Another Mixed Bag
Buses.
Public transport is not the greatest thing this country has. While the first two or three days PJS got pampered (they were always on time), recently I'm having a streak of bad luck. They keep being late... I suspect they sometimes even get skipped. Which means, one has to wait for 30+ min on a bench in the street. If there happens to be a bench. I'm losing so much time on waiting for the bus, I think this alone makes a car worthwhile.
Although I really feel bad about the environment.
This morning, I almost had to pay a stupidity fee. Wanting nothing more than to transfer funds from a German account to my newly-founded American one (in the Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union; by no means great, at least not to my knowledge, but with a nice sounding name), I attempted to use the cash-depositing capabilities of the bank's ATM. However, I was put off by its message "No more than 10 paper items per envelope" (you deposit cash in envelopes), cancelled the procedure, and later found this would almost have cost me a 99$ "Empty Envelope Deposit Fee" (probably better named "stupidity fee"). How do you deposit 500$ in less than 10 paper items?? (Of course you can, but not when you're at the mercy of US ATMs which dispense money only in 20$ bills, no matter the total amount.)
Luckily, when talking with the teller (a real person, but through a phone and a camera and a screen (!), probably to protect me from him, or the other way round), I was able to deposit the 500$ by using a pneumatic letter shoot (aka "Rohrpost"). And in fact I didn't have to pay the 99$ Empty Envelope Deposit Fee, because I was fortunate enough not to have slipped the empty envelope back into the ATM before...
A few hours later, by pure chance I mentioned to my PI (primary investigator, aka supervisor) that I came across some files when looking for the right share to mount. It turned out they should not have been online in the first place, and in this way I saved him from paying some 500,000$ in penalties.
On the same note, I manage to sell the guys here on the famed "DCD project folders hierarchy". It turns out the LS AI3 really hit upon a good one with the standardized folder structure used everywhere. In the beginning, this had been a royal pain in the butt, but with time the advantages show up. This structure is slowly emanating from the LS out into the world (with every leaving graduate), now even to the JHU. The LS should ask for royalties.
First, the name.
New office building.
Mt. Washington village, cozy home place.
Public transport is not the greatest thing this country has. While the first two or three days PJS got pampered (they were always on time), recently I'm having a streak of bad luck. They keep being late... I suspect they sometimes even get skipped. Which means, one has to wait for 30+ min on a bench in the street. If there happens to be a bench. I'm losing so much time on waiting for the bus, I think this alone makes a car worthwhile.
Although I really feel bad about the environment.
This morning, I almost had to pay a stupidity fee. Wanting nothing more than to transfer funds from a German account to my newly-founded American one (in the Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union; by no means great, at least not to my knowledge, but with a nice sounding name), I attempted to use the cash-depositing capabilities of the bank's ATM. However, I was put off by its message "No more than 10 paper items per envelope" (you deposit cash in envelopes), cancelled the procedure, and later found this would almost have cost me a 99$ "Empty Envelope Deposit Fee" (probably better named "stupidity fee"). How do you deposit 500$ in less than 10 paper items?? (Of course you can, but not when you're at the mercy of US ATMs which dispense money only in 20$ bills, no matter the total amount.)
Luckily, when talking with the teller (a real person, but through a phone and a camera and a screen (!), probably to protect me from him, or the other way round), I was able to deposit the 500$ by using a pneumatic letter shoot (aka "Rohrpost"). And in fact I didn't have to pay the 99$ Empty Envelope Deposit Fee, because I was fortunate enough not to have slipped the empty envelope back into the ATM before...
A few hours later, by pure chance I mentioned to my PI (primary investigator, aka supervisor) that I came across some files when looking for the right share to mount. It turned out they should not have been online in the first place, and in this way I saved him from paying some 500,000$ in penalties.
On the same note, I manage to sell the guys here on the famed "DCD project folders hierarchy". It turns out the LS AI3 really hit upon a good one with the standardized folder structure used everywhere. In the beginning, this had been a royal pain in the butt, but with time the advantages show up. This structure is slowly emanating from the LS out into the world (with every leaving graduate), now even to the JHU. The LS should ask for royalties.
First, the name.
New office building.
Mt. Washington village, cozy home place.
posted by PJS at
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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