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Jan. 13th, 2009 03:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaRight. So. A week and a bit into my new job = so far so good. They are easing me into it really gently, so far – but that isn't going to last! It is already clear that once I am settled in and the full workload hits, it is going to be a pretty intense and demanding job. I've got meetings – and training courses – starting to stack up already, overlapping, having to be prioritised and re-arranged... My calendar has never been so well used. Better to be busy than bored, though!
The marvellous irony of working in an IT department has been evident from the start:-
Day One: arrived to find note on my PC announcing that it was due to be replaced. Phone didn't work and email account had been set up on the wrong system. Took all day to get these corrected.
Day Two: replacement PC arrived. Office software (basic stuff like Word and Access) failed to install correctly after being imaged across. Had to get the little bloke back up with an actual CD to get it working properly.
Week One: staff log-in did not have correct permissions; it took until yesterday to get this sorted out, a full working week.
And so on. I still can't get access to the shared email account and that's after several people have tried to resolve the permissions. Fun!
I'm not as exhausted as I was when I started at Legal & General, though. That was really intensive training after months of unemployment, a real shock to the system. This is starting slower, plus I already had that experience to re-acquaint me with the demands of the working life. *G* Still feel a bit like Theseus in the labyrinth, but I've got my key locations and routes all worked out now, at least, and the rest will come with time.
The cat is a little disgruntled about me being out all day and wants lots of love and attention every night when I get home, which seems fair enough to me, although I suspect she is just trying it on as all cats love nothing better than to just lie around sleeping all day. She goes out to play for a couple of hours before I leave every morning, and seems happy enough with that. Not that she went out at all yesterday – I opened the window for her, but it was raining quite heavily. She stuck her nose out, whimpered and ran back inside! Wimp.
It'll all be different when my move finally happens. Poppy won't know herself with a catflap giving her unprecedented freedom!
Speaking of The Move...still slow going at the New House. But the bulk of the upstairs is done now, which is promising. Current working estimate is sometime around Easter. We'll see. In the meantime, I am drawing up a list of all the things I am going to need to invest in. New vacuum cleaner (mine has a great big hole in the tube, and gaffer tape only works as a stopgap fix for so long). New iron (ditto - the bottom keeps falling off ever since Poppy knocked it off the shelf where it used to live). New computer chair (mine is about 15 years old and falling apart). And so on!
I had Small staying over last weekend. She had Plans, and kept updating me on them all the week beforehand. Mostly these Plans revolved around going into town shopping – she had Christmas money to spend and needed a decent outfit for our cousin's wedding in early March. See, Small wears nothing but tracksuits and miscellaneous other sports gear, but had been persuaded that this would not be appropriate for a wedding. We compromised on smart jeans with a long dress-top – we found the most gorgeous top for her to wear, all-over tassels, like something straight out of the roaring Twenties. She fell in love on sight, and we even found the perfect little jacket to go with. Sorted. The hours and hours of wandering from shop to shop persuading her to try stuff on almost felt worthwhile!
The rest of her Plans revolved around having lunch in a restaurant and going to the cinema to see Bride Wars. The film was...okay, I suppose. Small enjoyed it because she loves slapstick comedies and it had a happy ending. I was mostly distracted by thinking how Kate Hudson gets to look more and more like her mother the older she gets. Didn't find any of the characters especially likeable – obnoxious, more like – and it felt very by-the-numbers, churned out on the conveyer-belt of Hollywood. But it was okay. Not great, but could have been worse.
We got into town about 9am. Didn't get home till 4.30pm. It was a loooooong, tiring day! Fun, though. Small wants to do it again next time she stays over...but without all the trying on of clothes this time!
Also last week, one of my closest friends, H, who was at uni with me way back in the dim and distant mists of time, upped sticks and moved to Liverpool. We'd drifted apart a bit in recent years, what with the demands of work and General Life and whatnot, but had been really close all through uni and thereafter. I feel oddly bereft, just a little bit. It's the end of an era! All my friends are starting to scatter. Still, what better excuse for a weekend break in Liverpool, once I have a bit of money in the bank again!
And I think I have waffled on long enough now.
The marvellous irony of working in an IT department has been evident from the start:-
Day One: arrived to find note on my PC announcing that it was due to be replaced. Phone didn't work and email account had been set up on the wrong system. Took all day to get these corrected.
Day Two: replacement PC arrived. Office software (basic stuff like Word and Access) failed to install correctly after being imaged across. Had to get the little bloke back up with an actual CD to get it working properly.
Week One: staff log-in did not have correct permissions; it took until yesterday to get this sorted out, a full working week.
And so on. I still can't get access to the shared email account and that's after several people have tried to resolve the permissions. Fun!
I'm not as exhausted as I was when I started at Legal & General, though. That was really intensive training after months of unemployment, a real shock to the system. This is starting slower, plus I already had that experience to re-acquaint me with the demands of the working life. *G* Still feel a bit like Theseus in the labyrinth, but I've got my key locations and routes all worked out now, at least, and the rest will come with time.
The cat is a little disgruntled about me being out all day and wants lots of love and attention every night when I get home, which seems fair enough to me, although I suspect she is just trying it on as all cats love nothing better than to just lie around sleeping all day. She goes out to play for a couple of hours before I leave every morning, and seems happy enough with that. Not that she went out at all yesterday – I opened the window for her, but it was raining quite heavily. She stuck her nose out, whimpered and ran back inside! Wimp.
It'll all be different when my move finally happens. Poppy won't know herself with a catflap giving her unprecedented freedom!
Speaking of The Move...still slow going at the New House. But the bulk of the upstairs is done now, which is promising. Current working estimate is sometime around Easter. We'll see. In the meantime, I am drawing up a list of all the things I am going to need to invest in. New vacuum cleaner (mine has a great big hole in the tube, and gaffer tape only works as a stopgap fix for so long). New iron (ditto - the bottom keeps falling off ever since Poppy knocked it off the shelf where it used to live). New computer chair (mine is about 15 years old and falling apart). And so on!
I had Small staying over last weekend. She had Plans, and kept updating me on them all the week beforehand. Mostly these Plans revolved around going into town shopping – she had Christmas money to spend and needed a decent outfit for our cousin's wedding in early March. See, Small wears nothing but tracksuits and miscellaneous other sports gear, but had been persuaded that this would not be appropriate for a wedding. We compromised on smart jeans with a long dress-top – we found the most gorgeous top for her to wear, all-over tassels, like something straight out of the roaring Twenties. She fell in love on sight, and we even found the perfect little jacket to go with. Sorted. The hours and hours of wandering from shop to shop persuading her to try stuff on almost felt worthwhile!
The rest of her Plans revolved around having lunch in a restaurant and going to the cinema to see Bride Wars. The film was...okay, I suppose. Small enjoyed it because she loves slapstick comedies and it had a happy ending. I was mostly distracted by thinking how Kate Hudson gets to look more and more like her mother the older she gets. Didn't find any of the characters especially likeable – obnoxious, more like – and it felt very by-the-numbers, churned out on the conveyer-belt of Hollywood. But it was okay. Not great, but could have been worse.
We got into town about 9am. Didn't get home till 4.30pm. It was a loooooong, tiring day! Fun, though. Small wants to do it again next time she stays over...but without all the trying on of clothes this time!
Also last week, one of my closest friends, H, who was at uni with me way back in the dim and distant mists of time, upped sticks and moved to Liverpool. We'd drifted apart a bit in recent years, what with the demands of work and General Life and whatnot, but had been really close all through uni and thereafter. I feel oddly bereft, just a little bit. It's the end of an era! All my friends are starting to scatter. Still, what better excuse for a weekend break in Liverpool, once I have a bit of money in the bank again!
And I think I have waffled on long enough now.
