Life on My New Planet

I started my new job Tuesday. So far I only have one reaction: I love it here. The ship has landed. I am home.

Yesterday I arranged myself in my new cubical. A cube! How exciting! Since starting at VCU 9 years ago I have moved from job to job and always had my own office. Now, I have a cubical. So does my boss, and my boss's boss. I have come to understand that in the techy world we all have cubicles. And my new cube is magnificent. A large clean workspace. One wall made of white board backing. Two built in bookshelves, and my own locker area. I also have a trash can and a recycling can that are emptied every night. At most VCU offices the trash cans are emptied once a week.

My monitor is enormous, I unpacked it yesterday in the same way Nigella Lawson might unpack a sleeve of butter. My computer came in this morning, sexy gorgeous beast of a computer. Connecting the apple monitor to the apple laptop is like pouring honey into milk. Together they form the most beautiful miracle since the birth of my daughters.

Yesterday was my first staff meeting experience. 9 people. I should say 8 men and me. The only girl. Excuse me, woman. Let me introduce the ones I remember.

Don Hu - The work horse/guru of the crowd. Speaks english but I can't understand a darned thing he says. When watching President Bush give a speech he seems really entertained. Not sure what this means yet. I will keep you posted.

Jim (aka Boss) - Smiles a lot. Sandwiches thoughts between anecdotes. For instance: "This friend of mine sells foam to spray on military tents in Iraq which would cut the energy costs by 95%. Make sure you call Tim about that glitch in the LDAP system. I golfed at the most expensive golf course in Richmond this weekend. Let me tell you, that was a rip off."

The Borg - This consists of two people. For purposes here I will call them The-Man-Who-Collects-Dancing-Hampsters and A-Guy-Whos-Desk-Defies-Gravity. Collectively they call themselves "The Borg". "Well actually," they say taking turns between each word, "we are quasi-borg. You don't know what a Borg is? Star Trek. The Borgs share a brain. Their slogan is 'We will assimilate you' and ours is the same, but quasi because it's also 'We will assist you'". I am amazed but try to be clever in my response: "You assist them in assimilation?" They thought this was quite funny. Score!

Attitude Man - You know that guy....that guy when you say "Biology called, they need a new server" who follows that up with "Thats because they blew the last one with their so-called Science." Or "Humanities and Sciences needs assistance with their DNS change." And he quips "That's not all they need. They need to clear out those morons that work there." Yeah, that sums him up pretty well. Not sure what this means yet. I will keep you posted.

Two Nice Guys - There are two very nice guys. They are the closest to my age. Everyone else is in their 40's plus. These two are early 30s and they are nice. Yeah. That's all I have on them.

Right now I am eating lunch in the massive kitchen in this building. It's gorgeous. Every wall in this building is painted a different (normally offensive) color. Puke green. Violent orange. But together the ugly colors work together creating an energizing environment. The ceiling in open. Air vents hang above. I love this place.