A Small Town

(The Olympics final entry is still in development. My thoughts are still with those people working around the clock to keep that going.)

I just wanted to talk a little about how working in a complex with over five thousand other people is like being in a small town. How you ask?

-- We sit in neighborhoods. For example, I sit in the Tech Services neighborhood. I know where the necessities (printers, supply cabinets, break areas, restrooms) are and I know where to find the people I talk to most and where the meeting rooms are located. I also know that if I go to a different neighborhood I'm going to have to wander a bit to find someone, kind of like driving down a street looking at house numbers until you see the right one.

-- There are all kinds of people in the town. I haven't tested this yet but I think if you walk into a crowd downtown they would look just like the crowd I walk into if I stray into the cafeteria at noon. People are of every type. Dress ranges from the techie jeans look to three piece suits on the corporate types (but there aren't many of them). People range from extraverts in the business side to mild-mannered law librarians. If you wander into the manufacturing area it's real blue collar work and a union crowd.

-- You get to know a few people well, be friendly with a lot of people, and be strangers with most. Some people feel uncomfortable if they don't know everyone (or something about everyone) but I'm content to have a variety of relationships and also to be able to just walk around anonimously.

-- Of course there's culture. I saw a violin quartet from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchesta last month and on Friday I missed (because of my new employee orientation) a performance by the Mixed Blood Theater of their Jackie Robinson play.

I can't remember much more about small towns so I'll stop here.