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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2023

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  • Someone tell my cats!

    Had a busy morning and evening, so I decided to try to take a nap for an hour this afternoon. One of our cats laid down on my legs and turned into a warm puddle, albeit after a few minutes of demanding scratches.

    Then one of other ones got into “poor, unloved kitty” mode, meowing loudly for no particular reason. I’m told the third one was also making noise, but I didn’t hear that.







  • When we bought our current house, the previous owners had the basement walls covered with framed pictures of various things (I don’t remember what all they were - likely family and friends, that sort of thing). When we stopped by for the inspection or something, I noticed the trash was out, and one can that was open on the top was filled with those pictures.

    That moment really reinforced the point that all the crappy knick-knacks we have laying around will likely also end up in the trash someday. We’ve definitely reduced our purchases of stuff like that and try to stick to stuff we’ll actually use.


  • Hogan is a great example. I actually wasn’t upset when he won his second term as governor, even though I disagree with some of his policies - but in general he did some good stuff for Maryland during his terms. Like getting masks and covid test kits in secrecy so Trump’s idiots wouldn’t confiscate them, as happened elsewhere in the country.

    I’ll never forgive him for axing the bike lane on the new Nice Bridge; we’re stuck with that decision for at least 50 years now. But, by far, my biggest problem with Hogan is the “R” after his name.

    Those third-party organizations are running ads that say things like, “I voted for Hogan, but not this time - we can’t let the Republicans gain power in Congress.” (Other organizations are noting “scandals” for the other candidate about taking tax breaks to which she wasn’t entitled, but they seem overblown. It seems pretty silly coming from supporters of the party of George Santos, Matt Gaetz, and how many others…)





  • Ha, actually they played themselves on that front. I don’t want to get into all of the details, but basically there’s literally not enough space for all of us to be in on the same day. There used to be, but they shrank the footprint to save money.

    Honestly I think the plan from our upper management was to allow a lot of full-time remote working, but that got killed by even higher up people. So, now we have this. I actually think our upper management isn’t really the bad guy on this one and are just trying to make the best of a bad situation, dealing with idiotic requirements coming from on high.

    I also think there are some artificial factors keeping it at one day a week, for now. It might go up to two at some point in the future, but a lot can happen between now and then. And two days might start running into that space limitation again, and they won’t easily be able to expand the footprint - nor will they want to spend the money.



  • After four years of work from home, since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ll soon have to start going back in once a week. I know, that’s a lot better than many people that have been forced into 5 days a week or similar bullshit, but it’s definitely one more day a week than I want to go in. DC area, too, so you know traffic is going to be a nightmare, as always.

    I’d even be willing to go in quarterly or whatever for special meetings. But weekly? We’ve proven we can do this.

    They’re pushing this whole “hybrid” working and “rethink how you work!” and “it’s all about teams!” But they didn’t require any sort of coordination on coming into the office for teams, or anything along those lines - it’s a free for all. So instead of sitting at home on a call, we’re going to be sitting in cubicles on phone calls. It doesn’t make any sense.

    And even if they had decided teams should coordinate in-office days, my area in particular works with so many different teams that we’d still be remote for most of them. Or in the office every day, which would not go over very well.

    But I’m sure the Popeye’s (fast food chicken place) across the street will welcome us back. The one that has survived over four years without us. No one I know has ever gone there.

    We’re going to lose a bunch of people as a result. And hiring is a disaster that isn’t likely to be resolved any time soon. It’s gonna be a fun few years…

    Counting down the days until I can retire. Unfortunately, there are too many, I’ll have to deal with this. Or find a completely remote job.