Conference 7.286::digital

    Hi Bob-
    I new all that stuff before, thats why its so nice here:
     - No 117 traffic, about 30 min commute from Sterling
     - Clean air, water, good cafe, good bars
     - Lots of interesting stuff to do
     - People, other than mgrs can actually travel
     - When assigned a task, nobody bothers you til your done
        - No constant re-directing, prioritizing, etc
        - Don't get treated like a piece of test equipment
     - When you talk to people they listen and care
     - You get credit for what you do not who you b__w
     - No inner circle
    Come on down.
    /Later

    >< And then I met a man with no feet! >-
    
    	Well, THEY didn't stink, did they!?!
    
    	%^))
    

    re: .0
    	what, exactly, to do you hope to get done by making a list of all the
    things that you dislike about parker street?

>        o    The water is not suitable for drinking! It has a very nice
>             brown tint to it! I would like to see a report on the last
>             time water from here was tested.

Personally, if nothing else, I would like to see someone look into the 
cause of that lovely brown tint in the water.

	Wayne

	

re Note 3549.0 by WRKSYS::BCLARK:

        Why are you complaining?  The floors are level, aren't they?

        Bob

        P.S. I sympathize -- I was a tenant of PK3 16 years ago, and
        I've always considered it the least pleasant building in which
        to work of all of Digital (that I have seen).  It would make
        a fine prison.

    My group always referred to the windows in PKO3 as gun slits. 
    
    Linda

    One member of our grouped noticed that when he took a tour of Alcatraz
    prison it had more natural light coming in than PKO3.
    
    Nick

    There's an ATM in PKO3, right around the corner from the cafeteria.
    That will hold you if it's snowing/raining too hard to walk the
    100 yards to the main DCU in PKO4.
    
    Dick
    

    RE: .0
    
    Boy, thats a heck of a traffic back-up form the lights at 27/62,
    cause those lights are no way near Great Road Dodge, they are in
    downtown Maynard.

    It's a 100 yard walk to the DCU and you complain you don't have one in
    your own building?  
    
    Hey Corporate, come and work in the field for awhile and see what it's
    REALLY like to work in a sub-class building!  
    
    - No DCU
    - No cafeteria
    - No medical/nursing station (although these may now be closed, the fact
      remains they were in a lot of facilities, but not in the field)
    - Cube walls where each wall is a different color (remember that Novi?)
    - Cubes 5' x 3' ... just enough room to walk in and sit down, everyone
      who ever wanted to talk to you had to stand outside your cube and
      if you needed them to look at something you had to stand up and get out
      of your cube and let them go in to see it.
    - Carpet that was so worn out there were holes in it and water damage 
      in places
    
    While there were some improvements to the buildling we combined into
    upon closing one of the other buildlings, for years we were in a
    sbuilding which was a hovel compared to some of the corporate
    buildlings I've been in!
    
    And you think you have it bad...
    
    
    

    Out here in the field in our 3x5 cubes we used to have a couple of tables
    outside of our cube for lunch or meetings etc.  Now the tables and
    chairs were removed because we are mothballing more space. Lets not
    forget the new demo room that they are closing to put in an existing
    office.  Where did the brains come from for that one.   Now we all
    eat our lunch in our cube (Socially and mentally boring), and can't
    comfortably show more than 3 to 4 customers a demo.
    
    Oh, but were saving money :-)  Where I don't know!  Ha ha ha - Waaaahhhhh.
    
    - Mike
    
    Just call me one of the whiners..  
    
    

    	Yep, I have let my frustrations pile up some. I thought I'd write
    a note just to let off some steam. I see others have enjoyed it and
    that is what I was hoping to accomplish....You don't believe that I
    would expect to accomplish any more do you? Please, i deserver more
    credit than that!
    
    cheers,
    
     

    If the traffic at the Jct 27/62 is a problem, then use the back
    roads...which from the North starts at the MSO turn.
    
    fm

    I kind of liked PKO's bike friendliness in terms of storage (ride
    right to the door, put bike underneath stairwell), and the mtn
    bike "back way" in (from the south or west) along the abandoned
    railroad track next to the Assabet River and behind the elementary
    school avoids ALL traffic.  In the winter, the same trails are great
    for Xcountry skiing (not to mention the nice trails the Army
    maintains ;-).  That, combined with reasonable showers, are really
    all I care about in a facility.  Kratz 

    re .9;
    
    That might be due to the fact that Alcatraz has no ROOF these days!
    
    \dave

RE: .18

	You mean it collapsed in the past 12 months? (When I last visited
	it)

							mike

    You guys have showers in your facilities?
    
    really?
    
    

re: .20

>    You guys have showers in your facilities?
>    
>    really?
    
You had a box?!!!??

Back when *I* was a boy...    

    I liked working in MLO, too, but I find I really don't mind PKO.  My
    cube is a lot smaller here, but it is set up nicely (for me, anyhow),
    and since I have a light right over me, it is nice and bright so I can
    see what I am doing.  And I don't need to wear mittens in cold
    weather!!  it was a bit easier to get in and out of MLO, but I can beat
    that by taking the "clockwise" route: come here via route 62 (which
    happens to also take me past the post office, which is a real frequent
    errand anyhow), and leave via Hudson Road, all right turns all the way.
    other than that this place is pretty soulless compared to the old Mill
    building, and is a longer walk to decent restaurants, not much for me
    to complain about (I'm in a good mood anyhow since I just got back from
    vacation!!).
    
    /Charlotte
    

    Well, One other issue that got under my skin is that we knew that we
    were going to move again, 3-4 weeks after we got here. (now that makes
    a lot of sense)
    
    perhaps 1995 will be a good year

  What concerns me most about .0 is the statement that the air is bad. Does
anyone else think the air in PKO3 is bad?

    re: .24
    
    The air is probably bad for several reasons:
    
    1. All of the activity (moving people in out, and in some case moving
       them from one side of the bldg to the other) stirs up a lot of dust.
    
    2. The exhaust to the smoking rooms is poor and goes into th emain
       corridors)
    
    3. Of course, the contributions of a certain few after the mexican food
       day !	8>)
    
    
    bc 

re .6

>>>        Why are you complaining?  The floors are level, aren't they?

Actually they're not! There's a lovely hump in the floor in the middle
of our lab.

--RS

    I don't like PKO3 as well as the Mill, but in the Mill I had a huge 
    window looking out on trees and a bird's nest!  I also could turn 
    either way out of the parking lot without waiting in a long line.
    
    Other than those two items, PKO wins over the Mill on most counts for me.  
    Everyone in my team and the corresponding software group is within 50' 
    of where I sit, not 200 yards.  The walk in from the parking lot would
    be a lot shorter if they'd open another employee door, but it's still
    shorter than at the Mill.  
    
    The cafeteria food is *much* *better*.  I mostly buy hamburgers when
    I don't bring my own food.  I could never figure out how Mill burgers 
    could come straight off the grill and still always be lukewarm!  The 
    burgers at PKO are hot and a lot more tasty.
    
    My Mill office was a lot larger, but had less useful space.  Speaking
    of useful space, I've never seen a *modern* office building with
    twistier corridors than PKO3!  I thought the Mill was the only DEC
    building where you have to know not just where you wanted to go but
    what route to use in order to reach it successfully.
    
    In conclusion, if working in PKO3 was my biggest employment problem,
    I'd be *very* happy!  As it is, I'm reasonably content.
    
    	Regards,
    	Larry

    re -.27
<    The cafeteria food is *much* *better*.  I mostly buy hamburgers when
<    I don't bring my own food.  I could never figure out how Mill burgers 
<    could come straight off the grill and still always be lukewarm!  The 
<    burgers at PKO are hot and a lot more tasty.
    
    I guess if all you eat is grease, that's ok... but, some of us who work
    at PKO3 have heart conditions (or are maybe just health conscious!) and
    the cafeteria is far less attractive.
    
    I've worked at PKo3 for the last 3 years or so.  As far as I'm
    concerned, the cafeteria sucks.  Big time.  They very seldom have
    "heart healthy" food... unless you count the salad bar.  After munging
    from it for over a year, as the only choice, I've finally grown so
    tired of the same thing, that I've largely given up!  Even the sandwich
    bar is the "same old thing" over and over.  I'v talked to the manager
    about this, and she has done nothing.
    
    What's a good cafeteria?  Well, my wife works at ZKO3.  I have been
    there many times and in my opinion... THAT'S how it ought to be!
    
    tony

RE:  Note 3549.27
    
    
   >> I don't like PKO3 as well as the Mill, but in the Mill I had a huge 
   >> window looking out on trees and a bird's nest!  
    
    
    No big loss. The bird has moved out too. I think her lease was up.
    
    

    
    >>> No big loss. The bird has moved out too. I think her lease was up.

But now she qualifies for elderly housing   ;->

    	Well, I have seen some improvements since I started this note. 
    I know people are working to help improve some if these items, but...
    
    o  The traffic still sucks, but I come in before 7 am and "try" to
       leave before 4. If I stick to those hours, I'm happy.
    	
    	After working in NYC off and on during the past few months and 
    	after spending some time away where the traffic is heavy, I 
    	shouldn't have complained. 
    
    o  The water remains UNSUITABLE to drink. I just don't.
    
        Especially be careful of drinking (or even eating) anything in our
        Ptomain Palace made with the water here. (ie. juices, coke,coffee).
     
    o  The air quality I bitched about has improved. I assume it was due to
       all of the construction taking place back then. I have no more
       complaints.
    
    o  Lighting in the lab(s) still stink. I don't need to work in there all
       that often, so I can bear with it. Most who do use it agree that it
       is dark in there. (but don't mushrooms grow better in the dark?  8>)
    
    I've worked in worse places. Pk3 is ok, I guess. But in ain't "the
    Mill". Since I've become an avid DOOM player, I have become accustomed to 
    MAZES too! 
    
    enjoying it now, but wish it would snow like hell for to give us at
    least one snow day!
    
    Bob
     
    
       

RE: .31

>    I've worked in worse places. Pk3 is ok, I guess. But in ain't "the
>    Mill". Since I've become an avid DOOM player, I have become accustomed to 
>    MAZES too! 


	Now THAT would be a fun new map for someone with a DOOM editor to
	create!! The Mill, then maybe Spitbrook, then maybe Valbonne.....

	The Digital version of DOOM. That would be cool. (heh-heh)

							mike

    	Yep, a friend of mine generated a doom wad for the Mill. the Mill
    was a perfect place to reproduce since we had tunnels, elevators,
    bridges etc. It worked out pretty well. Too bad it was only done for
    1-2 and 21-2. You should have seen what he put in what was supposed to
    be our manager's office!
    
    cheers
    

    Is it on the net? Has it been announced in the appropriate topic in
    501CLB::PCDOOM? I've never been to the Mill, and I'd love to see a Doom
    WAD.
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    	There's a pointer for it in PCdoom conference. It's pretty hard to
    finish it unless ya CHEAT!
    
    bc

        PKO will start sucking even more next week. The internal alarms on 
        the doors will be set. That means using keycards to get throught 
        a signficant number of doors and alarms going off all over the
        place. Luckily I don't sit near one of those doors but if I did I
        would be screaming the first time someone set that thing off and I
        was trying to work. 
        
        Along with the lovely brown water the men's restroom near pole 23F
        when flushed continue flushing almost forever. I have heard one
        going when I went in, it was still going when I left several
        minutes later. When reported facilities said 'what should I do
        about it?' 
        
        One last thing. The Cafe.. Bad food yes, but even worse. when I
        talked with one of the cook staff and asked a couple of questions
        I got the weirdest answers::
        
        	1) I was up at ZKO (Nice cafe good food) and had a good
        		meal, asked the cook in pko if he could get the
        		recipe for the meal from the ZKO cook. First he
        		had never heard of ZKO and when I told him it was 
        		in NH he looked like he had never heard of NH either..
        		I now know that they are run by different
        		companies so I guess we are out of luck.
        	2) The second question was even easier.. Would it be
        		possible to set up by the doors of the cafe a 
        		'menu' so that we could know what is being served 
        		each day. Currently they have up the breakfast 
        		special and coffee of the day. The cook/server told
        		me it was up on the board behind them and that was 
        		good enough. Of course I like walking into the middle 
        		of the cafe, standing reading the board while the 
        		server is attempting to serve. Of course the basic
        		problem is that at 12:10 most of the food is gone 
        		and they would have to go out and erase the menu 
        		board as well as the one behind the server. 

I miss MRO4's (building 4 on the Marlboro, Massachusetts campus) cafeteria. 
#8-(. 

I have often heard this cafeteria referred to as the standard of excellence 
as far as Digital cafeterias in the New England area are concerned. 
Personally, I have eaten in HLO2, MRO3, MRO1, ZKO2, MSO2, PKO3, MLO and I 
agree.

	C'Ya,
	Wayne

    ZKO2?  I must admit our vending machines are nothing to write home
    about, but the cafeteria in ZKO1 is the best Digital cafe I've been in.
    
    					Steve

I worked out of MKO2 (1984-1987) and ZKO3 (1987-1990).  The ZK cafeteria
was a DEFINITE STEP DOWN from the MK2 cafeteria.

Ram
(now working at INI Indianapolis, where the nearest Digital cafeteria is
more than a 200 mile drive!)

Oops, my mistake. I guess that was ZKO1.

	C'Ya,
	Wayne

    my wife works at ZK03... I've eaten lunch with her many times at
    ZK01... nice, very nice, cafeteria there... well thought out menu,
    pretty well layed out floor plan (not too crowded, lines not
    untolerable) and the cafeteria is large enough that you don't have to
    trip over too many folk finding a seat. 
    
    I worked at BUO before they closed it.  The food was good.  ol' DAVE
    was the best fast order cook you EVER saw, and a nice, friendly guy to
    boot.  Cafe was nicely laid out.
    
    I now work at PKO3... and I've NEVER liked this cafeteria. it was bad
    enuf under it's prior manager, but now that lady that runs it should be
    booted down to some elementary school cafeteria... perhaps not even
    that.  it's terrible.
    
    re: a couple back about the alarms at PKO3.  Before engneering moved
    into this facility there were alarms... they were disabled to
    facilitate the move and reconstruction that resulted.  Please try to
    remember that PKO3 is also a CUSTOMER TRAINING facility... and unless
    you want every Tom, Dick and Harry on the planet having full access to
    your office/equipment/labs, be glad for the security, such as it is. 
    It worked for us for a long time before you folks moved in, and it'll
    work again for us all.  I'm not making apologies... but, I got the
    impression that you objected to them.  Nor do I apologize (wouldn't do
    a damn bit of good, since I've nothing to do with it) for the water
    (which IS terrible) or the facility's maintenance (which seems
    sometimes to be non-existant).
    
    tony

    I'm afraid it is going to be noisy here in PKO3 too with alarms going
    off - there is now an alarm on the door between our office area and the
    RESTROOMS!  Good luck to the people who sit near it if anyone in the
    place forgets their badge!  But so far (it is almost 9:30) I haven't
    heard it go off.
    
    As for the cafeteria, I never eat in it anyhow (charter member of the
    brown-bag brigade).  There are so many good places for lunch in Maynard
    that there isn't any reason to even if my feezer is empty, anyhow -
    when we worked in the Mill (sigh...) they were all within walking
    distance!
    
    /Charlotte

    	I just remembered...when visiting the DEC office in NYC we couldn't
    believe it when we were told about how to go to the men's room! (I
    guess we shouldn't complain here!!!) 
    
    	The men's room had an 8 digit combination lock! It makes me wonder
    what the intentions were!
    
    8>)	8>)

    re: .44
    ahhhhh, come on now..!
    
    it was only 7 digits!
    
    tony
    ;^0

Re: .42-
    
>    I worked at BUO before they closed it.  The food was good.  ol' DAVE
>    was the best fast order cook you EVER saw, and a nice, friendly guy to
>    boot.  Cafe was nicely laid out.
    
    	Anyone know what became of Dave after BUO closed? He was there
    seemingly forever and famous even to us field type transients visiting
    there for training.
    
    Phil
    

    Not that it matters but OGO was my favorite.
    
    Mainly a brown bagger though.
    
    Jim C.
    

    Dave worked here in DAS for a while and moved last summer to N.
    Carolina. He is still in touch with some of us here via phone.
    Great guy!!! 

    Re: .48-
    
    	Pray tell, where is DAS?
    
    Phil_who_has_no_DEC_phone_book_handy.

DAS Andover, MA, U.S. - Field Service Logistics

re: .-2

>
>    Dave worked here in DAS for a while and moved last summer to N.
>    Carolina. He is still in touch with some of us here via phone.
>    Great guy!!! 
>

Do you know where in North Carolina?

THANKS!!

Rick

    Re: .-2
    
    	Thanks for the answer on DAS (Andover- how intuitive a site code..)
    
    	I think Dave deserves kudos as he was obviously well known. I too
    would like to know how/ where to contact him. 
    
    	Sorry for the rathole about the most famous short order cook in
    Digital history...IMHO.
    
    Phil

>        <<< Note 3549.52 by PFSVAX::MCELWEE "Opponent of Oppression" >>>
>                               -< Whereabouts? >-

>    	Thanks for the answer on DAS (Andover- how intuitive a site code..)

The site address is 165 Dascomb Rd.
                        ^^^

You just need the right intuition.

    .48
    Jerry...is that you?
    
    Send me a note off line...I`m in training but would like to hear from
    you.

    The siderail about intuitive site codes reminds me of ZKO (for Spit
    Brook Road). ZK (I assume Zpit brooK) was selected after the site
    code search showed that SB was already reserved. Turns out someone
    *else* had prereserved it for Spit Brook!
    
    Or so I heard...

The story I heard (and I was around at the time this was done) was that all
remaining Sx codes were being reserved for "Sales".  At the time (1979), there
was a trend towards using Zx codes (why, I don't know...)

				Steve

re appropriate site codes.

Well, I presume that DAS is located on Dascomb(e?) Rd.
Isn't it?

Now, can anyone tell me why my facility code is
LJO?  (I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand for 
"Littleton Jerk-Offs")

It was originally LJ - The L was for Littleton, not sure if the J stood for
anything.  Sites which had two-letter codes had "O" added when we went to
three-letter codes.

				Steve

    Littleton Junction (the railroad depot)

    	Wow, sorry for creating a site code rathole. Albeit interesting,
    where's Dave the cook?
    
    Phil