The relatively sedate nature of office work can be a huge drawback. My job will involve a component of field work in the summers, and I am really looking forward to the variety that will bring to my daily routine. I am happy with any excuse to get outside and walk around. When working desk jobs, I will often leave the building and prowl around during my lunches, entertaining myself with whatever landscape happens to be nearby.
At my last job, the lab was located along a railroad track. I had some good walks exploring the right of way in both directions. Railroad ties are spaced at a distance that is challenging for walking, but that only adds to the fun.
One of the temp jobs I worked was up north of the airport, adjacent to an old abandoned military base I loved exploring. Parts of it still had structures, a housing subdivision crumbling into reclaiming vegetation. The police trained with dogs there sometimes, so mostly I'd go off in another direction, down old streets to nowhere. It was a post-apocalyptic landscape, fascinating to behold. I used to see a flock of wild turkeys up there regularly, completely unfazed by the low flying planes buzzing overhead.
I have not had the opportunity to escape outdoors at lunchtime in my new job yet, due to the enormous snowfall we’ve had this winter. Even with the warmer weather we’ve had this last week, the snowbanks have simply settled into themselves. There are no shoveled sidewalks near my office, and the roads are narrowed by the snow. Walking on my lunch break would actually be somewhat dangerous. So I’ve been a little restless lately.
This afternoon I convinced SodaBoy to accompany me on a walk to Tall Trees Cemetery, an enormous old graveyard just two or three blocks from our house. It is a beautiful place to walk under any circumstances, and today we benefited from the snow removal. Perhaps to afford access to mourners, the grounds people keep all the major lanes plowed throughout the winter. We saw several other pedestrians out enjoying the day, but not a single automobile. And that was nice.
I have a comfortably tired feeling from climbing so many steep hills, and that flushed windburn about my cheeks. I should sleep well tonight. Now I just have to figure out how to get out more often.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Saturday, March 03, 2007
My Office Space
We had a catered lunch at the office yesterday, with food provided courtesy of the firm that does our printing. The food was from a local barbeque restaurant named for a prehistoric creature, a universal favorite, guaranteed to please. A general office meeting was held at the same time. Meetings are a bit of a mixed bag for new employees like myself. They are a source of information, but not all of it makes sense yet.
There were two topics of particular interest to me: direct deposit, and the office move. We are getting direct deposit sometime in the next month. I am super excited about this, because my bank charges a service fee for checking accounts without direct deposit. I never did anything to resolve the situation while I was unemployed, assuming I would soon land a job, resume earning an income, and no longer be affected by the fees. It never occurred to me that my new place of employment wouldn't offer direct deposit. What century is this? Plus, the only paycheck I’ve thus far received sat in my purse for eight days before I could make it to the bank. So a big cheer for convenience!
Onto the move… next month our local branch will be moving downtown to a new office space. The current building is architecturally interesting, but much too small. It is an old building, originally used for a very different purpose. Conversion to an office was inefficient, and there is a lot of wasted space. There are two floors, with high ceilings and big windows. The receptionist (who shares my real world first name) sits by the main door, answering the phones and greeting visitors. On both levels, a large open room with cubicles occupies most of the space, and smaller offices with doors line the far wall.
The stairs are numerous, because of the high ceilings, two whole flights between floors. You go up the first flight to a small landing. There is a closet on the landing with a water cooler and it's refill bottles. It dispenses both cold and hot water. I immediately became fond of the water cooler, not for the mythological office gossip, but for the ease in making hot tea. I have brought two kinds of tea to work so far, morning breakfast and millennial mint. From the landing, stairs split off in two directions.
The right-hand set leads to a conference room, for meetings and interviews and such. To the left, the stairs lead up to my little room and the rest of the second floor. There is an administrative assistant who sits at the end of the corridor through cube-land, right in front of the private offices for important people.
I share a tiny little room with two other people, right at the top of the staircase. There is a huge window in my room, set high on the wall. The bottom sill is shoulder height, and it rises many, many feet above. The window faces south, so there is a lot of light, so much we have to lower the blinds in the afternoon. My desk faces north, away from the window and into blank wall. The desk has no drawers, just a desk lamp and the computer peripherals, a very nice flat screen monitor and a keyboard with an odd layout. I still need to personalize my immediate space.
As interesting as this building is, a few more modern amenities could be hoped for. Water leaks in from the ceiling in my little office, dripping down the wall. There are only two one-seater bathrooms. One is upstairs off the main room, just a few feet from someone's desk, with servers in the closet. When the servers need work, we're down to the one lone toilet, which unfortunately is downstairs, right off the kitchen. Lovely. The kitchen is microscopic, essentially just a hall equipped with a fridge, coffee pot, sink, and microwave. It is uncomfortably crowded with any more than two people, and that’s assuming the refrigerator door is closed. There is no lunch room or space to eat, and no vending machines.
I do not like the current bathroom situation, with its forced intimacy. I have already been warned to avoid the bathroom after certain people use it, and am mortified to think that private emissions are being tracked and discussed. The new office is rumored to have separate men’s and women’s bathrooms, located far away from the kitchen. Everyone is very excited about the impending move, and I was eager to hear more about it.
Best of all, the new building has gargoyles on it. How cool is that?
There were two topics of particular interest to me: direct deposit, and the office move. We are getting direct deposit sometime in the next month. I am super excited about this, because my bank charges a service fee for checking accounts without direct deposit. I never did anything to resolve the situation while I was unemployed, assuming I would soon land a job, resume earning an income, and no longer be affected by the fees. It never occurred to me that my new place of employment wouldn't offer direct deposit. What century is this? Plus, the only paycheck I’ve thus far received sat in my purse for eight days before I could make it to the bank. So a big cheer for convenience!
Onto the move… next month our local branch will be moving downtown to a new office space. The current building is architecturally interesting, but much too small. It is an old building, originally used for a very different purpose. Conversion to an office was inefficient, and there is a lot of wasted space. There are two floors, with high ceilings and big windows. The receptionist (who shares my real world first name) sits by the main door, answering the phones and greeting visitors. On both levels, a large open room with cubicles occupies most of the space, and smaller offices with doors line the far wall.
The stairs are numerous, because of the high ceilings, two whole flights between floors. You go up the first flight to a small landing. There is a closet on the landing with a water cooler and it's refill bottles. It dispenses both cold and hot water. I immediately became fond of the water cooler, not for the mythological office gossip, but for the ease in making hot tea. I have brought two kinds of tea to work so far, morning breakfast and millennial mint. From the landing, stairs split off in two directions.
The right-hand set leads to a conference room, for meetings and interviews and such. To the left, the stairs lead up to my little room and the rest of the second floor. There is an administrative assistant who sits at the end of the corridor through cube-land, right in front of the private offices for important people.
I share a tiny little room with two other people, right at the top of the staircase. There is a huge window in my room, set high on the wall. The bottom sill is shoulder height, and it rises many, many feet above. The window faces south, so there is a lot of light, so much we have to lower the blinds in the afternoon. My desk faces north, away from the window and into blank wall. The desk has no drawers, just a desk lamp and the computer peripherals, a very nice flat screen monitor and a keyboard with an odd layout. I still need to personalize my immediate space.
As interesting as this building is, a few more modern amenities could be hoped for. Water leaks in from the ceiling in my little office, dripping down the wall. There are only two one-seater bathrooms. One is upstairs off the main room, just a few feet from someone's desk, with servers in the closet. When the servers need work, we're down to the one lone toilet, which unfortunately is downstairs, right off the kitchen. Lovely. The kitchen is microscopic, essentially just a hall equipped with a fridge, coffee pot, sink, and microwave. It is uncomfortably crowded with any more than two people, and that’s assuming the refrigerator door is closed. There is no lunch room or space to eat, and no vending machines.
I do not like the current bathroom situation, with its forced intimacy. I have already been warned to avoid the bathroom after certain people use it, and am mortified to think that private emissions are being tracked and discussed. The new office is rumored to have separate men’s and women’s bathrooms, located far away from the kitchen. Everyone is very excited about the impending move, and I was eager to hear more about it.
Best of all, the new building has gargoyles on it. How cool is that?
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Lazy Weekend
Everyone at my new office is sick. Really, really sick, with high fevers and massive weakness. People are somewhat irreverently calling it the plague, and referring to those out sick as "the latest victims." I've been drinking orange juice and popping vitamins, hoping to ward off the illness. No matter how sick you are, or who knows it, calling in sick in your first few weeks is always going to be received poorly.
I woke up yesterday morning with swollen glands and slight malaise. I didn't have any particular symptoms, but felt somewhat unwell. I decided a lazy weekend was in order. Yesterday, I watched the basketball game on TV, caught up on my blogging, and generally just hung out relaxing.
I woke up this morning feeling much refreshed, no swollen glands, no weakness. I took SodaBoy out to lunch to celebrate my first small paycheck (for four days), and returned home. Ordered a birthday present for Little Bro, and did a couple loads of laundry. We got the snowshoes out of the attic and went for a walk up in the woods behind the house, but tragically forgot the cameras. Gorgeous blurry clouds. I made some couscous from a box that will cover a few days worth of lunches, when supplemented with 14 baby carrots, that is.
I think now I will go curl up on the couch with a blanket and do a Sudoku. Hopefully my immune system has been boosted by this lolling, and I can make it through the next week without succumbing to the plague.
I woke up yesterday morning with swollen glands and slight malaise. I didn't have any particular symptoms, but felt somewhat unwell. I decided a lazy weekend was in order. Yesterday, I watched the basketball game on TV, caught up on my blogging, and generally just hung out relaxing.
I woke up this morning feeling much refreshed, no swollen glands, no weakness. I took SodaBoy out to lunch to celebrate my first small paycheck (for four days), and returned home. Ordered a birthday present for Little Bro, and did a couple loads of laundry. We got the snowshoes out of the attic and went for a walk up in the woods behind the house, but tragically forgot the cameras. Gorgeous blurry clouds. I made some couscous from a box that will cover a few days worth of lunches, when supplemented with 14 baby carrots, that is.
I think now I will go curl up on the couch with a blanket and do a Sudoku. Hopefully my immune system has been boosted by this lolling, and I can make it through the next week without succumbing to the plague.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Six Weird Things
So I got tagged for this meme a while back by Mary over at No Polar Coordinates, and I'm just getting around to it now. Memes are supposed to be easy posts, sort of filler, mostly content-free, right? But, I struggled with this one. It should not have been difficult; many people consider me to be a little odd. I finally came up with six things. I hope they are weird enough for you.
1. I vastly prefer restaurant-style cola to that from a can or bottle. To soda connoisseurs everywhere, this is enormous blasphemy, because restaurant-style colas tend to be somewhat watery and flat, which might actually be what I like. By restaurant-style, I mean that the soda is on tap, served with ice and a straw, and preferably with rapid-fire free refills. I always handsomely reward wait staff who are mindful of such details.
2. I can only drink carbonated beverages while I am eating. Otherwise the carbonation freaks me out too much. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed much soda due to hyperactive tendencies, and never became accustomed to “the bees.” Bees were our in-family kiddie lingo for carbonation, apparently because Sis and I thought the bubbles stung. Somehow eating neutralizes the stinging action, don’t ask me how. This meme is for weird things, remember. They don’t have to make sense.
3. I think it is rude when people turn around in my driveway, especially when there is unshoveled snow on the ground. We are perhaps 8 houses away from intersections in either direction. Would it really be such an inconvenience to people to drive half a block and turn around in the public roadway? It’s not like they are major intersections with a lot of traffic. Snow that has been driven on is much harder to shovel. Some days we will get three or four cars turning around down there before we get the snow cleaned up. I suspect the neighbors. Grrr.
4. I got my bachelor’s degree before I got my drivers license. I did get a learner’s permit in high school, but I completely lacked the strong desire to drive that most teens have. We didn’t have extra cars or extra money, and I was totally unmotivated. My parents never really pushed the issue, and continued schlepping me around. In college, I could walk or bike anywhere I needed to go. I finally got the license when I got an out-of-state job that required it, and within the month bought my first car and drove off into the sunset. Figuratively, that is. I was really driving off into the sunrise.
5. I have only owned two cars in my life. My first car was a Geo Metro, with 3 cylinders and a manual transmission. I truly loved that little car. It was a hatchback, and I could fold down the back seat and put most everything I owned in there. I could do a u-turn on a dime, and parallel park anywhere. It didn’t have a lot of forward momentum on hills; even the modest Berkshires could reduce me to the truck lane, but what did I care? It got killer mileage. I drove that car for 9+ years, but I live in the Rust Belt, a term that has more than one meaning. It was the rust that did in my beloved Metro.
6. I seem to be predisposed towards the enjoyment of minorly compulsive behaviors and rituals. For example, I bought a bag of baby carrots to take in my lunches. Out of simple curiosity, I read all the label information, and discovered that a serving size is exactly 14 carrots. I wanted to know what 14 baby carrots looked like, so I counted them out, and have continued to do so every day since. It is absurd: I am not on diet, and a few extra carrots would be utterly harmless even if I was. Why am I still counting carrots? It amuses me every time.
The rules of the meme dictate that I am supposed to tag six people, but I am much too shy for that. Although I would love to read six weird things about all of you who haven't already completed this meme. So please, if you read this, consider yourself tagged.
Yes, YOU.
1. I vastly prefer restaurant-style cola to that from a can or bottle. To soda connoisseurs everywhere, this is enormous blasphemy, because restaurant-style colas tend to be somewhat watery and flat, which might actually be what I like. By restaurant-style, I mean that the soda is on tap, served with ice and a straw, and preferably with rapid-fire free refills. I always handsomely reward wait staff who are mindful of such details.
2. I can only drink carbonated beverages while I am eating. Otherwise the carbonation freaks me out too much. Growing up, I wasn’t allowed much soda due to hyperactive tendencies, and never became accustomed to “the bees.” Bees were our in-family kiddie lingo for carbonation, apparently because Sis and I thought the bubbles stung. Somehow eating neutralizes the stinging action, don’t ask me how. This meme is for weird things, remember. They don’t have to make sense.
3. I think it is rude when people turn around in my driveway, especially when there is unshoveled snow on the ground. We are perhaps 8 houses away from intersections in either direction. Would it really be such an inconvenience to people to drive half a block and turn around in the public roadway? It’s not like they are major intersections with a lot of traffic. Snow that has been driven on is much harder to shovel. Some days we will get three or four cars turning around down there before we get the snow cleaned up. I suspect the neighbors. Grrr.
4. I got my bachelor’s degree before I got my drivers license. I did get a learner’s permit in high school, but I completely lacked the strong desire to drive that most teens have. We didn’t have extra cars or extra money, and I was totally unmotivated. My parents never really pushed the issue, and continued schlepping me around. In college, I could walk or bike anywhere I needed to go. I finally got the license when I got an out-of-state job that required it, and within the month bought my first car and drove off into the sunset. Figuratively, that is. I was really driving off into the sunrise.
5. I have only owned two cars in my life. My first car was a Geo Metro, with 3 cylinders and a manual transmission. I truly loved that little car. It was a hatchback, and I could fold down the back seat and put most everything I owned in there. I could do a u-turn on a dime, and parallel park anywhere. It didn’t have a lot of forward momentum on hills; even the modest Berkshires could reduce me to the truck lane, but what did I care? It got killer mileage. I drove that car for 9+ years, but I live in the Rust Belt, a term that has more than one meaning. It was the rust that did in my beloved Metro.
6. I seem to be predisposed towards the enjoyment of minorly compulsive behaviors and rituals. For example, I bought a bag of baby carrots to take in my lunches. Out of simple curiosity, I read all the label information, and discovered that a serving size is exactly 14 carrots. I wanted to know what 14 baby carrots looked like, so I counted them out, and have continued to do so every day since. It is absurd: I am not on diet, and a few extra carrots would be utterly harmless even if I was. Why am I still counting carrots? It amuses me every time.
The rules of the meme dictate that I am supposed to tag six people, but I am much too shy for that. Although I would love to read six weird things about all of you who haven't already completed this meme. So please, if you read this, consider yourself tagged.
Yes, YOU.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
New Avatar
As I've mentioned before, I have bouts of paranoia about the whole anonymous blogging thing, especially now that I am working again. I am easily creeped out. The thought of someone from work reads my pathetic tales of woe is enough to get me. I am trying to present a semi-professional image, after all.
Despite these somewhat irrational fears, I am tempted at times to delve into more details. I have yet to find a good balance. Right now I am so new to my job that colleagues don't know me well enough to recognize me were they to end up here. At least I hope not. But, just in case, I am going to change my profile image.
Maybe then I will work up the guts to share more of myself.
Despite these somewhat irrational fears, I am tempted at times to delve into more details. I have yet to find a good balance. Right now I am so new to my job that colleagues don't know me well enough to recognize me were they to end up here. At least I hope not. But, just in case, I am going to change my profile image. Maybe then I will work up the guts to share more of myself.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Falling off the Radar
I'm sorry for pulling this little vanishing act. I assure you this was not my intention: I do plan to return to blogging. As soon as I can get my shit together. I had every delusion that I would be able to keep on blogging somewhat regularly once I started working again. However, it is a sad but true fact that I had been unemployed throughout the entire existence of this blog until last week, and still only managed to post three or four times a week. You bloggers with a job, and kids, too? I am truly in awe. You must not sleep.
My job is not of the variety that enables blogging at work, and I am not of a temperament where skipping a lot of sleep is advisable. I am still hopeful that I will settle into more of a routine, thereby freeing up more time to blog and generally just have a life. But I'm not quite there yet. Give me some more time. I am having a hard time adjusting to be being owned again.
My job is not of the variety that enables blogging at work, and I am not of a temperament where skipping a lot of sleep is advisable. I am still hopeful that I will settle into more of a routine, thereby freeing up more time to blog and generally just have a life. But I'm not quite there yet. Give me some more time. I am having a hard time adjusting to be being owned again.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Dispatch from the Working World
I had thought my timing in getting this new job was pretty good. I got offered the position during my second interview, after months of sending out resumes, stressing out, and losing sleep. The job offer came just one day after I claimed my very last week's worth of unemployment benefits. I was a day or two away from temping. [Sometime I will write about some of my past temping experiences to better explain my dread of it.]
Then this nor’easter hit, and I started to think my timing was pretty lousy. Yesterday was just my second day of work. I did not feel like I had the option to call in. When I left for work in the morning, the plow had not yet visited my neighborhood. The snow in the street was deeper than my car’s clearance. Luckily SodaBoy was around to help. For two blocks, we alternated shoveling and pushing, building up momentum, and getting stuck again. The main roads weren’t much better. I slid into a snow bank turning onto the highway onramp. Out came the shovel again.
The office was pretty empty yesterday. Many sensible people stayed home. My return commute was almost as bad as the drive in. I was terrified that I would not be able to get home. My street itself is flat, but this entire part of the city is on a hill, and we live near the top. I made it home by running a red light and two stop signs. Stopping would have been too dangerous, and luckily there was no traffic. It stopped snowing last night around 9 o’clock and I was optimistic about my odds for clear roads today.
When I got up, though, I could see that no plows had returned since their single pass down our street at noon yesterday. SodaBoy was working today, so I was on my own. If I got stuck, no one would be here to push me out. There was a car stuck in the snow with hazards flashing in front of the house next door. As my departure time approached, I felt a horrible cramping in my stomach. I have never been afraid of driving in the snow before. I didn’t like it. I tried to comfort myself by taking deep breaths, and telling myself the main streets would be clear. They were not.
At the intersection of two emergency snow routes, a city bus was stuck in the snow, and traffic was backed up in all directions. Finally a university police officer arrived to direct traffic and I drove on. I made it to the office with no real problems, and made it safely home again, too, although I had trouble getting both into and out of the office parking lots. I was practically overjoyed with relief at the improved conditions by the time I drove home tonight. The highway was actually clear and even my street had been plowed. Rejoice!
So while my first week at the new job has been extraordinarily stressful, the anxiety was all weather induced. The job itself has been going really well. It is always hard to tell how a job will end up from first impressions: what is initially new and exciting could always become dull later. But so far I am very happy with the situation. My supervisors have assigned me to tasks that I can work on independently, where I am immediately contributing, and also getting to learn a lot of background information about several big projects which I will be working on more in depth later.
And tomorrow is Friday, so I can wear jeans. This might just work out after all.
Then this nor’easter hit, and I started to think my timing was pretty lousy. Yesterday was just my second day of work. I did not feel like I had the option to call in. When I left for work in the morning, the plow had not yet visited my neighborhood. The snow in the street was deeper than my car’s clearance. Luckily SodaBoy was around to help. For two blocks, we alternated shoveling and pushing, building up momentum, and getting stuck again. The main roads weren’t much better. I slid into a snow bank turning onto the highway onramp. Out came the shovel again.
The office was pretty empty yesterday. Many sensible people stayed home. My return commute was almost as bad as the drive in. I was terrified that I would not be able to get home. My street itself is flat, but this entire part of the city is on a hill, and we live near the top. I made it home by running a red light and two stop signs. Stopping would have been too dangerous, and luckily there was no traffic. It stopped snowing last night around 9 o’clock and I was optimistic about my odds for clear roads today.
When I got up, though, I could see that no plows had returned since their single pass down our street at noon yesterday. SodaBoy was working today, so I was on my own. If I got stuck, no one would be here to push me out. There was a car stuck in the snow with hazards flashing in front of the house next door. As my departure time approached, I felt a horrible cramping in my stomach. I have never been afraid of driving in the snow before. I didn’t like it. I tried to comfort myself by taking deep breaths, and telling myself the main streets would be clear. They were not.
At the intersection of two emergency snow routes, a city bus was stuck in the snow, and traffic was backed up in all directions. Finally a university police officer arrived to direct traffic and I drove on. I made it to the office with no real problems, and made it safely home again, too, although I had trouble getting both into and out of the office parking lots. I was practically overjoyed with relief at the improved conditions by the time I drove home tonight. The highway was actually clear and even my street had been plowed. Rejoice!
So while my first week at the new job has been extraordinarily stressful, the anxiety was all weather induced. The job itself has been going really well. It is always hard to tell how a job will end up from first impressions: what is initially new and exciting could always become dull later. But so far I am very happy with the situation. My supervisors have assigned me to tasks that I can work on independently, where I am immediately contributing, and also getting to learn a lot of background information about several big projects which I will be working on more in depth later.
And tomorrow is Friday, so I can wear jeans. This might just work out after all.
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