Microship Status 09/08/93

RED ALERT! Major crisis... turns out the "lab" in the old bookstore building is falling victim to the ravages of major renovation... starting today. I arrived this afternoon with guests only to find that the doors had been broken open, shelving moved out of the way and crammed against BEHEMOTH, and parts spilled on the floor. Noting is missing as far as I can tell, but there is now NO security whatsoever there and the contractor has informed me that they're ripping out my overhead door, building a walkway, adding a door, sealing over the other doors, etc. In other words, I have to get out immediately... now that I've spent many days, with three other people helping, moving in, unpacking all the boxes (only yesterday!), and setting up a functional workspace. This is maddening, and a huge waste of precious time and energy. The contractor says he might be able to delay a few days, but faces a $500/day penalty clause if he doesn't make his deadline. The work they're doing on the roof will expose the lab to predicted rain, and the rest of it is structural renovation including extensive framing and drywall. I have to get out NOW. (Actually, I won't miss the place -- I've been worried about security since I arrived there, not helped at all by furtive voices right outside my door the other night.)

And so, if any of you around UCSD happen to know of some clean lab space I can move into immediately, please let me know ASAP. It's also going to take a work party of some volunteers to get it done, once we know exactly what "it" is. In flagrant violation of university policy, I'll provide the beer... <wry grin>
We need to get the administrative and facilities departments on the Net, by the way, so one hand can find out what the other is doing! My $260 order for a direct line from the lab to the police security board is partially complete as of Friday, and there is a work order pending for electrical work on my lights and outlets. I was tipped off Friday by Debbie in telecommunications that there would be some construction work going on in the old bookstore, but didn't expect to have it amount to an unannounced frontal assault!

Despite that major distraction, work is proceeding. Excellent discussion today with Dave Berkstresser and Dave Wright, visiting this week from Silicon Valley. This is the first of many meetings with them this week (though the non-maskable interrupt of getting driven out of the lab might significantly curtail productive time as I move everything to some yet-unspecified location). We discussed the structure of the outriggers, hull fabrication methods, and related mechanical issues.

I also shipped the Icom proposal package (Marine HF and VHF), arranged an all-day Friday excursion with Tom Nute into the rarefied world of San Diego's yacht design heavies (including America's Cup designers and our potential sail rig sponsors), received detailed mechanical drawings on the Solarex panels, studied PC/104 standards and available products via new Ampro literature, advanced the discussion in the flotilla alias, and dealt with a silent-but-deadly Mac crash that required me to rebuild the contacts database in FileMaker Pro (which is molasses in that mode).
I was planning to work on the cockpit mockup tonight, but it was to have been affixed to the vertical columns in the lab for support... no point in investing any more energy there, I guess.
Hopefully, there will be better news tomorrow!

Steve