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So How Is The New Job?

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So how is the new job? That is the question that is asked by almost everyone I know. It has been defining my existence for the past 2 weeks. Part of the reason I left my last job was that it was consuming too much of my personal time. The simple fact is I don’t have a good answer to that question yet. I have first impressions, and I do believe that first impressions are very important. The simple fact is I cannot make any judgments yet since I am not yet fully doing the job I was hired for. Lets face it I have said before that most new hires almost anywhere take up to 3 months to settle in and become a productive member of any team. This week I have gotten up to speed on allot of stuff, and even took the lead on some projects that needed work. It is just too early to give a truthful answer to that question. For now lets just say that I think things are moving in the right direction. Lets hope it stays that way.

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Drinks with Friends

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I was able to go out and have a few drinks with Jayson and Danny after work today. I swung by Jayson’s office. Very nice. He really upgraded from our last place. We ended up at the Playwrite. We drank and ended up just drinking at the bar. We talked, and then Danny was able to get away from his new job and then we all drank and talked. It has only been 2 1/2 weeks since we all worked together but allot has been going on so it was nice to catch up.

Uncle Sam’s Money

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I got my tax’s done the other day. I originally had an appointment next week but since I am starting a new job I needed to reschedule. This is the first time in a while that I paid to have the tax’s done. I used to do them myself online, but after going to this place I am glad I went. I am extremely happy with my return. Now the only question is what toy can I buy with the refund and still have money to put away into savings?

Sort of Lazy Day

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Not much going on at work again today. I got in around noon. Then went to lunch with Rob and James. We hit the outback. It was good. Then I went back and cleaned up my office a bit. I then went out and had my Mac Mini’s memory upgraded. Since Jay and I upgraded my old one I could probably get through the upgrade myself but I read that the new Intel Mini’s are even harder to upgrade since you have to remove the drives to access the memory slot. For the $50 they charged to do the install it was worth it. Only took like 30 minutes for the whole thing.

After the upgrade I went back to the office and carried a bunch of my remaining stuff home. Man, you can accumulate allot of crap over 5+ years somewhere.

Half Day With The Family

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I took the afternoon and went out to my parents. I wanted to see them since I don’t normally spend enough time with them, and I had an other things I needed to do in their neighborhood. I needed to hit my safe deposit box and get my ID (Social Security Card) so I can have it for my W-2 paper work when I start my new job next week.

Since it was my sisters birthday yesterday we ended up going back towards her place for dinner. We picked up Morgan and Zack from the Nanny and meet my sister at the restaurant. We had a good dinner. Morgan was behaving most of the time and was being friendly. I like it when I get hugs and kisses without having to ask for them. Zack just doesn’t like to sit still. He is so funny and my mom is right he has such a personality.

Overall a good day. My only problem is that even without having to get up early for work I still couldn’t sleep. This is now 3 weeks and counting were I am having sleeping issues. With all the stress related to work, the job search, and now waiting to start a new job I am not surprised. I just thought after I gave my notice and I had a job lined up I would be able to sleep a bit better. I haven’t been. I think I am just anxious to get to my last day, and then actually start my new position. There are lots of unknowns around starting a new job, so I guess I am still stressing about that. Only 7 more days to go and hopefully I can sleep well.

And The Band Played On

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That is what they said of the band on the titanic as the ship sank. I cannot fathom why. I understand the logic that people use when trying to explain it, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. I bring that up because I get the same feeling when I think about my current employer. It seems like people are delusional about how things are. Moral is fine I heard someone in a key position say. I guess he was in the band, because 5 people giving notice in less than two weeks time out of an office of 60 doesn’t give the air of great moral.

I wish them luck. Maybe I am over reacting, but all my friends and people I trust don’t seem to think so.

Yesterday

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My exit interview was interesting. I spoke my mind, and HR took it all in. Surprisingly (or not) I hear that my feelings are not only my own. I know the guys in my group feel the same way, but it appears that others that have left may have eluded to similar issues.

Yesterday afternoon turned out pretty much like I thought it would. Jayson ended up coming with me to see Jeff. I ended up seeing Jeff, David, Nick, Jeffery, and others. It was weird to see so many people who used to work at Jeff’s company return to it. I think Lefty and I are the only ones that haven’t returned. David, Jeff, Jay and I went to Pete’s Tavern for lunch. It was nice to catch up with them.

Plan for the Day

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My exit interview is in a little while. I am not leaving for over a week, but I was hoping to get some time off next week so I am doing it now. After that I am off to lunch with an old friend (and old boss) Jeff. I am going to meet him down by his office. It is usually too long between when we get together so I am looking forward to lunch.

Other than those plans, I am not sure what the day has in store for me yet.

The Brewery

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After work yesterday a few of us headed over to the brewery in Union Square for some drinks and food. We meet up with John, Mickey, and Tom and had an overall good evening. John is trying to convince most of us to goto a poker tournament on super bowl sunday out on the island. I am still skeptical about the trip. Originally the buy in was high and I am not a fan of traveling way out onto the island if I can avoid it. I am waiting to see what the buy in will be for real before I make a decision.

Even-though I only had 2 drinks (in my defense they were rather large mixed drinks, but I know I am a light weight when it comes to drinking) I was pretty buzzed last night. I had my typical after drinking restless sleeping last night. I set my alarm for later than normal but still got up around my regular time since I was not able to sleep well most of the night.

Work Ethic

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Here I am sitting at work with 7 more business days until I leave for my new job. I am winding down everything I have been doing, and answering questions from everyone who asks about this or that. Since others in my group are leaving soon we are all in the same boat. You would think that we would be the last to show up to work each day and the first to leave in the evening. Scary thing is that we are not. Take yesterday for example. Monday night I asked myself why I was getting up so early to goto the office normal time (for me at least) when 3/4 of the development team staff get in after 10AM. So I set my alarm for an hour later than normal. I figured I would sleep in a bit and maybe get some stuff done at home before heading into work. I wasn’t that busy on Monday anyway. Well even with getting up an hour later and puttering around my apartment for a while I still only came to work at 10AM. The funny thing was I walked in with a developer who ALWAYS does that. When I got to work at 10AM at least half the dev staff still wasn’t in the office. I just don’t get it. Even if these people are working allot at home (tend to doubt it though) the perception this type of work ethic gives off is terrible to everyone else. Is it me? Others in my groups say the same thing, so I don’t think it is me being overly sensitive.

If you are asking, hey maybe these guys work late so they can come in late. That is what I told myself for a while. But when my team comes into work on time every day and over half of them stay much later than any of their development counterparts you get to wonder what are these people doing? I would like a 10:30 to 6PM (6:30 maybe) job with an hour lunch built in. That doesn’t account for the playing with remote control cars or other stuff people do to waste time throughout the day. No wonder why some departments keep needing to hire more staff.

On the plus side as I said at the beginning of this post I only have 7 more business days to go. My exit interview is tomorrow with HR. I will be honest when asked questions, so it will be interesting.

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