Friday March 13^th 2009. Launch -?? days.

This was not one of my better days, at least initially, although it ended well.

Obviously, there was only one question that people had: what has happened? You will see that the launch countdown is empty. There is a target date for launch but, as it is provisional, I am not at liberty to divulge it. However, I can say that the likely delay is weeks rather than months. The problem is a somewhat idiotic one, but it is something that has to be fixed before launch. I have talked people through the issue time and time again. Principally my colleagues are resigned and somewhat exasperated. It is not our fault and the problem is nothing that we have any control over.

Things have gone extremely well with our simulations. Minor things are going wrong, but the system now blinks, shakes its head clear and starts up again. It does not fall over. To use one of the popular buzz words around here, it is robust. One of the pleasures of these tests has been to see how the system gets more and more solid with time. We suspected at the end of the last set of tests that we were close, now we know it. All parts of the system are behaving well.

Next week we start to have some fun. After nudging our system engineer we have our first “surprise” prepared. People have been told what to expect. I have also been told that this particular little wrinkle in the system should not produce any problems: we’ll see; I want to see if there are any unexpected problems – the expected ones don’t worry me! What people do not suspect, I hope, is that this is going to be a double whammy: just when they think that they know what to expect… (cue evil laughter and the sound of sinister organ music in the background)

In the end the 5^th cavalry had to help me out this afternoon. I had made a daft, but recoverable mistake. The embarrassment was appalling. However, afterwards I was able to work much faster and with more confidence.

The bicycle tells me that I have done 82.7km in 5 days, so it is about 8.3km each way to work and back, done at the fastest pace that I can manage. There is a certain satisfaction in getting over 30km/h on the flat, even if Ushain Bolt would leave me for dead at that speed.

It’s Friday. It’s been a hard week. And I am working tomorrow and Sunday.