the return!
Well, as I write this I am sitting at my own desk at the office again! First time doing so since March 13, 2020. I did work one full day here last September because of a service outage but I did not bring all my equipment back for that, and had to use one of the roving desks in another section of Merchandising.
I'm not quite fully back to normal setup, though: I've got everything back in place except for my dual computer monitors, which need a certain metal attachment to hook back onto the metal mounts. I don't remember removing them last year, but that doesn’t mean Andrew didn't do so when I took all my stuff home last summer. Maybe I just don't remember. Or, someone swiped them during the intervening months, who knows? So right now I do have the monitors all connected and working—and I got the computer to recognize them in the proper order in record time—they are just lower than I prefer, as they are sitting directly on the desktop and leaning against the aforementioned metal mounts, rather than being affixed to them as they should be.
I just repositioned myself in the desk chair. Holy shit! This fucking chair is so much more comfortable than the hardback chair I use at my work station at home! There's nothing even remotely ergonomic about that chair. I don't mind the chair at home and don't find it distractingly uncomfortable or anything; I just notice a vast improvement when I'm back in this desk chair. It's kind of like how easily I tolerated looking at just my small laptop screen for five months between March and August last year, and then when I was finally able to get a new desk and bring the dual monitors home, the difference and improvement was shockingly stark.
So I had a fair amount of stuff to bring in today. The laptop, the laptop dock, the two monitors, the ear piece, the wireless keyboard, the wireless mouse, the two monitor stands. I had thought I would bring it all carefully in a few separate tote bags, some of which were just big enough amongst the tote bags used for when Shobhit and I went shopping at Costco yesterday afternoon. This is entirely my fault, as I did not mention it to Shobhit, but this morning was when he chose to be the one time he was thoughtful enough to take all the totes back down to the car when he left for work. Sheesh!
I wasn't even sure at first if I'd manage to get all my stuff here today, much as I wanted to given the Merchandising Department party happening this afternoon, so I was going to be here anyway. Shobhit's shift started at 9:00 and the party isn't until 3:00. But then yesterday I got a text from Tracy asking if I wanted a ride, clearly knowing I'd like one just by virtue of her car having air conditioning. We're set to have a historic heat wave this weekend, although today's forecast isn't super severe—maybe ten degrees above normal. Tomorrow through Monday are entirely another matter, with Sunday and Monday having a good chance of meeting or exceeding 100°. I'm really kind of dreading it, but I'll take it day by day. Today should be okay. I brought spray sunscreen for when my department goes out onto the patio this afternoon.
And, after the tote bags were gone, I got a new idea: one of the Rubbermaid tubs, which we've been using for what otherwise would be pantry items. One of them had only a bag of flour in it, so I removed that, and put all my equipment together in there. I guess I should thank Shobhit, actually. I never would have thought to do this without the tote bags disappearing.
We've got so much food set for this party in just a couple of hours, I didn't bother bringing lunch with me. I've sure gotten a warm welcome back by several people in the office already. Scott, who sits in the desk to my left, literally sang: "Welcome baaack Matthew, welcome baaack!" As soon as I got here, carrying my tub up through the elevator from the garage with Tracy, several Merchandising people were in the meeting room to my right and as soon as I saw them both Darrell and Justine waved at me. Darrell said "Welcome back Matthew" when their meeting let out. And then there's Lynne, our Executive Chef—oh wait, I guess her title has officially changed to Culinary Innovation Manager—has been openly enthusiastic about my return. First she told me how "fabulous" I look because I'm wearing the rainbow face mask Tracy gave me during my Birth Week; and later when I was in the kitchen, Marianne saw me and shouted "Matthew" And right after that Lynne, who was doing cooking prep for the party, said, "Everyone's thrilled to have you back, Matthew!" Are they? "Yes, you're such a fixture here," she said. I know I talk a lot about how everyone here loves me but I never quite put it in those terms. A fixture? I mean, my 19th anniversary will be in August, so I guess I do qualify as one.
It's fun being back, though, I must say. Even though, for today only, I'm still in the mask. As of Monday, masks for vaccinated office staff are optional, and I'm taking it off! That's precisely what I was waiting for, but will endure the mask for today because I wanted to get all my stuff transferred here without having to do it over the weekend or make it cut into my work day on Monday. I'll have it off by this afternoon anyway, as we'll all be out on the patio, so really I'm only having to wear it for a few hours. Not a big deal.
Beyond that, what else? Oh, last night I watched Luca on Disney+ for review, which Shobhit also watched with me. I think he and I both enjoyed it more than we enjoyed Raya and the Last Dragon, which I just didn't think had very well written dialogue, but I still found this one slightly lacking by Pixar standards. Lots of people are loving it; I thought it was cute. Shobhit assumed I would give it a B+, and I really thought about it. But as I wrote the review and went through my criticisms of it, I decided to give it a solid B—same as I had given Raya, even though I did enjoy this one more. Just, different reasons.
We had gone to Costco first, which took a couple of hours, so we didn’t even start the movie until after 7:00. This meant it was past 10:00 by the time I could even post the review. There went the evening. Still an evening well spent. Now I have this Merchandising party to look forward to, and then Pride Weekend, for which I still need to iron out some planning details. I'll figure it out. It's a bummer most of it is still virtual, but nice that it won't be as sad as it was last year.
[posted 12:35 pm]