(Cute new desk decoration)
I know — I went back to work and promptly disappeared for a week, right? Sorry about that. Getting used to a new schedule that doesn’t involve me being at home all day is going to take some getting used to…
Being back in the office on Thursday and Friday was all well and good. I didn’t get much done — other than stare at the 1000+ unread messages that remained in my inbox even AFTER deleting all the obviously unneeded items — but I expected that. The weekend arrived, and I patted myself on the back for two successful days. And then? On Sunday night I realized I had to go back on Monday…and Tuesday…and every day from now on. Which means life just changed in another big way.
Things that have changed at work in the last 3 months:
- Due to budget cuts, we now get to take out our own trash, our bathrooms only get cleaned once a week, and the floors get cleaned once a year.
- Due to budget cuts, they permanently closed one of the four entrance gates into JSC, which means I now get to spend an extra 5 minutes sitting on the road in a line of cars waiting to get in the main gate.
- One manager left and a new one arrived. Not in my direct line of management, but one that I work with and present to on a regular basis. I haven’t met the new guy yet.
- One group member who was on extended telework is now moving back to Houston. It’ll be nice to have her around again!
- We found out that my division is moving to a new building in December. It was supposed to be a temporary move while the renovated our current building, but somehow it’s now a permanent move. There are many pros and cons to this. The new building is not just new-to-us — it is literally new, built in 2010 I think. On the plus side, this means it doesn’t have the nasty beige walls, poor lighting and decrepit office furniture. But we’ve already heard complaints from the building’s most recent occupants that the building is loud and lacks privacy (both due to the fact that it’s all cubicles) and that the climate control system sucks.
- My desk is still a mess. No need to worry about that anymore since I’ll be packing it all up in a couple months for the move anyway!
- The wifi network is still so restricted that if there are more than about 10 people trying to use the same hotspot, someone gets booted. I made the mistake this morning of being one of the last people to arrive to a meeting in a large conference room. Yep, no wifi!
- My coworkers are still awesome! And that’s really the most important thing of all.
