When we log onto the e-mail system at work, there's an online bulletin board that displays the past 8 days' worth of posts. (Older posts are also available, but you have to click on a special link to see them.)

I think I'll be swearing off reading the current posts on the bulletin board for the next few days. There are multiple "Thanks for the 25th Anniversary Trip" posts to thank the planning committee that ran the event.

And now there is a long string of "Welcome aboard!" posts for the person who will soon be filling the job in my department that I was hoping to get.

I know she is already working for this company. I know that her move will create an opening at her OLD position which will have to be filled.

Still, seeing those posts welcoming her into my department... or should I say "the department where I work", since taking ownership of it and calling it my department seems presumptious at this point... I see the posts and I start to think, "Man, it sure is gonna be a bear to get all these decorations from my cubicle safely home". I'm glad I at least had the wisdom to keep all the boxes for the bobbleheads and a few other fragile items AT work, so they can be safely packed. But ooooo, transporting all those posters is going to be a challenge.

It took me days to bring everything IN. I wonder if I should start bringing things home gradually, too? That might be easier on me than having one massive "un-decorate the whole cube" day if I get told that my assignment is over without much advance notice.

Believe me, I know. That's what I had to do at the bank. Taking down all the stuff from THAT cubicle meant taking down twelve years' worth of what made my workspace MINE. I think that was the hardest task out of all the things I had to finish up before I left.

What the heck. I might as well start moving stuff out gradually. After all, even if I get hired by another department (fat chance of THAT happening as long as other employees keep going for jobs within the company! I'm not holding my breath), I'm still going to have to move out of this cubicle at some point. I'll take a look around tomorrow and decide where to begin.

At least I have my online photo album to show what the cube looked like at the height of the "March Madness" decorating contest.