Tag: work in the office

Big Red Haired Ball of Stress

Woah, boy… today… am I right, or am I right?

The stress level today has been through the roof. The contractor experience went off without a hitch, but the first half of the work day was… woah.

We caught a customer issue before the customer did and went into a mad scramble to get it straightened out for them. It took a little while to get a band aid in place but now we’re dealing with figuring out how to stop it from ever happening again while also talking the customer down from their panicked state. The code/app that my team is responsible for is downstream from the actual cause of the problem. It didn’t happen in our piece of the system, but it did present itself to people using our piece of the system. Yikes is the word of the day. Everyone involved, both on my company’s side and on the customer’s side, did a bang up job getting everything straightened out, and I bet that when the dust settles we’ll all agree it wasn’t that big of a deal… but for the moment. Yikes.

Back to the home owner situation, two more contractors are coming tomorrow. One is a plumber who will put everything that was taken apart today back together again. The other is just a routine maintenance thing. I will be in the office for both of them though. I am thinking about trying to find a way to be able to stay home for all of it. I don’t want my wife to have to deal with either thing. If I work from home tomorrow it means I will have to be in the office three days next week…….. yeah, I think I am going to work from home tomorrow. Command decision made. Three days next week.

On an unrelated note, today is the anniversary of my Uncle Johnny’s death. It’s been 17 years. He was godfather to both me and my sister. He was my father’s only sibling. He had a tough life but he overcame a lot of awful shit. He was good people and I love him and I miss him. I wish he could have known all of our kids. He would have been proud, I know it.

Okay. Back to the stress. Look out below!

Baby Yoda Says Hello

46/365

I’m in the office today. Can you sense the excitement? Neither can I.

Traffic sucked. Lots of cars broken down on the highway for some reason. I am glad it was not contagious. I got into the car at 7:15, turned on Google Maps, and was told my 40 mile drive was going to take an hour and 27 minutes. That was before I noticed the gas tank was low. Crap. I made it on time though. Barely.

It is likely going to be a long and stressful work day today. At least it’s my last in-the-office day for this week. Looking on that bright side, folks.

Busy

The last few days at work have been busy and a little stressful. Lots of putting out fires. Not literal fires of course. I don’t drive a red truck for a living.

Anyway, as is usually the case when I am working in the office, I feel like I would be in a better mindset if I were working from home. If nothing else, I would have furry little critters hanging around and cheering me on*.

I took this picture just before I left this morning, just for some moral support or something. You know how it is.

*Are they cheering me on or are they making fun of me? I can’t tell. It’s like the Cheers and Jeers section of the old TV Guide except you don’t get to know what category you’re in until it’s all over.

Monday

Welcome to Monday morning, friends and neighbors and readers and only friends… that’s a bit of a mixed metaphore/movie reference there, huh?

I’m working in the office today and I am ready to go but it’s too early so I am writing a post. Is that a little too inside baseball? Is that a little too much of how the sausage is made?

I’m in a fuckin’ weird mood this morning. Sorry. The Bruins season starts tomorrow. It probably has something to do with today being weird.

Anyway. I need a new guitar project. I’ve got a couple of things that were put on pause that I should probably get back to. We’ll see.

37/365

Get Out of It

The last couple of days I’ve had this pain in my eye. I feel like I got punched in my right eye. It hurts and it feels a little swollen and it’s itchy and sometimes it’s watery.

My question is…. Can I use this eye thing to get out of working in the office tomorrow and the day after?

Can I? Huh?

Yeah, I didn’t think so. Oh well.

First Time at Work

Well, gastric bypass surgery fans, I just had my first mildly annoying post-surgical experience while at the office.

I scheduled a snack for three hours after breakfast. It was a protein bar. Not a big one, not a small one, just a Goldilocks style protein bar to tide me over until lunch and to avoid the empty-stomach-stomach-aches I get when I wait too long between eating anything.

I was fine until the last bite, then I felt the upset stomach that is a harbinger of The Foamies. That state I sometimes find myself in where something is hanging out just outside of my redesigned little stomach pouch (pouch is the technical term for it, I swear) and my body starts over producing saliva to help break it down so that it can get into my stomach. I end up spitting up a lot, and I sometimes end up gagging up whatever is stuck enroute.

Yes, it can be gross. Yes it can be uncomfortable. Yes it is annoying. It’s not really a bad thing, it’s just a thing.

The reason it is noteworthy today is because it was the first time it happened in the office. It’s not the first time it happened during work, but the previous weekdays between 9-5:30 instances were all while working from home. I had to excuse myself and go to the men’s room to spit up saliva and wait to see if my last bite or two of protein bar would come back out to say hello. They didn’t. I was all better again after about five minutes. No harm done. No co-workers grossed out.

I am going to keep a spit-up cup at my desk though. Hopefully I will never use it, but hopefully if I need to no one will see.

As usual, I feel I must state in closing that this is sooooo worth it. Yeah, it’s annoying and all but it is absolutely worth it given the weight loss and all of the other benefits to my health and well being. 100%. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Mondays Suck, But We All Knew That

Yup… Monday… blah.

How’s everyone doing? Did you have a good weekend? I was sick all weekend, but it was okay. My step son was here. That was awesome.

I feel a little better today. It’s been the cold from hell ever since last Tuesday afternoon, but today I feel like I am starting to come out of it. I’m still stuffy and sneezing and coughing, but not nearly as bad as I was. I still don’t feel well enough to be comfortable going into the office. I think this week will be Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe Friday. I only went in once last week because of being sick. Maybe I’ll go in an extra day this week to make up for it. We’ll see.

The kitchen remodel will hopefully officially come to an end tomorrow. The contractor is coming back one more time to hang some shelves over the new tile. That’s the only thing left to do, though our dishwasher is acting up. It might be shitting the proverbial bed. Nice timing, eh? Get the kitchen remodeled and immediately have to buy a new appliance. Yeah, because we have money for that! Sheesh! Is the universe trying to tell us something?*

Okay. I need to blow my nose, read some work email, and then make lunch. Hopefully you are all having a good Monday even though Mondays as a rule suck. That’s okay though. Mondays sucking is not a surprise to anyone who lives in a place where Monday is the start of the work week.

*No, the universe is not trying to tell us something. It doesn’t give a shit about us one way or the other. Why? Because it is not sentient in any way. It’s just a universe. It’s just a really, really, really big collection of stuff. It doesn’t have feelings. It’s not intelligent. It’s just stuff.

Home

I did it. Three days in the office. Not only that but three days in the 2nd farthest office from my house.

Tomorrow is Friday and tomorrow I’ll be working from home… finally.

Next week our Wednesday in the office day happens on Tuesday because reasons. I’m not thinking about that tonight though. I am just happy that I can work from home tomorrow. Insert the sound of a super emphatic sigh of relief right here.

As much as I am looking forward to not driving 73 miles to Foxborough tomorrow morning, I am even more looking forward to getting past the work day and getting to the weekend. There will be much xmas gift wrapping this weekend. Also… guitar playing… it’s a moral imperative.

Hybrid Work Environment

We had an announcement at work today. Starting in March our hybrid work environment is going to be slightly less than the current hybrid. Something like that, at least.

We’re going from four days at home and one day in the office each week to three days at home and two days in the office.

None of us are happy. We’ve been seeing the writing on the wall for a while, but now that the announcement has been made, it’s a huge bummer. We have plenty of time to work out the details (I’m thankful for that, at least) but I would much rather not have to deal with it. If it were up to me we’d be 100% remote.

Oh well.

Imminent Star Wars Problem

I’m going to have a problem on Wednesday and I don’t know what to do.

Wednesday is our day to work in the office. I would greatly prefer that we were 100% remote work, but we’re not. Fortunately our nod to hybrid work is just one day a week. I can live with that.

Wednesday is also important for nerds as it is the day Disney+ releases new episodes of Star Wars shows. Currently there are two shows streaming new episodes each week. The Mandalorian, season three, and The Bad Batch, season two. Fortunately for me, my current morning routine involves waking up ridiculously early so I can get my daily exercise in has allowed me to watch the new episodes of both shows before getting ready for work and hitting the road with enough time to drive through 40 miles of gridlock and get to my desk by 9:00am.

This week though… the day after tomorrow to be precise… it’s going to be tough. It’s the season finale of The Bad Batch and they are releasing two episodes to wrap things up. That means there are three new episodes coming out Wednesday, one Mandalorian and two Bad Batch, and I don’t think I’ll have enough time to get through all three before work. Maybe if I get out of bed at 4:30am or so. That might work. Unfortunately, I have enough of a struggle getting up at 5:00 and getting up earlier than that is going to be next to impossible.

So how do I handle this? I will absolutely watch The Mandalorian episode first. The Bad Batch is a decent enough show, but it’s not even in the same stadium as The Mandalorian. That show would be appointment viewing if it aired at a specific time. The question is, do I watch the first of the two Bad Batch episodes and leave myself hanging through the work day, or do I punt on both of them until I get home from work. I honestly don’t know yet. I may not know until the actual moment arrives.

Talk about your 21st century nerd problem, right? Six year old me sitting in the theater watching Star Wars in 1977 had no clue how good things were going to get in the future. No clue at all.