New Job

Most of you know I have a new job. Yep, I move an entire floor up. When I started work, my cubicle was on the third floor. Then, when the department of health services split into the department of health care services and department of public health, I was moved to the forth floor. Now I am going to the fifth. I guess you can say I am moving up in the world. 

My new job is in the Tobacco Control Program and my new title is program consultant. From what I gather, groups in California apply for money for anti-tobacco projects. We fund some of them.  I will be in charge of some of the groups we fund. I will have to check whether they are doing what they say they will, whether they spend our money well, etc. I am looking forward to a change, but I'm scared to death at the same time. Everyone keeps warning me that I am going to be busy, overwhelmed, and busy. Very busy, totally busy. Like, I will always be behind busy. They also say that I am not going to be comfortable with the system for about a year and I might be good at it in two. Considering I figured out my previous job in a couple of months, I am looking forward to the challenge as well as not looking at the clock every five minutes.

Still, as I have said before, there is a part of me that is scared to death. What if I can't do the job? What if I can't keep up? My old job was very comfortable. I could do things, I had friends (who threw one of the best good-bye parties ever, thank you very much), I knew what was expected. I was bored.

This is a good move for me, but it's the first job I have had that's going to be a stretch and I hope I am up to that stretch.  I also get an increase in pay. I move from a Analyst II to an Analyst IV (I'm still UCSF) and the pay jump is nice. I might even be able to save money! 

The only problem with this job is I've already got a couple people a little wary about me.  I talked to this one guy while swing dancing. He smoked, I could smell it.  He asked me what I did, I told him. He looked a little upset that I would be against tobacco. Oh well, to bad. There's no question tobacco is bad for you and I do believe we should stop smoking it. I don't think we should make it illegal and I don't think we should ask smokers to pay for our health care system or other such stupid initiatives, but we should keep kids from starting to smoke and help others quit.

So that's me and my new job. Let's hope it turns out for the best.