I've looked at fog from both sides now.
Greeting from Virginia! Today was my first day out on site. Wait, let me start at the beginning.
Yesterday was never meant to be a long travel day. One flight, one quick drive, and one hotel check-in. Sounds easy enough. But fog got in my way. The airport was a zoo: delays, gate changes, cancellations left and right. Seven hours later I finally left the airport and headed for Roanoke. And really, after that, things began to look up. The drive to Staunton was gorgeous. Staunton, located in the Shenandoah Valley, is very quaint, old, and historic. I look forward to some runs if this rain ever passes. Oh, and as a fantastic bonus I'm only 100 miles from Richmond, so I should get to see Jeff, Myrle, Jenny, Adam, and Erin (friend, friend, cousin, cousin, cousin-in-law, resp).
But getting back to my first day on site. Today was, well, interesting. I don't have a whole lot of experience from which to judge, but it seems as though the office is managed about how I expected: effectively but inefficiently. People in this level of employment, it seems, are often times driven by one force: inertia. Little or no emphasis is placed on actually evaluating or improving the ways in which work is carried out, but rather all efforts go into make sure things are done exactly as they've always been done. I'm reminded of the calculus student who spends more energy resisting the possibility that he'll learn anything than he actually would simply learning. Perhaps this stasis infects us at all levels.
But despite those random observations, I enjoyed my first day. I really felt like I was able to contribute and help out when the managers had questions. I'm looking forward to sitting in on the training sessions that will take place later in the week.
After work I headed to the local Food Lion to buy some food for the room. Since I don't have a fridge I came back with fruit, crackers, tortilla chips, bread, peanut butter, granola bars, cheese in a can, pistashios, and canned soup. I'm calling tonight's dinner "New York dinner done Staunton style" as it consisted of crackers, bread, peanut butter, cheese in a can, and pistashios. Awesome*.
Alright, for now I'm gonna relax and watch some tv. Too bad I don't have a glass of wine. Goodnight.
*Don't worry, mom, I went out to a big lunch.
Yesterday was never meant to be a long travel day. One flight, one quick drive, and one hotel check-in. Sounds easy enough. But fog got in my way. The airport was a zoo: delays, gate changes, cancellations left and right. Seven hours later I finally left the airport and headed for Roanoke. And really, after that, things began to look up. The drive to Staunton was gorgeous. Staunton, located in the Shenandoah Valley, is very quaint, old, and historic. I look forward to some runs if this rain ever passes. Oh, and as a fantastic bonus I'm only 100 miles from Richmond, so I should get to see Jeff, Myrle, Jenny, Adam, and Erin (friend, friend, cousin, cousin, cousin-in-law, resp).
But getting back to my first day on site. Today was, well, interesting. I don't have a whole lot of experience from which to judge, but it seems as though the office is managed about how I expected: effectively but inefficiently. People in this level of employment, it seems, are often times driven by one force: inertia. Little or no emphasis is placed on actually evaluating or improving the ways in which work is carried out, but rather all efforts go into make sure things are done exactly as they've always been done. I'm reminded of the calculus student who spends more energy resisting the possibility that he'll learn anything than he actually would simply learning. Perhaps this stasis infects us at all levels.
But despite those random observations, I enjoyed my first day. I really felt like I was able to contribute and help out when the managers had questions. I'm looking forward to sitting in on the training sessions that will take place later in the week.
After work I headed to the local Food Lion to buy some food for the room. Since I don't have a fridge I came back with fruit, crackers, tortilla chips, bread, peanut butter, granola bars, cheese in a can, pistashios, and canned soup. I'm calling tonight's dinner "New York dinner done Staunton style" as it consisted of crackers, bread, peanut butter, cheese in a can, and pistashios. Awesome*.
Alright, for now I'm gonna relax and watch some tv. Too bad I don't have a glass of wine. Goodnight.
*Don't worry, mom, I went out to a big lunch.
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