SWEET HOME CALGARY?!

In the same 24 hour block, I have packed my clothes and unpacked my clothes. I have ridden in a Chrysler 300 taxi cab, a Boeing 737 Westjet airbus, and a Toyota Forerunner with a babyseat in the rear. I have checked out of a 2 storey, double car garaged suburban home in Mississauga and checked into an executive suite in Calgary, in a building called, I kid not, THE EXEC SUITE. Exiting the elevator on the 10th floor leads me around the corner to my room which, unlike most modern day hotels, doesn't have a card entry system but a good, old-fashioned dead-bolt. I walk in past double sliding mirror doors that discretely cover a closet and into a spacious living area, decked out with a sofa, a love seat and a matching ottoman. The room is anchored by a 32" TV, equipped with a DVD player. To the side, is the dining area, which has a diner-style table that is held up by one leg (one edge is fastened to the wall), guarded by 2 rustic chairs. Straight ahead is a humble balcony that looks right into the office building next door. The kitchen is small, but usable, being home to a fridge, an electric stove, a dishwasher. The kitchen is stocked with enough to prepare and serve a meal for 4 people. A little basket containing a bottle of water, some cookies, and a granola bar bears a welcome message. The name of my maid is Sandy and he or she (I do know of a guy named Sandy) comes in everyday to go about the house cleaning services. Beyond the kitchen is the washroom. It is small, but bright and clean. A new bathrobe invites me to put it on, but I have never been a bathrobe fan. The bedroom is ridiculously huge. Well, it would have to be to fit a king sized bed in there. I've never been a fan of these either, always opting to sleep on one edge of the behemoth, not even bothering to disturb the centre and outside pillows. There is a walk in closet which is guarded by another set of sliding mirror doors. Inside, an ironing board, an iron and a laundry basket with a complimentary box of Tide. There is a CD player in the living area, so I throw on the new Chris Tomlin CD that was given to me by Steve and Noreen this past weekend. I crank it as I begin unpacking...

FIRST DAY AT WORK
I suddenly bolt up in my bed, thinking that I've slept through both alarms because I feel way too alert. I look over and my glasses-less eyes tell me it's 3 a.m. I don't believe it and grope in the dark for my Ironman which I remember setting on the bedside table. It comes alive with an eerie green glow and confirms that it is in fact a God-forsaken hour. I curse my body for not knowing that I've skipped through 2 time zones as I try to fall back asleep.

Welcome to the PIT! This is the area where all the real time trading occurs. Each person sits at a station which is equipped with 4 17" LCD flatscreens stacked in a 2 x 2 matrix to form one big mother of a screen! The idea is that you have so many windows open, you need to have THAT MUCH desktop space to see everything. There are about 20 of these stations arranged in an oval and on a wall near the centre of the pit hangs a beautiful 50 inch plasma screen which is, at that moment, tuned into ROB TV. Every so often you hear different sound bites coming from different workstations: Homer Simpson screaming "Doh!", someone else screaming "Bow to your sensei!", yet someone else screaming "I bet you I can throw this football over that mountain!" (I guess you have to be a movie buff to know where each of these come from - ask Brian Lim). Basically, these are the equivalent of sirens, warning the team that power generation or market prices have changed beyond a certain threshold. Because the success of this office depends on reaction to quickly changing market landscapes, these sirens always draw attention. This tidbit alone should give an idea of the type of people that work here. I honestly thought that each person was coming from or about to go clubbing. Well, more like a jazz club because it was a tasteful fashion sense. It's a young crowd, each person pretty laid back, but sharp as a whip especially when it comes to energy financial analysis and transactions. Our office alone was responsible for a quarter of company's financial success last year. So, yeah, it can be stressful but there is also a lot of yourthful energy. For once in a very long while, I am now finding work challenging. I was bombarded with a lot of new concepts and applications. One of the biggest fears I had prior to starting was what if I was a complete failure at this, despite having uprooted and moved my whole life out of Ontario? What if they fired me, made me pay for all the relocation expenses and I had no other work contacts out here? Well, as the day progressed, I found that I grasped a lot of the ideas quickly, despite the exhaustive amount of material that was thrown at me. I've got lots of homework which is reading over corporate risk management policies. But, I feel very enthusiastic (are you allowed to use that word to describe work?) about the learning ahead. It's hard but doable. OK, gotta stop procastinating by blogging instead of reading!