looking forward 2021
So, let's see . . . what do update you on today? We had our all-staff Town Hall for work on Zoom yesterday, introducing us to Suzy, our new CEO. We were supposed to get a slightly more directed introduction to her in our Merchandising Meeting the day before but she had to bail. I have to say, though, that my first impression of her was very positive. I got the distinct sense that I could easily disagree with her on many things, but she still communicates with openness and respect. That's a huge plus in my book. She's also clearly interested in diving in head-first with many new projects and programs, and I can respect that as well.
One thing I really liked was the efficiency with which we moved through the call's agenda. There were brief remarks by a few department heads at first, followed by some introductory remarks by Suzy, and it was quickly very clear that each speaker had a rather strict time constraint, and they moved right along. I honestly wondered if they were all looking at a stop watch. They wanted to open the floor for a Q&A, and they managed that only a couple of minutes after half-past the hour, and I am convinced that was by designed and in some measure enforced. This left roughly half an hour for questions, and I even somehow managed to get Adrienne, the Executive Assistant who moderate the questions, to pass on my comment that I loved the message on the lower right in the world map that was hanging on the wall behind Suzy was sitting. It read, I don't know where I'm going but I'm ON MY WAY.
I did not get identified as the person who submitted the comment but Suzy was clearly not expecting commentary on her background (in this case a real one, not virtual), but she quickly turned it into a commentary on her daily outlook on life, which is to approach with gusto everything that comes to her every day. She has a lot of enthusiasm which in theory is endearing but in practice gets slightly grating, although my only truly specific criticism is her wild overuse of the word "teammates." She kept addressing us collectively that way, like "Hello, teammates!" or "What I'm saying, teammates," and I'd be happy if she dropped that particular schtick, which may be intended as a sort of tonal equalizer among the whole lot of us but, to my ear anyway, really smacks of corporate-speak.
I have a feeling I'm going to like her, though. I felt the same way about Cate, and I never did stop liking Cate, but she was still a stark contrast to Suzy in personality type, much more closed off in general demeanor, and pretty strict in her messaging. I get a strong sense from Suzy that she'll be just as strict in her convictions and certainly her decisions, but far more open to discussion about them, and certainly to a diversity of ideas. These are just first impressions though and I suppose they could change.
I do find myself wondering how long she'll last here, mostly because Cate apparently always had a "five-year plan" for PCC, and once those five years passed, she just moved on. This after the late Tracy W, who had been CEO for the previous decade and a half, for the entirely of my time at PCC up to that point. He was also known to be a little unhinged, which is a far cry from being, say, difficult to talk to in certain contexts about certain subjects. The latter can be expected of anyone; being unhinged is a different ballgame altogether. And maybe the greatest thing about Cate's five years with us was getting us conditioned to an extended period of time with a CEO who did not have serious mental health issues that directly interfered with their work. The difference that makes to a workplace culture and morale cannot be overstated. Lots of people have very specific issues with Cate, but very few people would have traded her for going back to Tracy. (And the few who would have clearly had wild issues of their own.)
Anyway! Just this morning I had my seventh and final work Zoom call for the week, hooray! Granted that does include the Tuesday Lunch Meetup during which no work is really discussed, but still: a lot of Zoom and/or Microsoft Teams calls. According to the traditional schedule I would have my monthly Happy Hour with Laney tonight, but she asked to postpone it to Tuesday—which is fine, even as a new thing with her being able to do it any night of the week now that she's permanently on the road in her van. She made her way south over the past week, a couple of days going through lots of rain along the Oregon Coast and then a brief stop in the Redwoods in Northern California. She's in Arizona now and seems to be settling there in her free campsite on public land for a while. She must have found a nearby Starbucks or other place with wifi she'll drive to for using to talk to me via Skype on her phone.
Even before that, Tracy P from work and I also scheduled our own FaceTime Happy Hour for tomorrow evening too. So I've got at least one social event scheduled for the weekend! And hopefully I can get Gabriel and Lea to do our next Movie Draft this weekend, which they got too busy for last weekend. Oh, and today is Mandy's birthday so I have a feeling there's at least a 50/50 chance we might all end up on Zoom for at least a little bit for that, but we'll see. Otherwise there's a new movie out on Netflix I intend to watch and review tonight.
I went through my rather tentative expectations for 2021 travel this morning and discovered I've got at least 11 days of intended travel, even considering the circumstances of the pandemic—which hopefully will get better over time. I still fully expect that I'll be able to move forward with my Birth Week theme of State Parks that had to be postponed from last year, which will include an overnight trip with Dad to Cape Disappointment on the southwest Washington coast; getting there and back accounts for two days. Then, I figure, another three days each for Shobhit's and my anniversary trip in June (Portland, finally and hopefully, an idea that has been postponed for our anniversary not just one but two years now); for the "Inland Northwest Family Reunion" with Dad and Sherri to Wallace the very next weekend after that over Father's Day; and then whatever Western Washington Family Reunion gets planned for its second year, I imagine in either August or September.
If it's just those four quick regional trips (not even the first of which is until the end of April), that'll be the smallest number of travel days in a given year for me since 2003—eighteen years! I suppose other stuff could come up between now and the end of the year, depending on how the world looks, but we'll see. Last year was initially shaping up to have the highest number of travel days I'd had in a year since the days of monthly trips to Los Angeles, thanks to Australia adding on to other regular annual trips, but that went down the drain with the pandemic canceling a lot of stuff. In the end, though, 2020 still matched the 22 total travel days I'd had just the previous year, in 2019. I wouldn't even have managed that if not for the whopping two weeks we spent traveling through Australia.
I'm sure spending a lot of time looking forward, huh? What about last night, then? I'm sure you're dying to know! Well, I watched the second episode of I Love Suzie on HBO Max while eating dinner before Shobhit got home from work at about 6:30. Then I took the car and went to the office to swap out paperwork. I drove back home, and once Shobhit was done with his daily news shows, we watched the first couple episodes of season six of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It was interesting to see how, even though it was still very funny, they were starting to have characters do things that were slightly out of character. I have a feeling they ended that show after seven seasons at just the right time. I mean, as much as I enjoyed binging the eleven seasons of Cheers, the last few were nowhere near as good as its earlier seasons. Clearly The Mary Tyler Moore Show bowed out before that could happen.
[posted 12:29 pm]