Hello. My name is Victoria. I’m a 25-year old system administrator from Saint Petersburg.

Why IT? Because all guys I dated with (including my husband) worked with IT.

I want to show you Tuesday, January 24th, 2012. It’s going to be a lot of words so stay patient!

That day I woke up at 7 a.m. to realize I was sick but I didn’t have an opportunity to stay in bed.

I got up the same moment I heard the alarm clock and tried not to step on Jack, my good friend and colleague. Yesterday we discussed some work issues and covered a bunch of sheets with writing.

I’m telling you again: he’s my friend and colleague so you try to hold your tongue.

I had to skip my usual morning exercise and headed straight to the bathroom.

I rent a two-bedroom apartment together with my friend Vasily so the upper half-empty shelf is his.

This is a traditional but slightly changed “me-in-the-mirror” photograph. Do you like my tattoo?

Then I headed to the kitchen. I got these fishes the other day and stuck them with hard disk magnets coz the original ones didn’t work. So, this is my IT-aquarium.

These weird notes a la “I met a salmon, it was small but it stared at me with such eyes!” puzzle me too.

My breakfast included a cup а tea, yogurt and bread crisps. And an antifungal agent for a dessert. Actually, I’d been sick for two days and felt terrible. I had a sore throat, headache and sometimes fever. I couldn’t take a sick-leave certificate because I had to0 much work to do.

I brushed my teeth, gargled, washed my face and woke up Jack.

So, that big cat is Vasya Bonus, the white one is Avror and next to him there is Kruglokot. That one with my T-shirt is Susha. I got him because I felt sorry for him because he had his jar torn and nobody would buy him. So I did. I fixed his jar and he’s a cutie now.

It was around 8 a.m. so I was to go to work in 20 minutes.

That rucksack is my favorite. I’m sorry I’ve broken it.

If any of you wants to ask me why I have a fan, I’m ready to answer. I just need a fan all year round (especially in winter!) because something’s wrong with my body’s cooling system and I get hot all the time.

I put on my warm clothes. I hoped that my long scarf would help me keep my throat warm.

I didn’t have an opportunity to take some pictures of the city that morning because it was freaking dark because we didn’t adjust our watches to the winter time thanks to… you know.

I got some nuts on my way.

I don’t drink coffee unlike the rest of our staff so I had just some water with nuts.

As you see, I’m not a clean freak.

The first thing I did when I arrived at work was writing instructions to a girl from one of our branch offices on how to setup her e-mail. It was a rather detailed instruction by the way.

If you have something to say about my mouth pad – go ahead! I can just say that it is the most comfortable pad I could find.

Don’t try to push the red button. Ever. It has been made red for a reason.

“Bird houses for rent”.

I went downstairs to pick an his old computer which my friend was to replace with a new one. I entered one of my favorite offices. I love it because it is super creative.

Back in my office. Even though all the things here are mine, I sometimes get surprised at what I find here.

My office from a different angle (that ball is for playing).

As for our work, we provide Internet access to an entire business district and render IT services.

The owl calendar is a present from Kasperskys who occupy neighboring building. To the left of the owl is a DM picture. DM is me.

Work of the system administrator is very unrewarding because people judge you not for innovations you are currently working to introduce but for your help in installing Skype.

It was about 10 a.m. and I was to go to a planning meeting in an hour.

Our planning meetings traditionally consist of reports on the work done and plans for the week. Sitting there in front of my boss, I realized that I was beginning to have a fever and was unable to focus!

After the meeting, I took a couple of pills with hot tea and realized that my purpose was to stay alive till Friday.

I was doing my work handling telephone calls from our clients at the same time. It’s some sort of a rule – people call us when something happens to their computers all at once! I tried to explain them what to do and e-mailed instructions.

Then our small delegation of my two colleagues, our boss and me went our round of the servers. I had a running nose and felt chilly.

These figures help us understand what floor we are on.

I like our spacious hall with comfortable leather/fabric sofas, tables and a sea of plants!

Machines selling food and hot beverages are just life-saving when it’s -20C outside!

Note how neatly the cables are laid (which is very unusual for this country).

Everything is in order here as well.

Each floor differs in its wall color. Floors accommodating large companies feature nice interior design but I didn’t go there.

I love our large windows. Some of the workers are are lucky to have panoramic wall-sized windows in their offices!

I don’t like when people say something like “Who needs IT?” They just don’t understand that IT is part of the system and without us, no dentistry will ever receive new equipment and no store will sell smoked sausages. Got the idea?

One of our guinea pigs.

“Clean up after your work! Clean up b*itch!”

This is one of my favorite buildings. Its coloring gladdens the eye!

Another guinea pig.

Everything’s neat and concise.

I felt worse… and passed out. As usual, I had a terrible headache afterwards. My kind-hearted colleague brought me a banana and a biscuit.

Later, I ate a cottage cheese patty knowing that I was going to have a stomachache. But I just needed some energy to work.

It was 2.36 p.m.

Then one of the workers of the company came to my office to pick up the computer for one of his colleagues. He asked me to make a screen shot of the desktop to make fun of his friend. I had no choice. In general, it was fun and I like when people laugh.

When my boss heard about the joke, he offered to install a camera to upload the video on YouTube. I took one more pill and got down to work.

One more observation. It is difficult to be an IT girl because people don’t take you seriously! Sometimes I have to make my voice sound harsh to get what I want. Sometimes it doesn’t help. Actually, the head of my IT department is a woman. She’s just genius! I’m not a feminist. I just judge people for what they do but not for what they have in their pants.

Work again.

IT-hypnotists.

It was about 6.30 p.m. and I was asked to help fix my colleague’s printer.

It was dark when I left my office again so these are the best pictures I could take.

“Training cources on men’s thinking for smart women”.

I went to that girl with a broken printer on foot. I was beginning to have a fever again. I hate winter!

I fixed the printer quickly.

I liked the chandelier and asked the girl to take a photograph of it. She didn’t mind.

It was 8 p.m. and I headed home. I dropped in at a store and got some disks and some food.

I don’t have a wardrobe and keep my clothes like this. On the left is my favorite palm tree!

I hate wearing the same shirt two days in a row and do my laundry twice a week.

I went to the kitchen to have a bite. Looking through the window I thought, “When is it going to stop?” (I meant winter).

As you see, I treat my belongings very carefully. Check out this onion for example!

I had a cup of tea, some cottage cheese and a bread crisp covered with melted cheese. That plastic fork shows my passion for orange.

After that, I headed to the bathroom.

I had to work again. I also had to exercise for a while but I was too tired after all those pills I took. Instead, I made another cup of tea with a piece of lemon.

I measured my temperature and found out it was 38 degrees. I went to bed.

Check out my humble collection.

Those two boxes contain shampoos, soaps, garbage bags, tea bags and rice noodles. I just don’t like to go shopping so I prefer to store up.

Those blue curtains make my room look like a sea when it’s sunny!

Jack came to visit me and he was under the weather too.

It was so hot in the room.

I sleep without pillows. I just throw them down on the floor. The same about the animals.

We are just close friends with Sasha and this crocodile so they stay with me.

Shall I show you my face? I don’t know…

Ok, this is me. Don’t pay attention to the shadows under my eyes.

Now I’m going to sleep.

Good night and thanks for reading!

Location: Saint Petersburg

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