All entries for September 2004

Another night with no light.

So here it goes with my very first blogging adventure.

Nothing happened – the end.

..........actually tonight has raised serious issues with regards our apparent lack of crowd controlling measures. All was quiet at 9.29pm, me and Chris had settled in and were just enjoying the wares of our coffee run when suddenly and without warning, the clock struck 9.30 and all hell broke loose.

Double figure were racked up in no time with the ferocity of the ensuing stampede catching both of us totally unawares. Stations were manned with great rapidity and eagerness with reaction times worthy of Blue Watch (showing my age here).

We dont know where they'd come from but several stayed for a while and had a nosy around, a few others left and at 22.22 we now have a few on the downstairs computers, another handful upstairs with what appears to be our first learning grid resident and another chap looking through the careers information in the corner.

Other events worthy of mention are the lights which dont actually 'light', they just grow forever dimmer and lord knows if we can find the swith. I reckon its something we should sort out asap as it could deter people from making a repeat visit.

Definitely busier than last night but judging by the attendance at the main library I think its still too early to make any conclusions on usage.

Ta ra

: 30 Sep 2004 22:41 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The noise which soundtracks an eternity in hell is that of the gate alarm…

Okay, so again largely uneventful today apart from non-stop to-ing and fro-ing for the gate due to some Careers event taking place. Things we learned on this, the 30th of September:

1) The remote control for the DVD player will not make the plasma screen work, no matter how many times you press the 'on' button. I realise that this is common sense and merely an example of my inherent ineptitude.

2) Make sure you turn the microphone off after making an announcement… that way everyone in the Grid doesn't hear your ensuing conversation over the PA. My bad there.

3) Books from the main library tend to set the sensor off on the entrance. This is a bit of a bind but thankfully I haven't run into anyone nicking our stuff yet!

4) My new favourite thing is people who swipe their wallets over the gate sensor in the hope that it'll magically open for them. Not simply opening their wallets and swiping the envelope with their card in, you understand – literally just swiping their entire wallet. Ridiculous.

5) People are hungry for printers.

"That is all", as they used to say on M*A*S*H.

Chris.

Stop press – someone just tried to exit with their Switch card. Genius!

: 30 Sep 2004 14:06 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Wowee zowee! Today an armed man took everyone hostage!

Okay, just kidding.

So this is the blog of my first shift on Tuesday which I couldn't do until now because the server wouldn't let me log on. Generally things were pretty cushy aside from a couple of things amidst the endless traipsing back & forth to the gates (when will people LEARN?! Don't go through two at a time! Don't step up to the things as soon as the person in front has gone through! Don't – etc etc)...

1) The DVD-Rom drives were playing up on computers 30 & 31 upstairs and wouldn't open. Had a word with Dean and apparently if this happens to anyone, hold in the reboot button on the monitor and once it's finished the problem should be remedied. Gripped!

2) We need signs on the staff computers saying "Staff Only" because I'm getting kinda tired of telling people to scram when they park themselves next to me.

I think that was pretty much it, to be honest. Have to scoot for the time being as a large group's just arrived and no doubt one of them will set the gate a-bleepin'...

Chris.

: 30 Sep 2004 13:29 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

the creature from the blue blog(g)

heyhey,

so the end of another shift appraoches and everything is hunky dory. achieved a few things which i will list below….

1. put some of the lg goodies into their bags

2. worked out how to set the time on the lg clocks.

3. let a woman im fairly convinced was american through the gateway cos her card didnt swipe. of course mine didnt either at first, which made me look like a bit of a nonce.

4; woke a guy up twice cos he fell asleep at the computer…think hed be better off at home. i did te3ll him that, and to be fair, since then hes stayed wide awake. all credit to him.

now i shall do the change over procedure, so its goodbye from me, and hello from jon and nathan.

ANT

: 29 Sep 2004 19:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Bal Dhesi AV workshops

*If any of our advisors wishes to get in touch with Bal Dhesi who is running the AV workshop on a wednesday here is his email address.

B.Dhesi@warwick.ac.uk Jonathon I know you expressed an interest in all the AV issues and I have taken the liberty of forwarding Bal your email address so hopefully you can get to contact each other.*

Dean McIlwraith : 29 Sep 2004 16:24 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

emails

I'd like to get you all 'proxied' on the The Learning grid groupwise email account. Can the following people give me their groupwise/warwick email account details rather than hotmail etc.

ie. Ant, Gil & Nathan

cheers, dean

Dean McIlwraith : 29 Sep 2004 15:58 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Photocopiers

Should any IT or AV guys start huffing and puffing about a 4 way extension lead thats gone missing I have used it to fix the Photocopier on the 1st floor. This machine wasn't plumbed in correctly ( well spotted Chris). Apart from that the copiers have been well used today and all seems well. On the left hand side of the control panel there is a thumb wheel which will alter the contrast of the screen resolution just in case you need to !

Dean McIlwraith : 29 Sep 2004 15:51 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Books and stuff

It's quite queit again today… I did my first bit of book shelving :-) Lots of law and art books… heavy!
Had a girl in wanting to know if she could learn Mandarin on her own in the Learning Grid – Dean and I pointed her in the direction of the Language Centre.
Also one guy managed to print off his document to a printer…. but we don't know where that printer is… not very helpful :-s
Was goomg to go off to do a bit of flyering shortly to try and entice people over to the Grid…. but it was rained off.
Gave a quick intro to the plasma screens and clever boards to one chap who came in. He raised the question of headphones and I advised that he didn't have to use headphones but that he could if he wished.
Had problems with one PGCE student's network card – it seemed to make his computer crash when it tried to connect to the warwick hotspot… gave him IT services number so he could see an engineer.

: 29 Sep 2004 11:56 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Timetable

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.Christopher Peake

5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Sophia Parveen
5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Gil Reichenstein

7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Jonathan Stevens
7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Giles Morgan

Tuesday

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.Chris Carter

5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Christopher Peake
5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Gil Reichenstein

7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Sophia Parveen
7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Anthony Stones

Wednesday

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.Christopher Peake

5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Sophia Parveen
5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Anthony Stones

7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Nathan Millward
7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Jonathan Stevens

Thursday

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.Chris Carter

5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Gil Reichenstein
5 p.m. – 8 p.m.Anthony Stones

7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Christopher Peake
7.45 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.Nathan Millard

Friday

11 a.m. – 2 p.m.Giles Morgan

4.15 p.m. – 7.15 p.m.Nathan Millward
4.15 p.m. – 7.15 p.m.Sophia Parveen

7 p.m. – 10 p.m.Jonathan Stevens
7 p.m. – 10 p.m.Giles Morgan

Saturday

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.Nathan Millward
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.Sophia Parveen

3.45 p.m. – 6.45 p.m.Jonathan Stevens
3.45 p.m. – 6.45 p.m.Chris Carter

Sunday

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.Nathan Millward
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.Chris Carter

3.45 p.m. – 6.45 p.m.Giles Morgan
3.45 p.m. – 6.45 p.m.Anthony Stones

Gil Reichenstein – on standby to cover for weekend shifts

Dean McIlwraith : 29 Sep 2004 10:52 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I'm Back

Hi Folks I'm back in today so if any one needs anything please let me know ;-)

Where's the Spoon gone ???? Surely you &*(^%$ students wouldn't pinch my spoon ? Oh and I've put the coat rack on the back of the kitchen door.

Dean McIlwraith : 29 Sep 2004 10:29 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem