went pretty well. My first couple days were really nothing but administrative stuff: filling out paperwork in HR, getting an ID badge, taking training sessions on everything from general safety to counterintelligence (can you tell it's a government-funded lab?) and waiting and waiting for a lab email address and log in, which finally came around 4 p.m. today. I'm super excited about having "actual" benefits now. Growing up with two self-employed parents, our family never had worthwhile insurance. Just the kind that's only good in the case of catastrophic accidents. So the thought of coverage on prescriptions and dental is really exciting. I can't wait to use it so I can marvel at the reduced prices. However, I'm not excited for some medical appointments I have next week. As part of new employee procedure, I have to have blood work and a full physical at the on-site clinic. The physical doesn't bug me much, but I'm always squeamish around needles.
I'm gradually adjusting to the area. Long Island itself is difficult to describe. Parts are really developed with LOTS of strip malls. There are your typical stores, such as Target and Home Depot, but there also are lots of mom-and-pop-type stores. Other parts are really rural and wooded. The lab is on hundreds of acres of undeveloped land and I've already seen numerous deer, groundhogs and these strange prehistoric-looking wild turkeys. In a way, it feels like I'm in northern Michigan. And I'm yet to see the entire area East of the lab, where the Hamptons and vineyards begin.
On Tuesday night, I hung out with Adam from Fermilab, who's at the lab for a week. We met his friend from Queens in Northport, which is another cute LI town about 40 minutes to the west of here. We ate at an Italian restaurant that was BYOB, which Abbey tells me is common in area because of the cost of liquor licenses. I would have loved to see someone bring in a case of beer to go with their pasta.
No big plans for the weekend. All in all, it's been a smooth week and I can only hope that next week will be the same.
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