Jackpot!

Yes, that is, in fact, a ping-pong table, coffee maker, snacks table (they’d just cleared breakfast), and fridge full of drinks. And the bottom shelf? That’s beer and wine.

“Generally you should wait ’til after 5:00, and don’t get hammered.”
“OK.”
“You’ll get hammered.”

Now, where is that Xbox that’s showing up on the network?

Take THAT, the current economic situation!

I got a new job.

That’s not something that you hear a lot of these days, but I did it, and it surprised even me.

I haven’t really been looking hard for a job – I’d check craigslist every once in a while, make sure my resume is updated, etc., but I wasn’t sending out resume after resume hoping for some feedback. In fact, I only sent out one. I saw a job called “Mac & Linux Admin” on craigslist, read the description, and thought I should just do it, even if nothing else comes of it. So, after procrastinating for a week, I hammered out a cover letter, attached my resume, and expected nothing to come of it. Especially since I know how many resumes prospective employers get these days. Surely, I thought, someone who’s applying will be more qualified than me.

Day One

So, today, finally, I started working.

I think this is going to work out. It seems like this job is, literally, a fusion of every job I’ve had since 1999 – everything I did at college, plus graphic design, plus system support, plus systems admin.

The place is really nice and in some ways reminds me of my college, but, you know, way freakin’ bigger. Though I know that I will soon be knee deep in blowing snow, the campus is actually really gorgeous right now, because it’s covered in trees and they’re all turning fall colors.

The part of the school that I work for, by the way, has money I could only dream about. For example, when you walk into one of the buildings there’s this foyer. In this foyer is a coffee table with four chairs around it guarded by a bunch of security personnel, with tons of people rushing to and fro. This is not a hospitable place to take a seat and relax. Despite the fact that this is a very inconvenient place to sit, they have god’s own louge chairs. Four of them. This is not the kind of place that would have cheap knock-offs, either. Reproductions? Probably. Originals? Maybe. Assuming that they’re reproductions, these are $3,500 each. I know at least one of you is doing the math and concluding that, yes, they have fourteen thousand dollars in lounge chairs in their lobby.

I am going to sit like crazy in those chairs. If I can’t have my own, I’m going to put my ass groove in someone else’s.

Also, great food. For lunch I had this awesome white bean and shiitake mushroom salad, some grilled asparagus, and another kind of salad. I had so much salad ’cause I didn’t notice ’til I filled my plate that they also had a taco bar. This was, as far as I could tell, also free. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be, but no one I was with paid for anything, and there didn’t seem to be any method for paying, either. I’m going to have to look into this further.

I also found out that prior to my arrival, the guy who hired me announced that I would be there and told people about me and what I’ve done and my experience and so forth. I am, apparently, “the alternative operating systems guy”. We’ll see how that plays out.

I’ll let you all know more about my job when I know more about my job, but as you know, the first few days are pretty useless.