The More Things Change

You know you've been away too long when you forget your ID badge and drawer key:  So first day back in the office for a regular work week.  I'm still a bit of a flem factory (gross, I know) but at least I feel 100% better.  Without my ID badge I may not be able to get into the gym at the office tonight after work, but we will see.  Alternatively, I could go for a short run around the park when I get home.  [Update:  I managed to get in by hanging out around 4:45 and waiting for someone to walk out.  They looked at my suspiciously so I assured them that I did indeed belong there and had merely forgotten my key card.  Look workout bag!]

What I'd like our office to look like

One of the projects I'm working on at home is rebuilding our home network and increasing the wireless range.  I also wanted to set up wireless printing so that we no longer have to pull the USB cable from the printer to whichever device Nightingale is using.  Unfortunately her archaic printer doesn't support Airprint and we do just enough printing that it might warrant investing in a new printer.  Lastly, I may or may not run some CAT-6 cable through the walls and put in actual LAN ports in the office.

This is part of a bigger project of course.  We are trying to make the office a shared office instead of my office.  Since I now do most of my goofing off on the iPad and have a work issued laptop, I really don't need to sit in front of a desktop much these days.  So I figured I could get rid of my old corner computer desk and replace it with one of these.  my thought is that someday that folding table/desk can be converted into a changing table.

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No real point, just starting to write about this for future posts:  Every once in a while, a lot lately, I think back to my first Post-College full time job.  Somehow I landed a job as a junior paralegal at a BigName Law Firm 1.0 in the Litigation Dept.

Though I really only have the one place to draw any comparisons, the culture of the workforce in Corporate America in the 90s was vastly different than it is today.  It's an understatement to say that I just didn't fit in.  I think I was from the future because I really liked to leverage technology to make life easier and I worked with people who feared technology because it was new and scary.  Looking back, I acknowledge that I did have what would be perceived as a bad attitude.  I think my intentions were good but my execution and communication were poor, which is always a bad combination. 

It probably didn't help that I was a homegrown instead of brought in paralegal.  By that I mean BigName Law Firm 1.0 was one of the few at the time that didn't require paralegals to have their paralegal certificates.  So I started out as a junior paralegal who then was promoted along with LL (another Jr Paralegal) when most of the senior ones left for greener pastures.  It was never anything I wanted to do for a living but it was a paycheck.

There was a definite noticeable difference in how the others treated new hires versus LL and me.  We just were never invited to play in their reindeer games.