Day 3 - Timing

Strolled in at 10:00 today. Getting closer to normal time. That didn't take long.

Today I decided to see what I could do to upgrade my workspace. I was feeling a bit cramped with my monitor too close to my face and was missing the dual monitor setup I have been accustomed to at all my previous jobs (and at home.)

My first request of a 2nd monitor made me feel like a teenager asking my step-dad to borrow his car, "We'll see." My second request of a flat screen so that I can push it far enough away from my nose to feel comfortable was met with a resounding "No." In fact, I even offered to bring my own in, but was told that I wouldn' t be allowed to do that. What's the harm with that? I don't get it. One thing I was able to do was install my custom monitor riser (a ream of paper and a telephone directory) which turned out to make a significant difference. It is still too close, but I can live with it.

As for the chair, I switched to a chair without wheels and lower armrests, so now I no longer feel like I have tyrannasaurus arms.

My desk seems to be positioned in the hottest area of the office, and coincidentaly I noticed there are only 2 overhead flourescent lights on over the entire section of about 24 cubes, with one being directly above me. I will be bringing my fan to work tomorrow.

The last major problem with my workspace is that I FEEL every person walk by, and since I sit right next to a major pedestrian highway this is a huge distraction and extremely annoying. It's almost like there are hundreds of mild earthquakes everyday. I need shock absorbers in my chair.

I finally got set up in the project management system, so now I am at least eligible to get a project assigned to me. Also, I got a login to the timeclock application. Oh Joy! I haven't had to use a timeclock since I was in high school working at Sizzler. Oh, the memories. But back then I was also in charge of timekeeping, so I routinely changed the time on the clock, clocked in/out, then changed the time back. I was well-liked on the days I let everyone clock out at 10:30, and then set the clock back to 9:45 and we all went home.