But the reality was 180 degrees away from this for the most part. In review: Monday was a wasted day really-half day of orientation, 2 hour lunch, and the rest of the day was filled with 'new job' things-paperwork for health insurance, getting the computer set up, getting the phone set up, passwords, etc...ick. All in all, a lost day-but necessary in any new job. It is what it is.
Tuesday (and BTW, I won't review every single week like this...I just want to get the first week down for memory...) was more productive: I drafted my 90 day and 12 month roadmap (yikes! more like 6 month and 2 year roadmap-from all the work...), had a brief chat with my new boss, Les, and finalized all the little details (setting up meetings with all my main points of contact for the balance of the week) that i didn't get to do on Monday.
Wednesday and Friday were one in the same: meetings with those main points of contact. About 10 in all, I think? And from each of these, a long list of things that need to be done. I should add it to the roadmap next week. oy. I think I'l now be up to a one year and three year roadmap! :)
Thursday was a treat-and frustrating all at the same time. I worked from home on Thursday because I had a 3 hour lunch & chat with a vendor right in the middle of the day. A trip out to Slough and back (and the expense) for just a half day isn't worth it. Our lunch was at a restaurant called Scott. It's in one of the poshest areas of town I've seen so far-a Rolls Royce dealership and Marc Jacobs store were just around the corner. www.scotts-restaurant.com. The cool thing was that this is the restaurant where Ian Flemming (James Bond writer) came up with his 'shaken not stirred' martini idea. Yep. That chi-chi-poo-poo...One of the ladies at lunch said this was one of the places that get stalked by paparazzi on a regualr basis.
The frustrating thing was that the metro line I was on to get to said restaurant shut down due to a train problem-and I was still 2 miles away from the restaurant. By the time I surfaced and started walking, all of the cabs I saw were full of people. So, I started walking. About a mile and 20 minutes later, my feet said 'no more', and at about that time I turned around and saw the first vacant cab I'd seen since I started walking. Whew. My poor feet, after living here, will never be the same. I understand now why it seems like everyone's shoes always look so shabby. Mine are already taking on that appearance. Between this little walk and my other walking for the evening, I'll bet I walked 4-5 miles that day. whew!
The social life this week was a hodge podge: Sushi with co-workers Monday nite. Mexican with my soon-to-be roomie, Sarah on Tuesday. Crazy Homies. Actually, really good-and packed with American expats...I stayed home on Wednesday. Dinner with the brother of a friend of a friend (crazy, I know...Jeff. Nice guy. We had a good chat.) on Thursday (Thai-and it was quite tasty!), and dinner out last nite. So much for cutting back on my going out spending. I figure the first few weeks while I'm trying to meet as many folks as possible, that I'm not going to turn down any offer simply because of cost. A month from now? Different story. But, I'm being really good about eating lunch in-either taking or bringing leftovers from the nite before. And, since the 'good' coffee at work isn't that great, I'm suddenly down to two cups a day (and one of those I make at home!).
All in all? Short of winning the lottery, being told they made a mistake in my salary-and it really should be double my US earings, or meeting Mr Perfect, I couldn't have asked for a better first week. Oh, and the weather-up until today has been brilliant. Cool, but sunny every day. Not too bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment