Wednesday is the official work-in-the-office day, but this week I’m bumping it up to Monday. The traffic was bad, but normal bad. It wasn’t 2+ hours like last week, it was just the usual 80 minutes for 40 mile bullshit today.
I worked in this building for a few years starting back in 2004. The view is pretty nice. Today was the first time I had been there since pre-Covid. I wouldn’t mind working in this building again except that we have two buildings that are a bit closer to home. This one is pretty far away.
The traffic on this morning’s commute was pretty good. It’s the day after a national holiday so I wasn’t expecting any problems. There were two accidents. Waze called the second one major and tried to route me around it, but it took me so long to get to it that it was cleared by the time I arrived, and the traffic on the Waze detour was so bad that it re-routed me back to my normal route. I did get a pic of the first accident, which was very minor:
The weird part of this drive was all the breakdowns. There must have been about 20 cars pulled over during my 40 mile drive. That’s an insane number. No clue why there were so many people having so many problems. I don’t get it, but the Waze community was losing it’s shit reporting pulled over vehicles. There were very few moments during the entire drive when I wasn’t getting a warning of some sort.
Wednesday is weigh in day, but it’s also drive in to the office day now. I’ll write up a weigh in post later, but for now I have to get settled in at my temporary desk before my 10:00am meeting.
I don’t have a desk in the office anymore. Now when I need to go in I have to reserve a desk through our scheduling system. It’s not a bad deal, really. I just pick a desk location at random, show up, sit down and go. I can see the desks’ names but not a map of where they are, or who else has signed up around that spot. Today I had a desk in the Foxborough building for the morning, now I have a desk in the Westwood building that is closest to home. There are a few people sitting within ear shot of me right now. No one is close enough for Covid-discomfort, but I can hear them when they are on the phone… and they are all on the phone… and have been for over an hour.
Worse? I forgot to pack some headphones today. I have a headset mic I use for conference calls, but nothing that I can use with my iPhone. My solution? I installed iTunes on my work laptop for the first time in 100 years. I had to take multiple updates and reboot once before I could get it to run, but it’s working now. I’m listening to a photography podcast and I’m thinking about switching over to some Boston based 80’s punk rock. Moving Targets, maybe? Overall my impression of iTunes for Windows in 2022 is, wow does this application SUCK. It really does. Oh well. It’s working and I am okay with that.
On a personal “Duh” note, I have been sitting here for nearly two hours and just happened to notice that my laptop battery was down to 40%. I have a power strip that I brought with me and I plugged it into the wall when I got here, and my laptop is 100% plugged into the power strip. What the hell? Oh… there’s a little on/off switch that I didn’t see at all. The power strip was off. Oops.
Unrelated, I am hoping to take Dad’s film camera out around town tomorrow before work. I’ll freeze my ass off, but I still want to do it. I’m not sure where to go, I just know I need to finish the rolls in both of the film cameras, Dad’s Pentax and my Nikon, before Disney. Both cameras have black and white film in them and Disney needs to be in color, you know? Also, my Nikon is a test case, using Dad’s 50mm lens via an adapter. The lens/adapter combo worked perfectly on my DSLR, but I’d like to have some proof that they work on film too before I take them to Florida. There are only a few weeks left. I need to get on this. the light is supposed to be crappy tomorrow morning, but I’ll do what I can.
Another unrelated topic. On the way home tonight I need to stop somewhere and buy a winter coat and some gloves. We have snow in the forecast this weekend, though it looks now like it might be mostly rain, and I need to be ready. I also wonder if I should get a couple of extra t-shirts for the Disney trip. I only have three that fit me correctly. Maybe if the weather holds this weekend I might go to a thrift store and see if I can get some 2x shirts cheap. Hmmm. Interesting thought. Maybe I could look for some camera gear while I’m there. Heh heh, ain’t I a stinker?
Okay, back to work with you.
Who is the luckiest sonofabitch in town?
Wordle 542 2/6
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Having a weird day in the office today. We had an xmas party thing this morning which was nice except that one of our extended group has Covid and was in the office with a bunch of us last week and who knows if last week will forever be known as a super spreader event which would make today a mini super spreader event. Crud, I hate covid so much.
Anyway, the party included pizza. I didn’t have any. My team member who lives in Minnesota did because I DoorDashed him some Pizza Hut. Order entered in Massachusetts, order delivered in Minnesota. Like a Boss, as they say.
Like I said, no pizza for me. Can I have pizza? Probably, if there is no sugar in the tomato sauce. I just haven’t tried it and I really don’t want to. I brought some chicken salad. Meals have been tough over the last few days. Not terrible, but I have been stopping myself early due to signs that stomach issues may be coming forthwith. I prefer to dish out a certain amount of food and then eat it all as it makes tracking protein counts easier, but if I have to stop I have to stop. Today I had to stop. I ate a protein bar in the car on the way in for breakfast, and then maybe an ounce and a half of chicken for lunch. Round about 3:00pm my stomach, which was no longer upset over lunch, started getting upset over being empty.
I am sitting in a conference room with a couple of co-workers. It’s a smallish room but we’re spread out okay. No covid transmissions here. It’s quiet though, and that means everyone can hear my stomach moaning and groaning. It’s super embarrassing and it’s yet another reason why working from home is better than coming into the office. My stomach can sing and dance all it wants when I am alone at my desk at home. Here? Now? Today? I just want to hide. No one has said anything. Everyone is being super polite. I just wish my stomach would shut the fuck up.
ADDENDUM: I should say, in the interest of accuracy, that I am not positive one of my co-workers has covid. It looks that way, but it has not been confirmed.
Here we are, in the office in Westwood again. We come in once a month, the whole group on the same day. It doesn’t really make sense from a Covid perspective, but that’s the situation we’re in now.
Traffic was bad, but not remarkably bad. Just normal bad. There seemed to be an overabundance of stupid people on the road. That was interesting and rather awful, but unfortunately not too out of the ordinary.
My wedding ring almost fell off while I was unloading my backpack. That does it. I have to go and get it resized. This weekend, assuming my jewelry shop of choice is open this weekend. I have to check on that. I want to bring it to the same shop we bought it from in 2009. That seems like the right thing to do. If they aren’t available I’ll go somewhere else, but they are still my first choice.
Back when we had the cellar remodeled I broke the hose that vents the dryer. We had to have someone come in and replace it. Apparently they put too many twists and turns into it when they installed the new one and now we’re getting errors triggered by the flow sensor. Urgh. I will try to hook up a shorter hose that goes straight to the vent in the wall. Something else I need to do this weekend. I feel like it’s going to be a busy one.
Okay, let’s get to work. Lots of meetings today. Fun fun fun. I miss Jen.
Inside the Red Head's Head 