Tuesday: I’m at a new job site today. Not a new job altogether, but a new location. Or rather a new job and a new location, but the same company. My company won a new government contract, and I have been assigned to support it as a writer/editor/communications person. Ordinarily, I would not be blogging when I’m supposed to be working, but I can’t really do anything else yet. The first morning at a new job is always the same. You’re introduced to a few new people (who are all very friendly in this case), stashed at a desk that might or might not remain your desk, and then left to await additional instruction. It’s 8:45, and I’m supposed to attend a meeting at 9, but I don’t know where the meeting is. I don't know where anything is, actually, including the bathroom.
This is a new office, and only partially occupied. It’s extremely quiet. I suspect that the people who work here every day have no idea yet what they’re supposed to do with me nor what I’m supposed to do for them. It’ll all be clear enough soon. Meanwhile, I have no computer, no office supplies, and no instructions, so I’ll just write until it’s time to stop.
This office is very modern and very businesslike and very clean. I have a window in my regular office, but here, I’m in a cubicle. But the cubicle is in a room with windows, and so I’m not cut off from daylight altogether. Other than the hum of the HVAC system and the quiet tapping of a cubicle neighbor’s keyboard, there’s no sound at all. This is partly because the office is half-empty, and partly because the carpeting and padded cubicle walls absorb sound.
It’s 8:53 now, and I have to figure out where my 9 o’clock meeting will be. I have a very poor sense of direction, and indoor navigation is sometimes harder than outdoor. Outdoors, at least I can use Google Maps. My life has become a Portlandia sketch.
Now it’s 10:47. I’ve been to two meetings, which have revealed a little bit about what this project is about. In a supreme irony, the person who is least able to calmly deal with change (that person being me) is apparently going to be heavily involved in what appears to be a pretty big change management effort. But the project seems interesting, and it's surprising how much you can learn in a meeting, especially when everyone knows you're new and they don't expect you to do much other than listen and smile and nod your head. I'm also pretty good at remembering names, so now I have an idea of who is who, and who does what. Still not much idea of what I will be doing, and I’m sure that it will be weeks before I don’t get lost on my way to or from the ladies’ room, but it's only been two hours, and I know a lot more than I did when I showed up this morning, so I'm optimistic. This is a new office, and only partially occupied. It’s extremely quiet. I suspect that the people who work here every day have no idea yet what they’re supposed to do with me nor what I’m supposed to do for them. It’ll all be clear enough soon. Meanwhile, I have no computer, no office supplies, and no instructions, so I’ll just write until it’s time to stop.
This office is very modern and very businesslike and very clean. I have a window in my regular office, but here, I’m in a cubicle. But the cubicle is in a room with windows, and so I’m not cut off from daylight altogether. Other than the hum of the HVAC system and the quiet tapping of a cubicle neighbor’s keyboard, there’s no sound at all. This is partly because the office is half-empty, and partly because the carpeting and padded cubicle walls absorb sound.
It’s 8:53 now, and I have to figure out where my 9 o’clock meeting will be. I have a very poor sense of direction, and indoor navigation is sometimes harder than outdoor. Outdoors, at least I can use Google Maps. My life has become a Portlandia sketch.
Now it’s 1:12. I’ve been to three meetings, and am waiting to attend a fourth. Without any access to any systems here (I can’t even ride the elevator unaccompanied yet), writing about my day in the vaguest possible terms is all I can do in between meetings. I seem to learn something new in each meeting, and I’m actually rather looking forward to the next one. And I know my way to the ladies’ room now.
Thursday: I was too busy to write anything yesterday. After the four meetings on Tuesday, I returned to my regular office for the rest of the day. It was nice to see how much people missed me while I was gone. Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday: A morning of back-to-back meetings at the government office, tons of note-taking (I have no idea if I'll ever refer to those notes again, but the physical act of documenting something helps me to remember and understand it better), more names to remember, and then back to my office. The project officially kicks off next week, so I'll learn more, I hope.
I used my Chromebook to take notes. It's fun to use, but I still don't really know how to properly use Google Docs. I suspect that you're not supposed to just copy and paste everything into Word, but that's what I'm doing right now. I'll figure it out.
We took our older son for his first college visit today. He liked the school very much. We ate at the student commons, and I bought him a t-shirt in the bookstore. After weeks of lingering cold, it was beautiful and sunny and 70 degrees, and a college campus filled with what appeared to be very happy young people was the perfect place to be.
Friday: It's Good Friday. I would normally go to Stations today, but we have another college visit planned. The new job will involve more analytical and program management work than I normally do (because I normally do absolutely nothing like that) so I decided to do some online Excel courses, because I think I'll need far better Excel skills than I have. I did one course last night, which wasn't hard, because it focused on formatting, and many of the formatting features are intuitive if you're an expert Word user. Formulas, on the other hand, are a whole other thing. I took a pre-test on the formulas module, and received a 28%, which could easily have been even lower, because I randomly guessed the correct answer to one of the questions.
Some people enjoy video/interactive/online training courses. I do not. I'd rather read something, or sit in a classroom. My learning style is ideally suited to the mid 20th century. Since I can't go to Stations, I'm planning to complete one module of the formulas course this morning, and another later tonight when we get home. This will serve as penance.
And now it's later tonight. The second college visit went well, though we were not prepared for an abrupt 20-degree temperature drop from the time we left home to the time we arrived. The Excel lessons are really excruciatingly boring; so boring that just typing whatever thought pops into my mind is far more interesting. I'm definitely learning, though. I had absolutely no idea that you could change the properties of a document, or add tags to make it more searchable. Genius! Well done, Microsoft!
Saturday: I don't know what it is about the Saturday of Easter weekend. I always have intense anxiety attacks on this particular day. Spring is PTSD season for me. But it also means that summer can't be far away.
OK. I know how to create a pivot table. But I have no idea why. Why is this useful? In what circumstances will I need this? I have no idea. But what I do know is that a trendline that draws trend inferences only from the spreadsheet's own data is worthless.
Sunday: Happy Easter! Anyone who wanted to see my 13-year-old son wearing anything other than a t-shirt and shorts should have attended the 10 AM Mass at St. Patrick's in Rockville. By 11:30, he was home, out of his shirt and tie, and back in a pair of shorts and a Capitals t-shirt. 16-year-old, on the other hand, has decided that the people deserve to see him in his full splendor, and he is still wearing his crisp white shirt, bowtie, and dress pants. He did make one concession to comfort, exchanging his dress shoes for black Nikes.
Usually when I write daily diary-style entries here, I try to find a theme for the week to unify the whole thing. And this morning, I realized what that theme is. During both of our college visits this week, we encouraged our son to get involved when he starts college, to try new things, and to learn as much as he can. Even if, for example, you have never had to analyze project performance or create reports and spreadsheets, you can learn, and maybe you'll find that that's the thing that you should be doing.
I might need to learn more about SharePoint, too. And although it's true that anyone who appoints me as their SharePoint administrator or project analyst will probably live to regret that decision, I can at least try to help the people who are actually qualified to do those jobs. What's the worst that could happen?
Friday: It's Good Friday. I would normally go to Stations today, but we have another college visit planned. The new job will involve more analytical and program management work than I normally do (because I normally do absolutely nothing like that) so I decided to do some online Excel courses, because I think I'll need far better Excel skills than I have. I did one course last night, which wasn't hard, because it focused on formatting, and many of the formatting features are intuitive if you're an expert Word user. Formulas, on the other hand, are a whole other thing. I took a pre-test on the formulas module, and received a 28%, which could easily have been even lower, because I randomly guessed the correct answer to one of the questions.
Some people enjoy video/interactive/online training courses. I do not. I'd rather read something, or sit in a classroom. My learning style is ideally suited to the mid 20th century. Since I can't go to Stations, I'm planning to complete one module of the formulas course this morning, and another later tonight when we get home. This will serve as penance.
And now it's later tonight. The second college visit went well, though we were not prepared for an abrupt 20-degree temperature drop from the time we left home to the time we arrived. The Excel lessons are really excruciatingly boring; so boring that just typing whatever thought pops into my mind is far more interesting. I'm definitely learning, though. I had absolutely no idea that you could change the properties of a document, or add tags to make it more searchable. Genius! Well done, Microsoft!
Saturday: I don't know what it is about the Saturday of Easter weekend. I always have intense anxiety attacks on this particular day. Spring is PTSD season for me. But it also means that summer can't be far away.
OK. I know how to create a pivot table. But I have no idea why. Why is this useful? In what circumstances will I need this? I have no idea. But what I do know is that a trendline that draws trend inferences only from the spreadsheet's own data is worthless.
Sunday: Happy Easter! Anyone who wanted to see my 13-year-old son wearing anything other than a t-shirt and shorts should have attended the 10 AM Mass at St. Patrick's in Rockville. By 11:30, he was home, out of his shirt and tie, and back in a pair of shorts and a Capitals t-shirt. 16-year-old, on the other hand, has decided that the people deserve to see him in his full splendor, and he is still wearing his crisp white shirt, bowtie, and dress pants. He did make one concession to comfort, exchanging his dress shoes for black Nikes.
Usually when I write daily diary-style entries here, I try to find a theme for the week to unify the whole thing. And this morning, I realized what that theme is. During both of our college visits this week, we encouraged our son to get involved when he starts college, to try new things, and to learn as much as he can. Even if, for example, you have never had to analyze project performance or create reports and spreadsheets, you can learn, and maybe you'll find that that's the thing that you should be doing.
I might need to learn more about SharePoint, too. And although it's true that anyone who appoints me as their SharePoint administrator or project analyst will probably live to regret that decision, I can at least try to help the people who are actually qualified to do those jobs. What's the worst that could happen?
No comments:
Post a Comment