G-Force was great, a fantastic conference. I enjoyed seeing some old friends again, and the party Tuesday night was nothing short of amazing. One of the perks of this conference is one free chance to pass a Genesys certification exam. Not wanting to squander this opportunity, I signed up for the GVP exam Thursday morning. This meant, predictably, Wednesday night I got to relive a college tradition: the night-before cram session. The cram came at sort of a bad time, though – the night before had been the deliciously decadent party; the day had been filled with speakers, manning the booth, a little networking, and working with my normal clients. In short, I was already exhausted by the time to study rolled around (more college nostalgia). After going over the material for a few hours, at 1 AM, it was time to sleep for a bit – just a few hours, but it should be enough. My roommate and dear friend Nitin had just gotten back from dinner with a friend, so it was good timing. There was only one problem, which I’ve known about for a while but had somehow managed to forget.
Nitin snores. I mean, he really snores. He sounds like a human chainsaw that’s suffering some grievous, painful malfunction. If he hadn’t continued to make so much racket, I’d have been worried for his safety.
When stories about the various coercion techniques happening at Guantanamo Bay initially came out, the loud music and whatnot, I used to think “Surely it can’t be that bad – couldn’t you just ignore it if you had to?” Man, what an idiot. That night, I tasted madness. I was laying in bed, desperate for sleep, but with every rip and snort I found myself a little further from it. It was a terrible feedback loop. The longer it went on, the more angry I became; the more angry I became, the more it affected me. Initially, the idea of throwing the chair across the room was just a funny thought. When I caught myself reevaluating it, I knew I had to do something (non-destructive). In a fit of desperate innovation, I disassembled part of my bed and made pallet for myself out on the balcony. We were on the 2nd floor; it was a fantastic view of the HVAC system, but for sleeping it was perfect. San Diego, remember – the weather was in the mid-sixties, with just a bit of a breeze, and no bugs.
In the morning I awoke, a little sore but refreshed and rested. And, I’m happy to say, I passed the test. I don’t hold anything against Nitin – I completely understand it’s his biology conspiring a bit against him – but it really makes me feel for his girlfriend. Next conference, though: EARPLUGS.
-Randy
August 9th, 2007
9:54 am
A return of favour has been long over due and here goes!!
Although he is an excellent roomate who complains by sleeping on the patio when my snoring becomes excessive, Randy never lets go of an opportunity to lash at me on a blog sites. Dont get me wrong people, Randy and I to this day remain good friends - Thanks to ear plugs.
Anyway, if one asked me to describe Randy, I would say that he is a brilliant person and a wonderful colleague until stress creeps up. After that point Randy is like a bad date. On the day before the GVP Certification Test, I came back to the hotel (a bit late) to see Randy sitting on the bed with his eyes bloodshot and 2 books in front of him. I knew that look from the previous projects we have been a part of. I could see that there were alarms going in his brain, tiredness (the blaring dissonance of the chain saw in the room made sleeping impossible) kicking in and most importantly the stress of passing the test was of titanic proortions. There was also a coffee pot with steaming hot water (for tea) next to his bed and to me it almost seemed like there are two steaming coffee pots sitting next to eachother and steaming away their fristrations
When Randy is under a lot of stress, the respect I have for my girlfriend just multiplies. I realize that handling her is a piece of cake and she even ignores my snoring. I did not talk much and went to bed in a few minutes (chain saw was back again in all its glory). When I woke up the next day only to see Randy sitting on the couch reading the manuals and looking like a red balding balloon. I guess 3 hours of sleeping on the patio was enough time for him to rationalize and blame my biological problems for keeping him awake. We moved on and Randy passed the test with flying colors. Everything was forgiven, yet not forgotten. Little did I suspect that April 24th and 25th, 2007 would be inscribed in the archives of OpenMethods history.
At the end of the day we both realized that neither of us are perfect, but those imperfections make great blog entries.