Friday 16 November 2007

Pic of the day: OK, perhaps not a sage, but seemingly the most experienced programmer on the team. I guess that's something.

Boss & doctor visits

A couple of things happened today. First, I had a meeting with my new boss. After that, I had an appointment with my doctor.

I was still technically on sick leave, but my new boss had taken the time to come from the east of the country to visit us, and there aren't many opportunities for us to meet, especially not just the two of us. The time that was set aside for the meeting almost collided with my doctor appointment, but not completely. I would have to leave a quarter of an hour early, but there should still be some time for us to talk.

Unfortunately, my boss was also delayed a quarter of an hour. So it really was a short meeting. Still, it was probably better than nothing, especially since we have not met before. We should have, but then the events happened which caused this temporary sick leave. Anyway, she seems like a great boss. I was worried that we might get someone more focused on their own glory than on the success of the workplace... after all, glory hounds gravitate to such positions. So I was pleasantly surprised, and am now much more optimistic about working in the reorganized workplace.

My boss will continue to stay in the eastern part of the territory which we cover, along with most of the IT department, while I and three others will stay in the western part. So we will need to be able to work together without seeing each other much. Luckily, I have a lot of experience with working on my own and with some cooperation with a small group. She seemed happy to hear that, as well she should be. And I was happy that my strong points were accepted. So I'm glad I didn't miss this meeting, short as it was.

***

The doctor appointments also went as expected. This time I met with my regular doctor, and I knew he would end my sick leave as soon as possible, which is on Monday. He is the kind of doctor who believes that sick leaves make people sicker.

On the other hand, he was quite enthusiastic about my exercise bike. If it were up to him, I would use it to an hour a day. I am not able to do that, at least yet, but there aren't many days that I am not stiff and sore from using the bike. I am more or less getting used to that, so that if I'm not stiff and sore one day, I will simply stay on the exercise bike until I can feel in my legs that I am going to be stiff and sore the next day.

I can understand the doctor in this. When I see what people are usually in his waiting room, they are (with the exception of toddlers) people who are physically less than active. A rather large number of the women are obese (I cannot see that pattern in the men, but then again there are fewer men in the first place) and the rest ar mostly old people. Neither of these groups are overly active, but I am not sure the lack of activity is the cause of their illness. It could easily be the other way around. I am pretty sure the old people would still be old even if they biked an hour a day. Either that, or they would be dead. They would not be young. Actually, it was fairly common to bike almost that far to work back when some of them were young, so...

Anyway, no more getting paid for not working. Not that I didn't work even while not working, since I had to go to the office and sort papers and other stuff, throwing away most and taking home private stuff. I did this more or less every other day during my sick leave, probably to some confusion for my coworkers. What kind of illness makes you unable to work but able to drag stuff home from work? I did not say. In fact, I still don't.

There is a lot I don't say about my job, and it will continue that way. Luckily my identity is not tied to my job. In fact, they were almost opposites in some ways. But gradually I have changed what I have been doing, from upsetting people to helping people. And now I am finally getting it recognized and formalized. Until the end of this year, I am still formally doing something that I am not actually doing. From January 2nd, I am officially doing what I do best. ^^