Saturday, February 17, 2007

not a bad first week (!)

i've had many first weeks of work, and none could compare to this one. you know the drill: show up, complete some paperwork, wait for your computer, sit around, go to a meeting, wait for your computer, sit around, wait some more, get lost trying to find a conference room, and before you know it, friday is around the corner and you just spent 5 days being confused, bored, and overwhelmed.

not this lady.

my first day was classic new kid on the block: orientation, paperwork, tours. my second day started at 9:00 with me getting down to bidness and actually working. it was great!

allow me to gush about what makes this place special:
1. the people
2. the enthusiasm
3. the generosity
4. the focus on doing the right thing
5. the transparency that makes it clear people are psyched to be a part of it

also refreshing is the new experience of being a full time employee. this job marks the first time i was hired without an interval of temporary employment, and the difference is remarkable. my new colleagues are working hard to establish a connection, a community, and a comfort zone. i have a mentor to show me the ropes and a boss who has already exhibited signs of being a skilled advocate--a crucial and often absent skill in a manager. i'm learning a lot, i have a healthy dose of autonomy, and THREE lunch dates in my 4-day week next week!

like i said, it went okay :) stay tuned for future weeks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

sarah-
i learned a hard lesson last week. actually, i learned 2 hard lessons last week. lesson #1: i really too much on technology to remember things i should be writing down. lesson #2: do not give your hard drive to well-intentioned neighbors.
our computer became infected. our retired neighbor has a lot of free time and an apparent knowledge of computers. so when he offered to take a look we agreed. when he asked to take the hard drive with him, we didn't complain. after all, we just wanted it fixed-2 days of no internet access had nearly cut us off from the outside world ! when he came back the next day to tell us the severity of the problem i was thinking, "whew, glad i'm not paying for this". when he mentioned that he was worried about messing with it because of all the pictures i said, "don't worry, i burned them to disk when the problem started". when he returned with my hard drive the next day, he told me he wiped the old hard drive out and restored something...blah blah blah was all i heard after wiped out. panic set in-sure, i burned the pictures. but i hadn't double checked them and i had a bad feeling. you know that stomach sinking feeling? like-did i double check the pictures were there? what else did he WIPE OUT? when i booted up and discovered the pictures were all gone, my heart sank. when i checked the disks i had burned i was inconsolable. the pics weren't there. 6 months of them that i had not developed. kenzie's first day of school, an incredible hiking trip.....the list is endless. the pictures are gone. as well as my email list, my favorites list-everything.
the next day i dropped my cell phone and it shattered. now i have lost all of the phone numbers it contained.
thank goodness for your blog-i may have lost you for weeks! please send me all your "deets"!
take care sarah-and beware of technology dependence!

sarah said...

ahhhh pattie! dang, i'm so sorry about your technology woes. i didn't expect you to be so happy about my blog! i'm glad i can be the stable technology in your world, p.

tip: check out flickr as a place to share and back up your photos. you can make them private for some, public for others. check it out!