Jargon, jargon everywhere, and lots of pop to drink

Well, it's still true: the people I meet are all in-network. My officemate went to Penn for a while a few years before my time. My manager is a linguist by training. No more than one degree from people I already know.

I'm working my way up a pretty steep learning curve right now, trying to figure out everything I need to know, which itself is happening while I'm trying to figure out what that "everything" is comprised of. It's going to take me a few weeks before I know exactly what I'm doing. Right now it's all a mix of jargon and procedure that everyone talks like I know when really I don't, so I'm trying to make good guesses and asking a zillion questions that probably seem obvious to the askees. It's sort of neat to think, though, that in a couple of months I'm really going to know a lot about something that real people will actually use and benefit from, and that my knowledge and opinions will have some impact on shaping, you know, actual stuff. I'm used to my knowledge and opinions shaping, you know, dissertations about double objects in Tahitian.

I finally have a parking permit and an ID card with a terrible picture on it. Contract IDs are these garish orange things that scream at passers-by: DON'T MISTAKE THE WEARER OF THIS MONSTROSITY AS ONE OF US!

At least there are lots of free drinks. It's important to keep the workforce plied with a steady flow of caffeine.