One year

Today is the first anniversary of my "new" job. It's been a crazy day. Everyone is back from vacation and catching up with everything, and my inbox has been buzzing all day. I'm thinking back to my first day last year and wondering how the heck people could have possibly managed to orient me and take me to lunch and stuff, because we had a lot more projects going on then than we do now (although all of them seem to be at full throttle).

Somehow in the past year I've become one of the "old guard." A lot of people were hired after me, but I think I also acclimated fairly quickly to this place. The boss was always surprised when I reminded him how short a time I'd really been here.

I speak in the past tense about the boss because right before we all left for vacation, we found out that he was leaving us for my husband's company. Everyone who was not aware he'd been thinking about it for the past month was thrown for a huge loop. People are already nervous about the amount of work we have going on right now, and his departure added uncertainty to the mix. I really enjoyed having him as a boss because he threw a lot of opportunity my way -- we were really busy last year, and he wasn't hesitant to ask me to do stuff, particularly when he tried it a few times and got good outcomes. As a result, I am taking over project management on one of his projects, based on his suggestion to his boss and the new group leader. It's a great opportunity, because it's a fairly open project with a decent budget but no clear plan just yet.

So things are crazy. But even though I'll miss my boss, there will be opportunity as a result of his departure. Every leader provides opportunity but also constraints. With his departure, certain constraints are released. While the new boss will put new ones in place -- quickly and directly, given his style -- there will be a bit of a vacuum to fill. I'm ready to help fill it.

So work was on my mind today, but it's been quite a year otherwise too. I spent the last week plus goofing off with my husband, which is somehow nicer than just goofing off with a boyfriend. We spent most of the time at home, which is so much cozier than it was a year ago. This year should be calmer, although I'd like to acquire a dog if I can just convince somebody... I'm not having much luck.