A Jon Is A Jon Is A Jon

Today wasn’t too much more eventful than yesterday. I got an e-mail address, but it won’t actually exist on the Exchange server until tomorrow.
I also got an employee ID, which meant that IT was able to hook me up with a laptop, docking station, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a security token which allows me to log in to the VPN.
As far as any actual work, I basically just sat on a couple of conference calls so that I could be introduced to the other participants, though I didn’t actually contribute much of anything to the discussion.
Today was the last day for Nita, the person I’m replacing, who is moving to another group. When I was initially contacted about the position, it had been their intention to have me replace someone else who had left and have me work with Nita, but then she got the other job, so I ended up being her replacement, and they’re not able to backfill the other open position, so I’ll be flying solo. Nita will be available to help me out and answer questions while I get my footing, though.
However, she did move out of the cubicle and into her new digs this afternoon, so the cubicle is now all mine.
It’s nothing fancy – if you’ve seen one cubicle you’ve seen them all – but it does have a good location, as it’s close to the elevators and the restroom.
Our boss took our team out to lunch today for a “Farewell Nita/Welcome aboard Jon” kind of thing.
I’ve been doing what I can to forego the usual settling in period and to just skip to being the comfortable and relaxed version of Jon – to whatever extent I’m capable of being comfortable and relaxed, at least.
I’m not sure how well it’s working. The problem with making the leap is that without taking some time to read people and learn to gauge their responses, I run the risk of being a little too “Jon,” which is to say snarky and sarcastic, and not knowing how well that’s going to fly. Even when it’s restrained, my sense of humor can be…off-putting, so I’m still trying to be a little bit careful, and the fact of the matter is that I’m just not that good at things like small talk, or interacting with groups of three or more people.
As for the lunch, I was sort of the odd man out, as the rest of them were talking about people and events that I have no familiarity with, so it was difficult to join in, though, again, even under the best of circumstances I don’t do that well in group settings.
So we’ll see, I guess. So far everyone has been pretty nice, though they seem to be demonstrating the general lack of interest in finding out things about me that I so often encounter. I mean, nobody really asks any questions or makes an effort to have a real conversation with me the way that it seems to me that they ought to, or would if they were dealing with someone else. I don’t know, it just seems to me that when I’m among the entrenched I make a little more effort to get to know the new guy than the entrenched make to get to know me when I’m the new guy, which strikes me as a little odd. I mean, I’m the anti-social one, yet I make more of an effort to be sociable than normal people ever seem to.
But whatever; maybe that’s just a misperception – or misconception – on my part.
So far I haven’t encountered anyone who’s especially hot, though it’s not like that really matters.
I was tired last night so I went to bed about an hour earlier than I had on Tuesday night, but it didn’t do me any good, as I ended up waking up an hour earlier this morning than I did yesterday.
Today’s commute took quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, as I didn’t take the Greenway in. It’s just too expensive to take the Greenway, though, so I guess I’m going to have to learn to put up with the aggravation. I may just start going in even earlier to avoid some of the traffic. My boss is, apparently, pretty flexible about that sort of thing.
As I’ve mentioned many times, the whole five day work week thing will be a big adjustment. I mean, only two days off? WTF? Are we living in Soviet Russia all of a sudden?
But I’ll manage, I guess.
As I was driving home today it occurred to me that there’s really no point in getting anxious about how people are going to react to me or how well-equipped I am to do the job because, after all, I’m Jon. I just do what I can and things work out however they’re going to work out, so there’s really no point in getting too worked up about anything.

Brief Update

I’m writing this in a Panera Bread (free Wi-Fi), as I still won’t have Internet for a week.
Not too much going on; the house is actually starting to look like a person lives there rather than a bunch of boxes.
I bought a microwave, which I already hate because it has all of these arcane methods for achieving the simplest tasks (setting the clock, even with the instructions, was like deciphering hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone).
Still, I have my kitchen pretty set up the way I want it. The living room needs work (and more furniture), and every other room just generally seems to need more stuff.
While I’m here I’m also trying to download some TV shows I missed. Looks like the connection is a little too slow for me to download more than one without sitting here forever.
Beyond not wanting to loiter, I have more stuff to do with my afternoon.
This morning I had to hit the DMV to get a new copy of my registration so that I can get my parking sticker from the HOA and have my car not get towed. I also had to get a Leesburg sticker, as apparently now that I’ve moved a half a mile I have to pay property tax on my car to Leesburg in addition to the tax I have to pay Loudoun County.
The DMV was remarkably painless, though based on her performance I would guess that the person who helped me hadn’t been working there long.
When she gave me my new registration card, she’d apparently grabbed someone else’s from the printer as well. As I gave it back to her she looked at me like I was retarded, saying, “That’s your new one. That’s what you wanted.” I said, “No, this one is my new one. The one I’m handing you belongs to someone else.” When that idea registered in her mind, she said, accusingly, “Where did you get this?” I was going to say, “Well, while you were standing there looking at me, I leaped over the counter, grabbed this from the printer, and came back here faster than you could see, just so that I could give it to you and baffle you.”
Of course I didn’t’, and the other DMV drone who needed it came over and took it from her.
While I was there I figured I might as well get a new license rather than just carry around the card with my new address that I’d gotten in the mail after I’d changed my address at the DMV Web site. If my brain had been working, I would have gone to the DMV after I got my haircut today, and I would have worn a different shirt, as I’m not crazy about the one I was wearing. Of course, I felt better about my shirt when I saw the dork with the orange pullover getting his picture taken.
After the DMV and City Hall trips, I got my hair cut and then went grocery shopping. I ended up stuck in line behind a family that bought $578 worth of groceries. That’s $513 more than I spent, and I actually spend quite a bit more than usual, as I was doing some stocking up.
And now here I am stretching out eating a scone so that I can justify sitting here and using up bandwidth.
(About 15 minutes to go on the download.)
And that brings you pretty much up to date.