Friends

So I'm still in love with the amazing new office that I've now been in for a week. It's awesome.

But the guy in the cube across the aisle from me is driving me crazy. He's an odd duck, as they say. When he wants quiet he wears headphones - like the kind you see airport employees wear when they're on the tarmac. Huge, gigantic headphones. That doesn't annoy me, but it's a little weird.

One thing about our new space is that it's smaller than the old one, so everybody's sitting closer together. Which means that there's more ambient noise. There's no way around that - even if everybody's attempting to be quiet there will still be more ambient noise. One day last week I was on the phone, and I was probably speaking a little too loudly. I finished my conversation, and got up from my desk. When I returned, there was an IM waiting for me from my neighbor asking me to keep my conversations down. Which is perhaps the most passive-aggressive thing ever. I don't mind him asking me to keep it down, but to do it in an IM instead of just coming across the aisle? Especially since he waited until the conversation was over.

And the biggest irony in all this is that he's really loud. And talks to himself. All day long. And when he gets emails that tick him off (which seems to happen at least once a day), he curses at them. A LOT. With language that is entirely inappropriate for an office environment (unless you work in porn, I guess).

At some point I'm going to have to confront him on it, but I'm too chicken to do it. But everyone in our aisle can hear it - I don't think he has any idea how loud he is. And in our old office his cube was very isolated. I'm sure he could carry on whole conversations with himself and nobody heard. Not so much anymore.

Thanks to finally having some time to myself I am, at long last, utilizing my Netflix account again. I sent back some movies that were shipped to me on October 28 (Yikes!!!), and got some new ones this week. Last night I finally saw Every Little Step.

This will probably go without saying for almost everyone reading this. But on the off-chance you're a theater person and you haven't seen Every Little Step yet, you owe it to yourself to do so. Especially if you're like me and you've only ever been on the auditioner's side of the table. It was a fascinating look at the audition process. I'm amazed that they had such unrestricted access and that so many actors were willing to have their auditions filmed. And yes, Tyce Diorio comes across as a total tool, but those of us who watch So You Think You Can Dance already knew that, right?

A few things really amazed me. First, that the auditions for A Chorus Line stretched out for over eight months. I can't believe how long some of these people had to wait to get cast in this show (and how many times they had to come back). The other thing is that, knowing who eventually did get cast, how obvious some of the choices were. Even when there were really talented people in the running, I could tell exactly why they chose who they chose.

The line for the open call, stretching down Broadway for who knows how long, was pretty amazing, too. The film certainly makes it clear how hard it is to make a living on Broadway, and what a crap shoot it is.

Again, I'm probably preaching to the choir here. But on the off-chance you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy.

I have left my office building for the last time. Tomorrow, the movers start at 8:00 so we will be all ready to start the day Monday morning in our brand new swanky office suite.

I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

I had all these grand plans this week to take my camera into work and document some of the things that I see there on a daily basis (USED TO SEE THERE! HOORAY!): Stained and discolored carpet; old, faded, shabby cubes; gray everything; walls in desperate need of paint; mouse traps on the floor by the side entrance; mismatched conference room furniture; sad, sad corporate artwork that may have been trendy 15 years ago; plastic picnic tables in the common area. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting my camera and didn't want to bother with the camera in my phone. You'll just have to take my word for it.

The new facility is modern and sparkling clean. Certain people in the office are going to have to relearn how to take care of things.

In addition to the shiny new suite, we're getting up-to-date technology: IP phones with unified messaging, LCD monitors (we were still using old, heavy, huge CRT screens), wireless headsets. It'll be like Christmas. Plus, I have a window cube with a view of the mountains, which is just a nice added bonus.

Seriously. SO EXCITED. I may even be early to work on Monday.