---
title: "Week 14, Friday: Got screens?"
date: 2024-11-01T21:55:00+02:00
---

{{< image frame="true" width="17em" float="right" src="/img/headline/eclipse-sound-syndicate.png" alt="Credit: Eclipse Sound Syndicate, YouTube" >}}

In the morning I spent some time tidying up my basement. I really want to make sure it doesn't
revert to the pigsty it was three months ago. I spent a almost week cleaning it up! Today marks the
start of my last weekend before shipping back off to a dayjob. In the morning, I play with the newly
created Microsoft flightsim and cruise around over the Zurich metropolitan area with my trusty
Cessna. This is going to go down as one of the small wins of this sabbatical - I learned a new
thing, and thanks to my buddy Tim invested in reclaiming an old project that had been on the wayside
for north of 12 years!

For lunch, Marina and I make delicious _Smos Gezond_ [healthy sandwich] with tomato, salad, ham,
cheese on a ciabatta bread. It's absolutely delicious. But then after lunch, the doorbell rings and
there's a guy with a truck. He doesn't speak English or German or Dutch or French or Swedish (heh),
the languages in which perhaps we might converse. I think maybe he's polish but he is babbling and
simply shows me a screenshot of an address in Frankfurt. Oh crap! It's the guy picking up IP-Max's
ASR9010 which is still in my garage. The problem is however, that the company said that this router
would _not_ be picked up today. Seeing as an ASR9010 is not the cheapest (or lightest of kit), I
need to test this dude.

We walk to the truck, which has Polish plates. But the guy turns out to be Russian, and I'm on the
phone with Fred. Fred is having lunch with the crew there in Geneva, and that's my break. Anastasia
is there also, so I put her on the phone with a simple mission: "Nastia, get this guy to confirm he
is legit, and that you are OK with him taking your router to Frankfurt". Such a wonderful human
thing happens next - I put my phone on speaker and she speaks to the guy, who is visibly relieved
that he can now communicate. They babble in their weird cyrillic tongue, and after a while he hands
me the phone with a smile. Anastasia confirmes: "we're all good!" so I let him take the pallet with
the router. отличная работа!

In the evening we watch a terrible movie called _The Substance_ (2024). The film stars Demi Moore as
a TV host who is fired and given a "substance" that allows her to create a younger, more beautiful
version of herself. However, she must take the serum regularly, and the older version of herself
begins to rapidly deteriorate. The climax of the film involves the older version transforming into a
grotesque, multi-headed creature. It's a body horror film that explores themes of aging, beauty
standards, and the pressure on women in the entertainment industry.

## Pictures of the Day

{{< gallery-category >}}
  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-11-01/IMG_2305.JPG" caption="The flightsim in its final configuration" >}}
  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-11-01/IMG_2306.JPG" caption="Got smos?" >}}
  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-11-01/IMG_2308.JPG" caption="IP-Max ASR9010 ready for shipping" >}}
  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-11-01/IMG_2309.JPG" caption="This ASR9010 is headed for NTT Frankfurt" >}}
  {{< gallery-photo fn="2024-11-01/IMG_2312.JPG" caption="Don't do drugs, mmkay" >}}
{{< /gallery-category >}}

{{< gallery-modal >}}
{{< gallery-script >}}