First Day

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In just a bit, I'll be leaving for my first day at the new job. Probably won't be incredibly heavy today...just paperwork and getting things set up and such. Still, for those of you (probably everyone) who have ever started a new job, you know that things can feel somewhat exciting and uncertain at the same time. I also realize that the first 25% of my book is due on July 9th and I'm still waiting on production to give me feed back on my screen shots. Fortunately, there's a three day weekend coming up (in the U.S. that is) so I'll have plenty of time to bury myself in my writing.

Wish me luck.

 

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How did it go then, Trip ? Have you survived to write another day ?

 

Don't you just love that feeling.Make's you feel alive

 

Gav said: "How did it go then, Trip ? Have you survived to write another day ?" Day's not over yet, Gav. Still just past 1:30 p.m. here. Seems to be ok so far but I'll "file a full report" later. ;-)

 

man I didnt get to sleep till 10am this morning (our time) thought it was funny reading your post about going to work just as i went to bed lol
we were up all night playing cranium

 

Good luck Trip

 

Ok...that was the first day. Pretty good all around. I met everyone again this a.m. (my time). Got to meet Dave...the CEO...and got the "we're passionate about our work" pep talk. By all the sports momentos in his office, I could tell I was about to get the "give 110%" speech from "the coach". Didn't have a lot to do this morning since my immediate supervisor Owen was in meetings. I got a surplus PC and took it downstairs to the tech support area to set it up.

I'm sharing space with the three tech support guys, one Linux programmer, and the shipping and receiving guy. I like it better...lot's quieter and out of the way of the sales and marketing force as well as Dave.

We got a new gal in HR so we welcomed her with a pizza lunch (free) and I got to fill out more paper afterwards. Got my slip for direct deposit and one for the drug screening test <yippie> Got set up on the network and internet access. Took a look at some of the software I'd be using...in this case Robohelp X5 Office by macromedia. They are getting me Word but I'll also be using Open Office, which I downloaded today. Did I tell you they're a Linux shop? I use Mozilla Firefox as my default browser, although my PC runs Windows XP Pro.

When I met with Owen to get the specifics of my assignments, I asked about how he saw my training development goals. We tossed it around for a bit and he said that most guys there use Slackware. As the initial wave of activity in my work schedule slows down, he said he'd get me a second computer with Slackware on it so I could use it everyday. I'm hoping and planning to eventually switch over to using just Linux and open source, but that will be awhile away. I figure "when in Rome...".

Ended my day early so I could go "pee in a bottle" (sorry if that is offensive, but that's what it is). Now to review what I need to do after dinner for my writing project. Still haven't gotten my contract or my feedback from production so I'll just have to plow ahead. Running out of time and I can't always wait for the paperwork to catch up with me.

Anyway, that was the first day. Cheers.

-Trip

 

Good to here you got through it Trip!

Maybe you could elabarate a little on the toilet facilities at your new workplace

Pete

 

Hardy har har. ;-)

 

Congratulations on getting through the first day Trip!

By the way, is it usual to take be screened for drugs when gaining employment over there as I never heard of that before?

 

It is extremely common. Just about every job I've applied for (minus the temp contract jobs) including my stint at HP and my work for the Postal Service has required drug screening. It's a big business over here. I guess the US must have a much larger population of drug abusers who are seeking gainful employment than in the UK.

The new HR gal I talked with yesterday said she used to work at the HR person for a sawmill. As you might guess, a sawmill employs a rough group of characters. Anyway, this one guy was loaded and at work. His wife had just beaten him up and in a fit of pique, he put his hand through the glass on a vending machine at work. The manager and this HR gal went over to him to confront him. The guy grabbed a crowbar and chased them all the way back to the trailer that housed the office. A new applicant saw them come running and in self defense, locked them out. They managed to get in and the crazed druggie used the crowbar to break this gal's car's headlights out, break into the car and trash the interior.

Guess it pays to find out in advance if a person has a drug problem.

 

Only if you miss !!!!!

 

Aim was dead on, Gav. Thanks for asking.

 

Got an update on how you are getting on?

 

Doing ok. The CEO found my various threads on one or more of the forums I belong to via Google and said for me to not ask detailed questions associated with the product. We don't want the competition to get a "heads up" on product development. With that in mind, I'm going to avoid giving up any specific info about the product.

With that in mind, Things seem to be ok so far. I'm on my own most of the time with periodic checkups from my boss. Sat in on a meeting yesterday to update some documentation. Still doing my own testing to make sure I know what I'm writing about. Not a bad way to kill 8 or 9 hours or so in a day.

On my book...that's caused me some *major* headaches (which is why I'm not around much and why the QOTDs have stopped cold). The formatting is *so* specific that I just couldn't seem to get it right. I was finally given the editor's phone number and we've had several conversations since then. Things are much clearer now. I've got about the first 25% of the book done and we've now agreed to officially "launch" it.

The editor says she should have been working with me for the past month. Apparently the ball got dropped somewhere along the way. She's going to try and float me an extra week in my time frame so I can go back and revise all the work I've done thus far.

No kidding, you absolutely have to give dates for when the first 25% of the book will be submitted, then the 50% mark, then 75% mark and so on. If you're late, you can lose money and have other penalties imposed (at least in a work for hire contract). Fortunately, the editor is more than understanding and says neither one of us was given enough time to get up to speed.

My average day is get up at 5;30 or 6 a.m....get to work by 7 or 7:30. Get off around 4:30 or 5, go home, eat, maybe take my son to work, then hit the book until about 11 or 11:30 p.m. One son asked if I wanted to watch TV with him last night (2nd season of Voyager on dvd). Love to, but far, far too much work.

Weekends, I try to drill down and get caught up. In Chapter 7 now...first 25% of the book is somewhere in Chapter 8. If they give me a week, I'll have the whole thing buttoned up. Still have to upload most of the images to their ftp server and fed ex the hardcopies with my hand drawn callouts.

Life goes on.

 

Great to hear.

In all of that you've failed to mention any leisure time. It seems you are at it 7 days a week.

 

Leisure time? What's that? Actually, my twin sons had a belated 18th birthday party last weekend so I got to ride herd on 20 teenagers. Kept mostly to myself since they're pretty much a well behaved lot but did come out of my cave towards the end of the evening to watch a movie.

I take time out to eat and sleep. Sleep is leisure. ;-)

 

18 year old twins? I bet they were a handful when they were growing up.