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.

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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.