QotD: Do you like your job?

This month I've decided to post every day. Since I don't have enough original things to write about (hence the desertish nature of my blog lately), I've decided to ask a new question every day this month and hope that I get answers. I have questions; you have answers.

Fine, I came up with another question, as I am sitting here at work waiting to go to a meeting with the Head Honcho. Actually, it is a series of related questions.

1) Do you like your job?
2) If so/not, why?
3) Is it the job you saw yourself doing 10 years ago?
4) What is your ideal job, if this one isn't it?

I'll answer my own questions:

1) Do you like your job?
Yes. I actually REALLY like my job. I've been at this job for only 3.5 years and never dread going into work (which I was doing at the end of my time at my last position).

2) If so/not, why?
This job allows (forces) me to learn something new everyday, I work with really smart and interesting people (even a few crazy-funny ones), and I feel that I am advantageously impacting the health of many people. Plus the job comes with really good benefits.

3) Is it the job you saw yourself doing 10 years ago?
No. If you told me I'd be doing what I'm doing and working where I'm working, I'd have laughed in your face. I would've said "I couldn't do that!" Surprisingly, I have been doing it, and doing it pretty well.

4) What is your ideal job, if this one isn't it?
I love books, my biggest vice. I've always had a desire to own a used bookstore. Maybe with an attached coffeeshop. Or be a librarian. Not that I am suited for either of those jobs, mind you. It's just that I lust after being paid to work in a bookish world...

Happy neurosurgeon is a happy patient

Saw the neurosurgeon on Monday. He is pleased with my recovery so far. I am recovering as quickly as he was expecting me to (barring the bonus DVT and PE). The level of back pain is exactly as he expected. He wants me to see the rehab doc and start planning outpatient rehab.

There is only one thing about my recovery that I don't agree with and really can't stand. He expects me to be off work until January. Ummm, no -- can't do that. I'll go totally nuts. But he understands my need to get back to work, being a doctor himself. So I will try to work from home for a couple of hours a day beginning next Monday (12/7). I suspect that my supervisor and coworkers will be happy. I won't reappear at the office until after the new year, but I need to get back to work. Need to. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things...

My first phone call in the new building

So my brand-new office building comes with brand-new phones (and phone numbers). These phones are complicated and have all sorts of bells and whistles. And I mean bells and whistles. We can choose from a multitude of ring tones, including two that go "Are you there?" (0ne male and one female). Who the hell would ever choose that ring? And who the heck thought that one up?

Anyway.

On my way back from a meeting, I stopped by to ask a favor of a coworker (TM). He said fine and that he'd be in my office "in a jiffy." So I came into my office and was looking at my bookshelf (deciding what to put on which shelves). All of a sudden someone shrieked "ARE YOU THERE?" from directly behind me at the top of her lungs. It practically scared the pants off me, and I shrieked. Of course, there was nobody there. TM had snuck into my office while I was at the meeting and changed my phone settings to that stupid ring tone. He waited until I was in the office to call me and heard me shriek from two doors down. He insists he didn't turn the volume up, and I guess I believe him. Maybe. Moral of the story -- don't let the kids play with your telephone...

I told this story to ThePinkThing, who thought it was hilarious. Ha-ha. What is really weird is that she isn't fazed by a phone with a ring tone that says something. When I was a kid, telephones had rotary dials and cell phones were the stuff of Buck Rogers. Need I say more?

Random WTF-ness related to my new building

Random WTF comments/moments:

• To the lady in the green skirt who walked into the building "with" me this morning: If you are going to elbow past me (almost knocking me over) to get in the front door of the building first, please do not turn around and smile at me afterwards. It doesn't make it any better, and I won't smile back.


• Why do the toilets in the new bathrooms douse my behind more effectively than the sink faucets wet my hands? The toilet flush and the sink faucets are automatic. The toilet inevitably flushes at least once while I am sitting on it, and not infrequently twice after I'm done. This is saving water? The faucet sensor is pointed in a direction that must change everyday and makes no sense anyway. I put the soap on my hand then stand there waving my hands under the faucet (feeling like a moron), trying to get the water to turn on. Not infrequently it catches sight of my hands and turns on just as I am moving my hands to a new spot, so it turns right off. Grrrr.


• To the driver of the giant SUV with Virginia FOP tags -- just because you are a member of the Fraternal Order of Police does not mean that it is okay for you to park in a handicapped spot. Why yes, all those dirty looks were meant for you.


• To the people who designed the building -- are you color-blind? My floor is the "green floor". They chose a reasonably nice set of greens, ranging from a dark olive to an unobtrusive lime. But why would you think those colors go with tan and brown speckled carpeting, hmmm? While I suspect you chose the carpet to minimize dirt showing, it still looks weird. And whose idea was the orange floor? Perhaps orange for an entire floor (with that same brown speckled carpeting, mind you) was a bit much...


• And to the people who run the building: if you think that we will refrain from playing Hollywood Squares or Tic-Tac-Toe in our inner atrium office windows, then you're smoking something...


• Why is it that I am not allowed to bring my little digital camera into the building, but I can bring in my cell phone which has a built-in camera? Why? Because I am not on "the camera list", that's why. That literally makes no sense.

But regardless of all of the whining and whinging above -- the building structure overall is great. It feels completely weird to work in a state-of-the-art space which is light and somewhat airy and is a nice combination of future and past (e.g., modern clean lines alongside exposed brick). Even the phone system is cool, although the story about my first incoming phone call is for another day...

Moving Day! (Updated)

My office is relocating today, while I am working from home. I was only responsible for packing up the contents of my personal office. We had to be packed and out of the office by 5 pm yesterday evening, leaving the door unlocked. (If we leave it locked, they won't move our stuff.) Thankfully, I will be getting a new chair at my new office -- this one was evil, uncomfortable, and made the most alarming creaky noises.

We were instructed to label everything that we want the movers to move, including the electronic equipment. So, as you can see from the picture, I slapped a label on everything -- monitor, keyboard, docking station, even the mouse and power cord (my work laptop is here in my house). I even labeled one of my coworkers. Do you think they'll pack him in a box and throw him in the back of the truck? I'll see him at the new (work) digs on Monday, regardless of how he gets there. However, I'm worried that if he stays there too long, the giant virulent (virtual) dust bunny that he appears to be sitting on might eat his brainzz. And then who would do his work? _____________________________
Updated 7/17/2009

Just a quick update to show how moving crates can be used creatively to move items from one office to another... Note that the virulent dust bunny was not transported in the move!