okay, so i'm in the lab, trying to figure out why my program seems to go apeshit for the only input case that's actually interesting right now. basically, the program takes measurements on pages; you can turn a page in any direction, and the software works out the rest via coordinate space rotations. due to a small and intermittent error (a trig oversight, actually), it messes up for pi/2, which is exactly the rotation i need (landscape versus portrait). it's extremely frustrating, because the infernal thing works right half the time, then misbehaves just when you're beginning to trust it.
as i'm doing this, i'm working in The Bright Room (another story), with The Noisy Device, and three more people immediately behind me working closely with another noisy device, called The Golden Machine [*choir of angels sings in the background*].
and i look at the screen, at some debugging output. the last angle it measured was almost 90 degrees, 1.570309 radians. and so, in my own demented and over-caffeinated little world, i read the number aloud. it has a familiar step to it... and i do it again. and then comes the epiphany, and i enthusiastically sing out loud:
"one five seven oh three oh niii-ee-iiii-eeen!"
(to the tune of the 80's classic "867-5309/Jenny" of course!!), and then start laughing hysterically at how stupid i've become with all the sleep deprivation and caffeine and mental obsession with this ludicrously esoteric nuisance of a problem.
then i can feel the stares of my co-workers behind me, and notice that all the noise from their side of the small room has stopped. two of them are in my department, so they're smiling because they know i'm crazy --- and also because they know the third person doesn't know me, and is utterly perplexed at this unexpected outburst from the strange, long-haired guy in the corner.
what's worse is that none of them had even heard the tune...
Wed, 10 Mar 1999 14:12:39