Knight of Seven Kingdoms

I don't think I've mentioned this, but I am really enjoying A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms currently airing.  It is SO much better than House of the Dragon.  Going to prove that you don't need massive and expensive set pieces to make a show like this work.  Just like the best moments in Game of Thrones, this thankfully focuses on the characters as much as the storyline: with excellent dialogue, some much needed humo(u)r (something REALLY lacking in House of the Dragon) and some actual heart.  3 episodes in (and 3 relatively short and easily digestible episodes at that) I am really invested in the characters in Knight of Seven Kingdoms now.  I confess to knowing some of the story from the books, so the "twist" at the end of the third episode didn't come as a big surprise, but that hasn't stopped my enjoyment of the show.   

Padilla Bay Trail

A bonus entry, to make up for the missed one yesterday.  Here are a few photos from a shoreline trail I did earlier this month.  Managed to squeeze this one in between some rainy weather, though there was a serious breeze coming off the water.  I had to really tighten up the baseball cap on my head because it was in danger of flying away otherwise.  This is a trail I've done many times before, but not for a while.  Flat and about 4 miles there and back, it's not particularly challenging so makes for a pleasant trek.  And, as I hoped, I got to see a bald eagle - though too far away to get a decent photo (it's the blob in the tree in the photos below!).

Mistake

Whoops, I didn't do a blog post yesterday.  I definitely remember at some point yesterday evening that I was going to write something, but I guess I became distracted and then forgot.  Not that I had, or have, much to say.  This is when trying to maintain a daily blog becomes a massive chore.  I did try to stay up to watch the Australian Open tennis final - with a start time of 30 minutes past midnight for me - but I couldn't do it, and I guess that kind of messed up my evening.  And of course my mind is still frazzled by work.  I wished I lived a more exciting life and had more interesting stuff to write about.  I can only apologize.   

Late Night Work

It's just gone 8.30 pm, on a Friday night, and I've just finished work and logged off.  Very depressing.  But with so much on my plate at the moment, I had to finish this task before Monday.  And rather than work over the weekend, I decided to work on it this evening.  At least it's done now, so I don't need to think about work over the next few days.  Though I probably will.  And it's frustrating for so many reasons.  Certain people getting on my nerves for various reasons, the needless amount of pressure being put on us, and the lack of recognition I'll probably get for working my guts out over the last month or so.  I think I have one last really bad week ahead of me, then hopefully things will ease off a bit (though I fear it won't).  I wouldn't feel so bad if the work was rewarding, but it really isn't.  Sometimes I really regret my career choices.   

Redrum

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

I didn't actually know this was a 17th century proverb, I only knew it from The Shining.  And it seems particularly relevant to me right now.  To quote the meaning of the proverb from Google AI - constantly working without relaxation makes a person bored, boring and unhappy, leading to burnout and lack of fulfillment.  Yep.

Bubble Burst

Amazon have announced 16,000 job cuts, just a few months after 14,000 people were laid off.  And with Amazon's corporate headquarters being located in Seattle, we can expect the impact to be felt especially hard here.  And it's going to be interesting to see what kind of impact it will have on the local economy.  My landlord has been predicting for years that the housing bubble that has built up here will burst  - and this might finally be the reason it happens.  Because it's not just Amazon who have laid off a load of people, but all the other tech companies have.  And all of them are headquartered or have a significant office presence here.  And, as Amazon admitted, the main reason cited for the layoffs is AI.  Yet another reason why I massively distrust it.  The impact on white collar job loss is already showing, and is just going to get worse.  

Exercise (Not)

I have one of those under the desk bike pedal exercisers that has stayed boxed for far too long, so I finally put it together over the weekend.  Since I've been working so much recently, I've been spending a lot of time in front of my computer, so the idea of cycling away while working sounds like a good one.  However, I discovered a bit of a problem.  It doesn't actually fit under my desk.  Which is kind of annoying, to say the least.  I should really get a new desk so that there's actually enough leg room for this thing.  And I should get a new desk anyway, because my second monitor is propped up by a load of packets of printer paper that I "appropriated" from the office on my last day there.  So I think a trip to IKEA is warranted in the near future.