This was the worst of all possible worlds. I was faced with limbo. If we were told to leave after just a couple hours (like I thought), I'd be bummed that I stopped making money, but at least I would have gotten to the U. with plenty of time to spare. If we had to work a full day or almost to it, I would have to send yet another e-mail to the guy doing the study to apologize, but at least I would have known I had no time to get to the U. It's the uncertainty I faced that pissed me off: It wasn't early enough where I could clearly say that I had time to get to the research study on time, but it wasn't late enough where I know I wouldn't make it.
So I hauled ass out of work in an effort to get there on-time. Too bad traffic leading from 394 East to 94 East is bad at all times of the day. I also ran into another problem. I didn't have time to do what I planned to do, which was to park on the East Bank and walk a half-hour to the West Bank, where the Carlson building and the experiment was. Unfortunately I neglected to look at a map in case there was a parking ramp right next to the building so I could get in, park, get up to the fourth floor, do the experiment and leave (and hopefully not pay an exorbitant price to park while doing so). Turns out there is a parking ramp right next to Carlson; I just took the wrong exit. Getting lost for ten minutes took me to 2 o'clock, and I failed. And so of course, while I was driving away, I thought to myself, "Why the hell did I waste time and gas just to try to get to this study?"
---
The other thing I wanted to do was go this computer place to pick up the solid-state drive I've been thinking of putting into my laptop. Of course, that thing didn't go quite as planned, either.
My computer hasn't been able to boot up normally for much of this year now, and because I had found enough work I decided to take the advice of the guy at the Microsoft Store and get a solid-state drive. I had questions about how many gigabytes I should get (these SSDs are faster and use a lot less energy than regular hard drives, but are quite expensive and very short on memory), however, and I was hoping this independent computer place would live up to its reputation as a place whose workers are very knowledgeable and helpful.
So I go there and compare prices for a 256 GB vs. a 250 GB SSD (why a $20 difference for just six gigs?) at a locked display. Apparently people would steal these solid-state drives, like they would iPads or really good cold medication. After a while staring and figuring out what I would get, a guy finally came up to me and asked if I needed help. From there, it was a slow roll down the mountain of Getting A Solid-State Drive.
These concerns I had were of backing up the files already on my laptop, figuring out how to reinstall everything, such as the operating system (I also planned on upgrading from Vista to 7), and more importantly, can everything that's stored into the memory of the HD be put into the SSD with room for future programs and software? And that's where the guy, without complete mastery of the topic, made me think buying a solid-state drive isn't the best thing in the world. He admits it's hella stable, but he is extremely worried that 256 gigs won't be big enough for all the papers I have stored and all the other stuff I would need to operate my computer. It would have helped if the lap had a second drive bay, but I brought my laptop in (I wasn't sure if it had two bays or only one) and he said there was only room for the SSD, if I was going to buy it. For my files and stuff, he recommended an external drive, and that alternative was so new to me that I decided not to buy it -- thereby wasting a trip to this computer store. One other thing: The Microsoft guy said that after I bought the solid-state and got a key for Windows 7, there was a chance that after they backed everything up and put a new Operating System on it their diagnostic would reveal that the reason my laptop can't start up like normal isn't because of the drive, but because of something else. And I won't spend $150, $175 on a Solid-State Drive if that doesn't solve anything.
Great, that afternoon I was running around like a fucking chicken with my head cut off. And I didn't have a damn thing to show for it. What a waste of an afternoon.
---
One thing I've realized: If I hadn't dashed out so quickly out of work, I probably would have spoken to my contact at work to make sure what the correspondence was in receiving word I'd be doing the next project. And maybe that way I would be assured that I in fact would be doing the next project. Did I fail to butter up to a person who held my future employment fate in her hands? Would thanking her again make up for my slow times on this last project? Whatever, it's too late now.
---
The other thing I wanted to do was go this computer place to pick up the solid-state drive I've been thinking of putting into my laptop. Of course, that thing didn't go quite as planned, either.
My computer hasn't been able to boot up normally for much of this year now, and because I had found enough work I decided to take the advice of the guy at the Microsoft Store and get a solid-state drive. I had questions about how many gigabytes I should get (these SSDs are faster and use a lot less energy than regular hard drives, but are quite expensive and very short on memory), however, and I was hoping this independent computer place would live up to its reputation as a place whose workers are very knowledgeable and helpful.
So I go there and compare prices for a 256 GB vs. a 250 GB SSD (why a $20 difference for just six gigs?) at a locked display. Apparently people would steal these solid-state drives, like they would iPads or really good cold medication. After a while staring and figuring out what I would get, a guy finally came up to me and asked if I needed help. From there, it was a slow roll down the mountain of Getting A Solid-State Drive.
These concerns I had were of backing up the files already on my laptop, figuring out how to reinstall everything, such as the operating system (I also planned on upgrading from Vista to 7), and more importantly, can everything that's stored into the memory of the HD be put into the SSD with room for future programs and software? And that's where the guy, without complete mastery of the topic, made me think buying a solid-state drive isn't the best thing in the world. He admits it's hella stable, but he is extremely worried that 256 gigs won't be big enough for all the papers I have stored and all the other stuff I would need to operate my computer. It would have helped if the lap had a second drive bay, but I brought my laptop in (I wasn't sure if it had two bays or only one) and he said there was only room for the SSD, if I was going to buy it. For my files and stuff, he recommended an external drive, and that alternative was so new to me that I decided not to buy it -- thereby wasting a trip to this computer store. One other thing: The Microsoft guy said that after I bought the solid-state and got a key for Windows 7, there was a chance that after they backed everything up and put a new Operating System on it their diagnostic would reveal that the reason my laptop can't start up like normal isn't because of the drive, but because of something else. And I won't spend $150, $175 on a Solid-State Drive if that doesn't solve anything.
Great, that afternoon I was running around like a fucking chicken with my head cut off. And I didn't have a damn thing to show for it. What a waste of an afternoon.
---
One thing I've realized: If I hadn't dashed out so quickly out of work, I probably would have spoken to my contact at work to make sure what the correspondence was in receiving word I'd be doing the next project. And maybe that way I would be assured that I in fact would be doing the next project. Did I fail to butter up to a person who held my future employment fate in her hands? Would thanking her again make up for my slow times on this last project? Whatever, it's too late now.
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