OK, so this is the first day of my new project. This project is at a place where I used to work at the same project four years running. But I got wind earlier in the year that that project is long gone. Shame; I liked the structure and my bosses, and it was stable.
At least these guys like me enough to bring me onto a different project, or projects. It's basically the same thing: You get trained on how to answer a question, and then you answer them. I was just afraid that the people I'll be working with and for will be dicks. Through one day, they aren't.
Unfortunately I've been reintroduced to the vagaries of test scoring projects. What I had with the previous one was a somewhat concrete certainty that we would end, at most, a couple days before our projected end date. That disappeared last year, thank goodness, when my position meant I came in earlier for the project, stayed later for the project, and worked more hours (at a hire rate of pay, natch). The project I'm working on now is a much different beast. It's a lower grade, therefore the papers are easier to go through. Problem is we're going a little too fast for my liking. The projected end date is the end of next week. And already the boss of our room says that we're working at such a good clip that we will be done ahead of time.
How far ahead? The other test scoring place is much ... worse at projecting end dates. With the exception of the one I did a month ago, where we actually went to the original projected end date, nearly every single project I've done with that company has ended much earlier. In fact (and I may have stated this already on Wailing And Failing) I have a rule whereby I look at the end date they predict, count the days devoted to the project, and cut it in half (and round up if I wind up with a half-day). That is the length of time I know I'll be working; everything else is gravy.
Even though this is the other test scoring place, it looks like I'll have to apply that rule of thumb. Therefore, that means we'll be done Tuesday. That gives me Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to return to the place where I got my new insoles so I could get the extensions to the insoles (didn't know there was such a thing), get new repairs for my car in case they need them, and maybe even have a little sexytime. The tradeoff for the free time, of course, is no work. So I'll be back on the dole for a week, it looks like.
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The overarching problem with work, however, is the traffic. Hoo-boy, did it suck today.
I'll be honest about this: I have to drive down 100 to get to work. It was overhauled about a decade (?) ago, when it actually had traffic lights despite the fact so many people drove up and down it that it had the use of a highway. When it opened, it was finally as big and busy as it's supposed to be, and it was so good to drive it.
It still is, but the renovation isn't complete. Starting about a month ago, parts of 100 will be shut down over, I think, the next six months. In particular, they need to finally get rid of this very old bridge that looks like an eyesore which could fall down at any time. Because of that and other projects, parts of 100 are shut down. And that creates a damn traffic nightmare.
I tested driving it around the time I have to drive to work on Monday, two days before I started work today. It took me 45 minutes when, if I recall correctly, it only took me a half-hour (usually) to get to work last year, when it wasn't under construction. So I thought leaving an hour earlier, especially for my first day, would be more than enough.
But I'll be goddamned if it took me a whole fucking hour -- maybe 61 minutes to be precise -- to get to work today. My God, that is fucking bullshit. Highway 100 was backed up in places it shouldn't be backed up, and I was beside myself in stop-and-go traffic at how a highway can go from sludgy to downright catatonic in 48 hours. I virtually missed my start time today. If my boss wanted to be an asshole, he could've cut me right then and there. Jesus Christ, an hour to drive that far?
As much as I vacillate on going back to the flu biller place -- and to be honest, right now I wouldn't mind if I never go back -- the commute at least was short. None of this crap. So I have to make a change. I'm going to try 35W. I thought about it before. I even spoke to one of my former co-workers and she recommended it. I decided against it because I looked on Google Maps and it said that in real time, 100 would be faster. It still might be tomorrow. But I would rather go a different route anyway. Why? Just so I don't have to alternately accelerate and brake for a goddamn hour. Or get into an accident; there was this one point where I thought I had space to change lanes, so I looked over my shoulder before doing so, and when I turned to look ahead I had barely avoided sideswiping the car in front of me, which looked like it was many yards ahead but suddenly braked. Honestly, I don't care if it takes me 90 minutes to get to work. Can't go through that traffic again.
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