And so it begins

Well, my first day on the new job has come and gone, and all in all seemed to go OK. I wasn't late. I recognized the company president when he said hello. I wasn't sure I recognized the COO, but I pretended I did and I was right. A whole bunch of friendly people, mostly software developers, introduced themselves to me; it remains to be seen how many of the names I can match with the faces tomorrow. And just to prove the cliche that it's a small world, it turns out that the CFO is the next door neighbor of a former member of senior management at my previous employer, aka The Company.

They already had a computer set up for me with an email account, so once I figured out the basics of Outlook (never used it before) I was able to do mail. Guess I'd better read up on the calendar features next, because I've got half a dozen meetings on my calendar already. Also set up an ICQ account since this company does quite a bit by that method. Haven't quite got the hang of it yet. By mid-afternoon I had already gotten one authorization request from some total stranger to add him to my contact list. No thanks.

The phone is being cantankerous; if anyone calls it, it doesn't ring but dumps them straight to voice mail. The receptionist can forward a call to me (but it still doesn't ring so she has to come and tell me that I have a call to pick up), and outgoing calls work OK. Considering that when I started my previous job it was at least 8 weeks before I even got a phone at all, I'd say this one isn't too bad.

How did I spend my day? Wrestling with Windows XP, with which I have only a passing acquaintance (enough to put it on my resume that I'm "familiar" with Windows -- I didn't say how familiar I was, and no one ever asked); going through two rather poorly done PowerPoint training presentations and then completing "assessments" of what I learned (mostly true/false and multiple-guess questions, and it was open-book); and attending my very first meeting, a conference call about software development which might as well have been conducted in Greek, or maybe Klingon. I guess I'll pick up the technical language soon enough.

What will tomorrow bring? Training on a version-tracking software system, for one thing. Maybe I'll forage for a few office supplies. And study up on Windows XP using "The Missing Manual". That oughta keep me busy.