One Week In

  I started my new job on Monday and so far it is going well. At a new job you spend a lot of time meeting people whose names you don’t remember the next time you see them and it is all very awkward. The work is challenging and complex, but well within my capabilities.

  Since everything is new, I have noticed the things that make the greatest difference between old and new jobs are the most commonplace. One great new thing is that there is free coffee. The last place had a coffee vending machine. After losing 55 cents 3 straight days, I started bringing in the Folger’s coffee packets. That makes a good cup of coffee but it takes 2 or 3 minutes to heat the water and then another couple of minutes to let the coffee bag steep. When you want coffee, you want it NOW!! Another nicety is that there aren’t multiple urinals all crowded next to each other with no dividers. It’s never much fun to have some overweight guy belly up next to you and start crowding for some leg room. And then there is the guy who wants to start a conversation. My standard answer to these fellows was “I’ve never been in a submarine, but I think I now know the feeling.” Before I make it sound like the old place was all bad, I need to point out that the restroom in Washington Square Park in New York City (where I used to go play chess against the hustlers for money) has no dividers of any kind and as a bonus, there are homeless people using the sinks to wash their only set of clothes.

  A down side is that I only have one computer monitor to work on. If I had been told that 2 years ago I’d have been playing the violin for the whiner, but now that I have had the pleasure of having 2 monitors at my last job I know it made me much more productive. Getting used to a new keyboard is also a challenge. My new keyboard has the page up, page down, and delete keys in a vertical row next to the number keys and the home, end, and insert keys on the row with the ‘F’ keys. Every time I try to insert something I end up turning off the number lock and when I go to delete something, I go down a page.

  Most memorable quote of the week at the new job: “The old CEO would let you watch porn on your computer as long as the work got done!” I never met the old CEO, but I’m guessing it was not a woman.

Progress on resolutions as of 1/28/2010
Pushups : 780 (out of 8000)
Stationary Bike 52.1 (out of 525)
Blogs : 9 (out of 104)