Where did the week go?

[hrj]

 Somehow the weeks seem to be passing even more quickly than usual, given that they're all the same. Only the rhythm within the weekly cycle moves shifts and returns. Fridays are the days when deadlines come crunching. I have an investigation that needs to close over the weekend so we can approve release of a batch of diluent syringes so we can pack the syringes into drug units to ship to some South American country or other. I've spent the last two weeks struggling to get people to agree on a clear set of deliverables to complete the investigation and even this morning I was getting wishy-washy mixed messages from the guy who needs to approve for closure. Gah. And there's lots of other things going on at the same time, of course, including answering random questions from several of our trainees. I'd hate to be in training in this job working remotely. So I do what I can. In any event, I dragged the investigation toward the finish line, kicking and screaming, and shoved it into the hands of my QA reviewer to finish up over the weekend. (One thing about working form home is that putting in time on the weekend is both easy and entirely too tempting.)

And here it is, Friday evening, I'm sitting in the garden enjoying the cooling of the air, and the pink explosion of the gallica roses, and contemplating that the grass already needs mowing again, and that I need to put in my yard work early tomorrow before it heats up because I went and bought tomato sets but I need to walk down the irrigation system first before I put them in. I swapped out my lunchtime bike ride for a trip to Home Depot during mid-morning when the metered line of shoppers wasn't entirely too long. In addition to All the Tomatoes In the World, I decided to gamble on cucumbers and zucchini again, even though I have dreadful luck with them. Also spotted some lemon grass in the herb section. I have an enormous clump a couple years ago, but when I moved it into pots, it didn't really take (though I still have several bags of stems in my freezer from that transplanting). It simply got too large for the beds in the herb garden so I think I need to plant it somewhere that it can pretend to be edible landscaping rather than an herb proper. I think it might do well in the bed along the kitchen windows. It doesn't get heavy sun so a lot of my usual landscaping plants don't do well there, but the area stays reasonably damp so I think it will do well.

I received yet another set of "attaboy-points" for above-and-beyond at work (they really do appreciate me, really they do -- and I appreciate that they appreciate me) and since it's almost May I though that rather than saving them up and cashing them in for cash like I usually do, I'd actually browse the gift catalog and buy something in the way of a birthday present. I crowdsourced the decision...which is to say that I talked through my options and preferences on facebook and in the process successfully communicated to the voters what decision I'd actually already come to. So I'll be getting a nice set of Le Creuset cookware (plus some fancy midwestern steaks) for my birthday.

My Friday morning coffee-break zoom crowd had assorted conflicts this morning so we shifted to end-of-workday and ended up chatting for a couple of hours. You know, one good thing that may come out of the quarantine is some decent momentum on figuring out this casual socializing thing after all.

Well, the annoying little fruit flies are getting annoying so it's time to go inside.

Comments

[hrj]

4/24 - Temperature 97.4 - actually slept relatively well last night, went shopping at Home Depot on Meridian Park Blvd, kept distance, sanitized in the car. No other excursions off the property.

[katerit]

I love those roses - based on the picture you shared.. I would have voted for the cookware even without the obvious lean - or the outdoor set, but the second is because I need a patio set myself. I will be getting one in time too - but the one I'm borrowing is perfect for my needs right now.

The weeks are blending, aren't they?

[hrj]

The patio set runs into the conflict between the social life I want to have and the social life I actually have (even setting aside The Time We Live In). I have a lovely round table with two chairs. That's normally all I need. When I get up the energy to entertain larger numbers, it's generally my June Party which is larger than a 6-person patio set. So what I have is perfect for what I do.

[kareina]

That temptation to work from home on the weekends--would it give you any extra compensation on the paycheck, or "only" make the next work week a little easier?

[hrj]

I'm salaried so I could work 80 hours a week and wouldn't get paid a cent more. And my department has been chronically understaffed since a year and a half ago when we had the re-org and layoffs. So putting in extra hours in order to feel caught up runs the risk of convincing management we don't actually need our current (unmet) headcount goal. So in the long run, working more hours would only ensure I'd need to keep working more hours.

[kareina]

Then I will wish for you the strength to never work more hours in a week than you are obliged to do, and that management decides to bring your team up to an appropriate number of workers.