This week has been one flood of a week. Wet and cold, immediately following the best weather possible for the North Texas Irish Festival. It's difficult to imagine a bigger change in the weather from Fri/Sat/Sun to this week starting on Tuesday. The RAIN has come down by the bucket full. The backyard is a marsh zone. Good thing the lawn people came to cut it on Monday before the monsoon season began. However, we're still in a drought, as we're behind on annual rainfall for the last couple of years. Don't ask me though, we don't have sprinklers and our grass manages to live through it. We're frugal that way.
Friday was a good day today. My 3rd day at my new job. Following two long days of concentration during orientation. Today was a breeze. Meeting people, meeting more people, finding my way around the building between red, green and blue zone elevators. I am still a bit confused on how to get around, but it's getting better all the time. The Dr. Pepper machine and snack machine are on the 3rd floor. My department is on the 4th floor. Our offices are on the 5th floor near the blue elevators. I exit the building on sub-level 2 near the green elevators into the parking garage through a tunnel then another big parking garage and down a sidewalk to a tunnel to the train station! It's cryptic, but I have it down now. And today I learned how to get to the green elevator from the blue elevator on sub-level 2 (L2). BOY! That was interesting... one more parking garage to navigate.
The dog and cat have not made peace yet. I hope it will come eventually! More later. CIAO!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
My 1st Day at Work 3/11 and THE DOG & CAT
Wednesday 5:30 a.m. - woke up 2 minutes before my alarm. Tried to take the new doggie out but it was raining and he said heck NO. Ate breakfast, had shower, dressed and did makeup. Put on my walking shoes and a coat (forgot my gloves, hat, scarf, but remembered the umbrella). Took a waterproof messenger bag with extra shoes, water, book to read and papers.
7:00 a.m. arrived at Parker Rd. (taken by a sleepy Chuck) and got on the train immediately. It took off pretty quickly, but I sat near a door. It was a bit chilly. At Forest Lane, a nice man named Phil sat down and we talked all the way to downtown. So the book went back in the briefcase.
7:50 a.m. arrived at Convention center train stop. No idea which way to get to the office except I knew which direction. Asked the 1st guy who was waiting to cross street. He works at my new place and was to be my HR instructor for the orientation . He showed me the cryptic path to get to the office without going outside after the first block or two. Mostly under cover of parking garages and not too cold or wet.
8:40 a.m. the orientation started a little late due to the weather. We got a 10 lb (kidding) packet full of forms and policies & procedures. (Must memorize... kidding!). Our group has about 20-25. Usually they have over 50, but there is a hiring "cooling" as they said. Their budget is tight so they are slowing hiring.
Noon - after having writers cramp from filling out forms and some lecture time about new employee stuff, he let us out for lunch. I walked with two new colleagues a couple blocks to a hamburger joint next to Subway. It was windy and cold outside. The cafeteria is out of commission as the contract was terminated recently... They hope to have a new cafeteria provider some time. All the soda machines were Dr. Pepper products.
1:15 p.m. More info to digest on rules and regs, sexual harrassment prevention, workplace violence prevention and avoiding breaking the rules and reg.s ... by playing a odd game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. A chat about Fair Housing. And various other topics on Wed. afternoon. A few more papers to fill out.
Homework - bring a voided check for direct deposit setup. Decide which health plan that I want... one of their's or stick with a TI plan. I'm eligible for retiree medical but it's expensive. The medical plans are high deductible (3000) and expensive (3-4 times cost of my old plan) and provider isn't as good as BCBS. Chuck and I discuss over some fish at Red Lobster.
11 p.m. past my bedtime, drag dog into rain, he says F U and goes back inside. I decide to let him pee on the carpet! To bed.... perchance to NOT DREAM about the dog and cat trying to kill each other (it's possible).
Thursday 3:45 a.m. got up because I can't sleep any more... too excited about the new job and dog is hogging the bed.
Seamus (Shay-mus) is a puppy definitely. He thinks I'm his new mother.... and can't stand to be in my room without me. He follows me everywhere. Chuck even brought him to the train station to pick me up. He is afraid so far to jump up into the car backseat, but can be persuaded to jump down by pulling his leash. He's a doll except for the BARKING and Growling at the CAT. She's a bit ticked off at us, and is now living in a kitchen cabinet during the day when Seamus is at large in the house. Last night, I put him in my room with Chuck on the computer... and found her. I apologized profusely and told her it was all my fault. She didn't scratch me and is considering being nice to me again... in a year or two. But asked that the dog leave immediately. I told her that the family has one new member now... and she will have to adjust. She gave me the LOOK and turned her back to go to her liter box... More later.
7:00 a.m. arrived at Parker Rd. (taken by a sleepy Chuck) and got on the train immediately. It took off pretty quickly, but I sat near a door. It was a bit chilly. At Forest Lane, a nice man named Phil sat down and we talked all the way to downtown. So the book went back in the briefcase.
7:50 a.m. arrived at Convention center train stop. No idea which way to get to the office except I knew which direction. Asked the 1st guy who was waiting to cross street. He works at my new place and was to be my HR instructor for the orientation . He showed me the cryptic path to get to the office without going outside after the first block or two. Mostly under cover of parking garages and not too cold or wet.
8:40 a.m. the orientation started a little late due to the weather. We got a 10 lb (kidding) packet full of forms and policies & procedures. (Must memorize... kidding!). Our group has about 20-25. Usually they have over 50, but there is a hiring "cooling" as they said. Their budget is tight so they are slowing hiring.
Noon - after having writers cramp from filling out forms and some lecture time about new employee stuff, he let us out for lunch. I walked with two new colleagues a couple blocks to a hamburger joint next to Subway. It was windy and cold outside. The cafeteria is out of commission as the contract was terminated recently... They hope to have a new cafeteria provider some time. All the soda machines were Dr. Pepper products.
1:15 p.m. More info to digest on rules and regs, sexual harrassment prevention, workplace violence prevention and avoiding breaking the rules and reg.s ... by playing a odd game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. A chat about Fair Housing. And various other topics on Wed. afternoon. A few more papers to fill out.
Homework - bring a voided check for direct deposit setup. Decide which health plan that I want... one of their's or stick with a TI plan. I'm eligible for retiree medical but it's expensive. The medical plans are high deductible (3000) and expensive (3-4 times cost of my old plan) and provider isn't as good as BCBS. Chuck and I discuss over some fish at Red Lobster.
11 p.m. past my bedtime, drag dog into rain, he says F U and goes back inside. I decide to let him pee on the carpet! To bed.... perchance to NOT DREAM about the dog and cat trying to kill each other (it's possible).
Thursday 3:45 a.m. got up because I can't sleep any more... too excited about the new job and dog is hogging the bed.
Seamus (Shay-mus) is a puppy definitely. He thinks I'm his new mother.... and can't stand to be in my room without me. He follows me everywhere. Chuck even brought him to the train station to pick me up. He is afraid so far to jump up into the car backseat, but can be persuaded to jump down by pulling his leash. He's a doll except for the BARKING and Growling at the CAT. She's a bit ticked off at us, and is now living in a kitchen cabinet during the day when Seamus is at large in the house. Last night, I put him in my room with Chuck on the computer... and found her. I apologized profusely and told her it was all my fault. She didn't scratch me and is considering being nice to me again... in a year or two. But asked that the dog leave immediately. I told her that the family has one new member now... and she will have to adjust. She gave me the LOOK and turned her back to go to her liter box... More later.
Monday, February 23, 2009
I have Accepted the Offer!
I just sent off my email to my new supervisor and his manager for the position entitled Programmer Analyst / Project Manager. It's rather vague, but it's actually a SAP Configuration Analyst job. I know that will be GREEK to my readers so here's some definitions.
SAP = a company in Germany that has celebrity spokesperson in ads in the U.S. They have a system which is an enterprise application suite.
Enterprise application suite = everything from financials to sales and distribution to purchasing systems. That's about as simple as I can get it.
Financials is the General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Capital Assets.
Sales supports the functions needed to sell products and services and also to ship products to the customers and/or distributors.
Purchasing supports the functions needed to purchase items or services from vendors (other companies).
SAP = a company in Germany that has celebrity spokesperson in ads in the U.S. They have a system which is an enterprise application suite.
Enterprise application suite = everything from financials to sales and distribution to purchasing systems. That's about as simple as I can get it.
Financials is the General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Capital Assets.
Sales supports the functions needed to sell products and services and also to ship products to the customers and/or distributors.
Purchasing supports the functions needed to purchase items or services from vendors (other companies).
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Contemplating Employment
I have a JOB OFFER! I picked up the letter on Friday. I have to have my FINGERPRINTS taken by the Dallas police... a new experience for me (unlike my sister). They will be doing a background check and maybe a credit check. Can my overabundance of debt prevent me from getting a job??? I hope not...
Contemplating commuting. We did a dry run yesterday on DART Light Rail from Plano to the Dallas downtown stop that I would be taking. It look 45 minutes. Add another 20 minutes to walk from the train stop to the office. That's over 1 hour each way. I will have to get up EARLY! And we all know how bright and cheerful I am in the morning. Add to that having 1 working vehicle... so Chuck will have to get up EARLY too and drive me to the train station. FUN!!!
Somehow, it doesn't seem so bad. Unemployment vs. Inconvenience... I'll take the later. I will learn to get up earlier, go to bed earlier and enjoy having myself chauffeured by DART down to my office. I'll load up my iPod with tunes and bring along a book or magazine to read. Talk about having two hours to relax! It will be so much fun.... oh well, maybe not fun, but I'll try to enjoy those 2 hours. And remember I really did have a cushy job... I guess Diane was RIGHT!
Contemplating commuting. We did a dry run yesterday on DART Light Rail from Plano to the Dallas downtown stop that I would be taking. It look 45 minutes. Add another 20 minutes to walk from the train stop to the office. That's over 1 hour each way. I will have to get up EARLY! And we all know how bright and cheerful I am in the morning. Add to that having 1 working vehicle... so Chuck will have to get up EARLY too and drive me to the train station. FUN!!!
Somehow, it doesn't seem so bad. Unemployment vs. Inconvenience... I'll take the later. I will learn to get up earlier, go to bed earlier and enjoy having myself chauffeured by DART down to my office. I'll load up my iPod with tunes and bring along a book or magazine to read. Talk about having two hours to relax! It will be so much fun.... oh well, maybe not fun, but I'll try to enjoy those 2 hours. And remember I really did have a cushy job... I guess Diane was RIGHT!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friends are the Best
I've had some really nice emails and phone calls from my friends. Lots of sympathy about my job loss. Today one of my BFFs bought me lunch. Two friends came to lunch and both wanted details about my "package" and shared info about what was happening at my former office. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Bits of information keep popping up. The names of people no longer there. The new jobs that people have been slotted into. I'm not sure that I would like working there any more. It seems that people have been haphazardly tossed about into different teams and positions like so many mix and match Legos. The new reality of corporate IT hell. IT wasn't the only area with major cuts. The denizens of bldg 2 who produced a brilliant product that hasn't totally worked out suffered the same or worse cuts than bldg 1. That's just the location that I worked at. There are many more buildings on the sites in Dallas proper.
I'm getting used to being an outsider (to my former company). It's different but the stress and anxiety of wondering what was going to happen and when have all vanished. I'm hopeful that my job situation will work out for the best. I'm not one of those people who say, "Everything happens for a reason." I don't believe in that theory of life. I guess I'm more of the school of chaos theory. There is no such thing as fate or good/bad/mysterious reasons for things to happen. We make our own way in the world. The future happens one day at a time. It's up to me to determine my course of action. I can do it. I'm a survivor and veteran of many crisis' past. So, I'm optimistic that I'll learn some new lessons along the way and somehow things will get better. And I'll be happy that I have friends who care!!!!
I'm getting used to being an outsider (to my former company). It's different but the stress and anxiety of wondering what was going to happen and when have all vanished. I'm hopeful that my job situation will work out for the best. I'm not one of those people who say, "Everything happens for a reason." I don't believe in that theory of life. I guess I'm more of the school of chaos theory. There is no such thing as fate or good/bad/mysterious reasons for things to happen. We make our own way in the world. The future happens one day at a time. It's up to me to determine my course of action. I can do it. I'm a survivor and veteran of many crisis' past. So, I'm optimistic that I'll learn some new lessons along the way and somehow things will get better. And I'll be happy that I have friends who care!!!!
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