Ok then, here I am.

So, i've moved into an apartment and been to work for a week. of course, everything went smoothly and therefore this will be short.

Man, did my nose just grow? Oh, that's not my nose.

Anyway, things have not been smooth (unfortunately that even includes my behind), but I am making due (catch the pun?).

For the complete story, it goes like this:

1. CGN (consulting firm I work through) does everything by 'payback' meaning they don’t give any $ up front nor provide any assistance in relocation (no cash advance, signing bonus, administrative help). As such, the move was a royal pain.

2. I got a U-haul (after breaking Jeff’s car on the way) loading al my stuff (from Jens) by myself and moved to Raleigh. There I unloaded it all by myself. it was nothing if not pure summer fun.

3. This was the night before the wedding (Rob and Mary's). we left that morning, and so I forgot my shoes and important papers I needed my folks to sign. I bought shoes on the way and mailed forms home later.

4. I returned Sunday to a place full of boxes. I found some clothes to wear and went to bed.

5. In response to Warren's earlier comments:

A. I was not late. I had to go over to CGN for first day but will rarely have to go there from now on. Actually, I was early. Unfortunately I thought they would start at 8. I got there at 7:40. They start at 8:30 and she (manager) didn’t get there until 8:40. man was that boring.

B. I did not wear a tie though.

C. I did get lost going to CGN but as it turns out it didn’t matter.

6. My boss (at CAT) was gone all last week and will probably be gone this week too.

7. Nothing was set up correctly. Most of the IS people thought my name of course was Barry Clayton so everything was wrong. In addition, they think my middle initial is O. I still don't have email at work, nor access to half the computer tools. I finally got a badge Friday but not the card that keys me through the door (yes, they're dumb enough to have 2 separate things).

8. I have been informed that in about a month our section will be moving to trailers while they remodel and rewire the office areas. Of course these trailers have plenty of room for a chair and a monitor. Of course, it's only temporary. Current estimates are from 5-8 months.

9. I got my drivers license, car insurance and health insurance (though I don’t have any cards to prove this). I still need to get car inspected and registered.

10. The commute is a nice, wide open 30 min. no traffic, just damn far. My car will not make it much longer as it has a decent transmission leak. I probably need new tires as well. I'll be investigating car pool options this week.

11. I have electricity, running water, A/C, phone (local and LD), and now internet service. I do not have overhead lighting or laundry facilities on the premises. My oven is gas and I think something's wrong w/ it.

12. I have finished unpacking and moving in almost. The place is large for a 1-BD and I have already completely filled it. I have more stuff to bring from my parent’s house.

13. The rent is more than I'd like but not horrible. The place (apartment and location) is nice though.

14.

15. All I've done so far at work is read manuals and go through computer software tutorials.

16. I will not have outside email access at work for awhile, if at all. They're anal about everything there.

17. My immediate group is small and doesn’t have a clear mission/goal focus. It's the 'performance group', so it's somewhat multi-functional. So far I've heard a lot of talk about engine performance. I know nothing about that. On the good side, apparently we're more 'big picture' or 'idea' people, so we don’t have to bother with little things (like detailed drawings, figuring out how to run wires, cables, etc for our designs, etc).

18. For fun, CAT likes to design all it's own computer applications instead of using industry tools (the only exception here being Pro-E). So they wrote their own linkage package (actually they paid profs to do it) many years ago. Since then they have spent apparently an ungodly amount of money upgrading that. For those that don’t know, 2 commercial packages that are quite good are ADAMS and Working Model. The only benefit CATs has is that it can understand hydraulic cylinders.
Unfortunately it's still on Unix, and even there it's in the Stone Age. They are currently spending tons of money to put it on PC. and yes, they even made their own Dynamic Analysis package (which is supposed to be good) and a 2-D drawing package. So, in order to explain what a linkage may do, you have to design it in LAS (their package) and then model it's physicalness in Pro-E to show people. It sounds like fun. And somehow I think I will be given the job of converting a bunch of their 2-D system dwgs into Pro-E. Um, um good.

19. They also don’t believe in Microsoft apparently. Nor Matlab. Nor bathrooms. This last of course is the most disturbing. On the top floor (of 2) where I am, there are about 200 people. There is 1 bathroom for each sex. In the Mens (I don’t know about womens of course), there are 3 urinals and 2 stalls. on my first day, I was warned to be careful going into the bathroom 'unprepared'. Meaning, it smells like Peaches-n-sh*t. Actually, there are no peaches.

20. Lunches are 30 min, they do have a cafe and you can sit outside.

21. Work is supposed to start at 7:30. I showed up all well at 8 of course. Like reasonable people do.

22. My particular group members like to play a 'game' known as 'hide the banana'. And while not actually as perverted as it sounds, you must occasionally check under your chair to check for taped up bananas. Currently there is a 9-month old, black, encrusted, petrified banana under one of my cubemates chairs. The irony is he thinks he last put it under his friend’s chair.

23. These people only bring in food for 'special' occasion (promotions, tenure, b-days). And it's not great stuff. They need help there. Actually, it was so bad one time, the overall manager had to send out a memo:

"Never bring in 100 McDonald's Hamburgers again." it was the old 29 cent sale day.

24. My upstairs neighbors apparently re-enact live football games at night in their apartment.

25. I replaced the system battery on the (Jen’s) computer. Man was that ever convenient. If you didn’t catch hat sarcasm it's probably just as well. Unfortunately the sound card is also acting up but I can’t seem to fix that.