March 3rd, 2008 – Monday         49F/26F, mostly cloudy

Today was the first day of actually driving to work.  Microbia PE has officially moved to the ‘burbs and it now takes me about 40 minutes to get to the office (as opposed to the three minutes it took me before).  Although it’s a bit of a bummer that I have to commute now, I will say that it was great to have a month of walking to work.  I wasn’t forced to drive right away , which is a very good thing…driving around here is a bit treacherous (and when I say this I am referring to the other drivers, the potholes, the lack of street signs, the city’s strange use of cardinal directions, etc.).  At this point, not only do I have a better sense of the area and feel more comfortable driving, but the lack of a commute saved me quite a bit of money.  I got up at 7a and did my workout and after a quick email to SIO and breakfast, I jumped in the car and followed my little google map directions to the new building in Lexington.  I tried to enter one building (which happened to be the wrong building…I was glad no one was around to look at me like I was half silly…but I will defend myself by saying that the buildings didn’t have addresses!) and then realized I needed to go next door…I only knew this because I recognized the moving trucks.  The building looks like it will be great (the offices are huge and my little pod is awesome!) but it’ll take a bit of time before everything is up and running…the entire office/lab is just jam packed with crates and crates of office and lab supplies.  As it turns out, the building will continue to be renovated for the next several weeks and so settling into the new facility is going to be quite a process.  Today, I unpacked boxes, moved supplies and equipment, stocked cabinets and basically just tried to be as helpful as possible.  It’s a tough situation as there’s lots to get done but with the building not quite ready for our arrival, its a bit slower going than everyone would like.  Experiments are hold, people are kind of over the whole moving thing and want to get back to a situation where they’re comfortable and productive, and there’s simply lots to do.  For me, it was nice to reconnect with the entire gang today after being home for most of last week…they are really nice people and they always make me feel so welcome.  For example, this morning, I too had a new plant on my desk.  The company had bought everyone a flowering plant (mine a violet) for their desk and I think it’s pretty cool that they included/thought of me, their intern, when handing out flowers…I’m easy to please sure but I always appreciate being thought of.  People came by to ask if I was settling in well…there wasn’t much to do in terms of setting up my desk and my computer I had up and running in minutes…but it was nice to be checked in/up on and feel like one of the crew.

It was a fairly exhausting day and my hard run this morning didn’t help my energy level come 5p.  I drove home in relatively light traffic and hit up our local bakery, target and the supermarket before coming home and making spaghetti.  I prepared a really nice meat sauce and it was a great dinner with fresh ciabatta bread rolls on the side.  John and I had a chance to catch up over dinner and while he didn’t feel that productive today he sounded productive to me…swimming, researching a problem he’s currently tackling, and making trips to the post office and payroll office…yea for his first paycheck!

I’m pretty worn out tonight and so with the dishes washed and after a dessert of raspberry jello, I’m in my pjs, sitting up in bed (using my new, awesome pillow!) writing before I go to bed.  While they will be more unpacking tomorrow, I am definitely going to start taking my computer with me to work.  It’s super quiet in the evening at the office and my thought right now is to work on my thesis during my down time and also in the evening…I will get work done and avoid traffic!  I will just have to remember to pack a snack because I was pretty grouchy by the time I returned home tonight…definitely will need to take a snack so I don’t end up a voracious predator by the time I get home…I know I’m not particularly nice nor am I particularly patient when I’m hungry.

Anyways, life’s good and moving forward…moving forward fast!  It’s amazing to me that we’ve already been here for over a month.  I am SO enjoying Boston, our house, my internship and creating a life here with John…it’s super fantastic!  Best wishes to everyone and thank you to those of you who have been thinking of me and of John!  Good night =)!