The Study

8:23 pm, I walk through the door and introduce myself to the two people inside, both dressed in all blue. As I fill out some paperwork, one of them copies my ID for their files and to make sure I am actually me. Then, down the hall, second door on the left, strip down to shorts, sit in the chair and wait for them to be ready.
8:48 pm, Red marks drawn in strategic places on my head, they start attaching electrodes and wires. They start at my legs, having me route the wires inside my shorts, two on each leg, three surrounding my heart, then my head. One on my throat, two on my chin, one outside each eye, and 6 or 7 surrounding my brain. Next a chest strap just above my man nipples and another by my diaphragm (I guess this one is more of a belly strap).
9:13 pm wires routed over my shoulder and made into a ponytail of sorts and patched into their data acquisition system they have me lie down and put one more device on my finger. So here I am, all taped and glued up with wires routed all over me, and I “get” to sleep with them watching on the cameras. Surprisingly, I actually sleep, until….
12:31 am a light knocking on my door, and in they come. About an hour later I have yet another device on my, this one forcing air into my nose at a constant pressure. And, go figure, they had to troubleshoot their data system and re-glue a few electrodes down. Then, back to sleep. It’s a bit fitful, but not horrendous with the breather unit on.
4:58 am another light knock on the door and in he comes, the other has gone home. “Ok Stuart, we are done.” Light on, sitting on the side of the bed, he is RIIIIIIPPPPPING the electrodes from my body and skull until finally I am free of the machines.
This was my adventure last night, a sleep study to determine if I need a CPAP machine to help me. I definitely have some form of sleep apnea, and the machine should help me sleep better and feel rested, etc. each day. This could really help me feel better in general.

Well?

So today is the first day in the office without Canadian work to do. They have set up a desk for me, in a shared office with my compatriot from Canada who returns in 2 weeks. I hear there is some paperwork I need to fill out before I start work on project X, but have not seen said paperwork yet (as of 12:30). I have worked on my laptop to ensure it is "clean" before putting it on the internal network. Due to ITAR restrictions, since I was taking it to Canada and back, it could not be on that network before now. So, the computer is ready, but no one is available to help me get in, ensure I have the right paths to folders, passwords for the internal wifi, or some hardware so I can string a hardline to my docking port to make it all work. So, I am feeling exceptionally useless, not getting anything done, etc. All at a time when I know money for the company is tight, so having me on overhead charging is not ideal.

Maybe if they would take a little time to treat me like the new employee I essentially am, and get me set up, tell me what I am working on, get me the paperwork, etc. then I could feel useful again. But, instead, everyone is too busy and absorbed in what they are doing that it does not happen. My "boss" who should take ownership of it and get it done, live in CA, so he is never really here to help with this stuff anyway. Grrrrrrrrr..... Frustrating return!!!