Andrew splashed some water in his face and removed the left-over foam from his shaving. He had carefully reworked his facial hair, just like every day; it had to look perfect and neat. He leaned in on the table; hanging above the ceramic bowl, while his tie dropped into the water, as he did one final check if he had done his work correct. ”Are you kidding me?” he led out a big sigh, and removed his tie; discarded in the bathtub. ”I really should just don the tie when I am done,” he strode to the cabinet to grab some wax for his hair and stopped in his tracks, “Or just get dressed when I am done.” He turned around on his heel and took three paces to get back behind the table. His hand took a big blob of wax out of the large jar and worked it into his dark brown hairs, one final adjustment and he was ready to face the outside world. Or not. Andrew left his bathroom and walked into his bedchamber. His bed was still a mess after he left the bed and there were still a couple of ties on the end of his bed. It was as if he had expected he required to change his tie because it had gotten wet. He looked for a moment, gazing at the different colours and choose in the end a dark grey tie with subtle light grey stripes. He navigated through his room, avoiding the piles of clothes and strewn around papers, to reach his door that leads to the hall of the building.
He had taken the train to the neutral grounds, where there they would hand out a renewed Ilac and today was the day that the journalists and the lucky tech-geeks could get their hands on it; a week earlier as the others. Mister Sterling had asked Andrew himself to travel to the company to pick it up and try it out, the Ilac was to be kept by the journalist and Sterling had been satisfied with Andrews progression within the company. “See it as a present and first item for the official blog you will be managing from now on.” Had the boss told him in his office.
”So where are the beauties?” asked Andrew when he entered the lobby of the office building which stood in front of the factory where the Ilac’s were manufactured. A man in a suit laughed, “Not so fast! We will first have a presentation of course; you can take a drink over there if you wish. We got coffee, tea and soda. And naturally a cake! It’s a celebration of course!” The paused, “Ow can I see your invitation?” Andrew glanced at the name tag upon the chest of man, ”Well thank you, Lenard, here it is.” He grabbed his wallet and took out the invitation card and handed it to Lenard. “Yes, all in order.” Said Lenard as he handed the piece of paper back to Andrew. The journalist walked to the table in the corner and browsed its contents. He got himself a cup of coffee, a sniff and he knew it was proper coffee; not some weak excuse of a coffee that comes out of those coffee machines that you see in most offices. They also apricated good coffee at his work, they had an amazing machine at work; funded by the Sterling himself because he likes good coffee as well. His tongue ran over his lips, that cake did look very delicious; very delicious. He noticed that one slice was a bit bigger than the others and chose that one. He then waggled with content to a seat and table to enjoy his beverage and the cake. It was a chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse and layers of actual chocolate. There were chocolate chunks all over the cake and it was adorned with whipped cream. He took a sip from the dark liquid and enjoyed the bitter flavours that filled his mouth as he looked through the room. There were a couple of journalists he knew by name and reputation, there were also some tech-geeks that he had seen somewhere on the Lacrimanet. A couple more people came in overtime. “Alright it is time for the presentation,” said Lenard who was looking on his peculiar-looking wristwatch when Andrew turned around to look at him. They all stood up and followed Lenard to the presentation room which was just down the hallway to the right.
”Alright let’s test this baby,” said Andrew excitingly out loud in the coupe of the train. A couple of faces had turned to him. The journalist raised his new device, ”New phone, who dis?” His teeth clenched as he forced a big smile. He was soon again captivated by the Ilac. The exterior design wasn’t necessarily revolutionary, but the phone did have five cameras’ in the back and two cameras for selfies in the front; they were all very powerful as well, for the best photo’s, a feature that Andrew liked. The Ilac was also much faster than the older models and had new operational software, which guarded against hacks and viruses; thought Andrew knew well enough that hackers would always find a way to exploit some fault in the design, it seemed impossible to make it completely safe against hacks. He downloaded all the apps he used to try them out, and that not all apps could operate as they required some updates. He took a couple of selfies and went on the lacrimanet to read some news. He would test it two ways; the passive test and the active test. To use it as he would use his own Ilac and the stress test, by putting it to its extremes and see how it deals with it. He always started with the passive test and usually started with the stress tests on day three or four, that way he could at the very least experience how normal people would use it and advise them on his findings.
He had taken the train to the neutral grounds, where there they would hand out a renewed Ilac and today was the day that the journalists and the lucky tech-geeks could get their hands on it; a week earlier as the others. Mister Sterling had asked Andrew himself to travel to the company to pick it up and try it out, the Ilac was to be kept by the journalist and Sterling had been satisfied with Andrews progression within the company. “See it as a present and first item for the official blog you will be managing from now on.” Had the boss told him in his office.
”So where are the beauties?” asked Andrew when he entered the lobby of the office building which stood in front of the factory where the Ilac’s were manufactured. A man in a suit laughed, “Not so fast! We will first have a presentation of course; you can take a drink over there if you wish. We got coffee, tea and soda. And naturally a cake! It’s a celebration of course!” The paused, “Ow can I see your invitation?” Andrew glanced at the name tag upon the chest of man, ”Well thank you, Lenard, here it is.” He grabbed his wallet and took out the invitation card and handed it to Lenard. “Yes, all in order.” Said Lenard as he handed the piece of paper back to Andrew. The journalist walked to the table in the corner and browsed its contents. He got himself a cup of coffee, a sniff and he knew it was proper coffee; not some weak excuse of a coffee that comes out of those coffee machines that you see in most offices. They also apricated good coffee at his work, they had an amazing machine at work; funded by the Sterling himself because he likes good coffee as well. His tongue ran over his lips, that cake did look very delicious; very delicious. He noticed that one slice was a bit bigger than the others and chose that one. He then waggled with content to a seat and table to enjoy his beverage and the cake. It was a chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse and layers of actual chocolate. There were chocolate chunks all over the cake and it was adorned with whipped cream. He took a sip from the dark liquid and enjoyed the bitter flavours that filled his mouth as he looked through the room. There were a couple of journalists he knew by name and reputation, there were also some tech-geeks that he had seen somewhere on the Lacrimanet. A couple more people came in overtime. “Alright it is time for the presentation,” said Lenard who was looking on his peculiar-looking wristwatch when Andrew turned around to look at him. They all stood up and followed Lenard to the presentation room which was just down the hallway to the right.
”Alright let’s test this baby,” said Andrew excitingly out loud in the coupe of the train. A couple of faces had turned to him. The journalist raised his new device, ”New phone, who dis?” His teeth clenched as he forced a big smile. He was soon again captivated by the Ilac. The exterior design wasn’t necessarily revolutionary, but the phone did have five cameras’ in the back and two cameras for selfies in the front; they were all very powerful as well, for the best photo’s, a feature that Andrew liked. The Ilac was also much faster than the older models and had new operational software, which guarded against hacks and viruses; thought Andrew knew well enough that hackers would always find a way to exploit some fault in the design, it seemed impossible to make it completely safe against hacks. He downloaded all the apps he used to try them out, and that not all apps could operate as they required some updates. He took a couple of selfies and went on the lacrimanet to read some news. He would test it two ways; the passive test and the active test. To use it as he would use his own Ilac and the stress test, by putting it to its extremes and see how it deals with it. He always started with the passive test and usually started with the stress tests on day three or four, that way he could at the very least experience how normal people would use it and advise them on his findings.
