Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!  I wanted to post a clip of a famous SNL Halloween sketch.  It's well known in the US, but I'm not sure about the UK.  However I can't find the video when I search to insert it, so instead here is a link to it that you might need to copy and paste into a web browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS00xWnqwvI

It's an interesting one - incredibly silly, no idea why Tom Hanks agreed to do it, but is it really good or really bad?  I'll leave that up to you!

Opportunity (Not)

Got a message from my boss today asking if I could call her urgently.  Yikes, what would necessitate a phone call rather than an e-mail or instant message.  So got on the phone with her, and sure enough she told me she had some important news.  And...... found out that one of her other direct reports had quit, who had lots of direct reports of his own, so she was thinking she could assign me a direct report.  As this distinctly anticlimactic and underwhelming news sunk in, so did the realization that this wasn't something I asked for or wanted.  But my boss seemed remarkably positive about it all, calling it a great opportunity that I couldn't possibly say no to.  So I didn't say no.  But I think she picked up on some of my very obvious lack of enthusiasm, and so I've got the weekend to think about it now.  She said she'd be happy with whichever choice I made, but I don't believe that for one second.  However, I don't need the weekend to weigh up the pros and cons.  I'm not interested.  Yes, it might hold me back promotion-wise - but I've been thinking about that, and I'm happy with the level I'm at and I'm not ambitious to improve it (I think the next level up is Associate Director, and that is something I don't want).  I also don't want a direct report who is not located in the same office as me (admittedly, something that is totally meaningless when everyone is working from home now), a direct report that isn't in my career goals, a direct report that will only cause me more stress, and - just for the record - a direct report who is, naturally, Chinese.  Sorry, I'm not even hiding my racism here - but obviously I won't say that to my boss.  I don't think this decision is going to go down well, but I don't care.           

Graph

Pop quiz, what is this and what can you tell from it? 

Answer – it is my company’s share price over the last 5 years! What do I take from it? You don’t need to be a qualified statistician like me to detect the noticeable downward trend. And when is the lowest point? Why, it’s today. Yes, our company reached a new 5-year low (in fact, a new 7-year low) in our share price today. A lot of people are not very happy about this, including me. It means all the company shares I’ve accumulated over the last 10+ years via the Employee Stock Purchase Plan are not worth nearly as much (and this is not a piddling amount – we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, my nest egg and/or source of down payment should I finally ever buy a house). It means our company is valued a lot lower and more prone to being taken over. It increases the potential for layoffs. And it raises some serious questions about just how good our new CEO is. We actually had a company all-hands meetings this morning – and he barely touched on all the concerns about the low share price, instead touting our recent multi-billion buyout of an oncology company – in keeping with our recent history of vastly overpaying for something that we will never get our money back on. His optimism and sense of confidence seem increasingly forced and fake. I don’t think I’m alone in having some serious concerns about the future of our company – judging by the way that the new CEO has cleaned house via the number of people that had previously been here for a long time having voluntarily or involuntarily left, and been replaced by people predominantly from his previous company that don’t seem nearly as experienced or qualified, and losing our company’s identity as a result. All our previous success and expertise has been in virology, yet he seems to want to make us an oncology company much like his last place. In many ways, it’s quite ironic that we aren’t a successful virology company at a time when a virus is ravaging the world. Am I worried about my job and/or looking elsewhere for other job opportunities? No. Not yet anyway.

Song of the Week #29

I feel like it should be a classic this week.

Whoops

It's just gone past midnight, I'm in bed trying to get to sleep and I've just realized I've totally forgotten to post anything today.  Or technically yesterday now.  That's what happens (a) when you forget thanks to pandemic brain fog, (b) your laptop ran out of battery and you were recharging it in a different room and so you never saw it during the evening to remind you to post something, and (c) you don't have much to say anyway because your life is utterly devoid of anything worth sharing.  Now let's see if I can try to actually get a few hours of decent sleep....    

4K

I've been watching some of the baseball World Series currently going on.  Not because I particularly like baseball, but because it's also being broadcast in 4K.  Since I now have a 4K telly, it's an easy way to compare HD to 4K.  And the difference between the two is noticeable, but not particularly pronounced.  At least not as much as I hoped.  Admittedly I do have entirely different picture settings for HD and 4K, but still a little bit disappointing.  The other advantage of watching the broadcast in 4K is that, inexplicably, it doesn't have any adverts.  And boy, you realize just how much baseball - and all other American sports - is dominated by commercial interruptions.  I didn't think this was possible, but it makes an already interminably boring sport even more boring.  But still, I'd rather watch an empty shot of the stadium than constant adverts for beer and male erectile disorder medication.  Yes, the advertisers know their audience.    

Cold

We did have snow in the forecast, but it never materialized thankfully (it all fell east of the Cascades - so I think Spokane in East Washington set snowfall records for this time of year).  However, it was still bitingly cold today - below freezing overnight and around freezing during the day.  I think it's the first time I've ever seen us get a "frost advisory" in our weather forecast!  As I was going on a neighborhood walk this afternoon, I was suitably wrapped up and it felt like one of those clear and invigorating chilly winter days.  However, it still looked suitably autumnal (though Washington state is known for not having the best fall colors - hence The Evergreen State).

Relaxation

To help me sleep, which I'm still not doing particularly well, I've bought myself a small indoor fountain for my bedroom.  Nothing flashy or expensive, I wanted to test it out first and upgrade later if it works.  The sound of running water is nice and relaxing, as is the underwater light that casts a cool dancing pattern across the ceiling.  However, I worry that the sound of running water might make me more inclined to go to the toilet during the night!  We shall see.  

Green Card

With 6 months to go until my current Green Card expires, I applied for a new Green Card today.  It cost over $500 just to apply for the replacement.  What a rip off, especially for completing and submitting just the one form that I was able to do online (much easier compared to the volumes of paper forms I had to submit to apply for the Green Card initially 10 years ago - good job I kept most of this paperwork because it had some information that I needed for this application e.g. of all the US states, I would never have guessed that the state where my initial application was processed was Nebraska).  The processing time for this application is likely to be longer than 6 months.  Though thankfully less than what I anticipated, I just looked it up and it says 7.5 to 10.5 months.  So there will still be a period of time where I won't have a valid green card, and so international travel would be difficult (though I think you can apply to get a stamp in your passport that allows it).  But in all honesty, thanks to the pandemic, the American response to the pandemic and my pessimism I don't expect international travel to and from the US to be a viable option even in 2021.  So I don't imagine I'll have any travel plans next year that could be disrupted.  I have given, and continue to give, some serious consideration to applying for US citizenship, but for the moment I will stick to permanent residency - and consider citizenship again at some point during the next 10 years until it comes time to renewing again.     

Debate #2

I'm writing this literally as the debate is going on.  But I don't care, and I'm not watching it.  I might read some online pieces about it afterwards, but that's it.  I guess the mute button, if they use it, might make this debate a bit more civilized than the previous one - but a lie is still a lie, even if you speak it rather than shout it.  Less than 2 weeks to the election, thank god.  But I suspect a whole lot of BS before, during and after the election is still to occur.  Right now, I would say that I am slightly more optimistic that Trump will lose, but I don't trust the polls and I don't trust the American people.  As much as I'd like it to be a rout to send a clear message, I think it will be close - and I utterly dread the potential chaos and controversy that will inevitably happen afterwards if a certain orange buffoon loses it in a close one.   

Winter

Well, I think my plans to go up to Paradise in Mount Rainier before the official winter season starts seem unlikely.  A lot of the roads are already closed for the season - such as the one that goes up to Sunrise, which is the other main visitor site.  And this is a webcam view of the (closed) visitor center at Paradise this afternoon:

Nope, I shall not be going up there when it's like this - even though the forecast for this weekend is good.  And apparently it's going to get worse before the weekend - there's even some chance of lowland snow on Friday.  Yep, snow in mid-October in Seattle - thanks climate change.  

Song of the Week #28

Up to #28, oh my how time flies.  Some classic grunge for your pleasure. (Is it grunge though?  I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between grunge and alternative music.  I don't think this band is from the Pacific NW - does that make a difference?  Whatever.)

Taskmaster

In a very welcome development, they've started posting episodes of the current season of Taskmaster on their YouTube channel.  This is one of my favorite UK shows to catch when I'm back, and I have been watching some episodes on YouTube here.  The only downside is that I have to watch episodes from this season on my work laptop.  They are not available in the US, but when I connect to my work network then I believe that it uses a server based in Canada.  So then when I go on the internet, it thinks I'm in Canada.  Generally this is a real pain, it means that most websites default to their Canadian sites - so I get the Canadian news, when I'm shopping for something it's all in Canadian dollars, etc.  But it's good to finally find a benefit with that.  Taskmaster has a bit of a checkered history in the US, to say the least.  They did a US version a while back, which was a total bust.  Then not too long ago they started to show some UK episodes on one of the network channels here - but after just the first episode, it got pulled because the ratings were so low.  This is clearly a show that is "too British" for the American audience.     

Changes

The pandemic and working from home has caused the following changes:

• Using the dishwasher a lot more
• Shaving a lot less
• Vacuuming a lot more
• Reading a lot less
• Watching TV a lot more
• Sleeping a lot less
• Stress eating a lot more
• Working a lot less
• Doing laundry a lot more
• Driving a lot less

TV Recommendation

Just started binge watching Schitt's Creek.  And enjoying it a lot - the best comedy to come out of Canada since, well, forever.  You can understand why it won loads of Emmys, quality stuff and very watchable - when you take away the adverts, episodes only clock in about 20 minutes so it's really easy to get through each one.  Perhaps a Canadian sitcom might appeal to my British sense of humor more than an American sitcom - but based on the universal love this show has received, I don't think where it was made really makes much of a difference.  Regardless, I recommend checking it out if you ever happen to come across it (I have no idea if it's on UK TV).

Customer Service

I went grocery shopping today, and was looking for a particular item.  I couldn’t find it, but there happened to be a store employee in the close vicinity stocking shelves so I asked if she had any of this product.  She said no, and I went on my way.  About 5 minutes later, I realized I had forgotten to pick up something else and went back to the same area where this woman was still stocking shelves.  And as I approached, I saw to my surprise that she was literally putting on the shelf what I had asked about.  My surprise quickly turned into anger – why did she so blatantly lie?  She knew she had it, so why be so dishonest?  So much for America’s renowned customer service.  Was it some kind of bias against my accent (something I have encountered before)?  Did she not want to deal with the extremely mild inconvenience?  I think she saw me looking, recognized me and quickly turned away as I gave her the evil eye.  I think I said something sarcastic like “Oh, looks like you DO have it” but she didn’t respond so I picked up what I wanted and moved on.  But my anger has not subsided, even for something so trivial as this.  The worst thing about America is the Americans.

Prime Day

I'm not normally a sucker for Black Friday type sales, but I did indulge myself with a few purchases during Amazon's recent Prime Day sales.  Nothing truly exorbitant - anything high end that I want would not be for sale - but I got a couple of things like an infrared thermometer, some AirPods and a new set of pots and pans.  Since I started working from home it seems like the amount of stuff I've been buying from Amazon has grown exponentially - no wonder Jeff Bezos is a very wealthy man.  But maybe not, I've kind of lost track of the sense of time this year.  It only seems recently that I was wearing t-shirts and shorts every day - and here we now with the days getting increasingly shorter, having to wear a jacket when I go out and having to turn my heating on for the first time since last winter.  Welcome back seasonal affective disorder.      

Song of the Week #27

A bit rocked today with the news that a good friend and colleague from work, and my main ping pong rival, is leaving his job.  My sense of loneliness, already pronounced by the pandemic and working from home, is sure to be exacerbated.

I'm already kind of forgetting which songs I've previously posted here, so apologies for any duplication.  I need something of a pick up, so here is something fun from the 80's with a bouncy synth bass.

Windstorm

I had a somewhat stressful day.  The first post-summer strong winds hit our region today, and no surprises what happened - yes, a power outage.  And it was out all afternoon - not exactly ideal when you actually have some work to do this week.  No power = no internet = no working from home.  With absolutely no clue how long it was going to be out for - the utility website was useless - I actually went into the office for the first time in about 6 months.  Your temperature has to be taken and you're given a bracelet you have to wear now to be allowed into the workplace - a bit OTT in my opinion, but understandable for the peace of mind of those who have to go in every day.  What perhaps surprised me most was how bad the traffic was going to and from the office - I imagine the normal commute is back to nightmarish levels.  Power was still out by the time I got back and the sun was setting.  And, invariably, as I was out getting some takeout food for my dinner - the power finally came back on.  Great.  My yard is now covered with bits of tree - it was probably something bigger that came down and took out the power lines.  But hopefully now that the first big blow of this season is over, we won't get so much disruption next time. 

Done

I'm finally done:

The most complicated and the most frustrating Lego set I've ever put together.  Multiple times.  I only do Lego to help me de-stess, and if anything this caused me more stress.  Even now, it isn't quite right - when I roll the car, it clicks when it shouldn't click.  But I just cannot face taking it apart and putting it together yet another time.  It's just going to sit on a shelf now, so it will do.  I need a break from Lego after this, so I'm going to do a jigsaw or an adult coloring book next.

Motor Sport

Formula 1 has sucked for years, so I get my motor racing fix from watching NASCAR nowadays.  Yes, they just drive round in circles etc etc.  But not always.  Sometimes they actually drive on Formula 1 type road courses, and when it rains these might be some of the most entertaining races to watch.  Because most of these drivers (a) can't drive on road courses, because they're just used to oval tracks, and (b) can't drive in the rain, because they stop racing when it rains on an oval track.  So when they have to drive on road courses in very heavy rain - as they did this weekend using wet weather tires - it's absolutely hilarious watching all the cars either crawl round really slowly or skid off, especially when they all pile up in the same corner, because they haven't got a clue how fast or slow they need to go.  Apparently they are increasing the number of road courses in the series next year, so I hope we get more rain and more races like this.    

Hurricane Hill

With utterly miserable weather today - really heavy rain, thunder/lightning and even hail - here are some views from Hurricane Ridge, when I did the Hurricane Hill hike earlier this week when the weather was a lot nicer.  I've done this trail before, but I don't remember it being as tough as it was this time - perhaps a reflection of how unfit I am, and how much I don't like elevation change in my hikes when I carry the amount of weight I do.  It's only about a 3.5 mile hike, but about 700 feet in elevation gain.  It's a good job that the views are spectacular, because that gives me the excuse to frequently stop and take some photos when I'm really just catching my breath and giving my leg muscles some respite!  I've posted loads of photos from here before, so let me make this easier for myself by just including a couple of videos I took.  One looking south, where you can see the ridge that the trail climbs up in the foreground with all the mountains in the background.  And the other looking north, where you can see all the way to Canada across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Mass Torts

As everyone knows, America is a litigious society.  Perhaps this is best exemplified by the sheer amount of mass tort TV advertising that you encounter here - typically something like "Have you or your loved ones been hurt by xxx drug or consumer product?  You deserve compensation - call us now.".  This is invariably accompanied by scary music and a dramatic and serious-sounding voiceover.  I've got used to this kind of advertising - in much the same way that I'm used to the ridiculous adverts for prescription drugs (my company is one of the worst for this) which hilariously and legally have to add the most common side effects - "Warning, this drug may cause explosive diarrhea, spontaneous combustion, etc".  However, I've recently come across a new mass tort lawsuit that is being advertised on TV, and it's by far the most shocking.  Are you a victim of boy scout sex abuse?  Were you abused in the scouts?  Are you a scout abuse survivor?  You may have a claim.  You may qualify for a settlement.  And so on.  The reason for this?  The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, because they are facing increasing legal costs from numerous lawsuits from men who were sexually abused as scouts.  Jeez, America is so messed up.  I think in this particular case, the lawsuits are justified - but just to see it advertised so brazenly on TV, and at times of the day when kids are likely to be watching, is quite disturbing.   

Job Security

This is a (partially edited for anonymity) quote from an e-mail sent out to all employees pertaining to the lack of approval by the FDA on one of our drugs that I have been working on.

In order to meet the nearer-term needs of the business, we are realigning some of our U.S. colleagues and resources to other therapeutic areas. Where it was possible to do so, we have considered employees for comparable roles internally. Where there isn’t a role for someone, over the coming months we will work with them to navigate their path ahead – either internally or externally.

Oh oh – “externally”.  What does that mean?  Basically, this is a euphemism for laying people off.  I’ve got a 1-1 meeting with my manager tomorrow – you can be sure that this comes up.  I don’t think I’m in danger – they will let contractors go before anyone else, and my job role tends to be more stable/flexible – nonetheless it definitely still makes me feel a bit less secure in my job than I have been.  Especially in light of how inessential I’ve felt over the last few months with my lack of workload.  I was already fretting about how the pandemic and working from home appears to have accelerated my hair loss – it is starting to become more discernible – and the stress from this news is just going to make things worse.  Great.

To-Do -> Done

A constructive start of the week ground to a halt today.  Monday - took the afternoon off and drove out and up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park to do the Hurricane Hill hike.  I've been there plenty of times before, and I think I've posted photos from there multiple times in this blog before, but it's still one of my favorite places to go with one of my favorite views in Washington State - once I've had a chance to go through my photos from this time, I'm sure I'll post some of these as well.  Tuesday - long overdue, but finally went to an opticians and got my eyes re-examined.  Even with all the flashy expensive equipment they were using to test everything they could on my eyes, ultimately it seems my prescription hasn't really changed over the last decade plus, however I wanted to get a new pair of glasses so I was able to do that there.  Even with vision insurance, the cost of these was still exorbitant - though I did go for a lot of top end features like progressive and transition lenses etc.  Hopefully for the price I paid they are worth it.  But I want to also get a second backup pair, so I think I will order these online at a much cheaper cost and see how they work out.  And today, was planning to take yet another afternoon off work and go to Mount Rainier - but work got in the way of that one, and this isn't a quick trip because the road I would normally take there is still closed due to wildfires so you have to go a longer way.  Which is a shame, because today seemed to be the last sunny day there for a while.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to go up there before the end of the month - once it's November it's winter season there, which means that you're required to carry tire chains to drive up there.  Which I don't have, and have no plan of getting.     

Song of the Week #26

New Order + The Smiths = somewhat disappointing.  But I like this.

Meetings

Who the heck decided to schedule regular study team meetings at 9 am on Mondays?  This is like the 2nd worst time of the week to schedule meetings - topped only by Friday afternoons.  I had some real difficulty dragging myself out of bed and making myself presentable for the meeting this morning - though I never needed to turn my camera on in the end fortunately.  In fact, these meetings are a bit of a waste of time for me at the moment, but I am required to attend them - we're only in the study start up phase, we haven't even got a protocol yet, and it will be a long time, well into next year, until my tasks really start.  So until then, my workload remains entirely lacking (as it has mostly has been since July).  I'd rather have too little work rather than too much work, but I feel my brain needs to be more engaged than it is currently.  And I can see my lack of workload being used as an excuse for me to be denied a future promotion, over others.      

Pleasure

One of life's greatest pleasures - watching a shambolic Manchester United getting absolutely humiliated and humbled.  I don't care if they're just a shadow of the dominating team they used to be, it is still extremely satisfying.  More satisfying than even Liverpool letting in 7 goals.  Maybe Palace's victory over Manchester United wasn't really all that - as backed up by their subsequent results.

Flu Shot

In classic American style, I got a drive-thru flu shot yesterday.  Normally they would offer these in the office and I would get it there, but obviously not this year.  So instead booked it through my doctor's medical center - drove up, put my mask on, confirmed my identity, stuck my arm out of the window, got my shot, easy peasy.  I didn't have to pay a co-pay which is a good thing since it should be free for me to get a flu shot, so hopefully I don't get a bill for this later otherwise I shall be kicking up a fuss with my health insurance company.  Sometimes I can suffer from some soreness in my arm where the shot was, but inexplicably woke up this morning with my opposite arm sore.  Whatever.    

Irony

I think it’s absolutely hilarious that Trump has contracted the virus.  Such poetic justice for someone who has constantly downplayed it, doesn’t wear a mask, doesn’t socially distance and who was still holding these big political rallies that were a serious public health risk.  I see that there have been lots of well wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery shared by celebrities, politicians and leaders from both sides of the political aisle.  I disagree with these.  Of the 7.5 billion people in the world, I would only say this about a handful of people (and he is one of them) – I hope he dies from the virus.  The irony of that would just be perfect.  At the least, I hope he suffers some serious symptoms – and then perhaps the devastating reality of the virus will finally sink into that thick head of his.  Perhaps he should ingest some bleach, or take that unproven medication that he was constantly shilling for.  The lack of federal response to the pandemic has needlessly cost thousands of American lives, and he should be held accountable for that.  So no, I have absolutely no sympathy.  What this means for the election – I have no idea.  I don’t think we’ll have any more presidential debates (which is probably a blessing in disguise, considering how embarrassing the first one was).  I dread the braggadocio if he survives the virus.  But will it change votes?  I doubt it - I cannot believe there are still undecided voters.  Once again, something else he has said or done has eclipsed whatever headlines we had previously – if it’s a direct attempt to deflect from the outrageous and scandalous tax returns leaked just a few days ago, well mission succeeded.  Yet another twist in this clusterf*ck of a year. 

Elections

As a permanent resident but not (yet?) a citizen I am not legally entitled to vote in the US, so I am no longer being mailed ballots (I was mailed one when I first moved into my current residence, oh how easy it would have been to become the kind of illegal voter that Trump exaggerates about!).  However, I am still sent the official "voter's pamphlet" - and I thought I'd share a screenshot of Trump and Pence's statements.  It's quite interesting to see how Trump is selling himself (I have no idea whether these statements are universal, or whether they are geared specifically to the Washington State voters - home of the CHOP).  Regardless, even something as small as this is still full of inaccuracies and misinformation.  Oh my god, he is going to be even more unbearable when he wins re-election (or even if he loses, when he contests the vote).  And after flicking through the pamphlet, what you don't realize is that in addition to the general election, there are a ton of other measures and proposals and local elections also being decided on November 3rd.  Nothing that particularly caught my attention, but there is every chance that there are some important local things there that might affect me in one way or another - does anyone really read through the entire pamphlet (it's nearly a 100 pages!)?!