"How was school?"

So my first day of "school" is done.

All in all, not bad ... not bad at all. New classmates seem nice. Teachers are pretty cool. The school itself is pretty cool, too - big atrium with a giant skylight goes right through all four floors of the building, so it will be bright and sunny - when it stops raining.

I don't have a desk/cubicle/computer of my own, so I'm temporarily in the Benefit Administrator's office while she's on vacation this week. But, we were having network issues and I had to move to another workspace (of someone else who was off today) so I could log on.

One of the accountants showed me the cash receipts booking and processing procedure - I guess I'll be a back-up person for that. I HATE doing cash receipts; it's pretty entry-level but VERY complicated for a huge medical clinic like this one ... but oh well. Of course, there were tons of issues with the deposits, and lots of "it's NEVER this bad!" going on ... but oh well. And lots of issues with my system access not being set up correctly - but oh well. These are the kind of things that happen when you bring someone new into a finance department, so no biggie.

The accounting manager who brought me on board apologized that things are so crazy and not quite functional at the moment, and said that it will be like this for at least the first week or so. I'm supposed to have a meeting with her tomorrow morning to talk about "big picture" stuff, which we didn't get to do today since she was in meetings all afternoon. I also didn't get a key card yet, so I will have to call someone in the department tomorrow morning when I get there and have them come down and let me in the building. THAT one I don't like. But oh well ...

Overall, honestly, I liked it. I'll have to hold off real judgment for a while until I see how things really truly work there and what my role will be, but it's nice at the moment that I'm seen as a bit of a savior. I'm not sure what to wear for that role, though ...

And now, for your viewing pleasure ... a very few pictures of my day. I didn't take any pictures inside the building, of course, or after I left (just darkness and rain - y'all have seen that, I'm sure), but the beginning of the day:

"The Pink Room". This is a spare bedroom where our clothes and ironing board live. We bring all the tropical plants inside in the winter to enjoy sunlamps - hibiscus, plumeria, anthurium, cirius and jasmine. Nothing's blooming at the moment, but it's a nice room to get dressed in during Seattle's gray wet winter days.

Getting ready to leave in Joe Jetta. Yes, I drove to work today, even though it's so close - it's a holiday so parking meters are free, and the buses are on holiday schedules - so I could get there 35 minutes early and stand around in the rain, or get there AT 9:00 (with the possibility of being late). I chose to let Joe get me there. (Note the time is 8:22 a.m.)

Found a parking spot right across the street from work. (Note the time is 8:31 a.m. Yeah, it was ridiculous to drive - sue me)

The Building. Finance is on the top floor (this isn't the clinic, which is two blocks away - this building houses Finance, IT, and business relations). Whoever leased the building before the clinic had a small fitness center on that floor. The restrooms still have showers, and there is a sauna just off of them. Hmmm.

Me waiting to get into the building. I know, I look sleepy, pasty and fat in this picture. It's the flash. And the bad rainy-day lighting. Really. I look better than this. Really.

(And no, I didn't wear the same pants as in my kindergarten picture from yesterday's post ... black wool, with black socks and shoes, thank you).

Thanks everyone for all your warm wishes. I'll keep you updated as to how it continues ...