Musical Hotel Rooms

I got up late this morning as I couldnt sleep again last night. I stumbled in to the office at about 10am, but I have tea now so it's getting better. As a bonus the same fairy that left bagels and juice out yesterday has put muffins out today! So technically I'm fed. Before I left the hotel, I had to go to the checkout and ask them to extend my stay for another 7 days. They can't put me in the same room as that's being recarpeted. So I have to go back to the hotel room at midday, pack all my stuff as though I were leaving, and I will be relocated to another room somewhere in the complex.

I know that I'm flying out on the wednesday now, so this will be the last time I have to extend my stay. The last week of my time in the USA (w00t). No doubt I'll be back, hopefully the next time I'll have a driving lisence.

I got an email from Jason this morning asking me which laptop with British keyboard I would prefer. I think the choice is between a Dell and an IBM, and essentially boils down to power or portability. The important thing is that I won't be getting either till I'm back in the UK, so I'm stuck with no admin rights.

The new office used to be a sales center for Sun Microsystems. In fact most of the building was. The downside to this is that although the office space is big with large communal areas and impressive foyers, the sales representitives were expected to use the offices as temporary offices. They would be swarmed in from all over the world, given a cubicle with one phone, one data point, one slidy double glazed door, one energy saving light, 5 square meters of plain carpet, one 3 foot shelf and no windows to the outside world. Those offices that had to face external walls in a glass building have their desks facing the other way. They're not designed to be welcoming or set up so you can stay. So we think they're rather like prison blocks, and have already planned pneumatic lock downs for the slidy doors and a bootlegging lab in Will's corner. Apparently you can use the sugar from ketchup packets to ferment alcohol. We're also planning to put cell block numbers on the walls next to offices. It's that or put 80's style productivity propoganda on the walls: "COFFEE IS FOR CLOSERS", "WORK NOW, SLEEP LATER" or "PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS".

The other disadvantage to these anti-social hive offices is that you can't see who's at your door behind you. I dont have a slidy door office, I have a cubicle at the end of the office. But those who have boxes are constantly being scared by people turning up at their door. So Tim and Dave have both bought webcams facing their doors which they can watch on their screen. Now everyone wants one, partly for "the boss is coming" functionality. I wanted one cus I can't see when people are arriving. I might get one today but I still dont have admin rights so I wouldnt be ablet to install it. When people can be bothered, the ever growing number of webcams will be streamed on one server so that everyone can see where everyone is. Pretty clever! And also quite scary.

Right, I better get back to work as I only have a few hours before having to go back to the hotel to pack, and lunch, and buying a webcam... need to take soem cash out aswell. Oh the fun. I think I better stay late tonight to make up time.

Taters.