Moving Offices

I've recently taken a new position at work. Along with the stress of picking up the new work (which is terribly underfunded), I am trying to balance closing out my old work on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project. MRO has treated me very well over the years. I have had a wonderful experience, learned a lot, met and worked with some great people, and accomplished a lot of good things. Needless to say, I'm going to miss it.

But in a way I'm not. I'm kind of sick of meetings not of my own making, and if there's one thing that the MRO project excels at, it's holding meetings.

Change is always a bittersweet thing. On the one hand, staying where you are is comfortable and you know what you're in for. On the other hand, moving on provides new challenges and opportunities, and should ultimately be for your benefit. I'm in that funny transition period right now between having sorrow for what I am losing, and excitement for that which I gain. It's an odd feeling.

In the meantime, things are happening to change my lifestyle at work. I am moving from the 5th floor of my building, where I have a spectacular view to the east (glorious sunrises, squirrels climbing the tall pine trees right outside, views of the morning mist), to the 2nd floor where I will have a spectacular view of ... the cafeteria to the west (um, people eating ...). Not quite a move "up", in my book, but that's how things go sometimes.

My stuff is mostly boxed up. My phone is being moved on Monday (not only do you carry your phone number with you in this place, but your actual phone, too -- I have a dinosaur from 1995 that I really like). My new internet connection is ready for me in the new cubicle. It's now just a matter of actually hauling my stuff downstairs ... but I don't really want to. I like it up here on the 5th floor. Before 2003 when I moved to the 5th floor, I used to have the adjacent cubicle to the one I am moving to, and while it was a happy place, it wasn't as happy of a place as where I am now.

I don't really have much incentive to go. I don't really use my phone, and with a laptop I can work practically anywhere. To make matters worse, I have no compelling need to move. Nobody will be moving into the cubicle I'm vacating for an indefinite amount of time, and people are actually surprised that I'm moving. Some are even a little concerned (how touching!), because I've been with the project so long and carry much of the project memory around in my head; I think there's only a hand full of people who still work on the project that have been with it longer than me ... not even the project manager!

Maybe what I'll do is inhabit both places for a while. I could keep my land-line down there, with my extra monitor, and all my stuff, but just ... sit ... up here on the 5th floor. That way, nobody can find me, my phone won't be ringing, and I could probably get a lot of good work done. Now that's an idea.