I’m usually fairly reserved about my enthusiasm, but I have to admit that now even I am getting excited about first beam.
The ATLAS pixel detector is up and running in the pit, and I’ve been working hard this week on looking at the data from calibration scans. Since I wrote a lot of the tools for looking at large quantities of pixel calibration data in a systematic way, I’m the most up-to-speed on using them; and since we have to be calibrated and ready to run very soon, there’s a lot of demand for those skills. Being useful, and having a lot to do, makes me happy. I get up early in the morning ready to come to work, and leave only reluctantly in the evening when I’m too tired to get anything done.
I’ve also been trying hard to get all the training I need to run pixel detector shifts, and it looks like my efforts have borne fruit. I have “training shifts” on Friday and Monday, and hopefully after that I’ll be able to do things on my own. The only downside is that the day shifts now start at 7 AM—it’s a good thing I’ve been getting up early ready to come to work!
Tags: ATLAS, calibration, commissioning, pixel, shift, software
