Thursday, October 21, 2004
Half-assed run-on sentenced MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis)
From an email I just sent while Windows Update fixed some security holes on my work computer, in which I was hashing out if I'm going to London this weekend.
Pro column:
1) If I want to get Morgan Computers to fix my laptop for free (the main issue is the sound card, and I think it's just loose wiring, so I could probably take care of it myself), I need to do so by the 26th or 27th, when my 12 month warranty expires, so it's either take it in this weekend, or take Monday morning or afternoon off work to take it in, which would be even more annoying. I should have dealt with it when I was in London Monday evening, but I'd booked my train travel to fit my work schedule instead of their opening hours, so I didn't.
2) Could hang out with my brother.
3) Could hang out with Jon, whom I haven't seen except from a distance since May and with whom I didn't manage to meet up after the postmodernism-is-ruining-the-social-sciences-maybe public lecture Monday night even though I spotted him from the balcony seats Grash and I'd snagged, and he sent me the following excuse email, making me laugh:
> Hey ya,
>
> I was going to go to lecture, then I wasn't, then I was, then I wasn't.
>
> Then I arrived late, then I got in when some big shot didn't take his reserved seat.
>
> Then I was going to wait outside for you. Then I forgot. Then I went home.
>
> It wasn't the most organized day in history :)
4) Could possibly also hang out with Sam, whom I haven't seen in years
and who is writing more in his v. funny blog now that he's doing a Ph.D. at Oxford.
5) I like London.
Against column:
1) Haven't spent the weekend in Bristol since Sept 10-12 and would really like to have a lie in in my own bed. (this one is very heavily weighted)
2) Really, that's enough, but then also there's a bunch of paper work I should do.
3) It would be nice to see my Bristol friends (whom I haven't seen since aforementioned weekend in September).
4) I don't want to be computerless if there's a problem that will take longer than a few hours to fix.
5) I didn't book a bus or train ticket early enough so it would be about £20 return, so it just seems like a waste of money when I could wait for another weekend and do it for £5 and still see Jason and Jon and maybe Sam and whoever else, without feeling like I ought to instead be organising my life and writing job applications and posting photos of my trip to Cornwall last weekend.
Yes, now that I've listed it out, it's very clear to me that I'm just going to live with my slightly non-optimally-functioning computer, because the hassle of getting it fixed would be more stressful than dealing with the non-optimality is. And now I'm going to reboot, test that the Windows update patches are properly applied, and work for another hour before heading to a dance class.
Further decision-making fodder: if I stay in Bristol for the weekend I think I may tango tomorrow night and salsa Sunday.
The choice is obvious.
