Five

Monday, 29 November 1999
The phone rings. contact SUMit I answer it, even before the thing contact SUMit rings for the second time. "Were you next to the phone? You answer so quickly?" I reply "yes indeed, next to a phone"

There are four phones contact SUMit available in this house, five if I count the twin phone as two or include the mobile contact SUMit. Whereever I am in the home, there always is a phone contact SUMit at hand. This house has quite a number of rooms, and I don't like having to cross half the house first.

Some time ago I redistributed the phones. I wanted one in the bedroom. Preferably one that does not make noise at night. A phone at hand is fine, but I'd rather not be disturbed in my sleep. Cordless would be fine too, but there is only one available and I'd like that one in the living room.

An other is a twin phone, for two persons. I'd like that one in the living as well, but it rings so loudly, even at the lowest volume level. The phone with included answering machine would be handy too in the living although that device is linked to the fax, which I prefer to keep in the study room. Finally there is one device with a very bad sound quality. I'd rather expatriate that one to the TV room.

All together it is a strange mix of wishes with quite some contradictions. Puzzling about the relocation drives me nuts, I can't find a solution. In despair I turn to some resource allocation software. It's quite heavy artillery for the job, but without it I'll keep puzzling for ever. A resource allocation problem: Which phone goes to which room?

I assign points, to my own judgement. A 10 for a good combination, 5 for undesired. The cordless can go everywhere. The noisy twin phone should never end up in the bedroom. The answer machine with fax could go to the living room or the study. And preferably dump the noisy low quality thing in de TV room. What seemed a complex problem at first suddenly is a quite simple. The solution is quite clear and obvious.

The relocation is reality for quite some time already and I like it. So, when I answer the phone almost immediately, you'll know why. I don't answer the phone, but one of five.

Till next week!
Nut