First day at SOOR

My first day in my volunteer position at the Special Olympics of Oregon.  I pushed and held the button to open the small, open top, elevator door.  Instead of the door opening, the elevator went up.

Arthur walked by and asked me if the elevator was working.  He went upstairs to help send it back down.  When I made it upstairs, he showed me how to jiggle the door so the contacts meet.  An elevator with a personality disorder.

I made it to to the cubical where the interns and community partners sit.  My supervisor, Ryan, helped me to sign into their system.  They use Microsoft Outlook for their email.  I found that interesting because at my regular job with the State they just changed us over from Groupwise to Outlook email, so I am now familiar with Outlook.

Ryan wanted to know how I take notes.  Basically on the computer...or memory.

I was having trouble with the computer keyboard.  It was one of those Dell keyboards that don't have much of an edge to it.  He offered me an ergonomic keyboard.  I don't do well with those either.  For people without the dexterity issues that I have, this is hard to understand.  I need time to get use to computers...the keyboard and the mouse.   My unruly fingers need to learn where to go and where to not go on the keyboard.  I also need to get use to the sensitivity of the mouse.

I don't do well with people watching what I am doing.  I get nervous and my CP really acts up.  Ryan was really patient with me.  I know it sounds weird, but I hate when other people have to deal with my disability.  I fear that I look awkward, or even incompetent, as I figure out  how to do things in a new environment.

 I asked Ryan if I could bring in my netbook to use.  I do really well with the small keyboard and room for my hands on the side.  He said that I could, and that other people do that.

Ryan gave me the assignment of finding the right WordPress them for the website, and then  to send him an email with my top picks.  It was a really good assignment.  I found four themes that I liked and I pitched them to Ryan in an email.

My mind went back 23 years ago when I was a volunteer with the State.  The office drama when I started was burnt popcorn in the microwave setting off the smoke alarm.  Yesterday at SOOR the office drama was a dead refrigerator in the break room.  People were trying to figure out what was still good and what wasn't.  The Drumsticks in the freezer were now Drumstick shakes according to one guy.

After my four hour shift, I headed out to the van.  Ryan was not there because he had a lunch meeting with a group.  Ryan saw me at the van and came over.  He had a chocolate doughnut from Starbucks for me...so nice!

It's invigorating to do something new outside my routine.  I like working on websites, but I have not had much success at it yet.  Eventually I would like to make more of a career of it.

Week one down.