I am isolated from my current co-workers. Got hired in April 2020, a month after Covid started in March 2020, have never been in-house. All I know of everyone, aside from 3 or so meet-ups in the past 2 years, is how they act during our morning Teams meeting.
One guy, a Subject Matter Expert, I'd always considered a blow-hard, because during the morning meetings, he's always bloviating! And then there's his annoying speech impediment: One day I counted him saying "I...I...I...I...I" five times while trying to start one sentence.
Today, though, he called me on Teams to have a conversation about an upcoming assignment. We talked about the work for about 15 minutes, then spent the next hour or more talking about our lives and experiences and families... (Re the latter: His family sounds great---he's my age, and his grown kids are arguing about who he will live closest to when he retires, versus me: "Geez, when I get sick, my cats can't take care of me" and "Geez, I hope I don't die before my cats, because who will take care of them?")
I'd always been annoyed by this guy before, but after really talking to him for the first time in 2 years, I liked him. And I was energized after the conversation: A real conversation with a real person! Living alone and working from home, I never get to talk to anyone---it was nice!
Friday, February 25, 2022
Bonding with a co-worker
Life-size Nijinsky on eBay
I can't afford $6,000, but I might pay $700 or $800 for this --- Beautiful and scary, like Nijinksy.
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Did anyone really think...
...that Putin would allow a Slavic EU-wannabe nation (Ukraine) on his border? The history of the Ukraine goes back for centuries, of course, but in the past 200 years, between battles with Poland, Ukraine has been a Russian territory. Since the early 2000s, though, the United States has been pumping money into Ukraine (via both the US State Department and International organizations) in an attempt to influence the politics of that country. Current US President Joe Biden's son Hunter received a salary of $1 million per year to serve on the board of the Ukraine natural gas company Burisma while his father was Vice President of the US. In 2016, Ukraine joined a trade pact with the EU.
I don't blame Putin one bit for trying to secure his border. Or for fighting against the EU globalists. It's purely a regional, ethnic matter...unless looked at through EU or Biden financial-interest eyes.
The Beatles: Revolution
Nijinsky: 1910 shot by Eugene Druet
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Thursday, February 17, 2022
"Joyride" over!
OK, wrong word. It's been nothing as exciting or pleasurable as a "joyride" for the past 2 years since Covid/Wuhan started. Rather, it's been relatively "calm" and "pleasant." For the most part, I've liked my life for the past 2 years.
After I quit my former (State) job in October of 2019, I then did low-paying temp work until I was hired, just weeks after Covid lockdowns, in April 2020 by my current company. For the past 2 years, I've been making a very good salary while being able to stay home, AND while having a cheap Austin rent for a 1200-sq-ft apartment---"cheap" by former Austin standards, NOT by standards since the rent explosion after 2019 or so...
As of today, the bubble has burst. Alas. Got 2 e-mails. The one from work said that we're going back to in-house work as of March 30. The one from my apartment manager said that my rent is going up from $1377 to $1600 per month as of May 6. (When I moved in, in April 2017, rent was $1275. In 2019, raised to $1350. In 2021, raised to $1377. Thought I was on a good path!)
Today I did searches on Craigslist and Zillow, and there's nothing better out there. Any move I made would be completely lateral, and still paying either $1600 or $1700 per month---for a crappy house/duplex either far south or far north. Or if an apartment more central, like where I live now, then 650 sq-ft instead of 1200 sq-ft for the same price (and no one wants 5 cats).
Guess I'll stay where I am, and tread water. Kind of depressing after thinking I have a "high-paying" job. Thing is: I'm not ever going to make much more in salary than I'm making now. But it seems like Austin rents are only going to skyrocket. (Why, though? When I lived in Weehawken, New Jersey, from 2008 to 2010, only a 15-minute bus-ride into New York City through the Lincoln Tunnel, I paid $1550---but it was a beautiful 2-bedroom Edwardian duplex, only a 1-minute walk from the Hudson River with a view of the NYC skyline. And I would walk to the supermarket and sandwich shop and pizza shop. Where I live now is a 1978 ground-floor apartment in Austin with a view of nothing. And the closest things on Burnet Road are the corner gas-station that sells my beer and several garages across the street.)
For the past couple of years, I used to think: "Well, I'm not exactly where I want to be, but at least it's comfortable..." (Both job-wise and apartment-wise.) I'd say this was a crossroads, but it's really not. "Crossroads" imply a choice of some sort. I can't afford to go anywhere else or to be in a better place. I'm completely stuck exactly where I am.
NOTE: Many people in their 50s, like myself, might hope for a legacy from their parents... My 80-something mother, for example, has a house in Austin, in a trendy subdivision. Back in 2017, she told me that she would leave me the house when she died, but that I had to share ownership 50/50 with my brother. (He's had his own home with his wife for the past 20 years; he doesn't need another. I refused that "deal." So I ain't getting a house!)
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Postal (Societal?) Breakdown
Around 10am Tuesday, I had a couple of mailing errands to run: First to my nearest US Post Office branch to mail a book I'd sold on eBay, and then to the UPS store to return something I'd bought on Amazon.
When I arrived at the US Post Office, there was a hand-written sign on the door: "Closed Due to Technical Difficulties." HUH?
There was a corrugated metal gate pulled down over the counter, but still a self-service kiosk in the lobby, so I, and another very confused patron, went over to the kiosk...it, too, was "out of service." (The kiosk being out of service was no surprise---it's always out of service, every single time I've tried to use it during the past 6 months.)
I have never in my life been to a US Post Office branch during business hours that was suddenly "closed due to technical difficulties." Utterly ridiculous.
OK... I then drove on to my second errand, at the UPS store a mile away, arriving about 10:15am on a Tuesday... It too was closed (despite its posted hours of 8:30am to 6:30pm)! Another customer was there in the parking lot; he got UPS on the phone and asked why no one was at the store; they then proceeded to ask him for his tracking number, etc., which was hardly the point---the point being: Where the hell are your employees at 10:15am? Two UPS people finally showed up around 10:30 (the first apologetic, the second angry).
What the f***?! Get your very basic societal f***ing sh** together!
Monday, February 14, 2022
How to stop bags of chips and vegetables from being crushed?
I usually only go grocery shopping every two weeks. Because there's usually some stress involved. When I get to the checkout line, I try to set all my heavy items (cans and frozen stuff) on the conveyor belt first, trying to "hint" that these should be placed at the bottom of my grocery bags.
Said "hint" is rarely taken: Usually, the bagger (IF there's a bagger) just throws stuff in the bags. Vegetables at the bottom, bags of chips at the bottom. They don't care.
Today at my local grocery store, I sat there waiting for the conveyor belt to move because the checkout girl was busy chatting with the bagger girl about what high school each had gone to. After the checkout girl figured out that I was there, she said, "Were you going to ask something?" Me: "No, I was just waiting for the belt to move so I could put the rest of my stuff on it."
The checkout girl and the bagger girl kept on bonding: They'd both gone to Catholic schools but they weren't religious, etc. At one point, the bagger was tossing store-made cannisters of soup in my bags, and I had to break in to say: "Put those upright" and "Don't put all the heavy stuff in one bag---put the heavy stuff at the bottom, and then light stuff on top."
The girls looked at me like I was a "Karen."
Yeah, well, if I'm a "Karen": In the old days, a "Karen" was just the word for a person who wanted a basic service done right.
I went to the manager and complained---about the checkout girl and the bagger not paying any attention to me at all while they conversed, and about the bagger throwing chips and soups and vegetables at the bottom of the bags and then throwing heavy items on top of them.
For the rest of the day, I felt terrible for having complained about these girls. They deserved to be complained about, but I still felt mean and guilty.
Sunday, February 13, 2022
Monday, February 07, 2022
At least WALK, dammit!
From 2007, when I sold my car and moved to New York City, until 2016, when I could finally afford a car after my return to Austin in 2010, I walked everywhere. That's 9 YEARS of walking. Not so bad during my 3 years in NYC and subways, but utter hell once back in Austin and waiting for buses in 100-degree heat. (At various times, I remember trying to stand in a 2-inch shadow cast from the bus-stop post for any sort of relief.)
The good part about walking constantly from 2007 thru 2016: Great calves, and pretty good health, despite my smoking and beer-drinking.
Once I finally bought my car in 2016, though, my physique deteriorated since I drove everywhere instead of walking 2 miles a day.
And it got worse once Covid struck in March 2020: Since then, I get up from sleeping on my couch and move about 10 feet to my computer to "go to work." When done with work, I switch out my work computer to my home computer and sit at the same spot. Then I go back the 10 feet to my couch.
I've actually lost 10 lbs in the past 2 years because I'm not going out for junk food at lunch every day. (Eating lots of salmon and avocado and frozen fish/rice dinners.) But, still, I'm indoors all the time, and it's not healthy.
Two days ago, I tried walking a mile to/from my apartment. The next day I was too hung over to walk. But then today: I walked the mile again. I breathed deeply, I sweated, I got some sun on my face.
Every other day is something I should do.
Two years ago...
...I was desperate for ANY job and applied to a mom-and-pop communications outfit (40-ish supercilious Indian man and his equally haughty American wife). Got called in for an interview. Was immediately chastised for being late... (In fact, I had the time right, and THEIR secretary had gotten the time wrong.) An immediately sick feeling in my stomach (which flashed me back to my childhood) was not conducive to a potentially happy work relationship. Nor was the fact that the job was only about 11 miles from my home, yet took me an hour-and-a-half to get to and from with traffic.
THANKFULLY, my current job hired me before the wife called me up to offer me a "trial period."
And delighted to see online, via Indeed mails, that this same company is STILL advertising, for the third time since 2019, for a writer/editor.
My life would have been absolute shit had this crappy duo "accepted" me back in 2020. As is, I have a great job that pays much more and is run by relatively normal people, AND I can still work from home. Admittedly, my current situation could end at any minute, but... while it goes on, as it has for the past 2 years, it's the perfect job. I am VERY grateful for my current situation.
Sunday, February 06, 2022
Saturday, February 05, 2022
Shadow Dancing: Andy Gibb (1978)
Friday, February 04, 2022
Tuesday, February 01, 2022
John Mellencamp: Jack & Diane (1982)
First heard this song when I was a teenager... Didn't think this concept was possible at the time, but this song made me aware that it might be possible... Listening to it at age 56: Whoa! It's pretty much accurate.
"Hold on to 16 as long as you can / Changes come around real soon, make us women and men..."