A Chemistry Breakthrough
Feb0
I’ve finally worked out why doing my laundry at the Junxion costs so much – the machines use cutting-edge chemistry and advanced physics to transform the base metals in pound coins into a precise blend of heat, detergent and little soapy bubbles.
You see, the Junxion has very efficient industrial washers and driers which are designed to cost the minimum amount possible per wash. I’m therefore uncertain as to why it costs £2 to send a load of washing around for 40 minutes (£2.20 for a ’super wash), and a whole shiny £1 for a mere 50 minutes of drying. My only solution is that the machines in some way use the physical coins in their process.
It’s not big and it’s not clever.
Feb0
I’d like to extend my personal thanks to whichever dick decided it would be a good idea to – in a drunken stupor no doubt – hit one of the fire break glasses in The Junxion at just before 1am today. As they are no doubt aware the fire alarm system treats the breaking of one of these glasses as a genuine fire and tries to evacuate the entire building and not just the block in question. Since this was the event which woke me from my peaceful slumber prior to my 9am lecture today they deserve my most heartfelt congratulations for currently being top of the list of people I want to see die slowly from smoke inhalation in a real fire.
I would also like to thank the assholes who think it’s entertaining to walk through the courtyard at 1.27am, 2.14am, 2.43am to 2.58am, 3.30am, 3.36am and 3.52am shouting, singing or yelling “yerwotyerwotyerwot” at the top of their voices. Your harmonious cacophony helped prevent me from getting back to sleep once awoken by aforementioned fire alarm. However, those numerous attempts to prevent me from staying awake during my lecture today pale in comparison next to whichever monumental twat decided to play Womanizer by Britney Spears, Up by The Saturdays and Single Ladies by Beyoncé at 4.08am, at full volume on what sounds like quite a powerful (if low quality) sound system, in a room not too far from my own. Truly, drunken students are the height of civilisation and evolution.
I still want to kill all of you.
Thermostats. I Control Them.
Jan0
PRE5000 Thermostat
I’ve just finished tweaking the thermostat in my room so that it now maintains a halfway sensible temperature without me needing to manually override it. I rule.
Of course this involved a screwdriver, a basic knowledge of electronics (switch it off before working on it) and a willingness to whilst not exactly breaking a written rule certainly doing something which the building management would probably tell me off for. As it turns out the PRE5000 has three nice potentiometers for changing the values of the ‘base’ temperature it should try maintain, the temperature it should try maintain in boost mode, and how long boost mode should last for.
Still, it keeps me warm.
Update On Life
Sep0
So, it’s been a while since I last posted an update. What’s going on in the world of Nick?
Head Wound
During a drunken night out I took part in a piggyback race, and promptly fell over leading to an impressive-looking set of injuries to my forehead. It’s not as bad as it looks.
Still No Job
Despite 50 CVs being sent out and the people at the careers centre telling me that my CV is excellent, I’m well qualified and I should be getting job offers left right and centre I still have no job. I got some feedback from the guy at PAVCON though, so hopefully I can use that to improve chances in future.
Rent
Living at the Junxion is hellishly expensive. Enough said.
The Junxion
Sep0
I’m finally moved in to my new accommodation in Lincoln for the second year of my BSc Computing and Cybernetics (Hons). The Junxion is – all in all – rather good.
My room is a bit smaller than last year’s at Brayford Quay, and you can’t sit down in the shower, but I do have a much bigger desk, more storage space and a semi-double bed which is just a little bit smaller than a queen size. If I had known I could pay an extra £4 a week for an uber-sized room with a proper double then I would, but oh well.
The shared kitchen, on the other hand, is huge. Easily enough to entertain double the number. We also get a dishwasher, although it has never been properly cleaned and at some point in its history was put together badly after an attempted clean, meaning that small stuff like sweetcorn got into the pipes and bunged up the spinning arms. I dismantled the offending bits, scraped out the sweetcorn with a pin and a pair of needle-nosed pliers, re-assembled it and magically the dishwasher now cleans much better.
Amongst other things, new for this year is Frootz Junxion, a smoothie bar which also offers tea, coffee, fruit juices, paninis, sandwiches, bagels and snacks, and which will shortly be offering cocktails. It also offers room service. Yes, I am living in student accommodation with room service. Beat that.
IKEA Without Walls
May0
As you may of may not know, next year I’m living in a place called The Junxion with a few friends. We’ve decided to go a bit above and beyond the usual student flat with printed photographs Blu-Tacked to the wall by heading to everyone’s favourite Swedish store, IKEA.
The trouble is all the cool stuff we really want to get, like better lighting, shelves, artwork, hanging rods for kitchenware and so on rely on us drilling holes into the wall, which will probably upset accommodation.
We’ll just try make the flat look so good they don’t care.