Settling In

Things are going well here so far. My first three days at work have gone quickly and there are already lots of things to do. The first day involved lots of administrative tasks: human resources check-in, assignment of an ID card, email address, keys and parking tag. My office is great: my view includes the Marston Water Tower, a favorite campus landmark. I'm on the third floor, so I can burn lots of calories taking the stairs. We got my new computer all set up, but it was a multi-day project to transfer over files, emails and calenders from my old laptop onto the new desktop. I love the idea of not lugging the laptop to and from work everyday. By using Remote Desktop, I can easily connect to my office computer using my laptop at home.
I haven't even begun to set up my lab. There is a mountain of boxes containing supplies and equipment that I ordered or inherited. I'm making arrangements to hire an undergraduate student to assist with that. I'm also trying to review and plan for the course that I'm teaching (Material and Energy Balances, the first "real" Chemical Engineering course). AND I'm outlining the plans for my research projects so that I can recruit one or two of this year's incoming graduate students.
Most of next week is taken up with meetings. Tuesday and Wednesday I have new-faculty orientation all day. On Wednesday night there is a reception at the home of the ISU President for new faculty. Then Thursday is an all-day departmental meeting to plan for the upcoming school year. And then classes start on Monday! I'm really excited about all of it.
The moving van hasn't arrived yet (maybe Tuesday), but I'm staying busy at home anyway. My male cat Cleofus ended up developing a urinary blockage. This happened once before in Los Angeles when we moved to a new apartment, so it's probably stress related. I took him to ISU's Veterinary Teaching hospital and he had to stay there from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon. They let me come visit with him each day. On Thursday, he looked absolutely miserable. But on Friday he looked much better (this picture is from Friday). Each time I went to visit, there was a new sign on his cage, including "WILL BITE" and "CAGE JUMPER". I tried not to ask too many questions about these, I would rather not know. But it's good to have him home. He's acting pretty much like his normal goofy self, so I'm trying not to worry too much.
This morning I went to a Weight Watchers meeting. It seems like a good group. A very funny thing happened though. Months ago, I asked on the Weight Watchers message boards if anyone attended meetings in Ames, Iowa. I found someone who did, and we chatted a few times. WELL, after today's meeting someone came up to me and introduced herself - it was the woman from the message boards and she recognized me from my photo! Strange, no? After that I checked out the local Farmer's Market, got a library card, signed up for a once-per-month book club and got my Iowa driver's license and voter registration.
Sheba and I have tried out several local parks during our evening walks. Last night we found a very nice one - the Ada Hayden Heritage Park. It has a very nice paved trail around a beautiful series of lakes and it's very close to the main part of town. So this morning I went back and rollerbladed around the path - about 3 miles total. I'm hoping to make it a weekly tradition, but I missed my rollerblading buddy from Gainesville.