First day of work and German engineering
Yesterday was my first day at the new job. I’m a systems analyst, in the Information Technology Department at a small liberal arts university. I have been looking forward to my new job, it really fits into my new career goals. I have my cubicle, which is still getting setup, and while it is nice, I have a fluorescent light right above me, which I think will lead to a lot of eye fatigue. I have yet to get all of my stuff loaded into my cube, but i did bring in my TeaDrop.
This little tea brew station is quite a nice little addition to my cube. The pendulum has again swung to me wanting to not drink as much coffee/caffeine, so tea is now my drink of choice. At only $11, it was a steal.
On to the German engineering portion of this post. Esther was having car troubles yesterday, a dead battery, so I was resolute to repair it last night. I got to Walmart, looking through the car batteries, I found out there are three different versions of the 1999 Beetle and two of the versions take one model of battery, the other takes a different one. So I went home and found out which of the versions Esther has been driving. The second trip to Walmart was quick, back to the car batteries, grabbing the 50 dollar battery and then back home.
When trying to take apart the battery enclosure, I found that I was either missing a tool, or my fingers and tools were some how all wrong. That makes the third trip to Walmart, to buy extender for the ratchet set. With the additional tools in hand, I finally was able to remove the battery and replace it. Mind you, this was at 9 in the evening, my activities lit by a work lap, bugs swirling around.
So VW, in their engineering wisdom has used plastic to cover, hide and contain all of the engine components. And while it makes look good under the hood, but to change anything, you have to rip out a lot of black plastic. The problem comes when you have to put it back together, nearly an hour of cramming and banging on things. Ugh.
Needless to say, It was late when I finally finished, I hadn’t eaten, and I was sweat. Cooling down with a soda at 9:30 wasn’t the brightest either, the caffeine kept me awake. Oh well.
This little tea brew station is quite a nice little addition to my cube. The pendulum has again swung to me wanting to not drink as much coffee/caffeine, so tea is now my drink of choice. At only $11, it was a steal.
On to the German engineering portion of this post. Esther was having car troubles yesterday, a dead battery, so I was resolute to repair it last night. I got to Walmart, looking through the car batteries, I found out there are three different versions of the 1999 Beetle and two of the versions take one model of battery, the other takes a different one. So I went home and found out which of the versions Esther has been driving. The second trip to Walmart was quick, back to the car batteries, grabbing the 50 dollar battery and then back home.
When trying to take apart the battery enclosure, I found that I was either missing a tool, or my fingers and tools were some how all wrong. That makes the third trip to Walmart, to buy extender for the ratchet set. With the additional tools in hand, I finally was able to remove the battery and replace it. Mind you, this was at 9 in the evening, my activities lit by a work lap, bugs swirling around.
So VW, in their engineering wisdom has used plastic to cover, hide and contain all of the engine components. And while it makes look good under the hood, but to change anything, you have to rip out a lot of black plastic. The problem comes when you have to put it back together, nearly an hour of cramming and banging on things. Ugh.
Needless to say, It was late when I finally finished, I hadn’t eaten, and I was sweat. Cooling down with a soda at 9:30 wasn’t the brightest either, the caffeine kept me awake. Oh well.
You forgot the most important part- You’ve been nominated for husband of the year for this feat!
Nifty tea device — my mom may like that. (She loved the ingenuiTEA mug I sent her earlier this year.) As for the fluorescent lights, you could always hang light fabric to soften the glare. I’ve done this in the past. Depending on how many lights you need to cover, get 1-2 yards of plain cotton fabric. The light will shine through somewhat, so choose your color based on the tone you want. Hang the fabric by tucking it under the ceiling panels surrounding the light fixture, and paperclip the fabric edge to the metal strips that form the grid for the panels. With enough fabric, you could even hang some from the ceiling down to your cubicle wall and make a tent. (I reccomend stripes for the desert sheik look.)