my kingdom for a scientific calculator

The day stated out well. I completed the difficult pre-lab for the morning microbiology lab, and made it into uni early enough to be rushed. The I realized I had left the oh so important, and due, pre-lab questions sitting on my desk at home. With no time to drive to the other side of the city, I went straight to one of the two guys who run the show, and explained my problem, and asked if I could hand it in in the afternoon. I was told this would be fine, I could take it to the office.

I went all the way home. Picked up the singular sheet of paper, and headed across town to hand it in. On the long drive, I was going over my calculations in my head, and realized I had made a mistake int eh final part of question 1. No problem, I thought, I had plenty of time, so I once I had found a park I headed not to the office, but to the library to fix the equation.

Once in the library, I found I had left my calculator at home as well.

I went to the computer lab, and searched for a computer programme, but found there was not one already on the computer, so I headed for google.

I then had a big red warning window pop up telling me I had run out of credit and had to put for money on my uni cash account to use the Internet. So, I had to go find a uni cash kiosk, and put the mere two dollars I had in my pocket on my account, and went back to the search. I found several helpful looking website offering the free use of calculator software.

The first few I tired only had the most basic of functions, and I needed something a little more flash. So, after more looking, I found that one had different calculators you could choose from, and selected the scientific option. The calculator that came up was, I suppose, a scientific calculator, but was still missing some of the vital functions I needed, and seems better suited to geometry than what I was doing. Several more attempts and I remained empty handed.

I finally found one that had the right buttons on the screen...until you clicked them, and they didn't actually work!

So, I logged off, and headed to the university book shop, source of everything a student could need to calculate, graph, sketch, down load, save , or write. I walked up and down the isles scanning for calculators, and after a fruitless search, had to ask. They were behind the counter. Sigh.

So, I followed the woman to the counter, where I was they had a simple cheap job, or the more expensive fancy ones if that's what I wanted. I told her that I needed a scientific calculator. She had none. But, instead of letting me leave and go in search of one elsewhere, the annoyingly over helpful woman started suggesting a graphics calculator, and then a something else I had never heard of calculator. So much time wasted.

I phoned a friend, who lives only half way across down form the uni, as apposed to my all the way across town, and asked if she had one at her place. I was told her husband had one.

I walked back to car park in the rain, and drove to her place. There were two people I didn't know on the couch, who claimed no one else was home... oh so handy, I thought, as my friends house is a chaotic mess, and there was no way I would be able to find it on my own. I did however find, her husband was home, and had found it for me. Bless him :)

Unfortunately, his calculator was so old that despite being a scientific one, it still didn't have all the functions I was looking for, and I had to go through a big convoluted precess to get to a point that with my one sitting at home would take bare seconds to reach.

I sat down to fix the equation. The answer I got was clearly wrong, and despite several tries, I couldn't make it better.

Oh well, I thought, I'll just hand it in, and accept that I won't be getting full marks. I dashed back outside to my car and attempted to drive back to the uni. Sadly, this was now into a high traffic time, and with the rain, the roads where busier than normal. I got to uni half an hour after the office closed.

So here I am, playing on the computers in the library and eating candy right under the no food and drink sign.


And, I am wet.