Here's to the new job same as the old job

So I started in a new position at work today, I was supposed to start last week but due to having to fly out to the US on short notice I was doing other things instead. Ostensibly I will be working for sales as the companies new (and at the moment only) Software Applications Engineer (or self addressed envelope) for EMEA (which is Europe, the Middle East and Africa but mainly just Europe).

So far the nuts and bolts of what I am doing is identical, in fact it may well be that my job won't really change at all except some one else signs the checks and I get a smidgen more money.
It's been a hectic few months, first the world trip that already feels like a long time ago which was probably not helped by having to fly off to sunny southern California on about half an hours notice the Tuesday of the first week back. Such is the life of an applications engineer.

I was only supposed to be out there a few days but in the end I got back last Friday. So today I am still a little jet lagged and in danger of dozing off so earlier I decided I needed to go sit in a darkened room for two hours and watch explosions. So I went down to the local cinema, which I had yet to get round to visiting even though it opened a year or so ago, and watched Iron Man. Which I quite enjoyed and I would suspect a lot of you fine people will also. Robert Downey Jr seems like the perfect guy to play the eccentric playboy billionaire genius Tony Stark. He has the presence on screen to carry it off and given his own past is somewhat chequered which only makes him more believable in the role. The special effects are great and the cast is good. It's a fun story with plenty to keep people interested funny in parts serious in others. On a related note Bob Novella over at the rogues gallery the SGU blog had a fascinating look at the current state of the art in exoskeletons which is well worth looking at.

So anyway it seems odd to be doing the exact same job with a different title and extra money, maybe it will change a bit once the dust settles and people work out exactly what they want me to do, but until then it seems it's business as usual.