ups and downs?

again no time to write, so here's my day in a nutshell.

woke up at 6am so i could be in the lab early to open the doors for mini boss #2 who wanted to spend the morning already in our lab space so he wouldn't have to drive in the middle of day. After opening the doors i worked on finishing the acrylic mold i started yesterday and made the first layer of the experimental set-up. Because they had asked for double (the reason i had to build a second one) it took longer than expected. 

Around 9 i got to working with e on her project. We did the mapping required and took all the measurements she needed for her to fix the logic in her software and to see if she could interface with the machine tomorrow. While we were working on all that we noticed a lot of unused, or redundant cables and other knicknackery. So as it is often the case with e, we got to work in streamlining the work space and making things as organized as possible. that took another long time. The work area now looks pretty spiffy though!

i then ran back to make the second layer of the experimental set-up. With double the molds, i thought this time i could make things go faster if i made twice the amount needed and split it between the two molds. I had to act fast, because the material is only workable for about 15 seconds. I rushed a bit and made the first one a little too thick and it worried me about the experiment for the afternoon. 

i found our IT guy and between him and the video system guy worked a plan to get the video requirements for our experiments. had to get cameras, tripods, the works. 

went back to work on the third and final layer for experiment.

by the time i got back to the office it was time for lunch. i told e i was going for a sandwich and she decided to come along too. she thought about going home but wanted to finish the project instead. she would work on her software after lunch and then try it out on her prototype board so that tomorrow she could implement it.

We walked to get our food. the sun was shining, the wind was not too cold, the clouds were far and pretty. i tried to make conversation "so, how's everything going" but she ignored it. "any plans for the weekend?" "no, the usual, maybe go on a long walk with dv". she spent the majority of the walk looking at her phone. on the way back i did not try to make any more conversation and it was a mostly silent walk.

unfortunately the timing couldn't be worse for eating because by the time we returned, the meeting with the outside group was about to start. so i was then literally running back and forth between lab spaces carrying things to and fro like a little cartoon mad scientist. i looked energetic but inside i was hungry and sleepy. 

The experiment however was a success! at least for what they wanted. people across the world were cool and seem like nice people. Now i have to make a whole set of modifications and a ton more work but that's for future me to worry about. Then...it was over! and guess what?! we did NOT use the second set!!!!!! argh!!! i stayed an extra long ass time at work last night to build that shit that they casually asked me to build the day before, and then you don't use it!? frustration to the max. but whatever. things went well.

I finally go back the office, having finished and wondering if i should go home to do my third project for the day, or if i should just stay in the office and hammer it out. While thinking about this e calls me over to show me her new and improved software. she had LEDs to show the different configurations and how her logic system worked. turns out she programmed it wrong. i helped her work it out and soon enough we had a correct prototype. she even said "if it wasn't for you i wouldn't have done this" or something along those lines. it could have been "if you didn't help me i would have had it all wrong". I don't remember at this point. She did say it twice though, once when we were doing the initial electrical mapping and the second time with the software fixes.

Since her program was working and i was still running deliriously energetic i went into the shop, took some cables, asked e to borrow her strippers, and went into the apparatus room. I wanted to connect the necessary cables so she could run her prototype in the actual machinery. after about 5 minutes she came in the room (maybe wondering what i was doing with the cabling) and saw me struggling trying to place the tiny cables in the tiny spaces. i think she got excited about the prospect of getting her project moving forward and said that she would get the laptop and get started on putting the code there so we could run it. Then she looked at me for more than 10 seconds, realized i couldn't for the life of me put those cables in, and said "want me to do that?" so we changed places and i went to get the laptop for the code.

Hardware was all connected. Software installed. let's run it!.......failed! But we continued on. she said "i want to get it working today! q told me he needed the car tomorrow so i can't come to work". (i of course have to come in tomorrow to get some data from today's experiment, and no i don't have a car)

turns out that there's some problem reading data (or writing) using my work office laptop. security issues probably. so we had to switch to installing her program in the main apparatus computer. now this computer is about 2000 years old. we had to install and uninstall so many things at some point the computer just slapped me in the face. 

But at the end it worked!!! This was something i had told e i would help her since 2019! it was so exciting seeing it work! e started dancing and we even high fived. good times. it felt so satisfying. that change was something i had thought about from the first day i came in to lab. i didn't feel capable so i didn't tackle it. e came to work about 6 months later and she had more recent experience with machines. she said she would work on it. seeing my opportunity i wanted to help her make it a reality. i am so glad it's becoming real! even if it's 3 years later. 

feeling good we both headed to the office to get ready to leave. we got our coats on, turned off the lights and headed out. on the hallway we talked about how she had it pretty much ready for over a year and only now did she test it. we took the elevator together and i pressed for the 3rd floor and motioned to the buttons "do you need the 2nd floor for your car?" she hesitated for half a second i thought. maybe she was thinking of offering me a ride? maybe she didn't . either way she responded "yes". and so we parted ways. 

in my crazy tired delirious self, i decided to be better and walk back home. it wasn't too cold and the sun was setting but it wasn't dark yet. once home i put frozen bag of food in the microwave and ate it while watching youtube videos. 

Then got started on the paper again. This time i had to make some new figures and some other revisions the mini bosses required of me. but that walk home had gotten me more tired that i could think of. my eyes were getting heavier and heavier the more i tried to think of ideas for new figures and captions for tables and "conclusion points". i just couldn't think coherently anymore! cue in the remember the titans soundtrack. it was recommended by a friend and it worked pretty well. some good tunes but nothing too distracting to take your mind completely off the work. 

i finished working around midnight. and then i set out to sleep. tomorrow i still don't have a free day though because i have to wake up to a meeting with the mini-bosses. sigh.

thoughts:

the free rose that lights up

with the starry nights and the warm gaze

if only i could share my love

if only i could hold your hand.

 

crazy rasta cables