Office Space

"Michael, we don't have a lot of time on this earth! We weren't meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day...."

One of my favorite lines from Office Space, but I never realized how true it was until taking the Technology Coordinator position at my current company.  I spent the 2 years before that as a field technician, never in the same place (or the same state) from day to day. The constant driving and travel sucked, but at least you had different scenery every day. The 7 or 8 years before that I spent travelling around North America as a Acoustic Engineer, which is a fancy way of saying I installed and built sound proof chambers for radio stations, tv stations, labs and medical facilities.  The hours were insane, the work brutal, but I did love the physical activity and engineering challenges.  Getting to travel around all the time was sometimes interesting but quickly got old, especially in those years were I would only see my house for a month or two out of the year.

Jumping forward to October of 2010, I went to work for Sleep Disorders of the Mid-Atlantic as there Tech Guy, filling the roles of Technology Director, Maintenance Tech and general project manager all in one.  The first 6 months were pretty crazy in a fun way, setting up a new lab, rebuilding infrastructure and making new policy.  Basically getting all the disparate labs and personnel working together efficiently.  Of course once all that was over, the not-so-fun maintenance work starts up.  Now I spend 80% of my time behind a desk, a total departure  from just a few years ago.

It's amazing to me how the change from such a physical and diverse work to mostly office based work has affected me.  I feel fidgety most of the time, and constant staring into a computer screen feels like it is draining my brain and making my eyes go to crap.  And of course the ever present boredom despite the massive backlog of work on my plate.  Hence why I am rambling here instead of tackling my list of projects for the day.  Not that it is all bad, in this market a guy can't complain about having a job.  And I certainly have a lot more time to do fun stuff (like have a relationship with a girl, something that was totally impossible while living on the road), and driving 10 minutes to work beats driving 4 hours to Virginia Beach once a week.  I've also been feeling the call of the wild more strongly then ever in my life, and as luck would have it I've connected with some old and new friends for a couple of adventures already.  I've been on a dozen hikes this year, gotten back into biking, and if I can get my legs rehabbed a little more I'll start running seriously again.  It's funny how the mind pushes you to do whatever it takes to relieve stress, be it mental or physical.

Hmmm, so what is the point of all this senseless rambling?  I guess it all comes down to what we were meant to do, or built for, or whatever as individuals.  It really is a process of elimination as we go through life.  We try different careers, some work out, some don't.  Some people can sit at a desk and bang out code all day and be totally happy and content.  To some people, like Peter and myself, that sounds like death or insanity.  While I don't plan on jumping back into construction, some kind of mix up is in order I think.  Or maybe I can find some one crazy enough to pay me to goof around in the wilderness....