Day two. "IT Monkeys are GO!"

Can I just say that I love being in the IT department? I've spent my whole career surrounded by marketing and advertising people, creative types with a rather serious case of "I'm the king/queen/center of the world" syndrome.

Yesterday, I walked into my new job (with a fast commute to work - AND I missed being snagged by the muscle car-driving county sheriff. Whew!) to find lots of people excited to meet me. They've been dying to find someone to fill this position for months and I have a sudden sense of the impact I can make on this place. Nobody has ever done this job before.

Um, did I mention nobody really knows what this job entails???

My favorite coworker met me at the door to let me in. My new boss toured me through the whole company and showed me around. I have a smokin' hot laptop computer, Adobe Creative Suite 4 (score!) and lots and lots to learn. I got a boquet of flowers. I got a monkey. It was a dream day in a cool place.

I got to ride to a very nice team lunch in my bosses convertible. My afternoon consisted of familiarizing myself with my space, cleaning a bit and getting set-up on the computer. Being in the IT department means I'm sort of a novelty - token female geek. And a geek I am, no doubt about it. I am going to love every minute of this!

They want me to teach them stuff - how to use Flash, how to write html and how to do a million other things I bring with me. I guess all those years of holding a number of jobs are finally coming to fruition! They like me. They think I'm cool. I had grown up people to talk to all day long and they don't ask me to make them a PB&J!!

So, besides the obvious great day at the new job, I had a bad meeting at the old job last night. For those of you who don't know, I took a part time job managing a small condo complex in June of 2008 to buy groceries. The pay is crap and the people are kind of nuts. I work for a number of angry people. I held my own, made the one troublemaker that wasn't playing nice with others leave the room and basically had a good time running things. We got answers and solutions settled out. I spent time explaining things that made everyone understand some specific challenges more fully. And, I left without feeling beaten. That happens sometimes at these meetings, where I feel like I got hit. I'm deciding when to quit this particular mess because I could use the income but know that I'm going to be working 60 hours weeks in short order... and it'll take at least 20 hours more. How thin can I stretch myself?

But wait, I tell myself, how nice would it be to have PLENTY. After all this time of want. I could hire someone to teach the kids. I would be able to vacation - really, actually vacation. The Florida Keys and Miami beckon in the spring and I have every intention of booking a flight before Thanksgiving. Really. Scarlet? Are you ready for that cuban coffee? Red wine? Fun?!?!

Today is a new adventure. I feel so excited to be here, to have such opportunities, and to have choices to make! Life is a wonderful thing when it's full of opportunity.

It's day two and IT Monkeys are GO!