The First Week

[serinde]

...was not a lot of anything but getting my bearings, really. Meetings with various & sundry of the people in the department, being given a tour, working on setting up my computer how I'd like, etc. Also, the boss was not in this week, and no one is entirely clear on what he wants me to be doing, so I didn't have anything specific to do; in spite of this, I started laying groundwork for what I think I will be doing.

And even though I had nothing terribly much to do, per se, I've been drained beyond all reckoning. Not like having mono. But not unlike being ill. And I've felt hugely discombobulated & disoriented (well, go figure), and aikido would help but I haven't sorted that out, and it was hard to find lunch that was good, cheap, and healthy, and and and. Today was markedly better, though, with the discovery of a Balducci's not two blocks from the campus (that is, it's just like Balducci's used to be, and indeed is owned by a member of that family--but it's actually called "Grace's Marketplace"), so I can haz good and cheap salad bar.

Things that have helped: the lovely little MP3 player sweh got me as a You Are Grownup Cat, This Is Grownup Job prize, which makes my commute tolerable; the weather has been good all week, so I've been able to walk every lunch hour (and sit out whilst eating); everyone has been exceedingly welcoming and friendly and seems genuinely happy to have me on board. And they all seem at the surface level at least to get along together, but I will just note in passing that, after the week of meetings, I did feel an awful lot like that bit in Persuasion when all the Musgroves individually nobble Anne to intervene in their little domestic wheel squeaking. I don't much know how this is going to play out.

Minor but deep annoyance: my second day, I saw a flyer for a (free) lunchtime yoga series for staff members, which started Friday (i.e., today). But, you have to get a "Physical Activity Card" to participate. Fine, got form, started filling out--is mostly assuring them that you will take responsibility if your arm falls off or something. Except that page 2 requires you to go to the doctor and get a TB test. Because if I had tuberculosis, I'd be more likely to transmit it in a yoga class than in a crowded office? And, you absolutely have to go to the first class to take the rest. Feh. Feh, I say.

They have a pool, but it is under repair until the end of time.

My Indelible Mark On The Department: Plugging in my new cheapo electric kettle this morning, I blew out our office's fuse, taking down five people's workstations. Go me.
(However, I blame the database wanks in the back half of the office, who have thirty-eleven things running on the same circuit.)

A few statistics, a la mangosteen:
- Trains taken: 3
- Escalators ascended daily: 12
- Network outages: 4
- Winces at what I've been told about how things are set up: 8-10
- Average number of students on line at the nearest girls' room: 2
- Number of students that there are room for to stand waiting in that bathroom: 0
- Pointless fire drills: 1
- Number of separate ICIT offices/locations, just at this campus: 7

Comments

[briony530.livejournal.com]

First weeks are draining, no wonder you feel done in. Remember, job change (especially considering how long you were at Panix) is one of those big stressers...like moving, etc. Give yourself a little extra down time (mental and/or physical), and don't feel like you're crazy for feeling that way.

I am laughing at the electric kettle story tho'....