I posted it as an update on Facebook, but it was so ironic and funny to hear "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd three times during my second day at work. The trifecta may have been a case of strange coincidence, or it may have been because I spent a freakin' eternity in my car this week driving to a bunch of locations for work. In Seattle, I could walk to work from my home in less than 5 minutes; so its suffice to say transportation to and from work is a little different here in Chicago.
I did a little poking around on Youtube and found the video in case you don't know the song I'm talking about, but more interesting than the video are the comments below videos on Youtube. Especially funny are the ones from the Pink Floyd die-hards who seem very convinced they know the meaning behind the song. Pink Floyd was a band I never got to see in concert, and totally laid an egg when they toured in 1995; as it was most likely the last chance I had to see them live. I think everyone goes through a Pink Floyd phase at some point (which for me came after the Steve Miller Band, Led Zeppelin, Who phases), and I confess my interest in the band peaked when I heard about the Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon synchronization trick. It would be hilarious to have a video of my high school friends and I watching that together in Alpha Whiskey's bedroom, trying to decipher meaning behind the events that lined up with the song. I'm also convinced you could find interesting "coincidences" if you synced any album and movie and have enough time on your hands. One of these days I'm going to try that trick with Metallica's "....And Justice For All"; which the band wrote based on the movie with the same title. If you haven't seen that movie, its worth a rental although its 30+ years old.
Anyhow, I really don't know what Floyd was thinking about when they wrote "Welcome to the Machine" but I've always thought it had something to do with the "cog in the machine" image that comes with spending time in a structured life without much of an individual identity. Whether its school, work, military, whatever, the machine conjures up thoughts of being just one of the masses; and I felt that way a bit this week as I rejoined the rest of America sitting in meetings, driving around in my car, and doing all of the stuff that goes in to working.
In addition to bitching about weather (which no one cares about), I've also decided no one wants to hear about traffic and how much time is or isn't spent in traffic. Its really only important to the person who sits in the car, but let's just say traffic will play a role in my new job. With hospitals located all over the Chicago area, my commutes were close to two hours during rush hour--and those are one way trips. But in this economy, beggars can't be choosers, so a little traffic isn't going to make or break my life. And you have my word, this post will be the one and only time I bring it up.
I'm going to need some time to formulate an educated opinion about the work; but my first impressions were good. There are certainly some differences to the way things were out west (beyond just the commute) and I'll post some work-related things up here from time to time if you want to know what's going on during my days. But I continue to be impressed with my former employer for everything they did, now that I've been able to see how others operate.
Outside of work, it was nice to have a long weekend--played some golf, hung with some friends (some old, some new, some male, some female), welcomed back college football, and had some time to catch up on some reading. One of the things I decided during the past week was that I'm going to follow through on writing the book I've probably described to many of you. Reading other authors is a useful way for me to learn ways to engage an audience, and I'm reading Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus; which is a fun "first person" story. I'll describe my book idea in more detail in a future post, and although writing a book doesn't appear on my 2009 personal plan, it's something I've always wanted to do. And even if the only people who ultimately read it are the 15 people who check the blog, it'll be nice to put my time and effort in to something more than rambling posts on a blog.
Hope all of you enjoyed the extra day this weekend, and like this guy said; "keep on livin; L-I-V-I-N..." (some great one liners in there)
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