The Beginning of the End

The first item on this morning's agenda was the Ultimate Fair. Disappointingly, it wasn't all that ultimate really, although I did manage to get a few things sorted out. First port of call was joining the CSS (Computer Science Society) which has been properly active now for about three months maybe. I don't spend very much time in the lab - in fact I don't think I've been in there for more than about five minutes this year, mainly because I find it extremely difficult to work in public spaces, even the library. Contrary to popular opinion, I find that there are actually fewer distractions in my own room than there are in the library or the lab and after trying several times to make these spaces work for me, I am resigned to the fact that I am just an oddity in that department. The outcome of which, is that I had not yet got round to signing up to the CSS which has been based in the lab. I now have and am looking forward to the forthcoming social events that the guys in charge have organised, something everybody has failed to do for the past two years.

The next item on the agenda was to (re)join the TSC (Technical Services Committee). I say rejoin because technically I was a member during the first year although I never got round to doing any training and therefore didn't actually participate. This semester, I am trying to make more of an effort to actually do some things and take advantage of the vast array of opportunities and experiences that being a student gives you.

The rest of the day was filled with more mundane things, I had to take the meter readings which meant a trip into the basement and through the buried trap door in the lounge. I wouldn't normally have mentioned this but when I was entering them online, I noticed something most peculiar about the form. See for yourself.

Now either it's just me or whoever is in charge of designing the website missed the lecture about HCI. You may not have noticed this but in most cases, if there is a forward/back, next/previous button set then forward/next button will almost always be on the right hand side and the back button on the left. If you haven't seen this before, then a classic example is in you browser window at the moment, the back button will be on the left and forward on the right. This is because of the way we read books, left to right and we turn the page on the right to go forward, the page on the left to go back. They decided to buck this trend so I ended up having to enter the readings twice because I accidentally clicked the previous button instead of the next button. Needless to say, this riled me enough to prompt a comment on their feedback form - something I don't often do but with a bit of luck they will listen and make the necessary changes.

The final piece of shocking news from today was that E4 are cancelling their reruns of friends. Hear that? That is the sound of hell freezing over, the end is nigh. It doesn't really bother me, I haven't watched an episode of Friends in a good few years but it is like Dave announcing they are cancelling Top Gear reruns, these channels have only got an identity because of those programmes and what with Big Brother ending in the summer, what on earth are E4 going to be filling their schedule with?