Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Let the Sunshine In

It was another chilly walk to work this morning.  I am determined to get my parking situation at work fixed in the coming weeks.  When I started at this job, I was guaranteed a parking spot.  The person in charge of arranging that for me along with my ID, my keys, and introductions to the key players felt that it was something he should take care of.  Being a person who wanted to show initiative and get things done, I tried to do it all on my own in my first week.  That all backfired on me.  I did get the ID and the keys by my second week (it's strange to be the Executive Director and to not be able to get into your office or lock it at the end of the day for your first two weeks and to have to get a visitors pass every day to walk into work).  I've moved past all of this except for the parking.  The same person in charge has arranged my parking pending a letter from him to our parking office.  Having been what I think is sufficiently patient, it's time to move him to get this done.  I really don't want to be walking to work or walking to the bus twice a day all winter long.

The cold wasn't the thing that triggered this new push this morning, although it helped.  You see, in Brooklyn, like many cities, they have alternate side street parking.  Between the 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., I cannot park on my apartment side of my street on Monday's and Thursdays.  During the same time frame, I cannot park across the street from my apartment on Tuesdays and Fridays.  That meant that I had to move my car this morning.  I had to drive around the blocks three times before I found a spot four blocks from my house to park my car. If I had a parking spot at work, this wouldn't be as much of a concern.  At night and in the morning, there is ample parking on at least one side of the street.

After finding parking, I jogged back to my apartment to get my things to walk to work.  Today was sunny, but chilly.  The weather application on my iPhone said that it was going to warm up into the 60s.  As I walked to work, it became too hot to wear my coat, but my hands remained cold.  On my walk to work I found 13 cents.  One dime was in front of a school and one of the pennies is potentially something else since it is so covered in tarnish, I can't tell.

Arriving to work, I noticed that I had warmed up enough to not wear my suit coat either.  I dug into work at my desk and have had a very productive day.  I'm just taking a break now for lunch and to write this blog.  When I first got to Brooklyn in March, my office was located in the file room.  Every cabinet had boxes on top and every inch of desk was covered in piles of files.  The filing cabinet was pushed to the back of my desk chair so that it was difficult to get up from my desk without tripping.  The room is dark and not very inviting.  I surveyed the area and decided that first I needed to move some things around to make the space maneuverable for a man of my size (6'2" and 200 pounds).  I moved the file cabinet a different direction.  I discovered that the cabinets were all empty and the stuff had never been put in them.  With those few changes, at least I could see the desk.  It still wasn't comfortable for me.  In my career, this may be the worst office space I've ever had.



I made the decision to move into the conference room in spite of some objections.  I have set up my computer so that I can take everything down in 15 minutes and the conference room looks as if I was never there.



This has allowed me at least access to two windows.  Not much light comes through them though.  It is almost 3:30 p.m. and you can only see a little bit of sun shining on the top of one of the buildings.  This won't be any better when the construction on of the new building outside my window is done.  I was outside just a few minutes ago to run to the pharmacy (where I found another penny on the sidewalk), and the sun is so bright that I needed to shield my eyes without sunglasses.



For this reason, the walk to and from work has been nice.  I get some air and some sun.  I can see easily how people in this city can get cranky.  My office and my apartment both have very limited access to daylight.

I hope that you find your own way to see and feel the sun today.  I know my walk home will be pleasant.  Even if the wind is chilly, the sun will be shining on my face.

An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

1 comment:

  1. What a great thought for the day. I know I am super happy that my office is on the top floor, and my cubicle is near a window so I can see the light sometimes. Below are two links to my favorite songs featuring sunshine.
    https://youtu.be/rc2jsjnt-HY you are my sunshine
    https://youtu.be/EyYh_kNo3fw let the sunshine in

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