Tag: office

In the Office

The rules for our hybrid working environment are simple. We have to be in the office for 40% of the work days each month. That works out to approximately two days each week. Usually. Some months require an extra day to hit 40%. This month is not one of those months. This month just needs two days each week.

Last week I messed up my routine. I was feeling under the weather. Not bad enough to miss work, but bad enough to not want to go into the office and risk getting anyone else sick. I worked from home all five days last week. No office visits for me.

Because of that minor illness and my desire in the post Covid world to go out of my way to not get anyone else sick, I have two days to make up in order to get back onto the two days in the office pace.

I had two ideas for that. Idea number one was to work three days in the office this week, and three days next week. Not bad. Not good. Doable. Idea number two was to just bite the bullet and work four days in the office this week. Suck Suckity Suck Suck Suck for one week, then back to normal for the rest of the month.

I went into the office on Monday (traffic was mild). I went into the office on Tuesday (traffic was horrible). I am in the office today, Wednesday (traffic was bad but not as bad as Tuesday). Tomorrow I will have to make a tough decision. If I work from home tomorrow, I will need to come in three days next week (because I am sure as hell not coming into the office on Friday). If I work from the office tomorrow I will be back on track and not have to worry about any of this for the rest of June… but it will suck suck suckity suck to be in the office four days in a row (again, no way in hell I am coming in on Friday this week).

So what am I going to do?

I feel a little sick even thinking this… but I think I am going to work in the office. Four days in and one day at home… that was how our schedule worked pre-pandemic. The thought of that just blows chunks. It blows great big chunky chunks.

I think I am going to do it though. Oh help me please, I think I am going to do it.

Clicky

I really like using clicky mechanical keyboards like this one that is on my desk in the office. Jen gave it to me. I like it a lot, but I really miss the number pad. I find myself reaching for a number pad multiple times a day when I work at this desk. I’m thinking about looking for a new clicky mechanical keyboard that has a number pad. I don’t know. I don’t want to spend money on it though.

Mostly this is just because the work day is ending soon and I wanted to post a picture of something and I am in the office so really my keyboard is the only subject available to me. You know how it is.

My New Desk

Just what I need, another desk.

The mouse pad, mechanical (clicky) keyboard, the coily cable of truth, the headset/mic, and the laptop stand are all my wife’s. The iPhone charger, the mouse, the USB C adapter, and the USB hub are mine (as well as the water bottle, the glasses case, and the box of tissues). The laptop and the monitor (and the chair and the desk itself) belong to the company.

It took almost five minutes for me to turn the workspace into a cable spaghetti horror show, but it’s going to be better than living out of a backpack (which is mostly out of frame to the right) every time I have to come into the office.

Desks

When I work at home I have a work desk in the cellar, and a work desk in my step son’s room. I also have a personal computer desk that doubles as my music nook in the cellar.

That’s a lot of desks.

Last year I had to give up my desk in the office. They told us that if we wanted to keep our permanently assigned desks we had to commit to working three days in the office. Nope. I was committed to one, but that was all I wanted to do. A couple of months from now that one day requirement is being bumped up to two days. Along with the two day rule is the option to have a desk assignment. I signed up for a desk with the caveat that if they go back to requiring three days I will un-sign up. My boss agreed.

While my new office desk won’t go into effect until next week sometime, I am actually sitting at “my” desk today. We are living in a screwy world, I tells ya.

The commute in this morning was a bit rough. Lots and lots of accidents and break downs, and one cop who was pulling people over in the middle of a traffic jam. Not sure what he was doing, other than purposefully making the gridlock worse? Who knows.

It is supposed to rain all day today, but the blue sky broke through a few times during the drive.

132/365
132/365

Okay, back to work with you, Mr. Robert. 

Two Additions to the New Workspace

Two new additions were made to the workspace in my step son’s room today. 

First: Groovy wooden cup holder that clamps to the desk. I actually bought a pack of two but I can’t decide where to put the second one, so we’ve just got one of them for now…

The second thing… cat, lounging on the day bed. She didn’t stay for long, but she was definitely welcome.

One Down, Two to Go

I am home after a long day at work in the office. I drove the 13513533752 miles to our Foxborough building this morning (actually, it’s 73 miles, it just feels like a zillion and a half) for our group’s holiday party/meeting. Yankee swap and then lunch. After that I drove about half way home and finished the day in my regular building in Westwood.

Tomorrow is day two of three straight Foxborough days. This time it’s for my manager’s monthly meeting with his staff. Since I only have to be in the office one day each week, when this meeting ends at around noon I will probably be able to drive home and finish the day here. That only works if nothing pressing comes up tomorrow morning. Finger crossed.

Thursday brings me back to Foxborough for a third straight day. This time for a training in the morning, followed by my manager taking his direct reports out to lunch. I didn’t check everyone’s calendars to see if there was a reason why the group meeting and the group lunch aren’t both happening on the same day, because I am sure there is something going on to keep everyone from being available. It’s not a big deal, really. I have three long morning commutes in a row, but that’s still better than going in to my usual, closer to home, office five days a week, right? Again, if nothing goes wrong I will be able to head home for the second half of the day following the group lunch. Fingers crossed again.

In reference to a post from yesterday, the collared shirt I wore to the office today has been washed and hung up to dry. It should be ready to go on Thursday. That will do for today.

I Don’t Wanna

Sorry, gentle readers, but this is going to be a running theme over the next few days.

I don’t wanna go to the office tomorrow… or the next day… or the next day. I just want to work from home. Even worse, all three in the office days require me to work in a building that is 70-something miles from home, instead of the usual 40 miles.

I said it before and I will say it again (and again and again)…

I. Don’t. Wanna!!!

Weekend Project

I mentioned in a post a few days ago (so… like… 100 posts back… I post waaaaaaay to much) that I am going to set up a new office space in one of the kids’ rooms. I am going to put together a new desk and a work-from-home workstation to use with my work-issued laptop. I was also thinking of putting a personal machine in there just for schnitzengiggles. I figured it would be a windows box and I could put some games on it or something. Mostly it would just be used for youtube, but who knows.

Today I had a crazy idea.

If I am going to have a desktop machine that isn’t a Mac (I am 100% a Mac user outside of work)… why not a duel boot with a version of Linux? Debian or Ubuntu? Something like that?

That could be fun, right? Get a little swagger for my Computer Science degree going? Yeah… we’ll have to look into that more once everything is setup and running.