- The commute is really great. I don't see stressed people elbowing each other out of the way, or policemen "randomly" stopping and searching Asian people. Instead I see bunnies, deer and squirrels. Takes 45min - 1hr depending on route / how good a breakfast I had. Some days I take the train, which costs £3.50 and is nice and empty, takes 15 min (though I have cycle rides at either end so my journey ends up more like 45min).
- The company is pretty cool. Techie company this time. TV room with football table, decent sized fridge, coffee machine, free cereal & fruit. Technically I no longer have a 5pm Friday finish, instead this is beer time. All sorts of weird stuff going on - today, people indulged in some bizarre lunch-swapping ritual. Didn't know what it was until too late, so I avoided it and sat at my desk spreading cream cheese onto little crackers and eating sugarsnap peas. Mmmm.
- Yeah the lunch options aren't even close to those I had in London. Lunchtimes were amazing in London - I didn't even have to think finding it. I stepped out of the door and lunch found me. Now I'm on a research park on the edge of town. University pub nearby has good food (mmm nachos) but too expensive for daily consumption. Tesco takes care of the rest. There's a sandwich van but I gave up on those two jobs ago.
- The nature of the work - hmm, well I'm helping people get hold of irritating ringtones. Previously, I was helping big companies improve their evil marketing techniques. Not sure which is worse. I started having a bit of a crisis at the start of the year when I realised my little sis was doing good stuff in Zambia and actually helping people... and what I do is of little real use to the world. Must fix, still not sure how.
- Leaving the old job was weird, sad, and eventually quite drunken. Didn't really feel like a last week or a last day, and still doesn't really feel like I've left. Boss's leaving speech was a bit embarassing, he decided to focus on the "only girl we've ever had in IT" angle, mentioning that it was probably because I'm smarter than most women (which went down really well with the other women present) and that, surprisingly, the reason for my leaving was not because the macho masculinity of the department was so overwhelming. Heh. Anyway, the leaving do was extremely blurry - much sambucca was drunk, dangerous because it tastes good and disappears quickly.
- Funny this girl thing. People always made a big thing out of it in the last place. I was the only girl in an IT dept of 25 in a non-IT company (and the only woman they've ever hired in IT). A lot of people asked me what it was like... I think that's what most people knew me as, much as I tried to be known instead as the freak with the orange bike. I'm now in a smaller IT company. The overall F:M ratio is much lower but there are more techie women and departments mix more anyway. Someone mentioned that the company needs more women, but at least I don't feel singled out. I'll probably regret saying this sooner or later, but it's nice to have other women around. Not too many though. :)
- Got an Amazon voucher as a leaving gift, perfect choice. Ordered a juicer (which has arrived), popcorn maker, veggie cookbook and leather case for my camera (none of which have arrived yet). Juicer is wicked. Comes with a juicing book. Doesn't he look... erm... happy.
- My SO's employers are a bunch of asswipes. They pissed on our holiday plans last month, but now are sending him to LA for two weeks (and the rest of his team, many for much longer) to fix some problem they hope can be solved by throwing people at it. Wouldn't mind if he was going away for two weeks to do something fun (Amsterdam excepted).
- Moo
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