Day 6: The Old Friend

Picture of the Day: Please Pass the Taiwanese Food

Yesterday I met a new friend, and today I had the distinct pleasure of reconnecting with someone I haven't seen in years. I've known Talida since the ninth grade because we used to attend the same youth group at our Houston church. The last time we met up was two years ago at her wedding to Tim. Even though we weren't terribly close growing up, Talida very graciously got in touch with me when she heard I was coming to town, and she and Tim gave me lots of recommendations about New York and treated me to an excellent meal at a little restaurant near my house called Lin's Taiwanese Cuisine. I think the name speaks for itself. Once again, this simple interaction made me feel that much less alone in the big city and went a long way toward helping me make this very overwhelming place home.

In other news, work has really picked up, and I'm starting to feel the stress. While the last few days have been about the big picture and broad vision, today's orientation was more about the realities of limited time and resources as we set our departmental goals for the year. Lots of meetings today with jargon and references that flew right over my head. It is also still intimidating working with such high-functioning professionals, but I am excited to finally have some quantifiable and deliverable objectives that I can begin to tackle.

Post-It Notes played a prevalent role at work today in our meeting about our department's goals and time allocation for the year.

As a farewell gift to Kate, my predecessor who is leaving work next week, the staff gave her a signed poster with the organization slogan, and one of her office friends actually made this amazing edible portrait of her completely out of different kinds of chocolate!

A comparison between Kate and her chocolate likeness. Isn't it remarkable?

The Taiwanese restaurant where Tim and Talida treated me to dinner this evening.