Moving offices (again)

I am sitting in the midst of chaos at work. Southside is moving offices from the 2nd to the 3rd floor. When I left Southside some 20 months ago, this renovation project was in progress. The moving offices part was a long way off and I never dreamed that I would be around to experience it. I thought I was leaving that whole mess behind. Transitions are tough, especially when they include physical moves.

But no, I returned before the renovation was complete. I came just in time to set up at one desk for a few months--knowing that I would move to more permanent digs later. Later is now. As I was packing up my desk on Friday I kept muttering to myself, "I can't believe I came back before this was done."

The move is in full swing. The phones are disconnected and in process of being set up at our stations upstairs (our new desks have not yet arrived, so I guess the phones are...on the floor?). Computers will be moved tomorrow. Hopefully, the desks arrive this week.

Moving seems to have been a theme in my life these past 20 months. I am using the past tense in an optimistic stab at projecting an end to this theme in my life. I have changed residences twice. I have changed offices more times than that. I don't think I go anywhere without seeing some of my things in boxes.

All this moving has helped me let go of some things. Really, when you keep moving the same boxes over and over and the boxes don't get unpacked between moves you start wondering how much you really need the stuff. More space seems to mean you simply keep more stuff.

At work I am getting less and less space. It's sort of a "communal living" sort of office. I will be sharing a not-that-large work space with 8 other coworkers. I will be at a "pod" of 4 desks. I know it will not always be easy being so close to other people. People start getting funny about "real estate"...wanting the best desk, the best view, some little bit of privacy... It's nice, but sometimes you can have all that and still be miserable. From my perspective, it's not the office that makes the job. It's the people you work with. It's about how you touch other people's lives and they touch yours.

Hey, but from our 3rd floor office I'll have a treetop view of the Phillips neighborhood in south Mpls. That will be something! We're moving on up!

When the desks arrive, I plan to set up my new work space...with the hope that no other move is in sight. I'm unpacking and throwing the boxes away!