Introduction

Less than a year ago, I left the idyllic arboretum campus that had been the scene of my greatest triumphs and my deepest heartaches over the previous four years. I got a job in a city where I knew hardly anyone, and the friends that had touched my life in so many ways were likewise dispersed to disparate corners of the country. And so, I embarked on a quest to make a life for myself outside of the ivory towers, and to find meaning in a life that wasn't devoted to studying, writing papers, and general intellectual pursuits. Don't get me wrong, I find my job intellectually challenging and stimulating, and I have found that my co-workers are extremely smart and interesting. But, the community that exists in my company's office (and I suspect it is not so different from other offices, regardless of the type of company), is inherently different from any I have experienced. I have given a lot of thought to what it means to be a social and intellectual being in a modern day office. In this blog, I want to explore both the deep and the trivial aspects of office life. In doing so, I hope to make sense of the place where I spend 40+ hours a week.