Tag: work

Absent Minded Doofus

I am in the office today. It’s the first time since before the surgery. The traffic was really bad. Another sign that the pandemic is over, even though people are still getting sick in droves. Hooray.

I was 10 miles down route 93 before I realized that I forgot my headphones. Damn it! Fortunately I had an old set of ear pods in my desk, so we’re good to go for today but… dumb ass.

It’s my first attempt at monitoring liquid and protein intake from outside of the house for a full work day. I will also be taking my meds (just vitamins, actually) at work today too. What could go wrong?

Traffic

The weight loss clinic is 21 minutes from my house, according to Google Maps.

21 minutes there, a few minutes to drop off the paperwork I need them to fill out and fax to the insurance company, and 21 minutes back. I should be able to do that in less than an hour with ease, right?

I did it in 59 minutes. Not bad, but there was a hiccup I didn’t consider. I would have seen it coming light years away if we were still in the office every day.

It’s Friday… in June… Beach/NH lakes traffic. It was starting to build up on route 495 North at the big interchanges (routes 3 and 93) on my way there. We’re talking about 1:15pm and already there was traffic.

Yup. That’s normal on Fridays in the summer. The traffic heading North is brutal all day long. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad for me this time.

Oh the things you forget about when you’re working from home every day instead of commuting to the office.

Step Back

I don’t know what to think right now. My mother seemed to take a step forward yesterday. It was good. There was a bit of optimism. I just heard that last night she took a big step back. I don’t know what to think now. I am just so sad.

We slept a little late this morning and it’s thrown off my mojo a little. Work is weird. I feel like I never left, but I also feel completely out of touch. I mean, it was only four weeks. It’s not like I forgot how to do everything. I said the other day I was feeling like an alien. That’s it. Totally. I feel like an alien posing as me. I blame my new stomach, but only because I have nothing else to blame it on but me.

Harry is at his dad’s this week but he came over to watch part four of Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was awesome. We did not, however, watch the first episode of Ms Marvel. I’m trying to sneak it in before work. I should just make it. That means I am not watching this week’s episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. That will have to wait for later tonight. All in all, I’d rather be seeing my mother moving to a new facility rather than anything Marvel or Star Trek or even Star Wars.

Chicken for breakfast. I’m starting to get a little sick of scrambled eggs. Is that new? I never used to get sick of food. If I ever get sick of chicken I am screwed. Hold on while I start my 30 seconds-between-bites clock.

First Day Recap

From a post-surgical standpoint, my first day back to work was not easy. It wasn’t bad, it just threw off my food/drink/exercise routine that I’ve been getting by with for the past month.

I had breakfast before work, and a protein shake as I was starting the day so that went well. Lunch started late and ended early. I wasn’t able to finish my 2.5 ounces of food until almost 3:00pm. It wasn’t bad, really it just threw me off. I hit my protein goal at dinner so everything worked out.

Liquids was more of a challenge. I was in meetings from 10:30 until 1:15 and I was talking for much of that time. I was really dehydrated by the end and my voice was getting scratchy and hoarse. I still haven’t hit my fluid goal, but I will before I turn in.

As for exercise, I didn’t get to it until about 7:30. For the sixth day straight I did the full 30 minute goal in one go. I have no issues other than I prefer to get it done earlier in the day which is going to mean either before work of during lunch. I need to figure out a new routine.

On the whole it was okay. I just need to establish a new food routine. Tomorrow should be better for most of the day, but I need to go somewhere directly after work so I’m going to have to eat some dinner before I punch out. That’s going to be weird.

We will see how it goes.

Why Working from Home is Better than Working from the Office

Here’s just one small reason why working from home is better than working from the office.

When you’re working from home and you take a gulp of water out of your water bottle and somehow, magically, end up spilling it all over your shirt, you can just change your shirt and no one ever notices.

Not so when you are working from the office.

Ugh, I am a friggin’ slob.

Easy Commute Day

I’m back in the office today. I’m supposed to come once a week, at least. I missed last week due to a 38 hour all nighter that threw off my whole world for a few days. I’m back today though. It’s school vacation week in Massachusetts, which means the commute was a breeze. We didn’t slow down once. If it were always that way I almost wouldn’t mind the 40+ mile drive each way.

We’re a little out of sorts on the home front. Our contractor didn’t show last night. He generally works two jobs each day. In the morning he does his other job, and then in the afternoon he comes and works for us. Yesterday his morning job held him up until after 6:00pm at least. We went a whole day without any progress. This is by no means a complaint, the guy has achieved super hero status in our book so if he has to miss a day that’s perfectly okay. We’re just off our game now as we are so close to being done that waiting an extra day is a bummer. I’d say it’s messing with our feng shui if I actually knew what feng shui meant. You know?

Not to change the subject or anything, but while I have your attention…

Here is The Great 2022 Marvel Cinematic Universe Chronological Rewatch of 2022 Update:

  • Phase One-ish
    • Captain America: The First Avenger
    • Captain Marvel
    • Iron Man
    • The Incredible Hulk
    • Iron Man 2
    • Thor
    • Marvel’s The Avengers
  • Phase Two-ish
    • Iron Man 3
    • Thor: The Dark World
    • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
    • Guardians of the Galaxy
    • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    • Avengers: Age of Ultron
    • Ant-Man
  • Phase Three-ish
    • Captain America: Civil War
    • Black Widow
    • Spider-Man: Homecoming
    • Black Panther
    • Doctor Strange
    • Thor: Ragnarok
    • Ant-Man and the Wasp
    • Avengers: Infinity War
    • Avengers: Endgame
    • Spider-Man: Far From Home
  • Phase four-ish
    • Eternals
    • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
    • Spider-Man: No Way Home

I watched Homecoming off and on over the last couple of days. A little here and there. I finished it last night. It’s a great movie. The one thing that stands out on this rewatch is that I forgot how many references there were to Aunt May being physically attractive. I knew there was some of that in Civil War, but I forgot that it comes up 1000 times in homecoming. It was a little annoying. My only other beef is a common one, the Spider-Man suit is too much like an Iron Man suit. I wish it was just… ya know… a suit.

Over all though, those complaints drop the rating down to about a 91 from a 92, or something like that. It’s a great freakin’ movie.

Up next is Black Panther. I was hoping to start it last night but I needed to sleep. I haven’t watched that one in a while. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll start it tonight.

Happy Lunch Hour

It’s the tail end of my lunch break and I have nothing to share. Hard to believe, I know.

The contractor is supposed to be getting here within the next 10 minutes or so. I would be stunned if he was able to prime the whole cellar (the cellar is kinda huge), but I am really looking forward to going downstairs after he leaves and seeing how far he gets. Color on the walls? It’s hard to picture it in my head.

I have a group meeting today at 2:30. I am planning on letting my staff know that I am going to be out for a while for the surgery. My boss has all the details, and so does his boss and likely his boss’ boss. The people who report directly to me have not been given even the smallest hint. I don’t know what I am going to say. I might just say I am going on medical leave and leave it at that. Fessing up to weight loss surgery is embarrassing. Well… at least fessing up to actual people rather than posting about it on the anonymous internet is embarrassing.

We’ll see how it goes.

Stress

Remember that post from this morning where I said I was hoping the stress level would be reduced from yesterday?

Good heavens, no. Yesterday’s work day stress times 100.

I think I am going to go outside and crawl under a car or something. Maybe stick my face in a fan. Something less stressful than today’s work day.

Wow.

Good News for Mom

Just got home from taking my mother to a doctors appointment. All went well. Everything her blood test was looking for is stable and happy. Nice! We’ll get it checked again in three months. She was pretty confused about the whole experience. She kept saying that the appointment wasn’t for her, it was for someone else. Generally speaking she was able to follow what was going on. She answered as many questions as she could, and I filled in what she missed. I’ve taken her to this office three times now. She kept saying she had no memory of being there before. As good as the good news is, stuff like that is heartbreaking.

The office staff was in a state of discombobulation. They went live with a new medical record software today and nothing was working. Now I know that many of my company’s customers have similarly stressful live days but given that the system they were implementing is not the system I work on, I was able to be a snooty snob and laugh inside my heart. I whole heartedly apologize for being a douche, but it was kinda fun.

One final healthcare point. I had my second Covid booster yesterday. I can’t tell if I am feeling run down and achy because of the shot, or because I didn’t fall asleep until 1:00am today and I am just too exhausted to function. It’s a question for the ages. I don’t know if we’ll ever know the true answer.

Non-Lunch Post

We’re coming to the end of another work day spent in the office. How many more will there be at this desk? I don’t know. A few, probably.

It’s been a hectic and stressed out day. I’m not sure how, but I managed to do everything right as far as the weight loss surgery prep steps are concerned. I’m up to date on my vitamins (still have one more to take with dinner), and I tracked all of my food, and I stopped drinking more than 15 minutes before eating, and I didn’t drink again for over an hour after eating.

My exercise ring is half closed. That’s due to the long walk from the car to my desk, and the long walk from my desk to the kitchenette and back, and the long walk from my desk to the bathroom and back. I think wearing a mask contributes to the increased heart rate as well, but I don’t have proof of that.

The building recently switched from masks required in all common areas to masks optional for vaccinated folks. I think it’s too soon for that, but I have to deal with it. My mask was on in all common areas but I was in the minority. Will peer pressure eventually remove my mask? I don’t think so but I can’t say for sure. The Covid numbers are way down for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I would like to take approximately 1/6,893,000th of the credit for that. At least that much. I kept my mask on and kept those around me safe from the virus that I don’t have. That’s not sarcasm. That’s honesty. Wear your effing mask.

Anyway, I was able to eat lunch today, but I was not really able to take a lunch break. That’s why there’s no lunch post from today, and that’s why I titled this post the way I did.

I might look into a new theme for this page. It might be time. Maybe something black and gloomy. Yeah, that would be cool. Black and gloomy is tight.

Now I need to get my exhausted ass home so I can eat dinner with the love of my life, check out how far the paint job got while I was out, watch the new episode of Star Trek Picard, and then finally get some of that sleep that I didn’t get any of last night.

Almost quittin’ time, babie!