean silverware drawer.
Needless to say I freaked a little, though I had enough presence of mind not to crush them into the utensils. All the utensils are now clean, including the ones I used for breakfast this morning. Turns out I do have time to do such things in the morning (I didn't think I did).
I feel bad for getting all wound up last night though. I yelled at Erin, which she totally didn't deserve. I couldn't sleep because I felt so angry and guilty (<4hrs). And tonight I'll be going to a free Dorian Spencer concert. I'm not very good at this sleep thing.
It's a handful of pint glasses. In front of a school. An elementary school. Stay classy, Jersey.
Totally not ready for work today. Running supervised tests is the absolute worst. Everything moves so slowly, and I need to explain my every move, and I need to do everything as written. I'm really disliking it right now, but I'm guessing that has a lot to do with how very awesome TKD in the Mountains was. Work does not even begin to compare unfavorably.
I had one of my procedures put up for revision today. Not fun, because it's not something within my normal purview, and while I wrote it over 6 months ago, and asked for revisions at that time, now I have all these Senior people & The Customer asking me why I didn't do it correctly in the first place.
And I paid for school and not 4 hours later, one of the two classes was cancelled. Now Stevens just got a payment from me that is twice the size it should be.
Can I go back to the Mountains now? Or at least to bed?
There isn't much more to say about the photo than the subject line.
Loud drums are about to start here on the train. They, strangely enough, are loud.
Overall a good day, well outside of work. Did the shopping I needed to do, got a Zipcard, and had a nice dinner with my family. My trains leaving Jersey, however, were extremely delayed, so I missed practice w/ Howard.
Work was a problem thanks to the two blackouts we had. All our test equipment rebooted, as did all the relevant network hardware, so not only were our stations screwed up, but we couldn't even surf the web to entertain ourselves while we waited, fruitlessly for the situation to improve.
I played with the exposure on this one. I had to because the sign was too dark. Of course this blows out the background, but I think it looks good in this case.
I didn't turn on my alarm last night, because I am An Genius. So, normally in that situation I might call in sick, but in this case, and at least in part because I have school, I'll just take 2 hrs Personal Business, and get in at the same time as my intern of the same name.
I have another photo that I sent myself to clean up, but I don't know how much of the motion blur I'll be able to get rid of.
For the fashionistas among you, I've got a cream shirt, khaki pants and socks, and brown belt and shoes. Monochrome FTW. Maybe.
Erin has a shirt just like this, but it says Queens instead. I forgive her. She got hers from the Queens Museum of Art. This one I found in the window of Brooklyn Tattoo on Smith Street.
Things have been quite busy lately. But you already knew that. I only worked 7 hours overtime yesterday, so I'm going in .5 hours early at least for today and tomorrow to actually get paid for showing up yesterday. See, in order to get overtime, we need to do at least 8 hours in a week. Of course, as salaried folk, we should count ourselves lucky that we get any overtime pay at all.
Yesterday practice in NJ was nice. It's really convenient versus where I work, so if I'm gonna be stuck in Jersey anyways, I'm glad I can get some practice in.
I don't know much about the NJTransit system, aside from the very small slice I use. It annoys me that I cannot provide the same level of info as I know about the Subway, for instance.
New train schedules out today. They don't seem to affect my commute, even on Sundays. I'm starting to contemplate whether I want to start doing my overtime by coming in early during the week instead. I really like the idea of a 2-day weekend. On the other hand, in order to do that, I have to get to work on the 550 train from Penn. Which is a little bit earlier than my current 745 train.
The past few days I've been feeling kinda down on myself. I've got no reason why, of course, which only makes it more frustrating. I just want to sleep for a few days. Not really an option, that. The best part is that I've started feeling guilty for all the time I'm wasting in this little hole of ick. And of course, only an ass would waste so much time on this self-indulgent crap.
I'm sure a full work day w/ no lunch break so I can leave earlier will improve my mood immensely.
Looks like someone had a good time in the street near my house. I guess that either a contractor was very bored, or someone else in the neighborhood has some electric orange paint.
I don't really have a lot of news. Yesterday I went to work. Today I go to work. I'm heading in early today because a Customer is coming in that is known to show up around 8. It's not a total loss, as it means that I'll be able to leave a little early, and hopefully get myself a much-needed haircut. I have this tendency to get it cut shorter than I like it, and let it grow out longer than I like it. This means I get a haircut every 3-4 months or so. But it also means that by this time, I'm ready to lop it all off.
I finished Picross again. I love downloadable content! I guess that means back to Space Invaders Extreme. It's been a while, but I hope to hit the credits for the first time soon.
I'm not so sleepy for a Monday morning. I expect work will change that. I've got a morning of calculations to go.
Found this on 10th street and 3rd avenue in Manhattan. Not sure what it refers to, so I guess I should Google it. I tried to do that before with another piece I found, turned up nothing, and now the tagger left me a comment calling me a 'negative blogger'. I'll link to it once I've finished my response, which will be something along the lines of 'nothing against you, but that tag wasn't particularly good.'
Finally Friday has arrived, so only 8 more hours in the office. I've been very dumb about going to bed lately, so I'm rather sleepy. I'm eager for my weekend, even if it's one day instead of 4.
I guess that it's official: the Internet is real. I've now had two random real-world encounters based on my entries (the above and the sofa incident). Does this officially make me a blogger? ;-) In all seriousness, I'm a little amazed at how much trying to post a photo every day has changed my relationship to LJ, as well as significally increased my chances of getting randomly contacted.
Erin and Chris finished it before I got home last night. It is very comfortable, although a little firm right now (age will soften it in good time). Erin clearly thinks it is nice. I'm sure my dad, as lover of all things green, will love the color. All we need now is an a/c and we shall have a very nice living room. (Well, that and for Paul to take out the old couch.)
Work has been boring because of how large the new bench is. Not only are there too many people in such a small space, but it takes a long time to do anything because of all the things involved.
Today is day 1 of week 2 of the 100 push ups thing I've been doing. Today I did 23. My first exhaustion test, last week, was 4. Rock on! To be fair, the 23 was done in intervals, but one of those had 9. This is progressing much faster than I thought it would. This upcoming Tuesday is my next exhaustion test.
Last night, I helped some ladies know where they could get some knockoff bags. I'm such a good New Yorker.
What should I do for the next 2 hours in Penn Station? See, thanks to a variety of factors, only a few were w/in my control, I missed the 914 train. The next train to Seacaucus leaves in an hour, but that doesn't even matter, because there's no train for me out of there until 1140.
Yesterday was nice until it wasn't. Practice was good, lunch was good, chatting with my parents was good, even starting the replacement of my dad's stereo system was good. I realized I needed a part, and my dad volunteered to drive me to RadioShack to get it. Then it started pouring. We got the part and went home. My dad went down to check on the basement, which had flooded, so we spent the next 4 hours with a shop vac, emptying the several inches of water. During this time, when the water was low enough, I struggled with restarting the water heater. When that was done, I went back upstairs to the stereo. Of course the case was too small, but I only skinned my knuckles a few times. Eventually all was well.
Fuck. Accidentally deleted a full post. Way to go 'c' button.
This tree got smashed by last night's storm.
Work lost power last night, so I burnt time repairing things while answering 2 different software questions. Time's getting tight. This is week 1 of 6 for the dry run. There will be no break between the dry run & the real thing, so this is really week 1 of 12. I reserve the option to go insane.
Sleeping: 49 hrs/wk (generous) Commuting: 17.5 hrs/wk (conservative) Working: 48 hrs/wk Lunch break @ work: 6 hrs/wk TKD: 6 hrs/wk School: 5 hrs/wk Total accounted hours used per week: 131.5
For reference, there are 168 hours in a week. Therefore, I have 36.5 unaccounted hours—a little over 5 per day (although most of those hours are on Saturday and Sunday, where my only time constraints are TKD and work, respectively [and, of course commuting])—perhaps shoujo_mallet has something when she worries about my work/life balance.
They're doing work on my test bench at work so I cannot perform any more tests at this time...
∴ webcomics!
I read all of Perry Bible Fellowship again, and just now, a softer world. The latter is usually far too pretentious for my taste, but these two comics are interesting to me for some reasons that you should know: a giantoverthrowing the paradigm.
The consequence is that I tend to look at my IMs and forming them into weird pseudo-poetic things in the same style as ASW:
"Be good to yourself" she says. But all I want is for others to follow her advice
If you were a sysadmin, and the network policy expressly forbid installing an IM client, what would you say about a JavaScript-based IM web page being loaded by a local web browser?
Last night I went to the laundromat with shoujo_mallet, and what happens, but the card machine eats my $10 bill. And I'd have to go there during the day to get my money back. You know, when I have work. Luckily, the attendant there will try to remember Erin (as "Red") when the latter goes back this weekend (while I'm away).
This morning I wake up to take a piss, flush the toilet and the chain comes undone from the lever. This has happened before and is easy to fix — with the light on. So I turn on the light, and BAM, blue flash and the bulb is blown. I try to wake up Erin to get her to tell me where the lightbulbs are. She tells me two places but they aren't there (that I can see). In the interests of getting out of the house on time, I get to eating breakfast and then bother her again. She looks and cannot find them. charleniehead wakes up and wants to use the bathroom, but can't because Erin's in one and the other is broken. I ask her if she's seen the lightbulbs. She has, and I find them. I put the bulb in, fix the toilet and get dressed.
It's my last day at Cneebg today (ROT-13-ed for Google protection). That's good. Immediately after work I'm heading up to the Summer Black Belt Trip.
Then I have my week off.
Then I start at VGG. I'll be in the N/PQ working on modelling digital radio algorithms. Actual Engineering work. I'm excited and nervous. It will be my first real engineering job. Can I actually engineer? The closest thing I did to engineering a device was my Miniscale Energy Generation senior design project.
Oh, and today I started Numbers Don't Lie by Terry Bisson. Which, now that I've started reading it, I realize I've read before. Which is funny because just about a month ago I thought I had discovered Terry Bisson for the first time, but I think I read this in like Jr. High or HS. Edit: I have found out why I know it. The first piece of the book is also published as "The Hole in the Hole" — a short story published in 1994. When I checked the copyright page I was very confused as to how I could remember reading a book from 2005 in HS.
My cactus is dying! Erin gave me a cactus for Valentine's Day this year. I fear the lack of direct sunlight in my 5th floor office is finally getting to it, as its turning yellow. I've put it on the windowsill and gave it its monthly feeding. I hope its OK. Erin calls it "Monday" because thats when I water it. My spider plant, however, is doing so well where it is it hasn't reproduced yet and its HUGE. Like these leaves are absolutely ginormous. I've seen spider plants with more leaves, but I don't think I've seen ones with wider or longer ones. Like 0.5" wide and 14"-16" long! The leaves are so big they're folding under their own weight.
I ran and did forms on Friday and today. Both took me 18 minutes. Mom says I should work longer to get an actual effect (calorically and cardio-wise). While I agree in general, I believe that this is still beneficial, and I can feel an increase in my endurance and speed.
Goddamnit McAffee! If the script was bad, do you think I'd keep asking it to run and try to quit you. How do you think I'd feel when you refused to go away even when I disabled your virus scanning and such?
(4:27:21 PM) Me: this is awesome (4:27:35 PM) faboo: you in a small white box? (4:27:36 PM) faboo: a guess (4:27:42 PM) Me: not really (4:28:19 PM) Me: so, have I mentioned that Ed (austin boss) has hired this group and a few others to startup the austin call center? (4:29:48 PM) faboo: nice :) (4:29:59 PM) Me: well its true (4:30:18 PM) Me: anyways, one of the guys called me up after I mentioned that the standing plan was to shut down the nyc office in a few months (4:30:34 PM) Me: and asked for my resume for embedded work and help file development (4:30:50 PM) faboo: most rock and roll (4:30:53 PM) Me: (he works in this rapid prototyping group)( (4:31:52 PM) faboo: most nifty (4:32:48 PM) Me: he offered me a project (4:34:18 PM) faboo: so, you know this guy pretty well? or does he just realize how awesome you must be? (4:34:34 PM) Me: both, I guess? (4:34:59 PM) Me: its just rewriting the helpfiles for this online thing. should take 20-25 hrs, and he's expecting to pay me somewhere between 15-20/hr (4:35:24 PM) Me:http://www.eventuality.com/
So, my question becomes, what is a resonable rate for freelance helpfile rewriting? And for technical writing, in general. (*cough*rosefox*cough*)
typing in all lower case does not make you cool. it does not mean you are "with it" or "modern." it means you are fucking lazy and it makes it hard for your reader to grasp where a sentence should begin or end. it means i get frustrated trying to listen to you go on and on about your problem when you just go on and on and it looks and reads like one massive run-on sentence.
I turned off my light to go to sleep, and I didn't realize that my computer was plugged into the same socket, causing it to completely discharge. And the keyboard problems have actually managed to get worse. "Up" keeps getting triggered when I hold down "w" or "s" which I have to do to be able to type them. And I have trouble clicking and dragging. The arrow keys do not work reliably at all.
Maybe I can try to remove the keyboard when I get home...
So I found out this afternoon that I've been volunteered to go to Detroit and help with some phone validations. On Monday. Returning Wednesday. This is going to require a lot of plans rearrangement and some kit building for some specific needs. So tomorrow, I get to break out the soldering iron and some more tape or perhaps hot glue. And it needs to be done by the end of tomorrow, as I have other off-site things to do on Friday that doesn't have any hopes of telling me when/if it'll be done.
Delwin and I were discussing the idiocy of a blanket refutation of Evolution (by way of bacterial and viral immunities to drugs), and I decided we must place and celebrate
Mitochondrion Appreciation Day
so that we might best apprecate what those cute little invaders do for us day in and day out.
And on another note, how can I support kits that aren't even supposed to be here yet? I can't even get demo units to practice working with, but these assholes can get them in their cars.
Welcome to America. We speak English here. We also write it.
Just because you are on the Internet, this does not give you license to make the language a real hassle to read. Yes, it is a tricky language. But I'm not expecting you to have subclauses and other wacky shit—I have enough trouble writing that kind of stuff myself. I am, however expecting you to use the proper anteceedants with you pronouns. "It doesn't work," is extremely unacceptable without a description of what "it" is as well as what you have done to make you think it will work. Using what you think are specific technical words incorrectly will only make me wish for the ability to stab you through the internet. And, if you are having any trouble spelling the name of this company, remember that while this is a French company, its name is an English word for a tropical bird, and does not end in two "t"s.
Being behind on my email only gets worse when I have people talking about the, "parrott not activating when i try it," without telling me what they mean.
If any of you have a Bluetooth phone and wants a plug-and-play car kit, get your (opened, but like-) new Cneebg QevirOyhr1. Comment with your mailing address, or a possible meet-up time/place. Comments automatically screened for your protection.
I sure am glad that I checked your website before I bought your product! I read a review and then placed an order for the Cneebg RnflQevir from Palm for my Treo 650, but I had to call and cancel my order when I found out you are a French company. I refuse to buy anything from France due to your country being so anti-American. I am just a simple American doing my best to protest against France!
Went to work today. Way too early. Seems that I over-estimated the 3-minute walk from the hotel, or something.
Odd thing: I think I'm eating less here in France than I usually do. Like I really only have two meals, Breakfast and Lunch. Dinner's been just ice cream lately. Speaking of which, did you know that here the Ben and Jerry's only put one cookie in their Cookie Cookie Sundae? Quel horror!
I was wrong about the WiFi at the hotel: it is pay only. Worse yet, it's 10€/2hr! I'll grab my Naruto at the office, thank you very much!
Today I got off at the same Lourve station, but walked further along rue de Rivoli in the effort to get a (non-necessary but nice) plug-converter to recharge my camera's batteries with. Unfortunately, most shops close at 19h, while work lets out at 18h. Tomorrow, I will be more vigilant about time wasted.
I still have not found a place that sells phone cards, which is the ideal method for calling home, I hear. I know I'm not looking hard enough.
T-Mobile sent me an email telling me how to unlock my phone. It leaves me tempted to try and use my cell here, even though GSM 900 isn't all that popular around here. I'll just do it when I get back, or something.
Just curious, has the EU Constitution controversy hit the US yet? Here it's a very big deal, with both liberals and conservatives condemming it as being against their platforms. Sounds like it might just be a good idea, no? France is having a vote on it early next week, so it should be interesting.
Erin, I've started picking up papers for you. I hope they're enough. So, there have been people that have been asking for "something French", and I am slowly accruing used Metro tickets. Just picked up a book of 10, which I hope to go through by Saturday morning.
Methinks I'll send my parents a link to my photo space on LJ. Maybe they'll make it back here. That could be odd.
So, lookie me, trying to be in bed by a reasonable hour, how very odd!
OK, so I'm in France. Got here safely, if a bit late due to rain at JFK. May have gotten two hours of sleep on the plane—is it bad to spend 6.5 hrs with your knees pressed hard against the chair in front of you?
After arrival, I went to the hotel, unpacked, and headed right out. Went to the office, which is right around the corner from the hotel, just to have one less thing to worry about today.
Then I got on the Metro to the Lourve. Didn't go in, but did continue walking. Spent most of the walking time on the Left Bank. The Senne is very pretty. After all that walking, I did the next logical thing: walk up the Eiffel Tower—both floors. I took the elevator down, though.
Got back on the Metro, which by this time I feel I largely grokked, and returned to the hotel for a 5:30pm bedtime. Hopefully that means I'll have beaten the supposed jetlag.
I'm very comforted by the fact that the TV in my room picks up BBC World. English is otherwise hard to come by outside of the more touristy bits of Paris. Tonight I'll empty out my camera to pics.livejournal.com, so you can see. Maybe I'll even take a shot of these odd keyboards.
Excellent! I can change the keymappings so I don't have to relearn how to type!
