My new office is located in an office building complex. There are six buildings total, with 5 floors each. 5 of the buildings surround a really beautiful courtyard complete with a fountain. It's kind of like an oasis in the middle of energy. Very peaceful and quiet even though there is a major road just one building over and the airport can be see just beyond that. The building complex itself is just one of many in the area. Down the street is a TV station, a probation office and then eBay/PayPal. There are companies with the "semiconductors" or "microsystems" in their name as well. Welcome to Silicon Valley.
Today, I discovered a perk to working in this particular area. On the first floor, one building over is a cafe. It's a cute place with soup, salads, sandwiches and some amazing baked goods. I had lunch their with one of the people who had come in to train me the other day. Or rather, we went in, ordered our food and then took it back to the office because it was so crowded in the cafe.
Yesterday I went in for a pick-me-up. Peanut Butter Cup Brownie. It was a chocolate brownie with a dollop of peanut butter in the middle. So good. Today as I was getting ready for work I realized I hadn't planned for my lunch. I decided to just grab something on my way over. That didn't happen (can anyone say traffic?) so when lunch rolled around I decided just to go down to the cafe. First, though, I decided to look at their menu online.
That's when I noticed it...the "order here" button. What? I could order BEFORE going to the cafe. Sweet. And then I noticed the other part, "pay here". Ohhhh it just gets better. By the time I was done, I had created an account (buy 12 lunches and get one free), plunked in my debit card number and ordered my lunch to be ready in 30 minutes. 20 minutes later my cell phone buzzed and the text message (yes, I said text message) said "Lunch is ready!". I went down through that courtyard oasis, to the cafe and picked up the bag that was waiting with my name on it. Heaven!
I plan on taking my lunch much more than buying lunch but what a sweet service that is! And what a great excuse to take a break, to breathe in fresh air and enjoy the beauty of my surroundings.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Is it really only Wednesday?
I've been driving to work all week. I think I've said that recently on this blog. I can't remember. I could look. I'm not going to. (Can you tell I'm tired?)
It started raining on Tuesday and hasn't really stopped since. It's good. We need the rain. It does feel ironic that we are getting more rain now then we have had all winter long and winter technically ends next week. But I digress.
Tuesday morning it was slow going. Tuesday afternoon it was slow going. This morning it was slow going. Anyone noticing a pattern. Tonight I checked a traffic website about 30 minutes before I left work and it seemed like it would slow going on the way home as well. I mentally prepared myself for a long drive home. I didn't prepare myself for car malfunctions.
Before I even got to the car I dropped my cell phone, couldn't get my umbrella out of the holder, nor open, got in the car and couldn't get the umbrella closed then closed the door on my jacket. Reopening the door I pulled my jacket free, closed the door, leaned back to get my jacket out from under me and wound up lying flat as the driver seat recliner thingy broke. It just broke, as in the seat will no longer sit up. Crap, crap, crappity, crap, crap!
I am resourceful and the Lightening McQueen booster seat that Creative Guy picked out was in it's usual spot. I wedged it between the drivers seat and the back seat so that I could drive and got on the road.
It was on the way home, as I started thinking about how much this repair might cost that I started to feel worn out and beaten down. New tires and getting the brakes checked were on my list of things to do with my tax refund money (Thank you GOD for a tax refund). I guess one of those will have to wait (the tires, they aren't that bad yet). Just when I felt like I was getting ahead. Oh and that was AFTER I found the crack in the sole of my Dansko's. So that's where the water was getting in. Lovely.
Off to research pick 'n' pulls. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.
It started raining on Tuesday and hasn't really stopped since. It's good. We need the rain. It does feel ironic that we are getting more rain now then we have had all winter long and winter technically ends next week. But I digress.
Tuesday morning it was slow going. Tuesday afternoon it was slow going. This morning it was slow going. Anyone noticing a pattern. Tonight I checked a traffic website about 30 minutes before I left work and it seemed like it would slow going on the way home as well. I mentally prepared myself for a long drive home. I didn't prepare myself for car malfunctions.
Before I even got to the car I dropped my cell phone, couldn't get my umbrella out of the holder, nor open, got in the car and couldn't get the umbrella closed then closed the door on my jacket. Reopening the door I pulled my jacket free, closed the door, leaned back to get my jacket out from under me and wound up lying flat as the driver seat recliner thingy broke. It just broke, as in the seat will no longer sit up. Crap, crap, crappity, crap, crap!
I am resourceful and the Lightening McQueen booster seat that Creative Guy picked out was in it's usual spot. I wedged it between the drivers seat and the back seat so that I could drive and got on the road.
It was on the way home, as I started thinking about how much this repair might cost that I started to feel worn out and beaten down. New tires and getting the brakes checked were on my list of things to do with my tax refund money (Thank you GOD for a tax refund). I guess one of those will have to wait (the tires, they aren't that bad yet). Just when I felt like I was getting ahead. Oh and that was AFTER I found the crack in the sole of my Dansko's. So that's where the water was getting in. Lovely.
Off to research pick 'n' pulls. I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A dotty Tuesday post
- Left my cell phone sitting on a chair at home. Realized it as I was heading out of town for work. Oh well.
- Florescent lighting really highlights the grey (gray?) in hair. I do not like it. No man to wash out of my hair...gonna wash the grey (gray?) right out.
- Survived my first rainy day commute. I am not a fan. If I didn't have appointments or meetings before or after work this week, I would be taking the bus.
- Ben deserves Courtney and Courtney deserves Ben. Lindzi dodged a bullet.
- This office building that I'm in is interesting. There are random groups that come in to use the conference rooms every week. Yesterday was the four guys with the one tall blond woman. The guys were drooling. It was such a cliche. She was nice, though.
- Guys talk really, really loud when they are trying to impress a woman. The walls are thin, gentlemen, tone it down!
- The pants I am wearing today are too big at the waist. I believe this is their last day of work.
- Speaking of work, I had better get to it! Hope your day is great!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Riding the bus
It's always good to have friends who will push you. Not literally push you so that you fall flat on your face or rear and are injured, but metaphorically push you, encourage you, spur you on to something that will be good for you or challenging. I think you get the point. I have friends who do that. Sometimes let myself be pushed. Other times my feet are planted firmly in cement and there is NO.WAY. that I will move. Stubbornness runs in my family.
Wednesday afternoon, K texted me. She asked about the job and something else and then said "so, have you taken the bus yet?". No... K's reply was "I'm teaching over there tomorrow, we can carpool home." Push.
I deliberated for awhile and then I got in my car to go home at 5:15pm. It took 15 minutes to go two blocks. I stopped in at a Target instead. I got home a little after 7pm, stressed out and not looking forward to driving again the next day. I guess I was taking the bus.
Thursday morning I got up extra early. I went to my favorite coffee spot, which was so much quieter at that time of the day than when I had been there two days before an hour and a half later. Favorite coffee in hand I went to the bus center. I was 5 minutes too late for one bus and 15 minutes too early for the next one. But people were already starting to head down to the center, so I got myself together and went down the hill.
Now, there are no markings anywhere that say which side of the center the bus will stop at. There are no markings that say "stand here for Bus B". There were a group of people lining up, so I kinda lined up with them. A bus came and I thought, "wait a minute this doesn't look right." So I spoke up. "okay, I'm new here. Is this the express bus?" "Yes", was the reply, "for company-named-after-fruit." Ohhhh....private bus for that company-named-after-fruit, got it. Not mine.
I turned around and saw another group of people lining up. I meandered their way. That's when I clued into the phenomenon that I hadn't clued into with the company-named-after-fruit line, which is they were getting in a line. It was fascinating. Just like school children waiting for the school bus, they all lined up. I wasn't in the line, I was clearly breaking code.
When the express bus pulled up, that line marched right on. I muscled my way into the line, got on the bus and spotted a seat along the back of the bus. It was a bench seat with two people already seated but room for at least two more. Someone else sat next to me and the bus got on it's way.
The bus ride was quiet. Super-duper quiet. No one talked. No one. The lady to my right was on her smartphone for half the trip. The lady to my left was doing schoolwork. Two others were sleeping, one doing that awful head-nod-JERK! thing. Another lady went between reading her book and using her phone and sighing whenever she checked to see how far along the bus had gotten. Another one had her headphones in and so on. The whole bus was quiet...and segregated. With the exception of the young woman who had a rolling soup cart, the men were in the front of the bus, the women in the back. I finally gave in and pulled out my iPod and started listening to the audiobook I had gotten from the library (Sandra Day O'Connor, The Majesty of the Law).
As the express bus made it's way over the hill (which is literally how this commute is referred to in this part of the country) I began to pay attention to the movement of the bus or rather, how I moved with the bus as it took some of the turns on this commute. Having nothing to lean on, I began to brace myself with my right or left foot, so I didn't slide into my neighbors. Maybe this wasn't the best seat. (Or was it? That seat shall hereto after be referred to as the bus-butt-workout-seat. My glutes and hamstrings were sore on Friday!) We finally made it down the hill and to the bus stops.
This is where my anxiety started to rise again. I had made it onto the bus, would I get off at the right stop? Luckily, this bus is also equipped with an automated voice system and scrolling information bar that helps out. It announced where we were at various intervals on the trip, including the upcoming stops. Soon my stop was listed and the next thing I knew I was on the street, looking for the light rail.
A short, anti-climatic ride later and I was at my office door...a full 20 minutes before my scheduled start time. I had survived the bus. One way, at least. I will be attempting a round trip ride on Monday. I wonder if people are friendlier on the way home?
Wednesday afternoon, K texted me. She asked about the job and something else and then said "so, have you taken the bus yet?". No... K's reply was "I'm teaching over there tomorrow, we can carpool home." Push.
I deliberated for awhile and then I got in my car to go home at 5:15pm. It took 15 minutes to go two blocks. I stopped in at a Target instead. I got home a little after 7pm, stressed out and not looking forward to driving again the next day. I guess I was taking the bus.
Thursday morning I got up extra early. I went to my favorite coffee spot, which was so much quieter at that time of the day than when I had been there two days before an hour and a half later. Favorite coffee in hand I went to the bus center. I was 5 minutes too late for one bus and 15 minutes too early for the next one. But people were already starting to head down to the center, so I got myself together and went down the hill.
Now, there are no markings anywhere that say which side of the center the bus will stop at. There are no markings that say "stand here for Bus B". There were a group of people lining up, so I kinda lined up with them. A bus came and I thought, "wait a minute this doesn't look right." So I spoke up. "okay, I'm new here. Is this the express bus?" "Yes", was the reply, "for company-named-after-fruit." Ohhhh....private bus for that company-named-after-fruit, got it. Not mine.
I turned around and saw another group of people lining up. I meandered their way. That's when I clued into the phenomenon that I hadn't clued into with the company-named-after-fruit line, which is they were getting in a line. It was fascinating. Just like school children waiting for the school bus, they all lined up. I wasn't in the line, I was clearly breaking code.
When the express bus pulled up, that line marched right on. I muscled my way into the line, got on the bus and spotted a seat along the back of the bus. It was a bench seat with two people already seated but room for at least two more. Someone else sat next to me and the bus got on it's way.
The bus ride was quiet. Super-duper quiet. No one talked. No one. The lady to my right was on her smartphone for half the trip. The lady to my left was doing schoolwork. Two others were sleeping, one doing that awful head-nod-JERK! thing. Another lady went between reading her book and using her phone and sighing whenever she checked to see how far along the bus had gotten. Another one had her headphones in and so on. The whole bus was quiet...and segregated. With the exception of the young woman who had a rolling soup cart, the men were in the front of the bus, the women in the back. I finally gave in and pulled out my iPod and started listening to the audiobook I had gotten from the library (Sandra Day O'Connor, The Majesty of the Law).
As the express bus made it's way over the hill (which is literally how this commute is referred to in this part of the country) I began to pay attention to the movement of the bus or rather, how I moved with the bus as it took some of the turns on this commute. Having nothing to lean on, I began to brace myself with my right or left foot, so I didn't slide into my neighbors. Maybe this wasn't the best seat. (Or was it? That seat shall hereto after be referred to as the bus-butt-workout-seat. My glutes and hamstrings were sore on Friday!) We finally made it down the hill and to the bus stops.
This is where my anxiety started to rise again. I had made it onto the bus, would I get off at the right stop? Luckily, this bus is also equipped with an automated voice system and scrolling information bar that helps out. It announced where we were at various intervals on the trip, including the upcoming stops. Soon my stop was listed and the next thing I knew I was on the street, looking for the light rail.
A short, anti-climatic ride later and I was at my office door...a full 20 minutes before my scheduled start time. I had survived the bus. One way, at least. I will be attempting a round trip ride on Monday. I wonder if people are friendlier on the way home?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The first week
It's 2:45pm. I'm at work. Yes, I am blogging. Why? you ask. Well, it's something to keep my mind occupied and right now there is nothing.to.do. I've been through the job website, I've filed the papers that I could, I've read the magazines and organized the folders I have. I've called the people I'm supposed to call, sent the emails I needed to send. I answer the phone on the 2nd ring (don't want to appear to eager) and have researched all the things that I can research for now. I know that in a month or two things will pick up. Heck, tomorrow things could pick up, but right now, it's pretty-kinda-sorta quiet.
It's only been three days. I can already tell you that I like the two office coordinators, they have been awesome, that there is a gentleman who eats his lunch precisely at 12:30pm everyday, at the same table. Maybe tomorrow I will get his name. I can tell you that the chair I'm using right now is awful...I definitely need to get another one. I can also tell you that I'm not so much a fan of the amount of gas it's taking to get from home to here and back. The bus/light rail and an extra 1 1/2 hours each way of commute is looking better and better.I'm starting to slowly add things to the office that will make it mine but also theirs at the same time. Tomorrow I'm going to bring a picture in...this one on this post, actually. There isn't a window in this 133 sq. ft. office, so I need something to "look out". The beach is good. :) I added my picture cube today, along with my Louisiana pencil...it has an alligator on it. I can be business, but fun is always lurking beneath the surface.
Tomorrow the computer arrives, along with the printer. And hopefully more work will follow. Until them, I'll just be grateful for a new job...and I am.
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