First day

I've just left the Alberta Government after nine years for a new job in the health care sector. I had no complaints about my position with the government--I worked with great people and had interesting projects. But it was getting a little stale, and just when I wanted something different this new opportunity waltzed into my life.

My new job is with a big organization that's known for innovation and excellence. They have a half-dozen exciting web-related projects on the go, and they don't have much experience with information architecture or user experience.

Great, right? So I get to my new office yesterday and find on my desk an old IBM PII with a 15" monitor. A 15" monitor. I mean, I can't even see the thing it's so small. My mouse is encrusted with dirt from my predecessors' hands. My mousepad is tarred with coffee. There's firewood (!) in my closet. The vending machine in my building (an old TB hospital that's been converted to offices) doesn't accept coins minted after 1970.

This new job has a lot promise, but I already miss (really, like a lot) the creature comforts of the Alberta Public Affairs Bureau. The coordinated office furniture, and coffee service, and modern computers with large monitors and ergonomic keyboards and speakers and CD drives, and file folders and pens whenever you need them, and a water cooler, and not having to tell people "I'm over in the old TB hospital."