Hey all,
I'm on week two of my new job and things haven't "settled into their groove" yet, but I'll give you an idea as to what my days are looking like lately. Just some backround info, my new job is working for the University of Calgary, SAIT, and Calgary Health Region. They are partnering together to share an office in Edmonton (each for their own agenda) but all basically want a presence in Edmonton and to have a close location of their own near the government which they all rely heavily on to function at the level they've accustomed themselves to. So...that's where I come in. I was "headhunted" from Direct Energy to run this new office. Pretty exciting...and very flattering as they are 3 very reputable groups and the way it all worked out was Divine...but that's another story.
8:30: wake up and walk into our office and turn on my laptop. (I'm working from home this week because the office construction isn't complete yet) Check my emails and reply to the things that are important and specific for today. I'm still getting set up on a few things on Calgary's end and so it's delaying a few other things at this end (like getting set up in their accounting system so that I can start building our vendors to supply things like coffee, office supplies, etc and this is the same system they use to reimburse employees for any expenses incurred by them for the company so I can't just use my money to buy it and get paid back because it's the same system...arrrggghh).
Make a couple of calls to some connections to see where some smaller details are at in progress.
One of my colleagues is coming from Calgary to Edmonton today to meet with me and some contractors to get a finalized timeline as to where things are at and what hiccups we have to deal with now. We have a Grand Opening Stampede Style Breakfast scheduled for next Thursday morning and have all 3 partners coming with thier VIP's as well as the mayor of Edmonton, and some Government Ministers to do some publicity for us and "cut the ribbon".
10:30 I leave the house to head downtown to the office (it's located smack dab in the middle of downtown on 103st and Jasper Avenue). I stop at the 7-11 on my way to buy a bottled water as it's scorching hot (33 c today...so far). I get to the office around 11 and inquire with the parkade that I parked in how to purchase some stalls (we'll need 3) for monthly rental ....that way I can piggyback off those too and save myself parking costs...not cheap to pay for parking...but it's alot less in Edmonton than it is in Calgary ($100/month vs $400/month...it's almost more than some people's rent).
Because the office is still under construction, the front door is locked. The office is completely surrounded by glass to the streets and so you can see in...right now there are contractors walking around and doing work. I get in via the backdoor and intro myself as being from the University (the UofC is the main contact between the 3 groups for the contractors). I pull out my laptop and find myself and "unprotected" wireless connection....(I know, it's not the best thing to do but we'll have our access up soon enough and then I won't have to piggyback off other groups' unprotected internet). My friend from Calgary (the colleague I'm meeting...who happens to also be the person that recommended me from Direct Energy to the University) shows up and we have a quick walk thru of the office as it's the first time both of us have seen it. We talk about what we like and don't like. It's a ton more likes than dislikes as she designed it alongside our engineers at Stantec engineering. It's a pretty trendy office...needs to be with the "reputation" of the 3 groups and also because of who we'll be having here (general public and VIP's for meetings). (Sidebar: that's kind of why it's such a cool opportunity. Not only did it pay me quite a bit more than Direct Energy, but I also get to network with some very influential people...like government and presidents of universities...which might open other opportunities in the future). I'll do my best to descrive the office to ya'll. (nice english hey).
It's longer (as in rectangular) and there's a main boardroom that will have a cool plasma tv "floating" and facing the front window with active displays. There's a "floating cloud" which is a second ceiling that's the size of the oversized boardroom table (seats about 20-25). The projector will be mounted thru a pole just beneath the floating ceiling. The projector screen is on the north wall...it's actually framed into the ceiling and will come down with a remote control. There's an oversized pivot door that you can walk thru into the main office. You'll find my desk there...an angle shaped desk made of wood and steel. Across from my desk is a small meeting room with glass walls. There are 6 offices along the west wall all with glass on the east side for visibility into each of them. Because of the 3 groups, each has 2 offices and the colors are according to the group the office "belongs to". Red and blue for SAIT, Gold and maroon for UofC, and white and blue for CHR. There's a slanted wall on the north end of the row off offices that will house a huge plasma screen tv. Back to my desk...just behind me is a series of 3 swank looking power poles that will serve as public housing stations for laptops. The general public will be able to walk in and pull up a chair to one of these and surf around the groups' sites to find out who they are and what they're about or what courses they offer. At the back of the office is a sit up bar/island. Behind that is the "kitchen" area. There's a sink, a stainless steel dishwasher and fridge, microwave and toaster (Tor's request). I'll be setting up vendorship with a coffee company to have a single brew cup machine come in so there will be coffee/hot chocolate and tea as well.
On the east wall there we have the wall color as charcoal and it's not paint ....it's a new type of very cool tackable material that you can put thumbtacks in and post things, but it will never leave holes...very cool. On the west side of the back of the office is the coat closet, bathroom (handicap accessible) and storage cupboards as well as where we'll house the photocopier/printer and store some office supplies.
I hope that kind of makes sense, you all should try to stop by once we're set up to see how cool it is...keep in mind it's not done so alot of the description is from my mind as told to, not necessarily complete yet.
Back to my day...
Kelly (my colleague) and I decided that because she's in town and willing to purchase some things to charge back to the groups (she has a different system than me so she can get it processed faster) we should go shopping. We walk a block or so north to the city center shopping center where we go into the Bay and buy some nice dishes, tea towels, hand towels for the bathroom, soap, kleenex, glasses, vase, toilet paper, paper towel....etc etc...basically I can order all this once I'm set up but we want the office to at least "look" like it's functional for the grand opening next Thursday.
By now it's just after 12:30 and so we decide that we should go for lunch. We go over to Joey Tomatoe's on Jasper and sit on the patio...you only get sun like this in Alberta for a short time usually. I order an iced tea and the maple glazed salmon with alfredo pasta. It's Joey's so the food tastes amazing. We chat about her and the office...mostly work stuff and some talk about Direct Energy (we both used to work there together). She insists on buying my lunch so I won't argue with her...we have a back and forth kind of thing...well actually lately, it's been her buying for me mainly...hmmm. It's a blessing either way as her husband is some kind of software designer and does well so she works for the love of it. It's insulting to people sometimes if you try to pay after they've offered so I leave it.
We head back to the office to meet with the owner of Telsco, the security company that we'll be using to monitor our office. We go over the office with him and discover some unmonitored areas that the motion sensors wouldn't catch ...he suggests a few things and since it's mainly Kelly's gig here I let her take the notes and make the main points of discussion with Bill. Before Bill's gone, Matt from our signage group shows up (he's on time...we're running behind) and so we finish up with Bill. Matt shows us the finalized prints of the signs that will be mounted on the outside of the building. The office is going to be branded as "Calgary Connection" and so we'll have 2 of those signs and one of each of the participating partners. He says the Calgary Connection signs will be ready for next week but we'll have to create temporary sign banners for the other groups for the grand opening because they're permanent signs won't be completed by then. They handmake the signs and because we ordered a special kind of sign with lighting and everything, it's a bit more tedious.
Once we're done meeting with Matt, we decide that it's time for a Starbucks break in between meetings. We walk a couple of blocks east and get something from Starbucks...I buy this time...although the price isn't near what lunch was.
Once back at the office (it's about 3pm now) we connect with Carrie and Kelly from Stantec (our Edmonton project coordinators/engineers) as well as the manager from the contracting company (construction crew) and our audio visual guy that's in charge of installing the plasma's and projector/screen. We discuss the audio visual stuff and work out some quirks and a timeline for installation. He makes a couple of calls to confirm that his lead installer will be there tomorrow to start. We then "supervise" the Stantec girls as they go over some things with the contractors (that's why we pay them...to know and understand and follow up on the details with contractors). After we all decide that there's still more to be done so we won't do a final walk thru with the contractors today. Probably not till next week when things are more complete. Kelly and I go over a few more things with the Stantec girls and work out some more details. We decide that some floating shelving (like something from IKEA) can go above the kitchen cupboards to hold the dishes and microwave instead of installing more overhead cupboards.
Make a few more decisions on some finishing touches (I'm mainly just observing today as kelly is the lead on coordinating the actual construction of the office.)
Now it's about 4:45 and we're done. Kelly and I go to the parkade where we transfer the purchases for the office from her rental vehicle to mine so I can store them at our house while we're waiting for the security to go live. I give her directions to where she wants to head. I get in my car and head towards St. Albert where I'll visit with Mike until he's off. It's hot and rush hour traffic is heavy so I just leave the air conditioning off and open the sunroof and enjoy the warm summer sun while waiting for the traffic to inch forward. I decide it's probably faster to go a different route than I'm on so I go north and cut across on the Yellowhead. Arrive at Mike's store and he's dealing with customers. Kale's (the owner) mom is there, she does the books for the company, so I visit with her for a while and decide I'm thirsty. I head over to the dollar store in the same parking lot because you can get the good Nestea bottles there (along with lots of other good, usually more expensive, drinks for $1) I buy 4 drinks...gotta keep my hunny hydrated too...and wander around the store for a bit just checking things out. I get a couple of other things to while I'm there (it's a great dollar store, but I always buy more than I plan on...guess that's their plan). Mike's now done with customers and in his office. We chat and talk about each other's day. I hook up my laptop and start working thru some more office emails for about half an hour. Then Mike and I play some computer games together and chat in between a couple of customers that come in.
It's almost 9pm now and Michael is almost done. We're into our games right now, so we decide to play a little longer...we're together anyways and that's what counts. Michael remembered to shut off the main lights so we look closed but he forgot to lock the door and someone comes in. (We have "night lights" that we keep on and they're pretty bright so sometimes it still looks like we're closed when we're not). He's not a customer, but a former supplier, so he leaves a message with Mike about something to pass onto Kale. Michael and I decide to pack up and go back and forth about going out for supper together or just going home and making something. We decide to just go home so we can hang and Curly doesn't have to sit in the car. (Curly goes to work with Mike everyday...she likes it but I think she gets bored sometimes because she can't get out and run around much). When we get home, Mike starts the omlettes while I unload the office's stuff from my car to the house. I start making grilled cheese sandwhiches (yummy with omlettes) after I complain about having rock hard butter because it was in the fridge (sorry for that baby...you're right...a 10 second wait while it's in the microwave is better than bad butter). We head downstairs where it's cooler (it's still warm outside and although we have fans running in our house...it's still pretty warm) and put in a movie to eat our late supper to and snuggle. I fall asleep in Michael's arms while we're watching Be Cool. Michael always pretends to be bothered by the fact that I tend to fall asleep during movies...but when we start them so late (like 11pm) and he's just so comfy.... I think he really secretly likes that I fall asleep in his arms. ( I know mom's probably thinking about a good country song right now...right mom? lol. ..."ya I live for little moments like that") Michael wakes me up when the movie is over and we head to bed. Then end...that's one day lately, but right now there's no pattern. Once the office is up and running, things will be alot different. But ya - that was my day in a very large nutshell.
Tor