The last week was rewarding: I finally got access to a lot of the IT systems here. Unfortunately, the server that hosts the Red Cross's secure data has crashed and as a result I've not been able to actually see the data that I was anticipating I'd get access to. Still, this past week I've been busy trying to get myself up to speed on how servers work.

I was actually shocked at how much there was to learn about servers. I thought I knew a lot, having studied computer science, and indeed I was already familiar with the basics. But I still had so much to learn about how to parse files, access resources on a shared high-performance computing network, etc. So, even if it would have been nice to see the Red Cross data, I don't mind having to wait a little longer because it's allowed me to get so much more comfortable with computers.

Perhaps funniest of all, a little anecdote from when I got access to a very restricted subset of the data last Friday. My supervisor wanted me to do a very simple data analysis task on this data, but when he asked me to do it I quickly realized that I'd forgotten my password. I guess, no matter how tech literate we become, we are still capable of making the silliest of mistakes.