Wow. So much to say about new job. First, there was the headline-making news of dead birds found on Congress. The City of Austin/other disaster people blocked off Congress Avenue from the Capitol to the bridge and evacuated all the buildings along the road and one block east and west. That block included my building. I was on my way to work on Monday, my very first day, when I heard on the radio something about dead birds and Congress being evacuated. I was very confused. I turned/tried to turn onto Congress and was confronted with police tape, people in hazmat suits, and every news crew imaginable. Right then my boss called and told me where to meet her, in another building, also owned by the company. I thought I was going to get the morning off but oh no. So I weave my way around the maze that is downtown Austin, with its blocked-off streets and its one-way streets and its confused people trying to get to work and I find the parking and the building and my boss is waiting for me in the lobby. From there it is a whirlwind of meeting people whose names I won't remember for several tries, meetings about what we do (still not sure what we do), setting up my benefits and life insurance and beneficiaries and parking and paycheck profile and getting my ID badge (so cool, and I have to wear it every where I go, so excited about that). It was madness. Then it was lunch time, and I just went home because we still couldn't get into our building and I had no where else to eat. It was nice. I can make it home in about 10 minutes. I ate, took care of some stuff, surfed the web, and then went back to work. All on my lunch break. Sweet. Then the afternoon was full of meetings and I don't even know what. We were allowed back into our "contaminated" office after about 1:45pm. I finally got to see where I will be working.
I don't have my own office; I have an officemate named Erin. She's a bit older, middle-aged, and she seems really nice. She likes to run and she reads and listens to NPR. I think we're going to get along well. I have a pretty nice view and my own little cube, in the back part of the office that we share. I have a brand-spanking-new computer with a new keyboard and a wireless mouse and, get this, DUAL MONITORS, one of which is a 20"! How badass is that! Everyone in the whole office has dual monitors for their computers. Not sure what for but hey, sounds good to me. N was very jealous when I told him about my computer.
So that is the brief yet rambling story of my first day. The end.
