I survived my first week at my new job for FAST Search. A lot of "drinking from the fire hose" so far as the system is pretty sizable and just about everything is new to me (including the operating system -- Linux/Ubuntu/Gnome). I've been advised that there's lots of hardcore algorithmic stuff deep in the guts of the system that needs work -- sweet.

All the people seem really cool -- serious geeks but no social misfits. There's a MAME box in the lunch room. They have a system of lava lamps that are lit whenever various software builds are broken.

Sadly it's a bit of a sausage party -- all white males between the ages of 25 and, um, my age. The one woman in the whole office (of twenty or so people) is (to complete the stereotype) an administrative assistant. By an odd coincidence, the guy who's been helping me a lot this week happens to play on my soccer team (I didn't know he worked there until after I accepted the offer). Should be good fun.