One of the nice perks about my new job is the language. Although I'm in the Boston office and work with some Americans, alot of my daily contact includes coworkers and other professionals from the UK. I've been slowly adjusting to understanding the Irish and Scotish accents as I interact with them on a regular basis. Six months ago I could tell the difference between the accent, but now it's all become a muddle. My brain is overloaded with the accent and I think I'm even thinking in a strange hybridization of the accents.
Regardless, I've discovered my new favorite word - Cheers! I've co-opted the word and use it all the time. Maybe even too much. This week I was trying to scale back the usage and found I couldn't. It's just such a great word. It covers three great subjects: thanks, take care, and toasting. I've added it to my vocab so be forewarned.
The most useful for me is the farewell greeting. I always felt like "take care" was used more if someone wasn't doing well - a bit of a downer. Along the lines of "take care of yourself during these difficult times." We just never jibed together. And "good bye" was just so abrupt. But "cheers". I mean it's so obviously cheerful. You get to end the conversation on an up note. It just leaves you with warm fuzzies. It's fun saying and receiving.
And using "thanks" in the back of my head was so pedestrian. I was trained from a young age to say "yes" and "thank you" instead of the slurred "yeah" and "thanks". Granted, I still use them as they are easier to say, but I still feel a little guilt of not saying the proper thing. "Thanks" can be abrupt and used sarcastically, in a negative way. You know, like "thaaanks, I didn't know I lived in Boston, thanks for reminding me." And "thank you" is so formal. So prim and proper. But "cheers", again it wins out. It's a good in between and I haven't got a clue how to say it sarcastically - it's immune. It's just a nice, short, polite way of appreciating whatever it is you are appreciating.
Finally, the toasting. I have one toast I took a week to memorize and repeat on a monthly basis to keep it in the head. That's a lot of work to have a toast ready for that key moment drinking. What would work better is a shorter toast, that is easy to remember. If only there was a one world salutation you could say while clinking glasses....
So here's to you Cheers. Cheers Cheers for being in my life. Cheers!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Glasgow prep
I'm off to Bonnie Glasgow this weekend (by way of Dubai and Abu Dhabi). Our corporate headquarters are there and I have a series of meetings with higher ups. I've been working with a crew of scots, irish and english mainly at this new job (in addition to regular old americans here in the boston and san francisco office). I'm struggling with understanding the accent on my phone. Although I realized today that I have trouble understanding everyone on this new phone. I think it might be the phone.
Anyways, I'm meeting with the CEO on friday and he was joshing me about scotish slang. Here's our exchange, which I'm quite proud of (watching BBC pays off - that and the internet):
CEO: Friday morning would be fine except if it is your first day in the office I’ll get someone to take you around to meet everyone. Aw right hen! That is head over the parapet stuff so I will test you when you get here!
ME: That would be pure dead brilliant for someone show me around Friday morning. Understanding sassencachs is mental. I huvny a scooby of half the stuff people are sayin. It’ll be barry meetin with the heid-the-ba and visitin no mean city ova the weekend– I think it’ll be mintit (if I’m not jeeked). Cheers!
P.S. I’m no gowk but a dinnieken what to call ya instead of sassencachs. I ken the difference between a Scot and an Englishman.
P.S. I’m no gowk but a dinnieken what to call ya instead of sassencachs. I ken the difference between a Scot and an Englishman.
We'll see how I survive. Luckily they're putting me up at a posh hotel. 
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Black Night
Well Happy New Year. I'm letting go of trying to catch up on all the events that have happened and I haven't posted and decided to post about a moment that happened tonight. After meeting up with some friends after work for drinks and food and catching up I was heading home, exhausted from a long week at work (and it's just Wednesday). I had to wait a bit for the subway to come. And then the bus ride home from the T station. I was in that strange state of not really engaging in the here and now and being worn out. I was forgoing any activity such as reading or knitting on the bus and was just listening to Mozart and vaguely staring out the window as we headed down Mass Ave.
And then I noticed something through the foggy windows of the bus. Or rather, I noticed nothing. Mass Ave is a fairly bright main street. Lot's lights from retail and all the hustle and bustle that four lanes of traffic generates. And they were all gone - both sides. The power was out. And it was strange. All of a sudden it seemed so bright in the bus with the lights on. I kept thinking we weren't where we were supposed to be but driving on some rural street.
You couldn't really see too many stars so the picutre is deciving. And eventually, we drove enough, to a point the lights were back on (including my neighborhood - yeah).
The strange thing was that there wasn't any real reason for it. We've been getting weather and storms but nothing much today. When I left Boston it wasn't even that cold. But then when I got off, crossing the street I caught a bit of ice. And the whole walk home was trecherous. All ice on the sidewalks from the combination of a faint drizzle and just barely freezing temperatures. And now, over the past few hours, I've been hearing the periodic revving of engines outside. I would normally say my house was on flat land, but really it's just at a base of a hill and has a bit of a slope, but just barely. And the ice is getting so bad cars are having trouble getting up.
Interstingly, when I was googling for a picture for the black night I was trying to describe, I came across this famous black night:
It's just a flesh wound. Well actually I think for the first arm it's just a scratch. Come on you pansy come back here and fight, I'll bight your legs off. Gotta love Monty Python. Which reminds me of when my brother at Christmas this year, performed charades for Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail - it was pretty funny. And took quite a while for Karin, Tyler and I to figure that one out. We were close but very far away being stuck on serpent (for python) and praying (for holy) and drinking (instead of grail - but come on, pretending you're drinking something is quite a reach for us to come up with the grail). But he perservered and we got it eventually with Monty. Well, now I'm just rambling, off to bed. Cheers. (I'm pseudo scotish now with my new job - accent and everything :)
Monday, December 08, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Smackdowns
As I think I've mentioned before, I like to do smackdowns at work. These have traditionally been Spelling Smackdowns but due to popular demand I had put together a Smart Smack as well which is like a trivia game, but based on what I was interested in. The following are the write ups for potentiall the last of both of the games ever.
From an email sent 11/10/08, RE: Smart Smack Results
I know you’ve been dying to find out the results of the 1st Annual So you think you’re smart Smackdown from last week.
Since it was the first Smart Smack, the first round was of medium difficulty to allow the contests to get their feet warm in our time of global warming. We had a good showing and from right to left we had:
- Brian: one of the brian interns, not to be confused with “not brian” intern david, actually no one knows his real name, I just made up the david part.
- Siobhan: for those of you still not in the know, it’s pronounced “sh von”. I’m petitioning the high court to get the spelling changed. She engaged in a quiet game of smack talk.
- Marie: it was evident by some of the other contestants that they weren’t aware of the level of smack Marie brought to the game. Be for warned future contestants, Marie is all about the smack portion of Smart Smack (not that I’m saying she doesn’t bring the smart portion either, just more smack).
- Andrea: again, if you’re not in the know, Andrea’s secret passion is to play trivia games like these as a full time job. Until there is such a profession, she concedes to playing a role, like the rest of us, in saving the earth.
- Dawn: calm and quiet, not swayed by the smack, Dawn and Annie were the anti-smack twins choosing to focus on the Smart component of the Smart Smack.
- Annie: calm and quiet, the smack being thrown from the other side of the room fell by the wayside as the Dawn and Annie force held their own.
- Danielle: new to the smackdowns of GRT, Danielle was a welcome addition, proving that youth still had a firm hold on the smart component of the Smart Smack.
Round one (5 questions): Composed of standard issue questions based around energy and the environment, people felt fairly comfortable. The multiple choice format allowed individuals to fly through the questions quickly. Everyone knew that Mexico City is considered the most polluted city in the world. While only Andrea knew which country produced the most energy in the world. And Marie and Danielle were the only ones who knew what the leading source of energy is in the US. By the end of the first round, it was still anyone’s game, with no one taking a serious lead.
Round two (8 questions): Lulled into a false sense of feeling pretty smart, round two brought the random questions as promised by the genius moderator. Composed of a mix of multiple choice and fill in the blank questions, it was surprising to find that no one knew what a “perfect” number as defined mathematically was from the multiple choice list. However, Brian proved a strength in science that no one else had, correctly identifying what Europa was. Dawn and Annie were the only ones to correctly identify the correct city for the birthplace of the American stoplight. Apparently no one knows cockney rhyming slang. And Siobhan was the only one to know how many Platinum NC buildings there are in MA. (Marie!!! You could have had it.)
Round three (11 questions): Entering into the arena of current events, questions were structured around key issues in the recent election: war, energy, prop 1, and Sara Pallin. Contestants were all over the place in identifying where Iraq and Pakistan were located geographically in the middle east. Most people knew at least one or two states of the 9 that don’t have personal income tax (answers that included states that taxed dividend and interest income were counted). No one knew Tina Fey’s birth name. And in the end, the winner was determined by their ability to correctly match up the green building rating system and the relevant country (BREEAM, GREEN STAR, HKBEAM, HQE, PROMISE, GBAS, AQUA).
During the entire Smart Smack, score was kept on the white board. At certain periods, bonus questions were thrown out. These questions were not rewarded with points, but instead the recipient was awarded a “tie breaking” advantage. In the final round, it was pointed out by Andrea, that one of her correct answers was not recorded. The comment was noted by the moderator who stated that it would be addressed at the end of the game if needed.
By the end of round three and the end of the game, everyone’s score was close, but it was Andrea and Marie tied for first place, with Marie having a “tie breaking” card. Therefore, after the game, the moderator and the two contestants in question went through all the answers to verify the accuracy of the score. In the end, it proved that indeed a point was missing from Andrea’s tally and instead of Marie breaking the tie and winning, it was Andrea who came through victorious.
Congratulations to Andrea for being the first official Smart Smack champion. She proved that she had some smarts and some smack to beat out everyone else. Thanks to all that participated and may we all be just that little bit smarter.
And by the way. I believe I only received one correct answer to the qualifying question (which I luckily forgot about or else there would have been no one to compete). The correct answer is War Time, which only Dee responded with (I think).
What was Daylight Saving Time originally called when it was first instituted year-round?
A. Sunlight Time
B. Summer Time
C. War Time
D. Conservation Time
Best of luck and see you in November!
From an email sent 11/14/08, RE: 4th Periodic Spelling Smackdown Results
The fourth periodic Spelling Smackdown was just completed and in record time (I think in just a half hour). And this time around there were a lot of patterns. Well at least one big one. There were six contestants this time round, with one observer/smack talker/back-up pronouncer (Colleen). In order, we had:
- Aaron: This marked his inaugural Spelling Smackdown and he chose inadvertently the first chair which allowed him to kick off each round.
- Dee: A past participant who showed potential, often making it into the near final rounds in past games and known for her wordsmything (yes, I apparently made the word up as Outlook won’t tell me the correct spelling).
- Annie: The defending champion and Birthday girl. It was agreed by all that instead of giving her some sort of pity win through second chances, that whoever won would owe her a gift. With the understanding, of course, that if Annie was able to retain the championship title, she’d owe something to herself.
- Dawn: One of the original participants, and I believe a spelling bee champion from grade school.
- Britt: The only individual who has participated in all four of the GRT Spelling Smackdowns located at Nexus. A diehard contestant.
- Jacob: The newest hire of GRT. This marked his inaugural Spelling Smackdown.
The first round went fairly quickly, knocking Dawn out of play early in the game with one of the few official spelling words that is an acronym: laser. For all those interested, according to our trusted source Wikipedia, the word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Second round, at the medium level, showed everyone strong and able to move onto the third and final level with no sweat (showing). This strength was short lived by everyone but two individuals at the third level, hard. The letter ‘i’ proved a stumbling block for all in some form or other. Once the dust settled, Aaron and Jacob were left standing (well sitting and on opposite sides of the table – the first and last contestants of each round) to duke it out. It was Nexus versus TA. Who would come through victoriously? Would Aaron do Nexus proud and maintain dominance on the Spelling Smackdown’s for Nexus (Game 1 & 2 winner: Paul, Game 3 winner: Annie)? Or would newbie to the company, Jacob, prove a force to be reckoned with and break out his, until now, unknown spelling prowess.
First pass, both correctly spelled very challenging words. Second and third pass proved rewarding for both as well on slightly easier words. Fourth pass proved too challenging. Aaron misspelled his word putting the pressure on Jacob to correctly spell the final word. It proved to be too much and Jacob misspelled his word as well which allowed Aaron to reenter the game and have another chance. It was still anyone’s game. Again, Aaron misspells his word leaving it all up to Jacob to determine the fate of the game. And this time, after collecting himself (and having a bite of his salad), he came through and correctly spelled the final word.
The torch, well rather the hand, has officially been transferred. Jacob is our latest champion and indefinite holder of the hand. After great sportsmanship showed by all (lot’s of handshaking and congratulations and very little smack, Marie would have been disappointed) folks started breaking down the game and the largest pattern was found. It appears, although it has not been validated, that every winner of all four Spelling Smackdowns have been the newest hire of GRT. Paul, we believe was the latest addition to the team and perhaps this was why he was able to win two games – we hadn’t hired anyone new (that was participating). Annie goes down in history for participating in the largest recorded GRT Spelling Smackdown on her very first day. And now Jacob, has won. Will the pattern continue? Only time will tell. Cheers from your wonderfully poor speller and Spelling Smackdown moderator!
From an email sent 11/10/08, RE: Smart Smack Results
I know you’ve been dying to find out the results of the 1st Annual So you think you’re smart Smackdown from last week.
Since it was the first Smart Smack, the first round was of medium difficulty to allow the contests to get their feet warm in our time of global warming. We had a good showing and from right to left we had:
- Brian: one of the brian interns, not to be confused with “not brian” intern david, actually no one knows his real name, I just made up the david part.
- Siobhan: for those of you still not in the know, it’s pronounced “sh von”. I’m petitioning the high court to get the spelling changed. She engaged in a quiet game of smack talk.
- Marie: it was evident by some of the other contestants that they weren’t aware of the level of smack Marie brought to the game. Be for warned future contestants, Marie is all about the smack portion of Smart Smack (not that I’m saying she doesn’t bring the smart portion either, just more smack).
- Andrea: again, if you’re not in the know, Andrea’s secret passion is to play trivia games like these as a full time job. Until there is such a profession, she concedes to playing a role, like the rest of us, in saving the earth.
- Dawn: calm and quiet, not swayed by the smack, Dawn and Annie were the anti-smack twins choosing to focus on the Smart component of the Smart Smack.
- Annie: calm and quiet, the smack being thrown from the other side of the room fell by the wayside as the Dawn and Annie force held their own.
- Danielle: new to the smackdowns of GRT, Danielle was a welcome addition, proving that youth still had a firm hold on the smart component of the Smart Smack.
Round one (5 questions): Composed of standard issue questions based around energy and the environment, people felt fairly comfortable. The multiple choice format allowed individuals to fly through the questions quickly. Everyone knew that Mexico City is considered the most polluted city in the world. While only Andrea knew which country produced the most energy in the world. And Marie and Danielle were the only ones who knew what the leading source of energy is in the US. By the end of the first round, it was still anyone’s game, with no one taking a serious lead.
Round two (8 questions): Lulled into a false sense of feeling pretty smart, round two brought the random questions as promised by the genius moderator. Composed of a mix of multiple choice and fill in the blank questions, it was surprising to find that no one knew what a “perfect” number as defined mathematically was from the multiple choice list. However, Brian proved a strength in science that no one else had, correctly identifying what Europa was. Dawn and Annie were the only ones to correctly identify the correct city for the birthplace of the American stoplight. Apparently no one knows cockney rhyming slang. And Siobhan was the only one to know how many Platinum NC buildings there are in MA. (Marie!!! You could have had it.)
Round three (11 questions): Entering into the arena of current events, questions were structured around key issues in the recent election: war, energy, prop 1, and Sara Pallin. Contestants were all over the place in identifying where Iraq and Pakistan were located geographically in the middle east. Most people knew at least one or two states of the 9 that don’t have personal income tax (answers that included states that taxed dividend and interest income were counted). No one knew Tina Fey’s birth name. And in the end, the winner was determined by their ability to correctly match up the green building rating system and the relevant country (BREEAM, GREEN STAR, HKBEAM, HQE, PROMISE, GBAS, AQUA).
During the entire Smart Smack, score was kept on the white board. At certain periods, bonus questions were thrown out. These questions were not rewarded with points, but instead the recipient was awarded a “tie breaking” advantage. In the final round, it was pointed out by Andrea, that one of her correct answers was not recorded. The comment was noted by the moderator who stated that it would be addressed at the end of the game if needed.
By the end of round three and the end of the game, everyone’s score was close, but it was Andrea and Marie tied for first place, with Marie having a “tie breaking” card. Therefore, after the game, the moderator and the two contestants in question went through all the answers to verify the accuracy of the score. In the end, it proved that indeed a point was missing from Andrea’s tally and instead of Marie breaking the tie and winning, it was Andrea who came through victorious.
Congratulations to Andrea for being the first official Smart Smack champion. She proved that she had some smarts and some smack to beat out everyone else. Thanks to all that participated and may we all be just that little bit smarter.
And by the way. I believe I only received one correct answer to the qualifying question (which I luckily forgot about or else there would have been no one to compete). The correct answer is War Time, which only Dee responded with (I think).
What was Daylight Saving Time originally called when it was first instituted year-round?
A. Sunlight Time
B. Summer Time
C. War Time
D. Conservation Time
Best of luck and see you in November!
From an email sent 11/14/08, RE: 4th Periodic Spelling Smackdown Results
The fourth periodic Spelling Smackdown was just completed and in record time (I think in just a half hour). And this time around there were a lot of patterns. Well at least one big one. There were six contestants this time round, with one observer/smack talker/back-up pronouncer (Colleen). In order, we had:
- Aaron: This marked his inaugural Spelling Smackdown and he chose inadvertently the first chair which allowed him to kick off each round.
- Dee: A past participant who showed potential, often making it into the near final rounds in past games and known for her wordsmything (yes, I apparently made the word up as Outlook won’t tell me the correct spelling).
- Annie: The defending champion and Birthday girl. It was agreed by all that instead of giving her some sort of pity win through second chances, that whoever won would owe her a gift. With the understanding, of course, that if Annie was able to retain the championship title, she’d owe something to herself.
- Dawn: One of the original participants, and I believe a spelling bee champion from grade school.
- Britt: The only individual who has participated in all four of the GRT Spelling Smackdowns located at Nexus. A diehard contestant.
- Jacob: The newest hire of GRT. This marked his inaugural Spelling Smackdown.
The first round went fairly quickly, knocking Dawn out of play early in the game with one of the few official spelling words that is an acronym: laser. For all those interested, according to our trusted source Wikipedia, the word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Second round, at the medium level, showed everyone strong and able to move onto the third and final level with no sweat (showing). This strength was short lived by everyone but two individuals at the third level, hard. The letter ‘i’ proved a stumbling block for all in some form or other. Once the dust settled, Aaron and Jacob were left standing (well sitting and on opposite sides of the table – the first and last contestants of each round) to duke it out. It was Nexus versus TA. Who would come through victoriously? Would Aaron do Nexus proud and maintain dominance on the Spelling Smackdown’s for Nexus (Game 1 & 2 winner: Paul, Game 3 winner: Annie)? Or would newbie to the company, Jacob, prove a force to be reckoned with and break out his, until now, unknown spelling prowess.
First pass, both correctly spelled very challenging words. Second and third pass proved rewarding for both as well on slightly easier words. Fourth pass proved too challenging. Aaron misspelled his word putting the pressure on Jacob to correctly spell the final word. It proved to be too much and Jacob misspelled his word as well which allowed Aaron to reenter the game and have another chance. It was still anyone’s game. Again, Aaron misspells his word leaving it all up to Jacob to determine the fate of the game. And this time, after collecting himself (and having a bite of his salad), he came through and correctly spelled the final word.
The torch, well rather the hand, has officially been transferred. Jacob is our latest champion and indefinite holder of the hand. After great sportsmanship showed by all (lot’s of handshaking and congratulations and very little smack, Marie would have been disappointed) folks started breaking down the game and the largest pattern was found. It appears, although it has not been validated, that every winner of all four Spelling Smackdowns have been the newest hire of GRT. Paul, we believe was the latest addition to the team and perhaps this was why he was able to win two games – we hadn’t hired anyone new (that was participating). Annie goes down in history for participating in the largest recorded GRT Spelling Smackdown on her very first day. And now Jacob, has won. Will the pattern continue? Only time will tell. Cheers from your wonderfully poor speller and Spelling Smackdown moderator!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
See you later
And perhaps never again. Last week was my first week working both jobs. In theory it should have worked. I had already started wrapping things up at the old job so there really didn't seem like that much more to do. And new jobs always have a warming up period, especially when you're working part time. The other strange thing is that the two offices are one block apart. I had scheduled two and a half days at each place. It was all nice and organized. In theory.
I ended up working on things for both jobs every day and running back and forth between the two offices most days. Thursday night I got hardly any sleep as my mind just would not turn off. Remembering to do this little thing or that little thing for the old job and whirling with new ideas for the new job. I just couldn't get to sleep. And then once I did, I had to get up really really early for a training the next day that I was doing. By friday afternoon I was spent. And I still had too much to do left. But the weekend had arrived. And I slept and slept.
Saturday night a friend had a lovely party to celebrate the elections. A friend had brought their little baby who had the cutest onsie. It had "I'm ready for a change" on the front. And the next day I went down to New Bedford with friends to see the Phantom Tollbooth. It was a children's production so there were little kids everywhere. I was able to get some knitting done in the dark and am using the age old approach that a mistake is no longer a mistake if you repeat it. So am copying what I did on the first sleeve with the second. No one will be able to tell the difference. I'm working on another Peapod sweater for another baby born this fall.
By the time we got back Sunday night I was tired enough to go home, but too hungry to make it. My blood sugar had dropped. So in the end we had a girls night at A's where she taught me some make up tricks as she gave me a make over.
Which brings me to Monday morning when I had to enter back into the world of work. I realized, it was just too difficult so I got on the phone and ordered internet (and cable while I was at it). The cable guy just came yesterday afternoon to do the hook up and here I am with all these new toys.
There are so many channels. And so many shows I had no clue about. I watched a few Top Chefs that a friend loves. I think my favorite discovery from last night was Whatever Martha. It's this brilliant show where these two women just sit and watch old Martha Stewart shows and just tear them apart. It turns out one of them is Martha's daughter who comes across like a Carrie Fisher. Kind of tough and sarcastic. Not what you'd expect. It's the only way to watch Martha Stewart.
Well, I just wanted to say farewell as I don't think I'll ever see anyone again. I'll work remotely at home watching the endless entertainment I now have. Cheers!
I ended up working on things for both jobs every day and running back and forth between the two offices most days. Thursday night I got hardly any sleep as my mind just would not turn off. Remembering to do this little thing or that little thing for the old job and whirling with new ideas for the new job. I just couldn't get to sleep. And then once I did, I had to get up really really early for a training the next day that I was doing. By friday afternoon I was spent. And I still had too much to do left. But the weekend had arrived. And I slept and slept.
Saturday night a friend had a lovely party to celebrate the elections. A friend had brought their little baby who had the cutest onsie. It had "I'm ready for a change" on the front. And the next day I went down to New Bedford with friends to see the Phantom Tollbooth. It was a children's production so there were little kids everywhere. I was able to get some knitting done in the dark and am using the age old approach that a mistake is no longer a mistake if you repeat it. So am copying what I did on the first sleeve with the second. No one will be able to tell the difference. I'm working on another Peapod sweater for another baby born this fall.
By the time we got back Sunday night I was tired enough to go home, but too hungry to make it. My blood sugar had dropped. So in the end we had a girls night at A's where she taught me some make up tricks as she gave me a make over.
Which brings me to Monday morning when I had to enter back into the world of work. I realized, it was just too difficult so I got on the phone and ordered internet (and cable while I was at it). The cable guy just came yesterday afternoon to do the hook up and here I am with all these new toys.
There are so many channels. And so many shows I had no clue about. I watched a few Top Chefs that a friend loves. I think my favorite discovery from last night was Whatever Martha. It's this brilliant show where these two women just sit and watch old Martha Stewart shows and just tear them apart. It turns out one of them is Martha's daughter who comes across like a Carrie Fisher. Kind of tough and sarcastic. Not what you'd expect. It's the only way to watch Martha Stewart.
Well, I just wanted to say farewell as I don't think I'll ever see anyone again. I'll work remotely at home watching the endless entertainment I now have. Cheers!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Time: Daylight and Zones
Two posts that I wanted to write I realize have a common thread - the elusive subject of time. Today is my second day at my new job. It was strange this morning as it was the first time where I went directly to the new office (yesterday I put in an hour at the old office first). So I get up like usual. I get ready like usual. I wait for the bus and transfer to the subway as usual. I even get off at the regular stop and use the same escalator as usual. Except now I turn left instead of right. The two offices are just one block apart (their backs abutt each other). It was so familiar and yet so different.
Now I am facing the wonderful task of getting up to speed while still juggling the old job. It's keeping me busy which is good. But you know how new jobs go, no matter how easy or difficult, you just have a mild headache at the end of the day from absorbing so much new information, no matter how mundane or complex. Today I'm finding my head swimming with the simple task of time zones. My big project I'm working on first is in Abu Dhabi. Except the current team is in the UK. Coordinating meetings and figuring out when to email and talk is crazy. Plus there are some folks I need to engage that are on the west coast as well. So I'm desparately trying to remember 3, 4, and 5. Five hour difference between UK and here. Three hour difference between SF and here. And four hour difference between UK and UAE. Then there's all the math. Needless to say, I've been using the good old stand by of counting on my fingers. Plus on top of all that, my office computer was set up in military time.
Now I am facing the wonderful task of getting up to speed while still juggling the old job. It's keeping me busy which is good. But you know how new jobs go, no matter how easy or difficult, you just have a mild headache at the end of the day from absorbing so much new information, no matter how mundane or complex. Today I'm finding my head swimming with the simple task of time zones. My big project I'm working on first is in Abu Dhabi. Except the current team is in the UK. Coordinating meetings and figuring out when to email and talk is crazy. Plus there are some folks I need to engage that are on the west coast as well. So I'm desparately trying to remember 3, 4, and 5. Five hour difference between UK and here. Three hour difference between SF and here. And four hour difference between UK and UAE. Then there's all the math. Needless to say, I've been using the good old stand by of counting on my fingers. Plus on top of all that, my office computer was set up in military time.
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