Ministry of Propaganda

Windows, baby
Originally uploaded by Citizen Rob.

A lot of you have been asking how the new job is going.

In a word? Sweet. It may be too early to say this, but I feel like I might just have found a good fit. My boss is a good guy who's not interested in micromanaging, and the other people I work with are pleasant and seem genuinely happy to have me there. (That part is probably true enough. The duties that are being consolidated into my position, which is a new one, have been handled for a while by just about everyone else.)

To be fair, it's sort of hard to say for sure how things are going so far, since I had the good sense to start a new job at a university during spring break. I spent the past two days settling in without a lot of chaos around me. I attended a new hire orientation, got set up for access to the web pages I'll be responsible for maintaining, scheduled meetings with various public relations people on campus, and generally began to put together a plan for what exactly I'll be doing in the coming weeks.

Oh, and I set up my new office.

That's right, an office. With a big window. I can watch pigeons while I work. They certainly seem to be watching me. In my office. Where I work. Sitting down. Not selling Andrea Bocelli to anyone.

It's actually going to be the Communications Office, and I'll be sharing it with a grad student who'll be helping with a lot of the graphics and print publications. When I first stepped into the office, there was one desk, placed in the center of the room. I tried using it like that, but I felt a little too imperial. When I think "Communications Office", in my head there are projects spread out everywhere and a constantly ringing phone and a ticker of some kind chugging away in the background, spitting out important news of the moment.

That's how should be, in the fast-paced, thrill-a-minute office of the Coordinator of Communications.

Although personally, I prefer "Minister of Propaganda", if it's all the same to you.