1/8

An attempted gift by a broker, which I could not accept. It was a whole thing, and it lasted the entire work week. But! In the end, I just bought my own. I didn't like the current year's box design though, so I still kept this one and exchanged it for the one I bought (which was the exact same value). Two sides notes about this: First, we still have this bottle at home, and it's only about half gone, as it is stupendous and we are savoring it. Second, we found this for sale at Total Wine & More in Interbay; Shobhit saw the "Help Wanted" sign and he applied for a job; it's been his second part-time job since April.

also 1/8

On the mini golf team with Robin, during a Merchandising Department outing to Flatstick Pub in South Lake Union.

2/4

With Jeff on the office patio during what ultimately became Seattle's largest amount of snowfall in one week in well over two decades, and by February 11, it was Seattle's snowiest February since 1916, and its snowiest month in fifty years. (Jeff came up to me that first snow day and said, "Who has the longer pig tails?" Clearly, he did.)

3/13

The last of my weekly afternoon walks with Alicia before she left PCC, during which she always stopped to give some loving to her favorite tree at Myrtle Edwards Park.

4/4

At Trudy's retirement party, the ruling members of the PCC Retirement Class: Mimi, Goldie, Trudy, Janice, Nancy.

4/12

At the going-away party for Patrick before he attempted to hike the length of the Pacific Crest Trail.

4/27

More broker gifts! Different broker; these ones I kept: a Captain's cap for my boat ride (as part of this year's Birth Week, for which the theme was boat rides and waterfronts), and arguably the best mug I've ever had in my possession.

5/3

Also part of my Birth Week, Shobhit and I took an Argosy Cruise from the downtown waterfront, through the Ballard Locks—something I had never done before and had always wanted to—and to South Lake Union. I got this shot of 3131 Elliott Avenue, where the PCC central office is located on the fifth floor, from our boat as it passed.

I did not think to text Claudia to come out and wave to my boat until right after I took this picture, apparently sending her racing through the office toward the fifth floor patio, but we then passed by too quickly. She did get a glimpse of us, at least, as evidenced by the text she followed up with: I can actually see y'all's boat butt.

6/17

A first-ever "PCC Pride" button. I truly loved it, and am genuinely proud to have worked for PCC now for 17 years.

8/16

Another Merchandising Department excursion—this time sailing in Elliott Bay. Lynne (who can barely be seen in the back, waving) brought wine to go with the boxed lunches we provided and it was awesome. Everyone in this shot is from PCC, except for that rando on the right. We saw whales! And Eric got video.

10/24

The new West Seattle store, at that point our 12th store in operation, opened October 2, but I did not see it myself until Scott took me out there to have lunch on October 24. This is the view of the store from the dining area one floor up, as seen through the Cloud Wave art installation.

10/31

My favorite "Halloween costume" at work this year has to have been the entire HR department dressing up as Trader Joe's. (Rosie hopped up from her desk and said, "Would you like a sample?")

11/26

A historic moment! After successfully getting out of it for 17 years, for the first time ever I worked a shift at one of the stores to help out the couple of days before Thanksgiving. I took this quick selfie in the Columbia City store elevator while retrieving shopping carts from the garage. Which, by the way, is a lot more tiring than you might realize! If I ever had to work at a store full time, I'd definitely stop wearing all-natural deodorant.

12/6

The annual "PCC Holiday Potluck," usually done as a Thanksgiving-time event in November but postponed into December this year due to the opening of the Ballard store. Here you can see Karen is the only person noticing that I am taking a picture.

12/11

You should know that as long as our office is located here, each of these year-in-review emails will include at least one shot of a gorgeous sunrise behind the Seattle skyline, as seen from our fifth floor patio. Have I mentioned how much I love working here?

12/16

The new Ballard store—with an awesome sign that can be seen from the Ballard Bridge—opened on November 13, only six weeks after the re-opening of West Seattle (by a huge margin a record low span of time between store openings; the previous record was one year apart, from just last year). But, I didn't see it until Shobhit and I decided to do our 12/16 grocery shop there to check it out. It was fairly late on a Sunday evening, but even at 9:30 pm the rooftop deck was open for us to check out. Also the art installation at this particular store is the best.

12/17

Another Merchandising Department outing! Here at the Seattle Men's Chorus holiday show at Benaroya Hall. I managed to get this shot when they turned up the lights for the Christmas carols sing-along. Justine was into it.

12/20

Randy, who retired in 2017 after a record 46 years working for PCC, is among many of the speakers at Nancy's retirement party. With Nancy being the last of the "old guard" in upper management, this occasion truly marked the end of an era.

[posted 5:40 am]