The New Job

Two weeks ago I started a new job. I am now a Senior Web Editor at Autodesk, which reported yesterday it made more money last quarter then ever. (I paraphrase.) Having a job is really nice in one way: security. My first day HR took us through the many benefits we will enjoy as Autodesk employees. They are numerous. For instance, I have access to legal software to allow me to write up a simple will, name a health proxy, or complete a no-fault divorce. If I have a pet, which I don't, I can access pet medical insurance. Gym membership is $100 a year. Yesterday I learned I have two vision coverages which can be used independently, leaving me to consider just how many pairs of glasses one woman can have. (If you're my friend Cynthia, that number is 8.)

So far, so good. I'm still me, I was chastened to realize the first time I ran my mouth in a meeting. But so far the other folks seem to be putting up with me well enough, and my manager is overjoyed. My work is extremely similar to what I was doing at Sun, with a less lofty title, which is fine with me. It's remarkable how many of the issues are exactly the same from one company to the next. My first projects here are identical to my first projects at Sun: look at the Web style guide, write edit guidelines for new components in a redesign, look at feature story layout ideas. At least it's all familiar, with a new cast of players and a rather different culture.

First, Autodesk is much smaller than Sun. And it is profitable, wildly, actually. It does only software, so there's only one type of product to market. The office I work from, in downtown San Francisco, is mostly Marketing types, so there is a lot of interaction, which is quite novel to me. They have a lot of meetings. You can tell how popular you are by how many meetings you get invited to. There is also a lot of drinking. The folks I sit near have many ways of discussing their favorite pasttime, whether it's noting the time as "beer-thirty," or talking about where they go to drink, what they drink, how much they drink, or who they drink with, and how often. The boozy focus seems to extend just to the small group around me; I have noise-cancelling headphones on order.

To cope with new job jitters, I am getting up early in the mornings and joining the 5:25am meditation session at the Zen Center. I make it about twice a week, and the affects of mindfulness practice seem to last throughout the week. A friend has begun to go with me. It's good for what ails you.

Last night I went to a lecture at UCSF by a research psychiatrist and it was super groovy. Sophia Vinogradov talked about Mixing Memory and Desire: The Interplay of Brain and Mind. It turns out, they are two different things. She studies physiology, and took us through some basic freshmen topics like memory encoding, left-brain, right-brain attributes, and emotional processing.

Gotta go. Tonight: seeing Lama Surya Das speak, and helping him sell books. Go Lama!