visit to the white room

Today I had to visit the white room* and stay there for about three hours while taking some samples. I'm feeling exhausted now. Three hours are a long time for me to sit and stare at white walls and letting my brain work. The samples got taken though. However, the computer program and I aren't really agreeing on the output data ... so there will be some talking to tech people and emails to write to sort it all out.

I think for me though, the hardest part was to stay focused enough at doing 'nothing' while waiting for the samples to get added into the machines. The white room is one of the cleanrooms, it's painted white (go figure) and while in there you have added clean clothes and face mask, gloves, overalls, head gear etc....And while taking samples you have to be in the room.

One person asked me why I didn't work on one of my reports while "doing the waiting". I stated that would've been wonderful, apart from one caveat... there are no computers in the white room. Nor is there a data port for "external use". And before you ask, no - there is no wireless network since it is in 'that part' of the building. I did bring my kindle my work this morning, and for a second I thought about brining it with me (after wiping it down and putting it into a clean bag for safety regulations) but got sidetracked when I prepared to go into the room and it got left in my bag. Maybe next time? Maybe...

One flip side of this was that in a conversation with 'someone who decides things' I could mention that it was slightly wasteful to let people sit and do little to nothing apart from thinking while waiting for the samples to get collected in sequence. And before you ask, no - it is not possible to let the machine do a sequence without interferring.... based on the method of sampling there has to be a manual adjustment at a specific timed intervall.

The other flip side would be that I now know that it needs to be redone and doublechecked since it's not working right now... Always something, isn't it? When troubleshooting leads to identifying the problem. Now, only getting the company techs to sort out why the machine isn't doing what they thought it would be doing.

Ah the joy of waiting for solutions!


*if only it could have been like the white room in Angel/Matrix/other scifi reference can be added. I would've loved that. As of now, I started wonder what it would feel like being in isolation or in a mental ward.... no sharp objects or contact with the outside.