Job griping; feel free to ignore.

[tenlittlebullets]

Well this afternoon has been a royal waste of time. I think I need to talk to the professor I'm working for about writing down some sort of to-do list or at least setting specific tasks for me to do, because I don't think I can last the whole summer if the model is going to be "dump a reasonably intelligent but ADD-inattentive programmer in the lab all afternoon, with no specific task set forth, no supervision, and nobody to consult when things go pear-shaped." And things did indeed go pear-shaped: I worked diligently enough on my vaguely-defined job of "once you get the instruments to talk to the computer, play around with controlling them," until half my code didn't work and fixing it required a thorough understanding of GPIB service requests. An understanding I do not have, and all my resources on the subject are written in this arcane mix of badly-explained acronyms, un-defined jargon, and really crappy diagrams--suggesting that GPIB service requests are low-level and arcane enough that anyone learning about them is expected to already be fluent in technical-manual-to-English translation.

I feel kind of bad about spending the afternoon alternating between compulsively checking my email, reading Temeraire, and staring blankly at useless explanations of the Standard Event Status Register and willing myself to comprehend... but what the fuck else am I supposed to do?



(Coming back to this entry half an hour later: Okay, he stopped by, I mentioned that a to-do list could be helpful and he said he'll get on it; I suspect I'll have to remind him. At least he's low-key enough not to mind that I got fuck-all done while he was gone.)