I did something really stupid yesterday! But I can laugh at myself, so join me please.

For 8 years the tech department in my workplace was very pro Mozilla & Netscape. So that’s what we used & with library branches spread all over we didn’t have a need for shared calendar.

Fast forward to now and I’m working with a software company. They set up a VPN for me, so I remotely access their server & use a remote desktop. And Outlook is a part of the mix.

So how hard can this be? It’s not so bad because it’s very similar to Thunderbird which I use all the time. I have folders set up & over 1000 emails in the trash (in less than 3 weeks!) so I’m doing good (or so I thought!).

Next week I’m flying to the office in Victoria, BC for orientation (and I’m excited!). My supervisor is letting me arrange my own schedule & that’s good news! So I needed to arrange 17 meetings. Not hard you say, right?

Well, I sent out my first round for Monday & Tuesday & someone said… um we are scheduled somewhere already. Ok then – I learned quickly how to click on the schedule tab. (Yes, this is coming from someone who thinks they’re an early adopter! hmm?!). So I sent some more invites out, then was interrupted. I shouldn’t even admit to this, but I sent out two sets of invites for this week – ahem, wrong week. I was mortified, and asked my supervisor to help change it all! She told me how to update. My guess is that the finance dept & the developers are  wondering about this new person?!! It’s kind of funny now (& that’s how I can admit to my ditzyness here…). And next week, hopefully they’ll think it’s funny too!

My opinion on Outlook? I think it’s pretty cool. Except that the VPN shows the time as PST & I’m on CST. My laptop shows the correct time, so I stay grounded with that. And Outlook gives these nice 15 min advance reminders which are helpful (no matter which time zone my brain is in).  And my new coworkers are VERY helpful (& understanding I hope!). The nice thing is that everyone seems to be consistent in using the tool, which is good. My next thing to tackle is Sharepoint!