(To play catch-up those of you who didn't know, or stumbled across my blog, I recently moved to Montgomery, Alabama for the first big job of my professional career, after graduating from the University of Montana this past May. The company for whom I am working installs software systems for various government agencies in order to to process all the taxes people and businesses file. I work as a consultant to install, implement, troubleshoot, and do whatever else is necessary to make sure this system works and is stable. After getting the job, they decided to send me to Montgomery for about 3 - 4 months before transferring me to (most likely) a new project, also somewhere in the South. After moving there, I'll live there for a couple years before going elsewhere, and the cycle repeats itself.)
Yesterday was a travel day, waking up at 4:15 am to pack my bags for a 7 am flight to Atlanta. Since this is a temporary assignment, the company wasn't paying to move my belongings, so packing was a struggle as many clothes as possible into two bags of luggage without either one of them exceeding 50 lbs (lest Delta Airlines charges me a $90 "overweight" fee). When I got to the airport I found out one was 3 lbs over, but after some crafty rearranging of belongings in my carry-on and CPAP case I was able to make weight. The sucky part came, though, when I realized my ticket had me in the middle of the row for my flight. As I'm 6'5", this was unacceptable. After making my way through security to my gate, I figured I'd talk to the service rep at the desk to see if there was anything he could do to help. I guess he appreciates passengers with a sense of humor, because after asking him if there were some animal sacrifice I could perform to get an emergency exit seat, he was able to get me one after a 20 minute wait.
What came as a shock to me, about moving and starting my career, happened when I got on board the plane. I was seated next to a soft-spoken guy who had an uncanny resemblance to Will Bailey from The West Wing, who worked for Microsoft. We struck up a conversation and he asked me what I did for a living. Then it hit me. "I'm a consultant." Up until now, I'd always been a student, studying whatever, wanting to do "x" as a career path. Now, I'm there. Instead of climbing rung after rung on a ladder, I can go and do whatever I want. The gravity of that personal choice and responsibility was (and still is) shocking in its scope and depth. It's an entirely new experience building my own "empire" by my own devices. As we got to talking about cloud computing and data security, it was funny for me to think of it as a conversation between two professionals. I've never been that before; even though I've worked other jobs before, I was still "student." Not anymore. I've officially reached the end of my beginning, arriving at a point where, more than ever, I'm the master of my own destiny.
A lot of that realizing must have taken it out of me, because about an hour later I started falling in an out of sleep. I probably would have slept the entire flight, but Delta has apparently found a way for a sponge and a slab of concrete to mate and have uncomfortable, bastard children as seat cushions. But the flight did go by faster, so that was nice. The layover in Atlanta was uneventful, as was the flight to Montgomery. When we landed, I started to perk up. This place is going to be home for the next several months, and I wanted to see what it was all about.
I thought our plane taxied to a terminal and I'd be greeted by more air conditioning. Turns out that "terminal" was instead a tarmac, and promptly greeted me with bright light and a bear hug of heat and humidity. At first I thought "hey, this isn't so bad, I can do this!" Ten seconds later: "Okay, now it's getting kind of hot." Thirty seconds later: "My place has air conditioning, right?!" (Fortunately, it does.) It also turns out that my rental car until the Prius arrives is a white Ford Flex. It looks funny, but it handles really well, has a lot of space, stylish interior, plenty of giddy-up, and good gas mileage for its size (24/17).
My apartment is also pretty sweet. After some initial trouble getting onto the property (it required a gate password I didn't have), I arrive to find it's more like a townhouse. I've got a single car garage (which the Flex won't fit in, but the Prius should), decent kitchen, living room, etc. I wish the TV were bigger, but other than that it's pretty nice. Especially the A/C.
(I'll post pictures of a lot of this stuff once I get a camera. Forgot to bring mine on the plane...)
Since moving in, I've done a lot of exploring and running of various errands to get all settled in. I also had dinner with my boss and his family earlier tonight. He's a really cool, down to earth guy, and seems like he'll be fun to work for. He didn't beat around the bush and let me know that the work will start pouring on me soon, but I wouldn't expect anything less. He did a lot to put my mind and ease and make me feel welcome. Going into dinner I was really nervous, but walking out I feel confident that I can do this and kick some ass.
Considering I'm learning so much at once I'll probably break some of my postings up by topic (like "Food") instead of having it all trickle through in several pieces. Those should hopefully happen more often than not, at least once or twice a week. Pictures will also follow as soon as I get a camera, or a family member/good friend decides to mail me one. *hint hint*
Work starts at 9 am. Time to be a productive member of society. This is going to be legen- wait for it...
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