rl update
The last couple of days have been pretty crazy.
I posted on Thursday about the random car troubles. That worked out in such a way that it was actually not all that horrible, but I was forced to put off sample prep for the following morning. And that was therefore rescheduled for Monday. All in all, bearable, if less than ideal.
Friday was... tiring, I think is the word. Getting up and dressing up was one thing, but then to be in the position of walking around and judging posters for about two hours on end... Blah. I did get a free lunch out of it, but it was nothing to write home about. A rather half-assed sandwich that consisted of about a quarter pound of turkey chucked between two slices of what appeared to be half-soggy wonderbread. Not too impressed, all in all. The students' presentations all went well, though. Which made me happy. I know how much some of them were stressing over the event, and despite all that, they came through. Some a bit better than others, certainly, but still.
Then again, I'm hardly the world's harshest critic when it comes to this sort of thing. It's not my area, though I am learning.
And afterwards, the majority of the students gathered at the local beerhouse (German and therefore more or less authentic) to celebrate. Several of the TAs joined them, myself included. Several people that I've worked closely with and/or like presented posters that day. And certain others nagged at me.
In the end, though, I'm glad I went. It was fun, and nice to see them all together as a group one last time before graduation. The majority of them are running off to do other interesting things. I know several already have jobs lined up. I'm kinda jealous.
After the party at the beerhouse broke up, they moved to a different place I wasn't familiar with. But I wasn't about to follow them there, having already had a beer and a half on an empty stomach.
Which brings me to the events of today.
While I was at the poster presentation shindig, the brother took the car out for a quote or three, as promised. The good news was that the guys he talked to seemed to be more or less honest and know what they were talking about. The bad news, he had to return the following day, so that they could look at things a bit more in depth.
So we drove out there, dropped off the car, and went for a small bite to eat at a Mexican place across the road and down the block. It was reasonably tasty, but I've had better. Fed we returned home to wait things out. We eventually got a phone call about four hours later that they were done working on things.
The car now no longer rattles so alarmingly, and the oil has been changed. The freon has also been topped off, but the AC still fails rather hard. It only works when you're at speed, since it can't keep pressure for some unknown reason. Which makes the car rev all the time. And I told them as much, but they didn't manage to find the problem, I guess. So I feel like they overcharged me a little but eh. I'm more concerned with the fact that the car sounds a hell of a lot better, and will run properly.
Next time, though, We're topping off the freon ourselves. To hell with paying them to do that. The brother knows how to do that, and I can make him show me.
I posted on Thursday about the random car troubles. That worked out in such a way that it was actually not all that horrible, but I was forced to put off sample prep for the following morning. And that was therefore rescheduled for Monday. All in all, bearable, if less than ideal.
Friday was... tiring, I think is the word. Getting up and dressing up was one thing, but then to be in the position of walking around and judging posters for about two hours on end... Blah. I did get a free lunch out of it, but it was nothing to write home about. A rather half-assed sandwich that consisted of about a quarter pound of turkey chucked between two slices of what appeared to be half-soggy wonderbread. Not too impressed, all in all. The students' presentations all went well, though. Which made me happy. I know how much some of them were stressing over the event, and despite all that, they came through. Some a bit better than others, certainly, but still.
Then again, I'm hardly the world's harshest critic when it comes to this sort of thing. It's not my area, though I am learning.
And afterwards, the majority of the students gathered at the local beerhouse (German and therefore more or less authentic) to celebrate. Several of the TAs joined them, myself included. Several people that I've worked closely with and/or like presented posters that day. And certain others nagged at me.
In the end, though, I'm glad I went. It was fun, and nice to see them all together as a group one last time before graduation. The majority of them are running off to do other interesting things. I know several already have jobs lined up. I'm kinda jealous.
After the party at the beerhouse broke up, they moved to a different place I wasn't familiar with. But I wasn't about to follow them there, having already had a beer and a half on an empty stomach.
Which brings me to the events of today.
While I was at the poster presentation shindig, the brother took the car out for a quote or three, as promised. The good news was that the guys he talked to seemed to be more or less honest and know what they were talking about. The bad news, he had to return the following day, so that they could look at things a bit more in depth.
So we drove out there, dropped off the car, and went for a small bite to eat at a Mexican place across the road and down the block. It was reasonably tasty, but I've had better. Fed we returned home to wait things out. We eventually got a phone call about four hours later that they were done working on things.
The car now no longer rattles so alarmingly, and the oil has been changed. The freon has also been topped off, but the AC still fails rather hard. It only works when you're at speed, since it can't keep pressure for some unknown reason. Which makes the car rev all the time. And I told them as much, but they didn't manage to find the problem, I guess. So I feel like they overcharged me a little but eh. I'm more concerned with the fact that the car sounds a hell of a lot better, and will run properly.
Next time, though, We're topping off the freon ourselves. To hell with paying them to do that. The brother knows how to do that, and I can make him show me.