Well, there are definitely some changes that I need to get used to. I’ve always been pleased as punch that my new employer would pay 95% of my health insurance. But it never occurred to me that they would ONLY offer a “Preferred Provider Organization” plan and no HMO.

I know some people don’t care for for HMO’s but they’ve always worked out great for me. When my first son was born I was on a PPO and I think we paid $5000 for the birth — between all the doctor’s visits and the hospital stay. All my other kids’ cost about fifty bucks.

So now I need to get down to brass tacks and get a good look at how this is going to affect my finances. Additionally they pay me twice every month, while my old employer paid me once every two weeks.

They sound similar, but in about a quarter of the months there are really five fridays (like in March and June of this year). So my new employer is going to skip a week and double up on the next pay-period. CRAP! How am I going to keep this straight? Well, that is, I’m going to give my wife the calendar and let her keep it straight. The good news is that I’m really good about not getting mad at her when the finances don’t work out. She’s infinitely more competent to handle the money than I am.

Other than those two things I’m liking my new employer. There are lots of good people there. I’ve liked practically everyone I’ve met. There are some very good and very competent people there. I started installing the SAP Solution Manager this afternoon because it turns out that its essential for installing the CRM systm that they need done right away. I also have a meeting lined up to discuss transports in the ERP system. I have to get the production system installed soon too.

Also I don’t have a complete diagram of their environment yet. It may not seem like a necessary thing, but it is for me. I need the whole thing mapped out including details like processor and host name and memory allocation.

I also need to map out the hardware that they will need for their CRM system to go live. They already have way too much hardware for their ERP system.

Also I think their SAP projects (CRM and ERP) are dragging in part because the director can’t devote enough of his time to the management of these projects. Which is where I think I can do a lot of good. I want to come in and start pushing them to achieve their objectives and helping them to complete their tasks. I’ve noticed a number of people blaming my new boss for not coming through on tasks he should have completed. Maybe that really is the case, but it doesn’t matter. In either case I have to make it so these people can get their work done with out blaming my main man, Jon.

Alright. Enough of that. I have to put the kids to bed. Suffice it to say, for now, that it was a good day.

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