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So! My first week at work in fourteen months. How did it go?
Mostly, pretty slow. I knew the thing would start out with a lot of fussing about waiting for things to be set up. So it was. The first round was in getting the work laptop set up, which involved a bit of confusion in finding docking stations and stuff so that it could be connected to two external monitors. Also somehow the laptop and monitors got set up so the computer thought the rightmost screen was the leftmost, and the laptop on the left was the rightmost, and boy was that tedious.
Wasn't any much trouble getting my work badge, although that was in a different building and my supervisor pointed around different parts of the capital complex and, several times, where the capitol was. That took until after lunch, so I wasn't actually able to go out for that since the badge is needed to open the doors. I ate at my desk, which I did Wednesday too out of a lack of confidence where I could safely go. Turns out there is a break room, and also a cafeteria on the bottom floor, so there's options. Folks also gave me advice about what places are in walking distance for a lunch break --- most important, yes, the Kewpie Restaurant is reachable --- although for now at least I'm looking to save some cash (and calories) by bringing something from home.
Fortunately I have only the two days a week in office, since the office starts at 8 am and I'm not really much for staying up that late anymore. This was the hour for work my old place, before I went remote, and I remember it being so hard especially around, like, 2 pm to stay awake. This hit me again, especially Wednesday, my first day starting at 8:00 (Tuesday they let me come in at 10). Sad to say, they expect the same hours kept for work-from-home days; in fact, two of my weekly 'standup' meetings are set for 9 am, so there's not much leeway. If there could be any: my boss provided, and had me sign, a paper saying I understood that working from home was a privilege and that I was expected to respond to work notices within five minutes. (He gave me a blue pen to sign this with, and told me to keep the pen. I suppose he assumed I just didn't have my own pens but wonder if he's a no-black-ink person.) This seems to rule out using the early afternoon hours to run minor chores outside the house. I know everyone with a real job is playing tiny violins, but one thing I liked about my old job was the loose scheduling. On the other hand, I'm getting a lot more money so, fine, I'll swallow that bother at least until I know how literally they mean five minutes. Given how my boss emphasized that I was expected to keep the same hours from home or from the office, I suspect it's pretty literal. Or he figures (reasonably) that it's better to start with a hard rule and slack off from there.
My second day we finally got the laptop set up with a VPN and Visual Studio and SQL engine and ... not the MSDN subscription that would let me actually get into a workflow. But I got to look at the code for what my first project's to be, and with direction just to look around and get familiar with it I was able to find a small bug in one web page. And what caused it (too much CSS) and how to fix it (take out some CSS). So I feel like that's a good introduction.
I did also make my first mistake from ignorance. I went, when invited, to a standup meeting (on MS Teams) for the other project I expect to be working on and said my hellos and such. My boss did not want me at that meeting and explained at great length why: the project's a big mess and they're trying to rope in people to fix it. He doesn't think I or anyone could fix that without a lot more grounding in operations than I'd have my second day, and he's going to be out of the office next week, so I have to not touch this. Easy enough, although he explained it several times over, even after I nodded and promised I understood. I don't know whether he's an over-explainer or whether he's responding to faulty expectations. Apparently the person I'm replacing was not good about taking direction.
Thursday, my first work-from-home day, saw no work done; the MSDN subscription still wasn't in place. With luck that'll be up next week. I did get to the first standup meeting for the group I'm supposed to work with right now, though. And got some nice news: everyone's allowed the option to work-from-home all next week too. Which is only three days --- Monday and Friday are state holidays --- but still, Tuesday's supposed to be 9 degrees Fahrenheit at 8 am so I'd rather not go out in that if I can. And, maybe there's more room for working-from-home than things dictate. The desk next to me had someone in it just on Wednesday. I don't know that he was out Tuesday for any particular reason or if he's just reached the level of trust to come in only once a week.
Everyone seems pleasant enough, and to have names that I won't get straight, although it's very nice that MS Teams just tells you the name of everyone you're chatting with. That sorts out a lot. And, next week, we start it again except I can be sitting in the comfortable chair in the living room instead.
Now back to Halloweekends Sunday pictures:
Close-up picture of one of the Dead Carousel horses in the Breakers. I think this is the one that actually rattled when we approached.
Cinderella coach on the Frontier Trail; many people got photographs of their kids inside, or used this as a spot to rest a bit.
Also on the Frontier Trail was this little 'prison' cell. The bars are elastic ropes so you can squeeze in and out, but look captured while you stand still.
Fort Sandusky, one of the historic buildings that Cedar Point bought and relocated here in the early 70s. There was some witch-themed show going on inside that we missed.
A break in the Frontier Trail for a service road gave us this vantage point for a fun picture of Rougarou making one of its loops.
Rougarou zooming out of frame!
Trivia: In 1980 McDonald's introduced the Beefsteak and the McChicken Sandwich, both to be served with a side of Onion Nuggets. None were long-lasting. Source: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, Marcia Chatelain. (The McChicken Sandwich got reintroduced in the late 80s, after the idea of fried chicken sandwiches got more familiar.)
Currently Reading: King of All Balloons: The Adventurous Life of James Sadler, the First English Aeronaut, Mark Davies.
