You Are Now Entering the Land of Dude

Yeah, so I haven't written in a week. Not that I can even write much now, being as I'm at work, but I thought I'd at least take a stab at posting this week since this has been a great week and a week of a very big change for me.

Let me first say, though, that all my peeps need to back up off me about not visiting because until homegirl gets her first paycheck, homegirl is PO! So chill and be patient! Seriously, I miss you guys and i'll come visit as soon as i can. Or feel like it.

Anyway.

I started at my new job as a technical writer up here in Cary on Monday and let me just say, I'm LOVING IT! It's one of those situations where everything's so great, you're just waiting for everything to come crashing down around your ears and get you fired. Seriously, these are some of the coolest people I've ever worked with and even though I'm writing online manuals, I've at least been given free-reign as the company technical-writing expert (yeah) to write them the best way that I see fit. How cools is that? I'm now in the process of trying to learn our company products backwards and forwards so that I can write about them with at least a shred of insight and in a way that Joe Shmoe off the street would know what the heck I'm talking about. This is proving to be a bit trickier than I thought. The learning process involves meeting with my product contacts (aka. people who work with the products every day and are the experts) and interrogating them with no mercy until I can beat out a rough outline for the manual. Of course, nobody wants to be beaten or interrogated, so pinning these guys down is turning out to be difficult. Emails, emails, emails...possibly a meeting today. some time. Come on, guys! I'm spinning my tires here without your input! I can't write this thing until you show me what it is that I'm writing about (as in, walk me through how to use it myself). If I'm going to write how to use it the way I'd tell someone how to use it...i've gotta use it!! So far, that's not happened, but I feel confident that it will soon. In the meantime, I'm studying the product overviews, writing down questions I come up with to ask my contacts, and hoping that my supervisor won't think I'm slack.
Now, about my office. It's small, no windows, and cold as something really cold, but I like it. The walls are bare right now but I've got pictures of Jeffrey and my brother, along with my little windup pair of lederhosen, on my desk and that's good enough for right now. There's an air conditioning vent right above my desk that blows arctic air constantly so today, I find myself (with 96 degree temperatures outside) sitting at my desk in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a fleece jacket. My hands are freezing so I alternate which one i'm sitting on. Which is neither right now because I'm typing. Brrrr. I know I'm going to burn up and sweat like nobody's business when i leave the building for lunch but the truth is, right now i'm looking forward to that. Switching back and forth everyday is probably going to end up giving me pneumonia though. *cough* I seriously need a box of kleenex in here because i've got that "cold nose drip" thing going on. Really. It's cold in here.
Supposedly, this will only be my office until September, when we further take over the second floor of our office building and I'll get a new office. Hopefully where it's warmer and I have a window. that'd be nice. do they make posters that look like windows?
Oh well...I'm going to go. The guy across the hall is shouting something about Alabama in a voice that sounds very much like Zack Houston's beloved "Alabama Man!" and it's distracting me. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I should be at least attempting to learn this stuff. Before this is all over, I will be the next writer in the "For Dummies" series, helping people work out their technical difficulties whilst also making them chuckle to themselves on occasion. I will inspire.

Until next time, folks, appreciate your socks. You don't know what kind of heck you endure without them until you make the mistake of wearing clogs to work in an office the exact temperature of those Chilly Willy's you're all enjoying so much right now. I hope they melt all over you.