Archive for November, 2004

Rough Day

Published on November 7, 2004 in Miscellany. 5 Comments

My therapist told me, after the Wellbutrin started working, that I might occasionally have eruptions of depressive episodes. Well, one hit last night. I have no idea what the trigger might have been. Usually, they have a trigger, and I can identify it. But this time, I’m at a loss. Except for maybe being overwhelmed.

The movie The Incredibles was just awesome. I loved it. I will buy it when it comes out on DVD, and I may go see it again in a theatre, just because. It was that good. I don’t know how the Spongebob movie will compare…probably not well.

One week down….250 to go…

Published on November 6, 2004 in Miscellany. 3 Comments

I finished up my first week at work.

We get up at 5:00 a.m. We shower (separately) and have breakfast. Little boy wakes up and gets ready for school. Maybe I can empty the dishwasher or throw in a load of laundry. We leave at 6:30. Next week, we will leave at 6:15, because I have to be at work by 7:30 a.m. The commute takes anywhere from 50 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on what incidents have transpired en route.

At work, I am learning how to use the different tools available for trouble-shooting. Additionally, I’m learning internal procedures for documenting our calls, and getting to know my colleagues. They seem like a nice group of people. I’m the old person among the analysts, though one of the leads is older than me. I will probably start taking calls while my trainer listens next week. The biggest challenge I see to the job will be multi-tasking. I don’t know how many things my head can process at one time.

The routine is actually OK, because it is the same thing every single day. As long as I get to bed by 10:00 or so the night before, getting up at 5:00 is not so bad. I also don’t mind the commute so much, since I’m driving with my best friend.

This has been a rough week for little boy. By the end of the day, he seems just worn out. He’s fussy and irritable. I hope we can find what accomodations he will need to make it easier for him.

Today, we were going to see The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, but the movie isn’t being released today - it’s not “Only in Theatres” until November 19. So I think instead we will go see The Incredibles.

The Great Air Conditioning Nightmare has come back to haunt me. It got kind of chilly last night, but when DH tried to turn on the heat, it only blew air…no heat. Strangely, the wires to the heating unit have been cut. We didn’t cut them, and the heat worked fine last year, so I’m not sure what the problem is. Why would they have cut the wires without telling us? The Air Conditioning Guy, in his current guise of Heating Guy, will be here in about 15 minutes. I should go get dressed.

Day One on the job

Published on November 2, 2004 in Miscellany. 4 Comments

Today I started at my workplace. I will be trained by Tania, a beautiful woman with a voice like silk. Many of the calls have that New Orleans informal quality to them: “I can help wid dat, baby.”

I have been very concerned and intimidated by many things about starting back to work: the change in my schedule, the pace, the structure, the 8000 new things to learn. But after just one day of listening to calls, I have determined that I’m going to be able to do this. We’ve only scratched the surface of what I will learn over the next week or two, but already today there were several calls I could have handled with no problem at all. I expect within a month to be Useful, and within six months to be Very Useful.

The company internet policy is pretty strict. No browsing. Occasional visits to websites to check personal e-mail, make plane reservations, or look up phone numbers are acceptable. But my days of spending hours and hours lost in the internet appear to be over. I hope to be able to hit my friends’ blogs, and to keep up with one or two boards, but it’s not going to be like it was. I can only hope that this will be a good thing for me.

Today was New Hire Orientation

Published on November 1, 2004 in Miscellany. 3 Comments

It consisted of bursts of interesting data punctuated by tedious waiting. I got breakfast and lunch. I asked three questions that the recruiter had never had asked before. That’s me…causing trouble on Day One.

I’m very, very tired. This is definitely going to interfere with my time on the internet, since Internet use is only permitted for business purposes.

Man, talk about a lifestyle change. I’ve been awake since 5:00 a.m. It’s just after 8:00, and I’m beat.

Tomorrow is my first day on the job. I’m looking forward to it.