Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

Rain is a Thing

So rain is still a thing. I mean this from a work point of view.

When Covid hit and we all started working from home full time, I learned to stop really worrying about rain. I didn’t have a commute anymore so I didn’t need to drive to and from work in the rain. I didn’t need to walk out to a parking lot in the rain. I didn’t even need to walk to the driveway. From the perspective of getting to and from work rain (and snow) stopped being a concern at all.

Now that we’re back in the office at least some of the time it’s a thing again and it sucks.

It is pouring rain today. I’m looking out the window and the parking lot looks like a small lake. I have to drive to a different building soon and that means I have to go out in this suck-fest of a rain storm and get drenched so that I can make the next meeting.

Working at home is so much better than working in the office. So much better.

Thus concludes this morning’s rant about rain. Thank you for your time and patience.

Traffic is Funny

Here’s an example of why traffic in greater Boston is funny. I don’t mean funny as in hahaha, I mean funny as in I am so mad I want to claw my eyes out.

I drove about 70 miles to get to work today. It was pouring rain the whole way. It was also seriously foggy out. The fog plus the rain plus the spray coming off of everyone’s tires meant that visibility was only slightly better than zero. For almost the entire drive I was up around 70-75 miles per hour. I made excellent time.

Yesterday it was gloomy out but other than a little drizzle at the tail end of the drive it was dry. No precipitation, no fog to speak of, no road spray. It had rained the day before though. How did I do for time? There were pockets of gridlock everywhere. The drive took 30 minutes longer than it took today.

Rain today = no traffic jams.
No rain today but rain yesterday = huge traffic jams.

See what I mean about “funny”?

Anyway, here’s a picture of a guitar to try to guilt myself into playing before work tomorrow, when I will thankfully be working from home again.

102/365

Up to Date

Okay folks, you can talk about Star Wars: Skeleton Crew episode three now. I just finished watching it so I don’t have to avoid spoilers anymore. Go ahead and debate it to your hearts content.

He said selfishly as if no one else getting spoiled didn’t phase him, though you notice he hasn’t spoiled anything himself so maybe this post is meant to be a little silly and a lot sarcastic. Hmmmmm… what do we think?

Nothing

It’s been a quiet day. Not a lot going on. One issue at work that should have been wrapped up on Friday came back to us today (Tuesday) and was immediately taken care of. It should not have come back to us though. There was another issue that one of my staff members worked on over the last month or so. He wrapped it up nicely last week. We were talking about it yesterday and we were both a little sad that his hard work did not seem to rate a pat on the back or a thank you from the customer. It’s okay if they just move on with their lives, but this was a kind of issue where we thought a simple thank you would have been nice. Well, he got a thank you today. Thanks for the thanks, customer.

Most years at work I am part of two holiday celebrations. One is a big lunch with a yankee swap and the other is a smaller, quieter group lunch. The yankee swap happened today. The quieter group lunch happens tomorrow. Both of them take place in Foxborough, which is the office that is as far away as I am willing to go to. It could be worse. It could be Fall River. That building has been open for a decade or so and I have never been there. It’s just too far away. If I ever have the need to go there I will, but I am not going by choice and I will avoid it whenever I can. I’ve been lucky so far. Foxborough though… today and tomorrow. It’s okay. I’ll handle it. It’s only about 70 miles away. Yikes.

At the Yankee swap thing today there was a sign that said there are only 15 days left until xmas. You know… I wasn’t feeling a holiday crunch before I saw that… now? Oh yeah, I’m feeling the holiday crunch. Panic is setting in.

There is a new episode of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew coming out at 9pm tonight. Hopefully that will make me feel a little better. I’m still not 100% sold on the concept of Goonies in Space, but I am liking it so far. I’ve only seen two episodes. I am optimistic that tonight’s episode three will be good. The bad guys are Pirates. Arrrr, righty then.

What else can I write about? Nothing. I think I need to wrap this literary masterpiece and click that publish button. Okay, loyal readers… here it comes!

Bedding Success!

Check it out, after over a week one of the cats finally used the new cat bed! Success!

101/365

I think Lily knows this is a big deal. Usually first thing in the morning it’s Robin (Lily’s mother) who is sucking up to us and looking for start-of-the-day attention. Today it was Lily. Maybe she knows we’re pleased that she used the new cat bed and wants to soak up the extra level of human happiness.

Or maybe she’s just mugging for the camera.

Mouse Hunt

We are proud of our two cats. They have protected their house from an invader. A little, tiny, furry, squeaky invader.

They caught a mouse.

We saw them hunting when we got up this morning. There was something in a closet that they really wanted to get at. I saw it for a second. A little brown mouse. It was adorable. It was also a bastard of a home invader who needed to be removed. The mouse got away this morning. It did not get away for long.

Jen walked into a room and found it laying in the middle of the floor, seemingly dead. She turned away to get something to cover the body and when she turned back it was gone. A few minutes later she found it seemingly dead on the floor not far away. Was it actually dead this time or was it just playing dead? I scooped it up and took it outside. Pretty sure it was dead. Poor little sucker.

Good job, cats! Lily and Robin protected their home and their family. They are good mouse hunters. We gave them some treats in thanks. Good job, my little furry friends. We’re proud of you.