change your world

ok, that title has nothing to do with any of this but that’s kind of how i feel about my new job. I haven’t posted any about it since i left so i better catch you guys up with what’s going on.  from last Thursday through Monday, i was on a mini vacation debriefing from my old job and getting some much needed rest.  Come tuesday i was ready to hit the ground running at my new job.  I am the System Analyst for Agrilife Research a part of the Texas A&M system.  The guy currently taking care of their computers actually knows his stuff pretty well.  I overheard him diagnosing a problem with a dns server over a vpn and another problem with an external smtp server.  So, after spending the morning doing the mandatory sexual harassment training, ethics training, computer saftey training, etc etc..  I got to shadow the current computer guy, repairing hardware in a mac, connecting a pc to a network printer, safari problems.. just liittle things here and there, but the more i got to walk around and see how things were being done, i’m taking this all in and making notes, seeing how can be better.  so by the 2nd day, i’ve got a pretty good size list of things that can keep me busy for a while.  later that day we go into a meeting and they hand me a list of things they could use help with from their system analyst.  pretty much everything on their list was covered by my list previously made.  and almost all under the umbrella of setting up an Active Directory / Open Directory environment.  A&M uses this really extensive LDAP system that i’ll probably need to find a way to integrate into what my thoughts are.  Tomorrow i get to meet with the guys up in college station to see about getting our ideas together and finding out how much we can actually accomplish. 

So all in all.. I’m super excited about this job.  I love the atmosphere and the people.  I have a very spacious office area in the administration part of the building as well as a work area within the data center itself.  The DC is pretty much empty now, just a router, core switch, and a couple of novel servers that don’t seam to be doing anything of any importance that i can tell atleast.  So i have alot of room to grow into.  The electrician guy came by today asking about a cooling system for the DC.  I threw some numbers together and the finall recommendation was something like.. after i get done in there.. your going to need many more AC circuits as well as several tons of cooling in there.  at least for the first phase of upgrades.  The work environment is so much more welcoming too.  Even before i officially started they were asking what computer i wanted, what chair i wanted.. what supplies i needed, shirt size.  On my first day my chair was their waiting for me.. unopened computer boxes, new staff shirt, id badge, keys, everything i need to make a productive first week. 

I went by the old office today to help them with a few things.  It was really strange being back their.  instantly i could feel the difference.  just as instantly, i knew i didn’t have any regrets about my decision to move on.  Now it’s a new adventure.. new accomplishments to make, new things to learn, and many new friends to begin making.