Archive for June 24th, 2005

trying to have a conversation

Friday, June 24th, 2005

I never get tired of observing how humans have severe difficulties at staying on the logical path.

Friday, 14:03. I call the print shop to find out about how I can get my project report printed. "Hi, I would like to print a lengthy text in book format, it’s about 315 pages and I’ll be needing it in 4 copies." "Well is it black&white or is it in color?" "Most of it is in black&white, a few pages are in color." "A few pages? What does that mean, a few? That doesn’t tell me anything." So I try to make up for the ‘appaling blunder’. "Okay, let’s say 30 are in color. Do you know how long it will take to print?" "Well that’s pretty straightforward." Yeah, great answer there, chief. But that doesn’t tell me anything, so I keep trying. "What if I bring it by in half an hour, how long do you think it will take?" "You can’t bring it in on a Friday afternoon and expect to get it done immediately." Oh my god, really?? I understand it’s gonna take some time but I’d like to know what kind of time we’re talking about. Time for a coffee? Time for a long nap? Or for a two month vacation? "Yes, I realize that, but do you think you can get it done today?" They’re open until 18. "I can’t say, if you bring it in, we’ll put it in the queue and we’ll see how long it takes." What is the queue a black box? Don’t you know what’s in it? Don’t you work at a printer? Don’t you have any idea of how long it will take to process what’s in the queue? "If you’re lucky, maybe we can get some of it done today." I realized this is all I was gonna get.

tourists in Trondheim

Friday, June 24th, 2005

I was in the "city" yesterday, it was raining softly, sky was overcast and a modest temperature. I see this group of 20 people, some of them looking at a map, the rest of them standing around outside MacDonalds waiting for their leader to lead them somewhere. When I saw that, I felt sorry for them. I mean clearly research isn’t something they are very good at, otherwise they would never come here, but given that they did and they’re spending lots of money paying our ridiculous prices (and especially those geared at tourists), it does make me a bit sad to see them out in the rain.

And with the map, that’s pretty funny. It’s actually very difficult to get lost in this town without a map because it’s so small. Just keep walking east, oh there’s the river, let’s turn left, keep walking, oh there’s the bay, turn left, keep walking, oh there’s the river again, turn left, keep walking, hey we’ve been here before. And by then you’ve seen all of Trondheim. Time to complete at a casual pace: 1.5 hours.

But then I remember going to Barcelona last year in February and it was bloody raining the whole time. If I get my vacation ruined, why should I feel sorry for these guys? Even if I chose my destination a bit more carefully.. so long, suckaz.