The Bin Returns

I've been busy invigilating, writing and preparing dinners. Maria and Giannis left two weeks ago. Maria passed her viva with minor changes (a couple of typos basically), so another Dr. has been released in the open...

As I said, I am invigilating exams, which is excellent because during invigilations I get lots of work done. People say, one needs to have options, so that one decides by oneself...Fair enough; but what happens when you have too many options and you are really undecisive person? Being in a room for 3 hours and not been able to leave it is perhaps not the definition of free option and decision. However, it works for my thesis all right.

My room is a mess again, but at that period of time that mess gives me a feeling of productive everydayness.

What DHRG stands for? Anyone willing to take a guess? I will be talking about it more in the coming posts. For the moment, let's see who reads that blog...

Our two Japanese housemates are moving out in the end of June. Mayra and Huso are moving in. More about this (and for a housewarming party) in the future.

And let me get down to the main issue of this post: The Bin.
Last Monday, after the bin collectors emptied our weekly waste, our bin disappeared. Every one of the neighbours went and collected their bins, happy and pleased. Only we found ourselves standing in the frontyard sad and concerned with the surprising absence of our bin. Where had the number 17 bin gone? And what were we going to do now, without our bin?

We felt at loss in the non-view of our bin-friend. I went around looking for it; I went in our neighbours backyards, I snicked into their semi-private outdoor areas but nothing. Every other bin seemed to have resumed their weekday location, ready for re-filling.

All week passed with the bin gone missing and, although we started losing hope that we would see it again, we were waiting for today's gathering of all the bins of the neighbourhood in the particular collecting area to see whether our beloved and so-needed bin would reappear. And, indeed, as miracously and unexplained it had disappeared in the first place, in the same way it appeared again, few yards away from our front door. It has to be said, that the return of the missing bin brought a lot of joy and excitement in our household, not to mention the pleasure of finally placing the black bags into the bin. Mimicking CSI Miami techniques, I forensicely examined our returned bin for clues that would lead to an explanation of the disappearance, but I couldn't find anything. Nevertheless, seeing the square meter on the left of the door been again occupied by our black bin with the white 17 number on it, put things right again.

However, the mystery of the disappearance remains, as perhaps also the reasons for it. I am wondering whether we should arrange some shifts tonight to ensure the bin's safety and perhaps solve the mystery, but such suggestion won't probably go down well with my housemates.

The bin has returned. But will it stay?

Production and Consumption

Who has said that 'I have been broke, but not poor?' or something like this? It supposes to make you feel better and optimistic when your bank account is minus...Mmm, it doesn't do me any good anyhow though...

Having not been able to secure the necessary funds for Zagreb's CIDOC, I am not going anymore. That's a pity though, because I have seen the schedule and there are some really interesting papers; not to mention friends and colleagues that I would have had the chance to meet..So, Sofia, I won't be there; please say hi to Aleka and the others.

Today, Maria and Giannis are arriving from Greece. Maria has her PhD viva at De Montfort Uni (in conservation) tomorrow. Fingers crossed everybody! Which means that it was a very good opportunity to tide up my room. Anna was impressed and suprisignly stated that it is the tidest it has ever been. Coming from Anna, I consider this as a compliment to my tiding skills. This does not mean that I am a messy person; I just sometimes bare messy environments...

This morning I spent all my energy and time trying to recover a document; the first draft of a paper I am planning to submit on Friday at MobileHCI05. Having discussed it on the phone the previous night with Areti, I have added some more things yesterday, but today the document wouldn't open. In the end I managed to open it with Notepad and recover most of the text. But it was enough to spoil my day. I may do some reading later in the evening. There are some papers I need to go through in order to get a better idea of what and why I am writing that paper.

Some days I think that my whole life the past two months has been sending conference papers. Ross will be mad at me, if he knew that I am going for another one. Well, he will be when I tell him this Wednesday. Perhaps it is a way to avoid finishing my phd, because I am scared of what will come next, as Anna has psychoanalysed me. At least, now I am confident that I can finish it, while before I was feeling completely useless in writing the dissertation.

Michel de Certeau, my faithful companion in this thesis, says that consumption is production; it's the user's appropriation of the product, and so another type of production, based on use and practice. In my case, I have gone beyond producing and then consuming the thesis. The product has consumed me, I do not control it anymore; it controls me, it owns me.

If this is not worrying, I wonder what is...

Huge bills

That's it! I had enough with those huge bills on my mobile. It's not possible that I have to pay so much. So, I decided to either switch provider or get a pay as you go. Have you ever seen their websites? It's literally impossible to find your way around them. They are the worse sites in terms of navigation. Absolutely dreadful! And when you think you finally found your way, there is no proper information in them. There is always something missing. I have my (conspiracy) theory why this happens. They basically don't want people get the whole picture and in particular do that online. Because then, people get bored or frustrated and call; and when people call, it is for sure that they (the companies) will find a way to manipulate them and sell them what they do not need more expensively. I may be getting paranoic, but it has been a long day and the bills are still huge.

So, I will go the shop and talk f2f. I don't expect much though. I am absolutely intimated by the way customers are treated in those phone shops. You get the minimum service and they make you feel stupid and quilty because ou haven't called the appropriate number to sort things out. Anyway, I will go and see what happens. Does anyone recommend any mobile phone company that charges less? Orange is sooooo expensive!

Tomorrow, I am looking at my fieldwork data again. I need to move faster if I want to finish by the end of summer. Anna has only a couple of chapters more to write and she is finished. And Areti had her viva and passed it! Well done Areti! I feel the pressure...

Today, Anna and I started our second course of ballroom dancing. We did very well, considering that we haven't had a class for 3 weeks. And we learnt a couple of more movements.

Tomorrow, I'll start writing about my writing. This may help me write faster.