This is a little out of date, but I just remembered what I wanted to say about this title. You wait forever for the right setup, and when it comes, you have to bite your tongue. A few days ago, someone asked me to explain something in my own words. It was the perfect setup you only get once or twice. (In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the appropriate response to being asked to explain something in your own words is "ckjhdk slifhoie ifhe" - words you invent yourself.) It was a work situation, though, and it wasn't appropriate. I almost had another chance today, but the timing was a little off. I might have been able to force it, but it's not the same. I was handed an opportunity on a silver platter and had to let it pass. It's going to bother me for a while.
Today was more training, this time Customer Service. I needed this because I didn't work in customer service for 4 years. There was nothing new, but it was better than a day reading old briefings. The annoying guy was back, and there were more interns. 16 of us total, I think. Maybe 6 engineers, and the rest all over the place. They also had a brainstorming session about how to improve the program. I sat in on that, just to find out things. It's about what I figured. Nothing I want to talk about here and now, though.
Last item of the night: Happy Birthday, Melissa! More tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
See Previous Title
It's been a week, and I could make up some excuses, but we both know it's just that - an excuse. It's not like anyone else is posting, you slackers.
In the past week, I've been assigned a cubicle, received a computer, was able to log on, and started going over the organization overview course. I'm not actually doing the 4-day-long seminar - I'm using the PowerPoint slides from the seminar about 18 months ago. My boss, for lack of a better title, is going to "discuss" it with me when I finish. It took my about a day to finish the slides, but I filled in another half day the Office Space way. I'll need to review the slides again before the discussion, but at least I've been through everything once.
The main reason I'll need to review isn't a poor review the first time, it's that I was in training today and will be in training again tomorrow. Today was Myers-Briggs Type Indicator training. If you don't know about it, essentially these two women needed something to keep themselves busy while the men of the world were out fighting World War II, so they came up with 4 "either/or" categories to lump people into. These 16 categories become a way to pre-judge people.
There were 8 of us in training today, and the one guy who felt his opinion mattered to ANYONE. His excuse was "well, I'm an extrovert," which I'd give him a pass on at a Myers-Briggs seminar, except there were 3 other extroverts who didn't need to hear themselves talk. And this guy was just annoying. He brought himself in snacks to last the morning (fruit loops, among other things). We all took 90 minutes for lunch (and still ended the day before 4), except this guy, who took 2 hours and brought his lunch back with him. One of the activities involved the introverts (that's me) leaving the room while they extroverts did the first half of something. We discussed that we really, really wanted to hurt this guy. It was unanimous.
Back to lunch: everyone but the annoying guy went to the Green Hills Grille, which lists on its menu "The Best Burger in Huntsville." I ordered that, and it was good, but it had nothing on Huey's. A Huey's hamburger with a side of fries is a full meal. This TBBH was plenty of lunch, but I wasn't overly full by any means. And there wasn't anything spectacular about the burger, where Huey's just has something . . . better about it.
After some more "training," I got to go home early. That makes for a much more enjoyable day of training, in my opinion. Not quite as good as my suggestion, though. The first order of business for the day, at 8:30 or so, was for the facilitator to ask us "what we wanted to do" so I told her I wanted to call it a day. If it had gone to a vote, it would have passed. See, my comments are insightful and funny, where annoying guy's were annoying, ill-timed, and self-involved.
I could get used to this training stuff. More tomorrow.
In the past week, I've been assigned a cubicle, received a computer, was able to log on, and started going over the organization overview course. I'm not actually doing the 4-day-long seminar - I'm using the PowerPoint slides from the seminar about 18 months ago. My boss, for lack of a better title, is going to "discuss" it with me when I finish. It took my about a day to finish the slides, but I filled in another half day the Office Space way. I'll need to review the slides again before the discussion, but at least I've been through everything once.
The main reason I'll need to review isn't a poor review the first time, it's that I was in training today and will be in training again tomorrow. Today was Myers-Briggs Type Indicator training. If you don't know about it, essentially these two women needed something to keep themselves busy while the men of the world were out fighting World War II, so they came up with 4 "either/or" categories to lump people into. These 16 categories become a way to pre-judge people.
There were 8 of us in training today, and the one guy who felt his opinion mattered to ANYONE. His excuse was "well, I'm an extrovert," which I'd give him a pass on at a Myers-Briggs seminar, except there were 3 other extroverts who didn't need to hear themselves talk. And this guy was just annoying. He brought himself in snacks to last the morning (fruit loops, among other things). We all took 90 minutes for lunch (and still ended the day before 4), except this guy, who took 2 hours and brought his lunch back with him. One of the activities involved the introverts (that's me) leaving the room while they extroverts did the first half of something. We discussed that we really, really wanted to hurt this guy. It was unanimous.
Back to lunch: everyone but the annoying guy went to the Green Hills Grille, which lists on its menu "The Best Burger in Huntsville." I ordered that, and it was good, but it had nothing on Huey's. A Huey's hamburger with a side of fries is a full meal. This TBBH was plenty of lunch, but I wasn't overly full by any means. And there wasn't anything spectacular about the burger, where Huey's just has something . . . better about it.
After some more "training," I got to go home early. That makes for a much more enjoyable day of training, in my opinion. Not quite as good as my suggestion, though. The first order of business for the day, at 8:30 or so, was for the facilitator to ask us "what we wanted to do" so I told her I wanted to call it a day. If it had gone to a vote, it would have passed. See, my comments are insightful and funny, where annoying guy's were annoying, ill-timed, and self-involved.
I could get used to this training stuff. More tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
How About a Nice Cup of Shut the Hell Up?!
So today, I had to be orientated for my job. Mostly, that involved sitting through several short security and information briefings. The department head, or a deputy, would come in, tell us about their role in making my life easier / harder, and leave again. PowerPoint was used. Donuts were not offered. As you might guess from my title, we had one or two people who thought they had opinions that anyone else in the room cared about. It's one thing to have an "aha!" moment where something in the briefing connects to something in your life. It's quite another to feel that everyone in the room needs to be aware of this moment. I'm probably (definitely) too impatient about such things, which is why I dislike meetings so much, but people need to realize the world doesn't revolve around them. It revolves around me. I just kept my mouth shut and let the briefers continue as quickly as they would. And that was 30 minutes longer than they were scheduled for. Also, the refresh rate on either the computer or the projectors was giving me a headache. I could see the ripple in the projected text. It was a long morning.
The afternoon was much shorter. I had a computer-based training so I could have computer access. It was 3 PowerPoints that I just had to go through, no test. The person in charge said it was supposed to take about 2 hours (maybe 120 slides). I took my time and was done in an hour. It was about 2:30 when I finished that. I had been told not to worry about showing up at the office afterwards, so I came back to my apartment. I took a short power nap and cooked a nice meal, and recharged a little. I get the feeling that this job is going to be interesting and fun, but be very draining. That's fine, but it's always nice to get a break.
Wednesday needs a better schedule for my TV shows. It's not a bad night for TV; it's just that the shows are at bad times. I should really go to sleep, but I'm staying up to watch some of Cash Cab. More tomorrow.
The afternoon was much shorter. I had a computer-based training so I could have computer access. It was 3 PowerPoints that I just had to go through, no test. The person in charge said it was supposed to take about 2 hours (maybe 120 slides). I took my time and was done in an hour. It was about 2:30 when I finished that. I had been told not to worry about showing up at the office afterwards, so I came back to my apartment. I took a short power nap and cooked a nice meal, and recharged a little. I get the feeling that this job is going to be interesting and fun, but be very draining. That's fine, but it's always nice to get a break.
Wednesday needs a better schedule for my TV shows. It's not a bad night for TV; it's just that the shows are at bad times. I should really go to sleep, but I'm staying up to watch some of Cash Cab. More tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Meetings
Because none of us is as dumb as all of us.
That title and quote seem appropriate based on the events of the day, but I'm going to start with yesterday:
0830
Show up at the HR offices for in-processing. Essentially, about 90 minutes of going over paperwork, followed by standing around waiting to get my security badge. Nothing blog-worthy.
Approximately 1000 - 1030
I received my security badge and was supposed to meet Mr. Jim Coverstone at a different building. My driving instructions were: Turn left out of the parking lot, go down to the credit union (Redstone Federal) and turn left. The building is on the right. That's great and all, but I drove by the building 3 times without knowing it was where I needed to be. It's in a group of three buildings, and two are labelled with the company names. The federal building isn't visible from the road (it's behind the other two), it has no external signage (a security measure post-9/11), and I just missed it. I eventually found it by calling my HR contact and having her direct me. I walked in, and there's a security desk. I was told to call Mr. Coverstone from the lobby, and he would come get me and take me to where I needed to go. I wasn't given his number. The security guys were nice enough to look up his number for me. I called; he met me at the lobby.
Say 1030 - 1330
I met with Mr. Coverstone (he didn't tell me to call him "Jim" so I'll keep with the formalities), and he provided me a general schedule with my two year internship outlined. I start in Systems Engineering, then Ground-Based Interceptor, then Ground Systems (ground support, radar, etc.), and finishing up with project management. About a six-month tour in each one, tentatively. I have a schedule of some training that's required, and a few other programs. Nothing overwhelming. I was then introduced to the "senior" intern: one Leah Tracy. I say "senior" intern - she's the one Mr. Coverstone introduced me to, and she's been there a year, so she has seniority over me, even if she isn't the intern with the most seniority overall (though she may be that as well, I don't know). So I'm her problem now. The first thing was to meet John Crawford ("John"), who I believe is in charge of the Systems Engineering group. He's going to be one of my bosses for the next six months. What I've gleaned: he's going to assign me to a working engineer (probably a contractor) who will more directly supervise me, but he's in charge of making sure I learn what I need to learn during my tour in his area. We (well, he and Leah, with me in the room) talked for a while about what I'll be doing. He told me they're going to try to send me off to Alaska for a few days. We have some facilities based in Fort Greeley up there. I'm not kidding. I've been working for less than 4 hours, and they are already working out a plan to send me to the other side of the country. I'd say that meeting went well. I go back to Leah's cubicle (the building is 5 big rooms full of cubicles with some conference rooms and other support-type stuff in the center) and do very little until she has to leave for her dentist appointment at 1330. That's when I get to eat my lunch. Not a happy camper.
1330 - 1500
I'm hanging out in Leah's cubicle while she's gone to the dentist. I eat my lunch and read a bunch of stupid "have a good attitude" articles that she thinks are critical to my job. (She's apparently new to this "working" thing.) For the other hour and 15 minutes, I relax, pace, stretch, and pretty much enjoy getting paid for doing nothing.
1500 - 1630ish
Leah returns from her appointment and disappears into an inpromptu meeting or something. She doesn't say; I don't care. About 4:30, she returns and says there's no reason for me to stay, so I leave.
Today
0900 - someone please put a bullet in my brain
I'm supposed to sit in on a meeting at some other site all day. So I do. They are implementing something or other and need to get people on board. That's all you need to know. I picked up a little more than that, but it was mostly with meaningless (to me) acronyms. I don't think anything was classified in any way (it was off-site, the door was open, and several people were in and out), but I'm going to err on the side of not breaking any laws, so details are going to be withheld from most things from here on out. I took an hour for lunch and left about 4, so I put in 6 hours sitting around doing more nothing and getting paid for it. Cha-ching.
-----------
One cool thing yesterday that deserves special mention outside of the timeline: I was sworn in. That oath you hear to defend the Constitution. I was administered that oath. I'm now an ordained minister. Or something.
I have to be at another orientation tomorrow at 0800, so it's bed time for me. Hopefully, I'll have my own desk Thursday. I won't have computer access until at least then, probably next week, but it would be nice to have my own cubicle and meet some of the people I'll be working with the next few months. You know, in between trips to Alaska in the middle of winter. More tomorrow.
That title and quote seem appropriate based on the events of the day, but I'm going to start with yesterday:
0830
Show up at the HR offices for in-processing. Essentially, about 90 minutes of going over paperwork, followed by standing around waiting to get my security badge. Nothing blog-worthy.
Approximately 1000 - 1030
I received my security badge and was supposed to meet Mr. Jim Coverstone at a different building. My driving instructions were: Turn left out of the parking lot, go down to the credit union (Redstone Federal) and turn left. The building is on the right. That's great and all, but I drove by the building 3 times without knowing it was where I needed to be. It's in a group of three buildings, and two are labelled with the company names. The federal building isn't visible from the road (it's behind the other two), it has no external signage (a security measure post-9/11), and I just missed it. I eventually found it by calling my HR contact and having her direct me. I walked in, and there's a security desk. I was told to call Mr. Coverstone from the lobby, and he would come get me and take me to where I needed to go. I wasn't given his number. The security guys were nice enough to look up his number for me. I called; he met me at the lobby.
Say 1030 - 1330
I met with Mr. Coverstone (he didn't tell me to call him "Jim" so I'll keep with the formalities), and he provided me a general schedule with my two year internship outlined. I start in Systems Engineering, then Ground-Based Interceptor, then Ground Systems (ground support, radar, etc.), and finishing up with project management. About a six-month tour in each one, tentatively. I have a schedule of some training that's required, and a few other programs. Nothing overwhelming. I was then introduced to the "senior" intern: one Leah Tracy. I say "senior" intern - she's the one Mr. Coverstone introduced me to, and she's been there a year, so she has seniority over me, even if she isn't the intern with the most seniority overall (though she may be that as well, I don't know). So I'm her problem now. The first thing was to meet John Crawford ("John"), who I believe is in charge of the Systems Engineering group. He's going to be one of my bosses for the next six months. What I've gleaned: he's going to assign me to a working engineer (probably a contractor) who will more directly supervise me, but he's in charge of making sure I learn what I need to learn during my tour in his area. We (well, he and Leah, with me in the room) talked for a while about what I'll be doing. He told me they're going to try to send me off to Alaska for a few days. We have some facilities based in Fort Greeley up there. I'm not kidding. I've been working for less than 4 hours, and they are already working out a plan to send me to the other side of the country. I'd say that meeting went well. I go back to Leah's cubicle (the building is 5 big rooms full of cubicles with some conference rooms and other support-type stuff in the center) and do very little until she has to leave for her dentist appointment at 1330. That's when I get to eat my lunch. Not a happy camper.
1330 - 1500
I'm hanging out in Leah's cubicle while she's gone to the dentist. I eat my lunch and read a bunch of stupid "have a good attitude" articles that she thinks are critical to my job. (She's apparently new to this "working" thing.) For the other hour and 15 minutes, I relax, pace, stretch, and pretty much enjoy getting paid for doing nothing.
1500 - 1630ish
Leah returns from her appointment and disappears into an inpromptu meeting or something. She doesn't say; I don't care. About 4:30, she returns and says there's no reason for me to stay, so I leave.
Today
0900 - someone please put a bullet in my brain
I'm supposed to sit in on a meeting at some other site all day. So I do. They are implementing something or other and need to get people on board. That's all you need to know. I picked up a little more than that, but it was mostly with meaningless (to me) acronyms. I don't think anything was classified in any way (it was off-site, the door was open, and several people were in and out), but I'm going to err on the side of not breaking any laws, so details are going to be withheld from most things from here on out. I took an hour for lunch and left about 4, so I put in 6 hours sitting around doing more nothing and getting paid for it. Cha-ching.
-----------
One cool thing yesterday that deserves special mention outside of the timeline: I was sworn in. That oath you hear to defend the Constitution. I was administered that oath. I'm now an ordained minister. Or something.
I have to be at another orientation tomorrow at 0800, so it's bed time for me. Hopefully, I'll have my own desk Thursday. I won't have computer access until at least then, probably next week, but it would be nice to have my own cubicle and meet some of the people I'll be working with the next few months. You know, in between trips to Alaska in the middle of winter. More tomorrow.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Company Man
I started work today. I'll try to start blogging again once I get my sleep schedule balanced. For now, I'm tired. More tomorrow.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Still Alive
Yes, I'm still breathing, but I'm not really doing anything interesting and / or it's late when I think to write these. I'll try to do better, but I can't make any promises. More tomorrow.
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