Thursday, August 09, 2007
August
I started a new job a couple weeks ago, officially. Unofficially, I'd been working in that position for about a month. Before that I was working in my old position and training for this new position for, well, most of the spring semester. I'm in International Programs now, which is where I wanted to be.
It's the kind of job where I'm going to need to get through a whole year on the job to actually know what I'm doing. The start of a new semester looms just around the corner, for instance. This involves an orientation session for new international students, which is a pretty big project. There are also visiting scholars arriving to begin their year-long research projects. The closing out of the admissions cycle happens now, too. Keeping up with the daily goings-on in the office is just one more part of the to-do list.
What's really great and really terrible is that we've also moved into new offices. In the midst of the foothills of all the hecticness that leads into the new semester, we packed up three separate offices to move into one office suite. It's a nice setup, and the timing isn't as bad as it could be. But some of the details of moving make my workaday life a little more difficult.
It's the kind of job where I'm going to need to get through a whole year on the job to actually know what I'm doing. The start of a new semester looms just around the corner, for instance. This involves an orientation session for new international students, which is a pretty big project. There are also visiting scholars arriving to begin their year-long research projects. The closing out of the admissions cycle happens now, too. Keeping up with the daily goings-on in the office is just one more part of the to-do list.
What's really great and really terrible is that we've also moved into new offices. In the midst of the foothills of all the hecticness that leads into the new semester, we packed up three separate offices to move into one office suite. It's a nice setup, and the timing isn't as bad as it could be. But some of the details of moving make my workaday life a little more difficult.
- The new furniture for the offices hasn't been ordered and may not get here until December, thanks to some bid problems and production problems.
- The phones have not been transferred to the new offices, so there's a complicated setup that involves forwarding my phone to a nearby phone and attaching a wireless headset apparatus to that phone, so I can receive calls but I cannot dial out. (I can't fit the headset thingie around my ear, either, but that's a different kind of problem.)
- There are no locks on any of the doors. I can't get a supply cabinet for the office even though we could really use one -- and I don't even know if one is included in the order of new office furniture that may arrive in December.
- For a while, we didn't have working data jacks, but that problem was quickly resolved.
- I'm in a job that I enjoy doing.
- I work with great people.
- I have the opportunity to grow the job into something that's even more well-suited for my professional interests and goals.
- I'm meeting some extraordinary people (who are friendly and nice) as the new students and visiting scholars come in, and being able to help them out is great.
