Gosh, it's quiet around here. Is that my fault?

If you ever walk into a restaurant and immediately feel uncomfortable because you're wearing cargo shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals and everyone else is wearing, at the very least, business casual, go with that initial urge to walk out. Don't stand there, entourage in tow, waiting to be seated and then subesequently allow yourselves to be seated. Just run. Don't even ask for a menu to check the prices. Just smile politely, turn around and lead the way out the door.

And on a related note, if you're ever talking to a man who's travelled the world and probably once paid more for a piece of toast than you've ever paid for an enitre meal, don't follow up on his dinner suggestion just because he says the price "wasn't too unreasonable". Even if he tries unsuccessfully to pull out a receipt from the suggested restaurant to show you just how unreasonable. And especially don't listen to him if he's had a few drinks.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, Mr. Killagain. I'll be forwarding my co-workers' tabs to you in hopes of earning back the right to make dinner suggestions in the future.

I'm out for two weeks for a workshop in Columbia, SC so don't expect too much around here. Not that there's been much goin on anyway. The odd thing is, there has actually been a lot more going on in my life than ever but I don't have time to write about it. Before I had nothing goin on and all the time in the world to write. I guess that makes sense though. Anyway, I've got some emails to write, so I'm gonna bid you adieu and go ahead and write those. Au revoir!

I can't decide if it's boring or not to talk about work, how I'm adjusting to the real world and what not, so feel free to let me know. I figure with all the "just wait till you have to go to work everyday"'s and "Dustin, what are you gonna do when you have to wake up before 10"'s I got while I was in school, there are some people out there who might like to know. Well, as I've written before, the adjustment has gone fairly smoothly so far. I actually kinda look forward to going to work (it's a phase, it'll pass, I know), except for the dreaded New Mondays, of course. And even those are kind of exciting when lunchtime rolls around and I get to go home.

But beyond simply adjusting to the schedule, it's kinda weird actually having responsibilities, like things that I have to teach other people how to do so they can sub for me while I'm at a workshop for two weeks. I mean maybe the timing is par for the course in today's understaffed workplace, but I just figured I'd be doing meaningless drone work for a few more weeks before they started giving me stuff that mattered. Thanks in part to some timely vacations, though, I was the only option and they definitely weren't afraid to put me to work.

Overall, I like the work. It isn't groundbreaking, but it's challenging. I'm not necessarily performing the duties of and Industrial Engineer per se, but I'm learning more and more about the company, and from a performance measures perspective. I'm learning about taking ownership of my work and how my performance at work doesn't just affect me, but my co-workers and my managers. Foolishly, the latter is something I never really considered before - how ultimately it's my manager's job to delegate work to me and expect, at least, the quality of work that they would contribute themselves.

But the most important lesson that I've learned, and only just today, is that two hour lunches in the corporate world are generally frowned upon.