lunch-n-fun
I took myself to a movie last night while Shobhit had his Project Management class, and I went to see The Protégé at 6:00, at Pacific Place. I quite liked it. It's imperfect to be sure, but as I laid out in the review, I found a lot to love about it. Solid B+ in my book, even though it's getting quite mixed reviews (score of 45/100 on MetaCritic as of today). I'm actually glad I went to see it before that score was released on MetaCritic, as I may have otherwise been less inclined to go.
Being a 6:00 showtime, I went home first after work, first riding my bike home, then having some leftovers for dinner and also making chai at Shobhit's request, then walking back downtown to see the movie. I took my share of the chai to the movie in one of the HydroFlask insulated bottles that a rep recently sent me here at the office, along with four Biscoff cookies in a Ziploc bag. And boy howdy, does that bottle insulate effectively! It was well into the movie before the damned thing had cooled down enough for me not to burn my lips, tongue and throat, and that was after the chai sat unopened for half an hour before showtime. I literally had to take the cap off completely so it would cool down enough for me to drink it.
Funnily enough, that just makes me more impressed with the product. It'll be perfect for things like a long day trip somewhere, such as when Laney and I hopefully finally take our drive to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park on Sunday the 29th. And that rep sent me two of the 20z bottles and one that's a fair amount larger, probably 32oz. I have to admit, much as mercantile vendors are the bane of my existence at work with their common new item lists that number upwards of 100 items (which I rarely have time for), this particular brand makes very cool products. They're kind of stunningly expensive, though, ranging in retail value from around $33 to $50 between the two sizes I got, so . . . well, perks in this job have always been nice.
By the way, now that I looked up the link for that product's web page, targeted ads on my socials are going to be for HydroFlask for the next several weeks. The algorithm thinks it's so smart, but it's trying to sell me shit I'm already getting for free! Also, do you think I would ever pay that kind of money for bottles, in a million years?
We just had this month's so-called "Lunch-n-Fun" at work, which would have been intended to be largely out on the patio but few people went out there—after a summer of far too hot weather for far too long of stretches, today it's overcast and currently 63°.
Adrienne told me some 34 or so people RSVPed that they'd be coming, with another 10 or so as tentative. I asked her about this right at noon when I went into the kitchen, because it seemed like so few people were in the office today I kind of felt like this month's lunch party was bound to be less attended than last month's.
Well anyway, I'm sure there are multiple factors influencing the smaller numbers attending today. I did count at one point, and got up to around 20. I'm guessing the peak was around 25. Not tiny, I guess, but a lot less than the roughly forty who came to the lunch party in June.
I only saw Darrell briefly this morning, but didn't see him at lunch. Justine wasn't here. The one person I saw in a particularly high-up position was Brad, the guy who has returned as our interim CEO. Scott decided to work from home today; Noah is on his first day of a two-week vacation. Tracy P might have been here, except she returned from a visit with a friend on Wednesday, and yesterday—also when we had talked about going to see Respect, now postponed to tomorrow— she didn't come in either. She messaged me over Skype that she was "wiped," and even today said she wouldn't be in for the lunch party either: I am continuing my days of work silence until Monday lol.
She started that chat session with, Well... that was def in the top 5 for worse vacations. Well, I guess I'll have to have her tell me more about that when I see her tomorrow.
In any case, more people than usual are missing today. But, I also have a feeling part of the influence there is the current surge in COVID cases, well over 90% of which are among the unvaccinated, and still daily cases are now near record levels, right around the previous peak last December, only set to continue going up. King County had already done this, but Washington State has reinstated its mask mandate in the vast majority of indoor settings. Thankfully, my work situation is unchanged: even the statewide information lists among the exceptions, "Fully vaccinated workers who are working alone or in an area not accessible to the public." That's us!
I do have a feeling there's a fair chance even I will be required to wear masks at work again, but who knows; we'll see. All the predictions I can find have the Delta surge peaking in mid-September, and if that's the case, based on current trends, by mid-September daily cases will be more than twice those of their winter peak. I regularly look at the Delta curve in India, and start to when it levels off again spans over three months. If we follow that same pattern—and there's no guarantee that we will—then we would be set to be more leveled off in . . . October or November. Just when the fall already exacerbates viral spread. I do kind of wonder if the U.S. curve might be tighter than India's just by virtue of our population being roughly one third the size.
For now, the many plans I have for the weekends of August 28 and September 4 remain in place. They are all either totally or mostly outside, although I do suspect Auntie Rose's memorial service on August 28 may be trickier. It's at her old church, and the announcement says it will be an outdoor ceremony, but still, it's at a church. And there's guaranteed to be a lot of old people there. The 29th is currently the slated date for visiting Kanaskat-Palmer State Park with Laney, which we will travel to in separate cars. September 4 is Gina's 50th birthday party at Dad and Sherri's house, and the trouble with that one is knowing there will be family there who continues to refuse to get vaccinated. I may just spend all my time in the backyard, until the known unvaccinated people have left. The 5th is when we go hang out with Karen and Dave on their new property north of Seattle, which is, again, entirely outside.
All right, I've babbled on enough about this for now I guess. Oh, I got sidetracked and almost didn't tell you that, because it was not very warm outside, I sat at the long tables in the office kitchen. Kwanteria had gotten vegan hot dogs for us vegetarians, and Adrienne boiled one for me as the first person not organizing the lunch to arrive. Thus, after I put all my toppings on my dog and had my sides, I was the first to sit. The others who wound up sitting near me were Kwanteria, a new "HR Administrator" named Ashley (she sat down across from me first; we introduced ourselves), Bridget briefly, and the very tall (as in, 6'1") young woman whose name I can't figure out and I should have asked while we were talking at the table.
Also, I got out of the "relay race" Kwanteria asked me yesterday to participate in. Not enough people were here so they didn't happen. She was clearly disappointed and I felt kind of bad . . . but also relieved, I'm not going to lie. She did go out of her way to tell me a funny story about bringing her 7-year-old son to the office yesterday who apparently looked around at the very nice office space and then said to her, "How much do they pay you?"
[posted 1:34 pm]