Category: Generic

Hanging in There

My second day back in the office is about half over. Lunch will be wrapping up shortly. Once again there are not many people around today, but there are more than I feel comfortable with. We are all safely distanced from each other and everyone here is vaccinated. We’re about as safe from the dreaded One Nine as we can be. Still… I’d feel more comfortable working from home. Part of me wants to book a conference room and hide there for the rest of the day. No, I will put my trust in the two vaccine shots and the one booster shot. Hang in there, kiddos!

Speaking of not feeling comfortable, this chair sucks. I have been seriously spoiled. Not only is the chair at my desk at home 1000 times better than the chair at my desk at work, but the chairs at the building we worked out of for the five years or so prior to the pandemic were also 1000 times better. My back is killing me in ways that my back usually doesn’t kill me. Normally my back issues are in my lower back, but today it’s up between my shoulder blades. I blame this sub-par chair and I wanna go home.

I also forgot to open the blinds on the bedroom window that gives Bertha the plant clipping all of her sunlight. I am such a terrible plant dad. Bertha may never forgive me. I’m sorry Bertha.

It’s Like Henry Hill Out There

There was a shooting in our neighborhood this morning. It happened at about 5:30am. The victim passed away at Lawrence General hospital shortly after. There was also a car accident involved as a car crashed through a fence, drove through a couple of yards, and ended up in the woods.

I was awake at the time and wondered why I didn’t hear anything. Turns out it wasn’t really in our neighborhood. The road mentioned in the article is kinda huge and it’s possible the incident was nowhere near us. That’s a relief.

I did hear a helicopter or something lingering around above us this morning while I was getting ready for work. I assumed there was an accident on the highway near us. We get traffic copters flying around sometimes for that reason. There are two major highways very close to us, and one big state road. It happens.

Now I know they were watching the scene. There’s a tweet embedded in the article I linked and if you click on that you can see some additional pics that were taken from the air. That’s what I was hearing. I mentioned that to Jen, who is working from home which is where I wish I was working from right now, and she said she can still hear them.

It’s like Henry Hill for real. Don’t forget to stir the gravy and don’t call from inside the house!

Office Tomorrow

I’m going into the office tomorrow. My second time since they reopened the building. I need to make a lunch, I need to wear a collared shirt. I need to not forget my freakin wireless headphones again.

I’m nervous about Covid, of course, but I guess I need to just put some faith in the two vaccine shots and the booster shot and just suck it up and deal with it.

Patches agrees.

Missed Again

Two days in a row with quinoa fails. What the hell, Robert? Yesterday I screwed up the stove. Today I used a new brand of bouillon cubes and I guess I used too much because the end result was WAY too salty.

I’ve been making this same quinoa dish for years. Literally for years. I can count the number of colossal fails on one hand and now I’ve messed it up two days in a row.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Admit Defeat

This could probably go under the Stir Crazy Files. It seems like I talk about taking the garbage barrels out to the street way too often for comfort. I’m going to do it again, but I think the reason I do it is because it’s something that happens outside of the house. It’s as close to outside social interaction as the pandemic lets me have. How pathetic is that?

Anyway, I had to take the barrels to the street this morning. I woke up around 6:00am and I was going to get out of bed and take care of it, but I checked the weather and it was six degrees out. How about we wait and see if it warms up at all first, m’kay? I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I got up an hour later and did my full morning routine. A few months ago the trash pick up was getting here at 7:00am and I had to make sure everything was out before the sun came up. Now they are showing up mid-afternoon so I have a little breathing room. Someday it will bite me on the ass, but for today I took advantage of it.

My plan to wait and see if the air warmed up was successful. It was all the way up to eight degrees. I put on my winter coat, sighing in frustration. Then I was just about to step outside when I paused and put on a pair of gloves. Do you know what that felt like to a New Englander with 50 years of winters behind him? It felt like I was admitting defeat. I only had to walk to the side of the house, drag two barrels to the street and then come back. I need a jacket and gloves for that? What a wuss. Winter has beaten me today and I am not happy about it.

In my defense though, when I came back inside the house my glasses immediately fogged up enough that I couldn’t see. I feel like that was my spec’s way of telling me that the coat and gloves were a smart move. Thanks, spectacles.

On a totally unrelated note. I have a song stuck in my head. It’s from the movie The Hangover. I have no idea why it’s stuck in my head. How did it get there? Jen heard me singing it to myself and now she has it stuck in her head too.

We’re the three best friends that anybody could have: