Changeup.
A catch-up would be very long.
When we last checked in on our daring hero, he was reconciling with returning to the job where he'd been spurned. I continued to work at the hospital in good graces, actually getting back into enjoying myself immensely. The environment is still a good one, the people still wonderful and the cause fulfilling.
But that ended, eventually. The contract ran out in January. My recruiter had interviews lined up for be before it ended, apparently my work had made a reputation for me in the firm. I worked my last day for the hospital on a Thursday and started my new position on Friday. That was a month ago.
This new job is, to put it bluntly, amazing. I realize that much of what I find impressive is, to most, mundane. But I'm excited by finally having a desk of my very own, a cubicle that only I sit in, that I can decorate with my knicknacks. I work in a trendy new office environment with noise filters and open floor plans and art deco lighting. I have a locker and a drawer that are private.
There is also the extraordinary. We have mini fridges with neverending supplies of soda and drinks for the taking, drawers full of candy and snacks, and comfortable seating for rest periods. The coffee machines are just as full of hot chocolate as coffee and the building's cafe is as reasonably priced as it is tasty. I don't have to choose between paying for parking or walking 15 minutes to my car.
The job itself you ask? I am the IT department for an office of 50. There is, of course, a CIO who put together the entire structure, but he has CIO stuff to do and needs a guy to handle the mundane technical stuff. This is everything from replacing broken mice to redesigning the office network architecture to include another 30 VOIP phones.
It seems this job is precision matched to my skills; my networking and electronics backgrounds will finally see real use. I've already repaired several phones, an iPad, and a few laptops that normally they would have had to send in. They've been impressed enough to buy me a specialized toolkit and give me pretty free rein in ordering what I think I need to do what they want.
One day last week I needed to visit the Mall of America to bring in an iMac to the Apple Store. Of course I wandered through the old haunts, wading through familiar sounds and scents of yesterday. As I stood in the past I reflected on the present; two years ago I made that decision, jumped off that frightening cliff into a life change.
Yes, it was hard as hell. I couldn't be happier with the results.
When we last checked in on our daring hero, he was reconciling with returning to the job where he'd been spurned. I continued to work at the hospital in good graces, actually getting back into enjoying myself immensely. The environment is still a good one, the people still wonderful and the cause fulfilling.
But that ended, eventually. The contract ran out in January. My recruiter had interviews lined up for be before it ended, apparently my work had made a reputation for me in the firm. I worked my last day for the hospital on a Thursday and started my new position on Friday. That was a month ago.
This new job is, to put it bluntly, amazing. I realize that much of what I find impressive is, to most, mundane. But I'm excited by finally having a desk of my very own, a cubicle that only I sit in, that I can decorate with my knicknacks. I work in a trendy new office environment with noise filters and open floor plans and art deco lighting. I have a locker and a drawer that are private.
There is also the extraordinary. We have mini fridges with neverending supplies of soda and drinks for the taking, drawers full of candy and snacks, and comfortable seating for rest periods. The coffee machines are just as full of hot chocolate as coffee and the building's cafe is as reasonably priced as it is tasty. I don't have to choose between paying for parking or walking 15 minutes to my car.
The job itself you ask? I am the IT department for an office of 50. There is, of course, a CIO who put together the entire structure, but he has CIO stuff to do and needs a guy to handle the mundane technical stuff. This is everything from replacing broken mice to redesigning the office network architecture to include another 30 VOIP phones.
It seems this job is precision matched to my skills; my networking and electronics backgrounds will finally see real use. I've already repaired several phones, an iPad, and a few laptops that normally they would have had to send in. They've been impressed enough to buy me a specialized toolkit and give me pretty free rein in ordering what I think I need to do what they want.
One day last week I needed to visit the Mall of America to bring in an iMac to the Apple Store. Of course I wandered through the old haunts, wading through familiar sounds and scents of yesterday. As I stood in the past I reflected on the present; two years ago I made that decision, jumped off that frightening cliff into a life change.
Yes, it was hard as hell. I couldn't be happier with the results.