I started the day at 6ish, with meetings starting at 6:30. There was a lot of email and details to attend to, so I did not have time to dress. This meeting, scheduled for 30 minutes, went on for 90 minutes, and it took us three tries to get the vendor patches to load (OSS notes for those who speak SAP). This sent me into hours of more meetings. I dressed as I would look better on camera as I prefer to be on video when speaking.
I finally get to shower and dress at 10ish. The meetings finally break, but the email and Slack text are ongoing. I did walk out and look at the roses. We have a few more blooms to share.
I met the new neighbors today, Mark, that bought the house at the end of the street. Our local turtle had dug a nest in his grass, and he was unsure what to do. We both hope we will see little turtles in the late summer. It was nice to meet him and welcome his family to the street. Our local large turtle already welcomed them.
Today is “Code of Conduct” day at Nike. Certain employees must re-read the newest Code of Conduct and acknowledge they have read it and understood it. I spent lunchtime reading and acknowledging the process. I also did a few other year-end tasks that are time-critical. Lunch was paperwork.
For lunch, as I was feeling off these couple of days, was lamb kabobs from Gyro House. A bit extravagant, but the protean and the flavor get me going. I try to put a message in the “special instructions” that I miss them. They often send back a message.
Yes, here in the Pacific Northwest, we get notes on our GrubHub delivered lunch!
In the afternoon, I was in a few surprise meetings and tried to help with more issues with the vendor patches. These patches are about 90 days of fixes, and we are thrilled to finally get them in quality assurance.
I took a short break as I was getting slow and fuzzy-thinking. I read Duel in the Dark by Jay Allen. This is another space opera book. The book changes back and forth from various experiences of different characters in the book. I do not like that much, and the themes are all military. Politics and economics, and even technology seem in the background. I am not sure I will move to the next book in the series. Maybe it will pick up and get more interesting as the conflicts begin.
Back at it, about 5:15ish. Surprise meetings and slack discussion with my boss Brad. I do not usually get meetings this late in the day. Another set of vendor patches are needed. I learn this after receiving very cryptic emails and sent a surprise meeting that goes on to 7:15ish. I put in changes, and processes are then followed to make this an official change for the release.
While this is going on, I also have a Slack discussion with my boss, and we move, without complaint, my sabbatical for my 25th anniversary at Nike to mid-October. This allows me to overlap Thanksgiving. Not a bad deal.
Dinner was impossible, so Susie and I got in Air Volvo, now with more Crow artwork, and headed to Burger King. We then drove to a local park and parked and hard our fast food. There was a local softball game going on that we watched—a nice relaxing break.
I called Comcast. I hate to do that. I had them reset to the modem and still saw some slowing. They are sending out humans to visit on Wednesday. Now that we are all thru at least our first shot of the vaccine, I am willing to deal with the crazies of Comcast.
As usual, when I called the agent back, I was still slow; they noticed that I could change packages, get a faster connection, and more items, and still pay less. This happens every time I call. I tell them to make the changes this time. During the past year, I was unwilling to have them change anything. I just took what I could get in a pandemic. I would like it back to having good speeds.
As usual, all checks of speeds are slower now. I suspect I will be calling them again. But first, the truck should check things.
So I am running out of night now—time to finish this up.
733 people died in the USA from Covid-19.
I went with Angles Heard on High as I liked the arrangement, and it sounds so happy. So Happy Christmas 2021, in May!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 