The New Home

It's weird how much of a difference a new building makes. It's the pre-eminent thought in my head now that the 'B has officially moved. For the purposes of that statement I mean psychologically; I'll get to some of the physical stuff shortly. As odd as this might sound, being that I'm speaking about the workplace, but this new building doesn't feel like home. I'm sure that has plenty to do with the fact I was in the other building for over ten years and have been in this one for approxiamtely 10 hours. I'm sure that will fade over time but it's weird now. When I walk in the front door of 50 Braintree Hill Park, I feel not like I'm going to my place of business, but someone else's.

Being in a shared building has a little to do with that. We don't have our own cafeteria, of course. I haven't been to the one here, but I hear it's pricey. Looks like I might be on my way to being a (more or less) full time brown bagger. I'm sharing the elevator with people I don't know. The parking lot as well.

It's going to take some getting used to.

As for our office and the move itself. It's...different. It's partially exciting, in that "we have a new place" sort of way. (It's also definitely exciting in the "I have a new phone" sort of way, but that is geeky tech excitement.) Our particular office---the TSC room---turned out well. There is, unfortunately, a lot less privacy than before. This is largely manifested in:

1) The fact that 3 out of the other 4 employees could see me typing this if they looked, whereas before no one could.
2) The fact that it is dead quiet in here. In Westwood we always had some background noise---machine hum, modems---that covered up a lot. Not now. You can hear everything very clearly in here. This is bad for me because I feel too weird listening to my iPod now. This could make for some long days for me if I don't find an alternative.
3) The fact that we all sit closer now, so I have to hear the hens now. Mostly the two women that love to complain, bitch, and gossip. Before, they were across the room; now "across the room" is a mere few feet away.

We have, of course, been inundated with building and move related calls. There's not much we can do there, except for document them and eventually pass them along to whoever it is that does building maintenance. But at the same time, the construction dudes are still in the office; they're not done yet.

The bathrooms here....not as nice as at the 'B.

But there is actually stuff to do around here. I can run actual errands during the day, after work, or at lunch. Monday I ran out to my bank (located at the South Shore Plaza), deposited a check, and came back, all within 15 minutes.

Well, whatever. It's been an experience so far.