Of GRA Positions And SSN Applications

I've got a job as a Graduate Research Assistant at the GT-RNOC lab which is an awesome place for someone like me - the work involves all sorts of interesting technologies and platforms, ranging from mobile devices to set-top boxes to VoIP - and people there are really smart and fun as well (hey guys!).

As part of the whole "employed and getting paid" thing, I was out early this morning to apply for an SSN. The Social Security Administration office at the Peachtree-Summit Federal Building, 401, W Peachtree Street, Suite 2860, Atlanta is open 0830-1530, Mon-Fri. Here's a tip, if you're looking for the building on Google Maps, don't search by just the street address - marker will turn up at the wrong intersection. You want to also add the building name - Peachtree-Summit Federal Building. The entrance is at the corner of W. Peachtree St NW and Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd/Ralph McGill Blvd NE. And for some reason, this building doesn't show up when you search for 'social security' but I've edited the marker and added the type 'Social Security Office' so it should be part of the search results, whenever the data is updated.

I took the MARTA to the Civic Center Station which is right next to the building and stepped out at 0830 but because Google Maps told me to go the wrong way, I wasted about 10 mins - trotting off in the wrong direction and then coming back. At the entrance, you need to sign in, show some identification and go through an airport style security check with everything through the X-ray machine (didn't need to take off my shoes though). The office is up on the 28^th floor but the elevator was fast! I'm pretty sure I've taken longer to get to the top of a 5-storey building in India!

I'd already filled out the form (Application for a Social Security Card - SS-5) but the one they gave me at the OHR was kinda outdated, so after I took a time-ticket, I filled out a new form. There were just a couple of people before me - I waited for about 20 minutes and the actual process only took about 10 minutes. I was back home by 0930.

I was told to expect the card in about 2 weeks so now I wait!

 UPDATE [1500 11 Feb 2010]: Bummer - after almost 4 weeks of waiting, nothing. I called up the Social Security office and was told that my application showed as processed and that I should've received it. The lady told me to come in to the office in person, with all my documents, again. So now I wait another two weeks, hopefully this time it won't be lost in the mail.

 UPDATE [1300 22 Feb 2010]: Woohoo! It's finally here! Interesting to note, when they said 'card', I expected something like a credit card, made of plastic. Instead, it's made of card stock.