I was dispatched to our old location today to pick up the computer stuff that had been left behind in the moves.

The building, which I had worked in for five-and-a-half years, is now almost completely vacant, save for one group of about 15 people who are still working there for another month, and all of the movers who are dismantling and trucking out the remaining cube furniture. I walked the top two floors of the three-story building, having been assured there’s nothing on the first level that needed my attention. And part of me felt like I was looting: I collected some stuff to bring back to the office, because frankly, I can’t turn away a free monitor, or in the extreme case, just over 30 computer cable locks.

The vast majority of what I handled, though, made it to the recycle bins: a good two dozen keyboards, mice, docking stations, phone headsets, and old tube-type monitors, computers that hadn’t seen the light of day for a good 3 years at least.

It was very weird, walking through a nearly desolate building, strewn with cube parts, large blocks of nothing but office chairs, and vast empty spaces that had been, up until about a month ago, cube farms. The area I’d spent so much of my time in was almost completely empty, completely open. Just three weeks ago, we were all there, working, noisy, and busy. And now it was blank and forgotten.

Well, not forgotten, because I was there. Salvaging two UPS systems that someone in our group left behind. They were next to the Goldy Gopher bobblehead with the broken arm. I brought him home for Patrick, in spite of his injuries (Goldy’s, not Patrick’s).

It’s hard when you’re moving out of anywhere to not be nostalgic to some degree about it. I’m learning to like the building we’re in, but that old building was my work home for so long, it was a little sad to see it in that state.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll head into work, in the new building, and probably not give much of a second thought to the old one. But that’s just the way things go.

See you tomorrow.