Handing in the badge

Today is my last day at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. At the end of the day I hand in the badge and leave by the front elevators instead of the back.
My job this summer was to help install Windows XP on all the computers here at the institute. I can safely say that in the last year I have installed Windows XP many, many, MANY times. (Fun note: Hit ctrl-F10 during install and the command prompt comes up.)

Something I will take away from this job is knowing what it is like to work for a group of people that (in a non-Christian environment) believe in what they are doing and aren't here for the money. (Some are here for the potential fame it could bring, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of them are.) The scientists and the people that support them here are trying to make the world a better place where even poor countries don't have to worry about life threatening diseases. It's been an interesting group to work with. (I feel a little out of place without a PHd around here, but I also feel that way around the SPU staff and facuilty.)

Tomorrow is Lisa's birthday party and the cleanup of the condo is going well. We have a lot more room when you get rid of the boxes and the folding tables. An iKea run on Saturday morning (smart, not rich) should make Anders Dahlvig richer get us the last bit of touchup furniture we need. Once everything is up and ready tomorrow and I'm not cooking something I will do a little "walk through" of the condo with my camera so you all who can't come, can see it all cleaned up!

Katie asked me what I thought of The Brothers Grimm Movie and the answer to that isn't simply something like "I liked it". (Extra links posted for fun and eductaion) I really enjoyed the overall story and the general feel of the movie. But as one movie commentator said, it really felt like the script was still in rough draft. Some of the cuts were really rough, jumping from one part to the next. But overall I would have to say that the idea of collecting a bunch of fairy tales together into one story was pretty good. The movie has a few funny points. It seems in some ways that the director Terry Gilliam was trying to reconcile Brazil with earlier works like other works. But it also felt like he had producers and studio execs looking over his should the whole time saying things like, "Oh... you don't want to do that. No one will like that. Add some action. People like action. And maybe an explosion. People like fire."
That all said (and linked) I enjoyed the somewhat dark collection of fairy tales rolled into one movie, but the people I went with generally didn't seem to like it. (But I liked Brazil...)

I will start working at SPU again on Monday. When I will become the person somewhat in charge of the Help@Home service to students.

~B.