I got paid.

Well, I guess it is really official now. I got my first direct deposit paycheck from the new employer. Now I just have to go and make sure all the number work like they are suppose to. If not, I guess I will start finding things to cut.

While I am on the topic of the new gig. I guess now that I have finished up my third week an update is needed.

I like it, I really do. I like the people - and I have a good cube (should take some pics one day). I am even starting to do work, and it makes sense. Next week will be a big test though. We are kicking off Stage 3 of the project and I will be owning the requirements for Marketing & Promotions. That means going through draft requirement documentation, pulling it together, and scheduling meetings with business owners in order to flesh everything out. There were originally 110 M&P requirements defined, but after going through a scoping process the list was shortened to 36 items. It is everything from the way coupons are handled, and how banner ads are displayed all the way to requirements around tracking e-mail campaign statistics.
It's too bad my favorite ESP (ExactTarget) already has a contract with the big orange competitor. :-( Because all these requirements would be met by ET's system. I can't believe we don't work with some sort of enterprise e-mail service provider. But, maybe we do and I will just find that out next week.

Administratively things are going well at work. There are only two open issues...1, installing the software that will allow me to synch my calendar to my blackberry. 2, VPN access so I can login from home if I need to. The expectation has been set that once things get into full motion I will be working 50ish hours per week. Maybe a little more during crunch time before a deadline. I am not going to want to do all that from the cube world.

One of the things worrying me about the job was going to be keeping up the professional look all the time. But, the more I am here, the more I am noticing it really is business casual. I wear a suit one day a week, and will throw jackets over stuff. It is not nearly as formal as I thought it was going to be. So, that's a very fantastic thing.

Best go spend my money now. Time to head to Columbia and visit with my peeps.