Work

Work has been a bit slow. I guess I expected that somewhat. Every job I’ve started has always begun with stacks and stacks of paper that I needed to read, fill-out, or file away. Company procedures are always fun reading and a required must. Orientation class lasted for 4 hours and that was before I even reported to my boss. They gave me a mound of papers for medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, legal benefits, life insurance, accidental death insurance, long term disability, 401k, pension, and even employee recreational benefits. I’ve spent hours filling out those forms.

I’d have to say, my favorite part was selection of a primary care physician. In essence, this selection says, “Now that you’ve moved 2000 miles away from everything and everyone you know, pick a doctor who you will share your entire medical history with from now until… well… until we say.” That’s a pretty daunting task not unlike walking up to a complete stranger and saying, “Hey, can I tell you all of my very personal history and then ask you for advice?” My approach, instead, was to walk up to strangers at work and ask, “Hey, who do you recommend I tell all my personal history to and then ask for advice.” It seemed to be a little more reasonable, I thought. I did get some good recommendations and that was a start.

I think the end is in sight for all the paperwork. Of course, I’ll get to go through another round in a couple of weeks when I move out of temporary housing and then have to change my address on all of that stuff.

After orientation, I was able to finally report to my actual work location. When I arrived, I was greeted by the department executive assistant, Jenil. She took me on a tour and introduced me to a long list of people that I needed to know and who needed to know me. I should have taken notes! Finally, after picking up some supplies (pens, notepads, folders, staplers… the usual), she then took me to my office. Wow, what a surprise – a corner office, with a door and a window. I was told that it was the largest office in the building. Wow! It's nice. Through the window, I can see the beautiful sunny blue skies of San Diego and the meticulously manicured flowers and shrubs in the garden outside. I noticed that there were two full desk/workstations in the office. I figured I’d be sharing this office with another person – it being so large and all. Then, Jenil says to me, “You can use the second desk for more workspace if you want or we can have the building maintenance guys remove that for you. Whatever you want.” Ok, so I went from a very small cubicle which I shared with another guy to a very large office that I don’t have to share with anyone. Cool! The picture, above, shows the front of the building. The window right behind the tree in the center of the picture is my office. Here’s a picture from the inside. I know, kinda sparce right now but most of my pictures and other things are still in St Louis. Give me some time.

I feel like there are some very high expectations on me at this job. They haven’t been expressed and, so, maybe I’m just putting them on myself, but it adds a bit of pressure. I’m starting to feel stressed trying to live up to those expectations. I really do want to make the absolute most of this position and this opportunity God has given me. My family is going through a lot in this move and being very supportive. I want to make sure it’s all worthwhile by making this job a very good one.

While there is a lot of work to do in the electrical engineering department, it’s hard for me to just jump in to doing it because I need to first understand the projects and the specifications. That’s hard to do because I don’t have access to a lot of the information about these projects. They’re secret. The paper work which has to be approved in order to grant me access won’t be completed for up to 9 months. Yes, months. My boss is trying to get a temporary, interim access for me but even that will take 6 weeks or more. So, mostly, I’m reviewing the designs of others and giving advice. It’s at least something, but I’m really itching to fully engage in being productive. Things are starting to pick up a bit but it's still slow. At least, I’m not writing manuals.

My boss did share with me some of his plans and gave me an idea of the people I’ll be managing. He said that he’s going to spread me pretty thin on a number of different projects to try to move them forward at a reasonable pace. That’ll be good. When I left for July 4th break, he gave me a talk which kinda said, “Have a good break. Enjoy your family. When you get back, it’s going to get really busy.” I can live with that – I think.

Allen