... The Long, Dark, Nightime of the Install

I have been a tad incommunicative lately as my focus has been elsewhere - namely on completing a computer rollout before the end of the week.

As a part of that process I had a Glorious Master Plan to book out the Brighton public PCs from 6pm and install until closing time or shortly thereafter.

It was not to be however.

The first setback of the day was the delay in getting to Hampton for the mornings install of it's measly three PCs. I had to forsake them in order to fix a slip printer at Sandringham that the library IT Support Coordinator and incorrectly installed the day before.

Eventually Hampton was finished and I could traipse back to Brighton to commence operation image in the training room. I had barely begun ordering my work experience lackey to unpack the PC boxes before he was cruelly taken from me - by his mum coming to take him home. This near disaster caused me to have to pick up the slack and do the rest of the work myself!

Several network access issues later I made my way out into the public domain to inform the desk staff that they could let the public use my bookings as long as there was warning that they could be kicked off for the upgrade at any moment, only to find that Miss Amanda and Seditious Sam had taken it upon themselves to already do that - without awaiting my orders!

Anyway as the set-backs gathered I formed a clearer picture of my actual finishing time and informed the two recalcitrants of the situation only to have Miss Amanda bring down a huge curse upon my evening with the fatal words - "double that time, you always have to double IT estimates".
Having already doubled my estimate I was horrified to realise that she had now doomed me to a quadrupling of install time!

One long night in a darkened Brighton library, replete with wind-rattling doors and haunted air conditioning pipes, uninstalling and reinstalling of printers later and the new PCs were ready to go.


I zoomed home in record time to collapse into bed and make the most of my handful of hours before returning to the library for the next days early morning Strategy team and free morning tea.