Y2/D364...Warm

[shadowkat]

The heat and hot water came back on - also it made it to 60 degrees today, well that I experienced at any rate. And by the time I left work - it was probably in the fifties. I celebrated by taking a long hot shower and washing my hair. It was frigging cold last night with the heat or any hot water. But it did make for great sleeping.

It's weird the things I take for granted. I am not going to take heat and hot water for granted...well not until six months from now, when I forget about it - and they decide to replace the entire broiler. The broiler is over 100 years old, or so I was told. I doubt it. My guess is most likely fifty years old. The building is over 100 years old - it's pre-war (pre-WWII), but I seriously doubt the broiler is.

***

Crazy Workplace

I wish they'd make up their minds about well...everything. Very indecisive little work place. (Okay it's not little...it's huge, which makes it worse.) They change the procedures, the legal docs, everything constantly. I'm revising things that I've already revised multiple times. It's exhausting. I'd like to go one week without revising something. (So, what do I do? I come home and revise an 800 page novel that I wrote? I make no sense. I admit that.)

The time punch system still doesn't work. Kronos - a global time-keeping system was hacked back in December, and as a result various companies, schools, and agencies across the globe are having issues with their payroll/time-keeping systems. My vacation time did not show up. Oh, I had time in the vacation carryover (which I usually don't get - you either use it or lose it) but none in the vacation category. Also, the time punch continues to be rejected, with the error message that I'm a home employee.

Me: It thinks I'm working from home still.
BYT (for those new to this journal BYT = Bright Young Thing manager): Both myself and BB (Breaking Bad Manager, he's above BYT) could swipe in, but nobody else could.
Me: I should just stay home.
BYT: No, it doesn't think you are working from home. That's just the message it gives if you are swiping in at the wrong location. It has you working out of a completely different department for some reason. We're trying to reroute you.
ME: My vacation time isn't in there correctly either.
BYT: Send an email to PT and DM - they are supposed to be fixing that.
Union Guy: Don't mean to eavesdrop - but thank you for doing that.
ME: What?
Union Guy: going to your supervisor to ask about it. Everyone keeps coming to me - and that's what you are supposed to do.
Me: Why would they go to you? You have nothing to do with the time keeping system.
Union Guy: No clue.


Regarding masks? It's about 60/40, 60 percent without (dammit) and 40 percent with. Frigging Long Islanders. It would be okay, if they didn't feel the need to chat with them off.

Oh well, the workplace does have signs up now that state: "You Don't Have to Wear A Mask, but You Do HAVE to Respect Your Co-workers".

Weirdly White Union Guy (who was a Trump supporter) does wear a mask. While various liberal folks (from Haiti and the Caribbean) don't. So this isn't quite as clear cut as one might think.

***

Mother: You're brother agrees with you - he thinks I gossip too.
Me: Oh?
Mother: I told him I just share information that I've learned about folks and find interesting. He said that's gossip. The sharing of trivial information that others have shared with you about their lives.
Me: Yup.

Mother: It's odd how you just don't tend to keep the things other people find important, or you throw out what they want without realizing it.
ME (wondering where she is going with this)
Mother: Your brother asked me if I'd kept any of the slides or 35 millimeter shots that we'd taken of you kids, and you as a baby while we were in Chicago, also from our various trips and of family members - and I think I just through them out. I didn't think anyone would want them.
Me: You threw out the pictures but kept...my father's mug collection?
Mother: I didn't think anyone would want them.
Me: Mother, we'd want the photos more than the other collectibles.
Mother: I kept the cylinders for the music and old phonograph because it's an antique.
Me: I think we'd want the photos more - they are like memories, and faces of people...
Mother: I'm sorry.
Me: Can you digitize the photos in the photo albums...
Mother: Well, I was, but I got tired of doing it.

Later...she calls me back.

Mother: I found them. They were in the garage.
Me: You called me back just to tell me that?
Mother: Called your brother first to tell him.
Me: Okay, well tell him if he does anything with them - I want a copy.

My plan is to start printing my photos off somewhere, framing them and putting them on the walls. I just suck at that sort of thing - so have been procrastinating. The sunset fell down so, I propped it on top of a book case and hung it that way.

Also my printer isn't working properly - so can't print anything off.
Not surprising - I do not have a good track record with printers.

***

I'm frustrated with how my country is handling the pandemic.

Me: I told a co-worker that they no longer care whether we die.
Mother: No, they just don't care if you get sick - they figure you'll live.
Personally, I do not want to get sick - I have surgery coming up. At Christmas, I thought it was safe to go back to church, then everyone including me, got sick. And I don't want to take that risk again. (I wish she'd thought of that when I went to visit her - I didn't particularly appreciate getting sick at Christmas - on the other hand - it turned out well, I got to stay an additional week, saw my Dad, and it was very nice that second week.)

Mother: Pfizer is saying that we may need a fourth shot or second booster shot.
Me: They've been threatening that since August. Back and forth. You may need one, no, wait, you don't.
Mother: It's not like they have one available.
ME: I don't think they know. They certainly can't make up their mind.
Mother: It's just the Pfizer though doesn't appear to be the Moderna.

[My niece and I have the Pfizer, everyone else in our family has the Moderna, although my brother and sis in law got the Pfizer as the booster and the Moderna as the regular vaccine. If everyone would just get the damn vaccine this would not been an issue. But nooo. ]

The US does not handle pandemics well. We sucked with AIDS (although part of our issue with AIDS was Reagan and Homophobia. I hate homophobia. Note to anyone reading this? I have ZERO tolerance for homophobia. I lost all patience for it about twenty years ago.). And I can't say we did much better with polio, the Spanish Flu, cholera, etc. Although I'm not certain the rest of the world is all that much better.

I'm about ready to throw in the towel and buy a Music Man ticket - I want to see Hugh Jackman sing and dance on Broadway. (I've a huge crush on the man. Furthered by the fact that he's well adorable and married to a woman thirteen years older than he is.) I figure if I can survive commuting in and out of a major transportation hub every day, and deal with people at the workplace who don't wear masks - I can handle a Broadway show. It's not as if I can afford the orchestra seats anyhow. Also, I wear a mask off and on most of the day - three hours won't kill me.

***

It's still chilly, but warmer tonight. Supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. I'm looking forward to Spring. I'm tired of gray drab winter. I want to take long walks outdoors again. Taking long walks outdoors in a city during the winter is not fun. Everything looks gross and depressing. In the Spring? We've got flowers. The trash is still around, but hey, flowers!

The plus side of DST is that I get to see the sunrise again on my way to work. There's a great view of it on the viaduct that the train rumbles across every morning. The best view in Brooklyn is on that viaduct. I get see the sun rise across the city. You've not seen a great sunrise until you've watched it glow against steel and glass buildings. And now that we have all these new skyscrapers in downtown Brooklyn - it's a line of skyscrapers from Brooklyn to Manhattan, with the sharp orange, pink, and yellow bits of sunlight reflected against them and streaked across the dully light blue sky.

**

Here's a picture ...of a sunset, because I can't find one of a sunrise - I don't take pictures of it on the train in the morning, that would require work. All I want to do at 6:45 am in the morning on the train is listen to music, read, and watch the sunrise. (Also, I'd have to get up and risk losing a seat.)

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

so cute

[atpo_onm]

I think we'd want the photos more - they are like memories, and faces of people...

Absolutely! I've been working on and off for the last two-plus years with my sister to collect family pictures, both my family and her husband's, and have me digitize them and clean them up as best as possible for the really old ones. We also have a number of 8mm movies my dad shot back in the 40's and 50's when sis and I were little that I need to send out and get converted to DVDs. (I have several of them on VHS that were done waaaaayyyy back, but VHS resolution is well... hey, state of the art in it's day, right? Right...)

Now if only I could get a few more hours in the day and then stay awake for them...

*******

Also my printer isn't working properly - so can't print anything off.
Not surprising - I do not have a good track record with printers.

They are often tempermental little beasties. I try to remind myself that they are staggeringly complex devices that only even exist because engineers have gotten really good at making staggeringly complex electronic/mechanical devices in recent decades. I complain about the cost of ink, and I think justifiably so to some degree, but then I remind myself that back in the 70's, having a lab print an 11x14 film-based print would have easily been 15 or 20 dollars. I can do that now for, like, $5.00.

Any of your co-workers at Crazy Org amateur photographers? If so, perhaps they could print off some of your shots-- just put them on a thumb drive. Like me, they'd almost certainly have a photo-optimized printer and the right kinds of paper.

*******

Did you get a chance to check out the birthday toons I posted over on my blog? If so, any faves? :-)

[shadowkat]

No, on the co-workers and the printers. Or I don't feel comfortable asking, to be honest.
I need to make the HP Tango work - it's just I keep procrastinating. I can go online and order pictures printed out and professionally framed and sent to me. Or go to Wallgreens and do it.
I just well, procrastinating.

Not yet - regarding the birthday toons. But thank you. I haven't gotten through the flist on DW yet. I have a few folks on there who post five - twenty posts a day. I did see one though - which I commented on. I think you posted it here.

[raincitygirl]

That is a gorgeous sunset photo, especially with the trees in the foreground! I'm glad your mother found the old photos from the pre-digital age.

British Columbia dropped its mask mandates last Saturday, although masks are still recommended on public transportation, and still required in healthcare settings. So dropped MOST of the mandates. I still work from home most of the time, but went into the office today. I was seriously worried about taking the Skytrain with a bunch of unmasked people, since it's no longer required.

But I'd say 80% of my fellow transit users were still wearing masks, as was i. And I went shopping on my lunch break (the perk of NOT working from home!). I'd say about 60% of pedestrians on the crowded downtown streets were still wearing masks. It went up to about 80% again once I was in a store. I had worried people would stare at me and be judgmental for me still wearing a mask, but I was actually in the majority. Mind you, the mask mandate was dropped less than a week ago. So some people might still be wearing them out of habit. We'll see how many people are still masking in crowded indoor spaces a month from now.

Also, I totally sympathize on the printer issues. Printers and I don't mix well either. A few months ago, mine stopped working, AGAIN. I gave up on troubleshooting after about 10 minutes, and decided if I needed to print anything, I'd just go to the UPS Store 2 blocks from my building and print it there. Which cut back on my printing, because I only printed stuff I really NEEDED. But now I have T4s to print up, and I really don't think it's a good idea to print up income tax statements at the UPS Store. So I need to try again to fix the printer. I can't just buy a new one. That's what I did last time, and this new printer only worked for 6 months.

[shadowkat]

British Columbia dropped its mask mandates last Saturday, although masks are still recommended on public transportation, and still required in healthcare settings. So dropped MOST of the mandates.

We're kind of similar. It's mostly dropped except for public transportation, grocery stores, and Broadway. I'm guessing they are letting establishments figure it out on their own - which they kind of always did.

Skytrain? Are you in Vancouver? I thought Seattle for some reason. (I ask because I'm searching for a place to retire that has public transportation, since I do not drive. And the Skytrain sounds cool.)

So I need to try again to fix the printer. I can't just buy a new one. That's what I did last time, and this new printer only worked for 6 months.

Yep, same. I need to figure out how to fix or get the HP Tango Printer to work - since I bought it last year. But I rarely use it. Yet, I am spending money on a monthly ink subscription - that if I cancel - it may not work at all.

I am kind of envious of the ability to work mostly from home - although I like having accessibility to printers and copy machines and scanners. (Also it was nice to be in the office during the heat/hot water situation.)

[raincitygirl]

I can see why Broadway is still masking. That's a lot of people sitting cheek by jowl in an indoor space for several hours, and I don't know how good the ventilation is in theatres. My friend and I are seeing the touring production of Hamilton in May, and I don't know about her, but I'll be wearing a mask throughout the performance.

I am indeed in Vancouver, not Seattle. Vancouver's downtown is much prettier than Seattle's (no enormous concrete freeway spoiling the view of the ocean and mountains). But Seattle's suburbs are prettier than Vancouver's. The Skytrain is MUCH less cool than it sounds, I'm afraid.

Vancouver has excellent public transit by the standards of many other North American cities of similar size. As a person who doesn't have a drivers license and has no desire to get one, it's a good place for me to live. But as soon as you get out of the city, or certain popular routes in inner ring suburbs, the public transit situation gets very shaky. My mother lives in a far-off suburb called South Surrey/White Rock, and when their first child was a baby, my sister and her husband moved out there too. Following the free babysitting!

Getting out to them on public transit is tortuous, and I still have to get a ride at the end, because there are no buses serving either my sister's or my mother's subdivision. I end up at the South Surrey Park and Ride and have to get a lift from there. So yeah, if you want excellent transit, stick to Vancouver or Burnaby (an inner-ring suburb). Certain high-traffic destinations in other suburbs are well-served, but getting from one suburb to another suburb (rather than to downtown and back) is a nightmare.

Richmond is another inner-ring suburb (besides Burnaby) well-served by transit, but most of Richmond is below sea level and built on sedimentary land. When the big earthquake and or tsunami comes, everybody in Richmond will drown, I fear. There's a dike which is theoretically supposed to keep out the water, but it's very poorly maintained. My parents first moved to the Vancouver area when I was 10, and nearly bought a townhouse in Richmond. We were so sure my parents would put in an offer that my little sister and I were arguing in the backseat of the realtor's car over which of us would get which bedroom. But my mum asked the realtor to drive us back into the city by way of the dike. My mother grew up in the Netherlands, where well-maintained dikes will save your life. It took her all of 3 minutes at Richmond's dike to decide we were never ever moving to Richmond.

I go into the office a few times a month to get a change of scenery. I live in a 600 square foot 1 bedroom apartment. It's a perfectly nice 1 bedroom apartment, but there's no space for a separate home office, obviously. The desk is in the living room and the view of my patio gets monotonous. At least in the office it's a different view.

I hope to stay working from home 4 days a week even after we all theoretically go back to the office at some point. Partly because I work with a mostly Ottawa-based team, most of whom are 3 time zones ahead of me. So my workday starts at 7 am (10 am Eastern) or sometimes earlier. On the days I go into the office, I have to get up at a truly unsocial hour, on days I work from home, I only have to get up at 6 am.

Luckily for my ambitions, for at least 4 years before the pandemic started, the Canadian federal government had been pushing hot-desking and working from home most of the time. They own and lease a lot of very expensive real estate in the downtowns of various big Canadian cities, and they are trying to divest what they can. If you have 4 employees who all work 4 days a week from home and are only in the office one day, you can easily ask those 4 employees to share a single cubicle when they are at the office. Which means you need less prime downtown office space.

[shadowkat]

Interesting, thank you for sharing all of that. We have a lot in common. While I have a driver's license, I've not driven since the 1990s/early 00s. And have no desire to. Also live in a one-bedroom apartment, although slightly larger at 754 sq ft. And agree - while, the commute is exhausting at times - going into the office is a nice change of scenery, also interact with others, and I read more. (I was listening to audio books working from home to give me another voice.) Also, the public transportation in NY is similar to Vancouver - it's not in the suburbs and rural areas, but it is in the inner ring of suburbs, the city, and other cities in NY. NY has lots of trains and buses and ferries, so it's better than the middle of the country - which doesn't. But my brother's area is scant in the way of public transportation. I can take the train to visit, but he has to pick me up at the station. And many of my co-workers are pretty much the same - they drive to train stations to go to work. Work also requires an early wake up, although luckily not quite as early as yours. (I get up at 5:45 every morning, working from home, I could get up between 6-7am, and be fine.

Hmm..Vancouver could be an option. I don't think Ottawa could work (noticed it is like the US Mid-Western and Upper Western states of Wyoming, Minnesota, etc. Toronto is also doable.

Our work from home situation is less likely to happen - then again who knows? I work for a very large state agency, who has to figure out whose interests it must serve. It wants to retain good employees - who can easily jump into remote jobs at other companies/organizations. Yet at the same time? It wants to support the thousands of employees who can't work from home and might be (I don't know?) envious? (sigh). But there is a petition online requesting the Governor (who heads the agency) to overrule the chairman, and let us do a hybrid schedule or work from home completely.

It has its pros and cons, much like you relate above. On the one hand - it's nice to interact with folks. On the other - I am less stressed at home, and can get more done. Less interruptions.
Also, I get more natural light and daylight. Plus more sleep. And better food options. Yet more exercise if go into the office (commute involves lots of walking), reading done, and can print off stuff.

It's a mixed bag. I'm kind of glad the decision is being made for me in a way.

[svgurl]

Good news about the hot water and the slight weather improvements!

Work situation does sound frustrating. You would think that talking would be the time where you wear the mask, especially if you're in close contact but it's the same as those people who took their mask off to cough. Completely missing the point. :\

I'm glad your mom found the photos! They're definitely memories worth keeping and cherishing.

Pretty pic!

[shadowkat]

Thanks.

On the talking without a mask bit - near as I can figure - I'm guessing folks find it difficult to be heard or to talk with the masks on. (I don't have any issues - but I also apparently have a face that masks fit rather well - no huge nose, and an oval face.)

[brittdreams]

Music Man on Broadway with Hugh Jackman? Yea, I couldn't resist that either.

[shadowkat]

It's really hard. I don't like Sutton Foster (who plays Marion) so that does help, but I really want to see him.

[brittdreams]

I've never heard of Sutton Foster. But honestly, Hugh Jackman would win me over.