I encountered this sign on a recent hike:
For a moment I was very confused - I thought it said "A woman's place is in the residence". That is some highly inappropriate and unexpected misogyny. But no, I misread. And the picture of Princess Leia makes a lot more sense now.
I'm currently watching the acclaimed sports documentary series 30 for 30. However, it doesn't seem like this particular episode is a good one - it is about the show American Gladiators, rather than an actual sport. But, no surprises, guess what this week's theme is! I remember 3 distinct things from the UK version of the show - Wolf, Jet and "Awooga".
I'm not happy with my houseplants - they all look a bit unhealthy. I think I am guilty of overwatering them, resulting in a lot of brown-tinged leaves. And a lack of light does not help - to the extent that some have grown too tall searching for sunlight and cannot support their own weight. So in a fit of pique today, I decided to throw them all away and I'll start again with some new ones. Ones that are better suited to low maintenance and low light. Sometime in the next week, I'll take a trip to a nearby garden center (one I haven't been to before, and which apparently has the largest selection of indoor plants in Western Washington) and pick out a locally-grown selection of indoor plants. And let's see if I can do a better job with these ones!
A big night of TV, as we had numerous finales today - from the sublime (Succession - whose final season was consistently superb, including a great finale. This show easily makes it into my list of top 10 best TV shows ever, and it might even be pushing for top 5. This might be the last TV box set I buy.), to the very good (Barry - dark comedy-drama at its very darkest), to the quirky (Somebody Somewhere - another comedy-drama, but with an indie movie feel), to the very disappointing (Yellowjackets - a serious sophomore slump after a great first season, to the extent that I won't even bother watching a third season if there is one. Reminds me so much of Westworld, another show that started off really well but quickly went off the rails despite a strong cast and a strong premise. And which I also stopped watching by the third season.).
Who do I hope gets relegated tomorrow (well I'm writing this so late, it's actually later today)? My preference would be Everton and Leeds, but I think Everton will somehow survive. Again. I like Leicester, but likability is not enough in a relegation scrap. And congratulations to Luton for getting promoted to the Premier League. I don't follow the Championship at all, so I had no idea they were even a serious contender. Last I knew they were non-league, so that is quite an impressive turnaround. Especially for a club in one of the worst cities in the UK. But I have a certain fondness for Luton growing up - perhaps because they had a lot of parallels with Oldham Athletic (a plastic pitch, limited success in cup and league competition, a history of financial mismanagement), perhaps because I liked David Pleat as a manager, perhaps because one of my childhood friends was a Luton supporter (most people at school were either Arsenal or Spurs fans, so I respected someone supporting Luton). And it's good to have a team with such a small capacity stadium in the top league, even if it's only for one season.
Yep, I've got yet another one:
It's been an expensive week, as I also shelled out the most money I've ever paid for a single card (but I think it's worth it, particularly as I got a good price for it - I would make a profit if I put it on eBay today):
I haven't seen a rabbit in my yard now for about 5 days. I'm used to just looking out of the kitchen window when I'm cooking or doing some washing-up, and there they are. But nope, not seen one for a while now - and it's making me inconceivably sad. I hope they have moved onto pastures new, but I fear that a predator might have gone them - after all, there's plenty of them around (for example, it wasn't so long ago that I had to chase my landlord's cat away). Perhaps I'm slightly to blame, as the rabbit got used to my presence and stopped running away when they saw me - and man is the biggest predator of them all.
A couple of unfortunate developments at a couple of my favorite places to go in Washington State over summer. Hurricane Ridge is closed indefinitely due to a fire earlier this month that burnt down the visitor center. The panoramic views of the Olympic mountains are great from up here, so it will be a real shame if the area remains closed over the summer. The fact that the visitor center was undergoing renovations would seem to make clear the cause of the fire, but apparently the whole area is still closed while they investigate. I hope they'll be able to reopen with temporary facilities. And then a mudslide took out a huge section of the road, including a bridge, up to Johnston Ridge Observatory. This is the observatory that has fantastic views of Mt St. Helens and the blast zone. I suspect this road might be closed for a while (at least a year) - which is a real shame, as this was somewhere I definitely wanted to go back to this summer. Apparently there were some unlucky people trapped on the observatory side of the mudslide, and they had to be airlifted out (leaving behind their cars!).
Another one from my childhood - though perhaps I was too young for this one, as my memories of it are hazy to say the least.
The hummingbirds are very active right now. The feeders are going down quickly, and I can hear their distinct chirping or singing whenever I step outside. I've got a total of 6 feeders hanging up around my house - but they mostly seem to gravitate to one of the feeders. And it's this feeder that I have to refill almost weekly. I don't think there's that many actual hummingbirds using the feeders - I've only seen a male and a female recently. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's more - and perhaps if they breed then I might see some young ones.
A check of my trail cam reveals some coyote action - plus the usual squirrel, rabbit and deer sightings. Been seeing a lot of deer recently - especially in the hot weather they like to lie down in the shade of the trees in my yard. And I think it's the rabbit in these photos that is getting used to my presence and doesn't even run off anymore when I see them.
Some final thoughts on my trip to the Bay Area. Although it wasn't as bad as I feared it might be, I still consider the trip a total waste of time and money. Ostensibly, the purpose was to attend a data symposium. The only problem with that was that almost all the talks and presentations were totally irrelevant to my job. Things like AI and machine-learning and other computer science topics that don't mean anything to me. And the talks that I did attend just went way over my head. And I definitely wasn't the only one that felt that way. Although I didn't understand the topics, more than that is that I simply wasn't interested in trying to understand them. I actually think the target audience for the symposium is really small, so it's absolutely ridiculous when there were over 1000 people attending - many of whom came here from all over the world, with the accompanying expense of travel, accommodation and feeding these people. And it's made worse by the fact that there are so limited spots available to attend actual conferences that might be useful to my job. But instead they spend an inordinate amount of money to host this event. And they did so last year and are going to do so again next year (I've already decided I'm not going to go). It doesn't seem right. I guess the other purpose of this kind of event is for networking and team-building. And it was certainly good to put some faces to some names that I work with but have never met in-person before, even if I don't particularly care for everyone. But networking doesn't come easy for me - I'm not very good at making small talk. I got introduced to a lot of new people, but most of them are Chinese with Chinese names that I quickly forget - and then they start speaking Chinese to each other and so I'm left out of the conversations and nobody really gets to know me. It confirmed my belief that my inability to understand or speak Chinese has held me back, and will continue to hold me back, in my job. It was particularly disappointing that our team seemed to be the only one that didn't have an organized team-building event - which perhaps says something about how important they consider us to be. And that during my trip, it would have been nice to have seen or met my manager's manager and my manager's manager's manager (who I've never met)- both of whom are based in California and don't come up to Seattle nearly enough as they should do (if at all). But nope, no sightings of either them during my time there. Again, if they can't even attend a team meal then to me it just emphasizes that they don't care as much about our team as they should do. I hope we get the opportunity to provide some anonymous feedback on the symposium. I suspect the organizers and leaders of the event consider it a roaring success, and I think perhaps it would be useful for them to get a reality check.
I'm back in Seattle - probably with one more post to come about my trip. But in the mean time, another theme tune. This time a show that I think may have given me a little crush on Felicity Kendal. Which is a little disturbing when she is about the same age as my mum. Sadly, someone who is now not a good advertisement for plastic surgery.
Yesterday was the day I hoped to go into downtown San Francisco. But, typically, that never materialized. Thanks to an urgent request that came up at work, I ended up having to work in a conference room with a couple of others (including my manager, so no getting out of this one). And then we found out that the request wasn't so urgent. So that was incredibly frustrating. By then, it was too late to try to get into San Francisco proper. But judging by what people were saying about the problems in downtown San Francisco e.g. homelessness, drug use, crime etc, it sounded even worse than Seattle, so maybe I didn't miss much. So instead, took the opportunity to go for a short walk on the bay - not too far from the hotel and the work campus. Unfortunately a lot of the bay trail was closed, but it was kind of cool to check out all these kite surfers doing their stuff in the windy weather.
I was on the correct side of my flight to get a few photos of Mount Rainier, Mount St Helens and San Francisco. This was intentional when I picked my seat. But then - an unexpected development. I got upgraded to a better seat on the flight. Fortunately, it was still on the same side.
I've been trying to work out how long it's been since I last visited my company's headquarters. I originally thought this was the first time I've been here since I returned to the company - so it must have been over 10 years. But then someone reminded me about a team-building event some 5 (?) years ago. I don't know - I remember the event, but not when it was. It's kind of disturbing how my memory is like a sieve, and how incapable I am of measuring the passage of time.
Although much has changed since my last time here - particularly when it comes to all the new construction on the work campus - a number of memories resurfaced. For example - how much my hotel sucks, how much you really should rent a car here (even at your own expense), how many Asians there are here, and how glad I am that I never moved to the soulless wasteland that is the Bay Area.
It was my first time flying out of Paine Field today, located in Everett north of Seattle. I think it only started offering passenger services in 2019, so it's still somewhat a work in progress. However it's only about a 20 minute drive away from my home, so much more convenient than going to Sea-Tac. It doesn't exactly have an abundance of options - only Alaska Airlines flies out of there, and I believe they have the grand total of something like 18 daily departures to 9 destinations in the western US. And it was all very surreal. I got there way too early, even after taking ages trying to find the economy parking lot - so I was literally the only person in the arrival "hall" and the only person going through the single security checkpoint. Yet I still got a pat down - and not just any pat down, but one around my "private region". Bizarre, and a bit creepy. The actual waiting area is comfortable but so small - it has just a bar and a cafe, serving just the 2 gates. But it has won awards for being one of the best small/regional airports. It's a significantly different, and significantly better, experience than dealing with the masses flying out of Sea-Tac.
Believe it or not, I do have a line that I won't cross when it comes to buying James Bond stuff. And it appears to be Japanese related. I HATE the Funko pop figurines:
Now that the days are longer, sunset is later, and the weather is nicer, I have switched up from taking lunchtime walks to taking evening walks during the week. This means that I can also do these walks on days that I go into the office, especially important if I have to go into the office more often - as long as I leave work early enough (which I can, at least for as long as they don't reintroduce core hours - something which I fear they'll do next). I've been enjoying these sun-dappled evening walks a lot recently - the temperature is pleasant, the nature sounds tend to be louder, and I am able to more easily let my mind wander, which can be quite therapeutic. However don't expect many photos, these are local trails that are familiar to me but not particularly photogenic. Or are they?
When it comes to the weather, I think it is the norm now that we should expect the unexpected. And so after an unseasonably cold start to spring here, we have an excessive heat warning for Saturday through Friday. "Hot conditions with temperatures in the mid 80s to low 90s expected." What's that in Celsius? Something like 30 to 35 C. Nice. So am I going to be able to make the most of this weather? Nope - in tragically predictable fashion, the best weather of the year so far is going to happen on the same weekend that I fly to California. Classic Sod's Law. At least it should also be quite nice in California.
Another unwelcome development at work. Beginning next month, they're making us go into the office 3 days a week. The reasoning is a joke - for example "we firmly believe that broad, in-person interaction is necessary for spontaneous discourse, cross-team rapport, strengthening of ideas and supporting an inclusive environment". Which is the some of the biggest BS I've ever heard. The whole thing sucks. And we don't even have much of a choice about which days these are - it is their "strong preference" that they are the 3 core collaboration days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Naturally, I think it's the wrong decision - I personally feel we should have the leeway to go into the office as little or as much as we want. For most of us, working from home or working from the office should not make a difference to how good we do at our job. However I don't think it's coincidence that they've recently changed how we connect to work from home, and it's noticeably slower than it used to be. Is this their sneaky way of making us want to go into the office more? This kind of lowball act wouldn't surprise me from this company. I don't normally have any meetings on Wednesday, so I have absolutely no intention of going into the office then - I'd rather go on a Monday or Friday when it's considerably quieter. But I guarantee I'll be forced to come in on Wednesday. What is particularly disrespectful is that they've said that they're going to use badge and timekeeping data to monitor compliance. Nice, that really helps build up the trust between upper management and us grunts.
Normally I only hear fireworks when the Seattle Seahawks win. But we have a new sports team in town, and they are currently in the playoffs. And, more importantly, they are winning in the playoffs. The Seattle Kraken just beat Dallas Stars 7-2 (which is a real pasting in hockey terms) to lead 2-1 in this series - and I hear fireworks going off outside. This is the second time this week I've heard them after a Kraken win. I like this - Kraken have only existed for 2 years, and it already feels like they are the second most important sports team in the city (Seahawks will always be number one, but I already feel like the Kraken have overtaken the Mariners [baseball]). It's sad that I haven't been to see them play yet - that is something I'm going to have to rectify next season (it's next to impossible to get tickets for any remaining playoff games this season).
I'm still looking to add autographs to my James Bond trading card collection. So I frequently peruse eBay to see what's out there, as lots of new listings appear all the time. And there's definitely some autographs that I would like to get. Unfortunately, there are lots of other people who would also like to get them. Take today for example. There were a couple of Daniel Craig autographs I was interested in whose auctions were ending today.
So I added these to my watchlist - but then you get to see that there are over 40 other people who also have these autographs on their watchlist, so the competition is fierce. Then I do some research to see how much similar autographs are going for - not so much how much other buyers have them for sale, which tend to be at inflated prices, but to see how much similar autographs have gone for in recently concluded auctions. Obviously Daniel Craig is a big name, so these are not cheap. And so I set myself a limit for how much I'm prepared to pay (in this case, about $350). Then I go online about an hour before the auction ends, and find that the current bid for both autographs is already above my maximum bid. So no new autographs for me today. And it's interesting watching the price shoot up in the last 10 seconds of the auctions as people put in their last second bids, and the autographs end up going for way more than I was expecting ($425 and $470 respectively). It's not so easy to get a good deal! There's also an Ursula Andress autograph being auctioned which would be great to add to my collection (I already have a couple of Daniel Craig autographs, but I don't have an Ursula Andress - so this is very desirable), but that one is also already way over what I was prepared to pay (currently at $680!) - and that doesn't end until Monday, so I'm curious to see how much that one finally goes for.
It just goes to show how strong the James Bond market is, and will continue to be (he says, desperately trying to justify all his James Bond purchases as a good investment!).
I'm not a royalist. I don't care for the royal family, never have and never will. So no, I won't be getting up early or staying up late to watch the coronation. An unnecessarily expensive coronation paid for by the taxpayer during a cost of living crisis. Sure, it might be a once in a lifetime event - though I suspect King Charles' reign will be lot shorter than Queen Elizabeth's - and I'm sure there is a certain curiosity in seeing all the pageantry that accompanies the event. But I will NEVER pledge my allegiance to the king, and his heirs and successors. What an absolute joke. Especially pledging an allegiance to an adulterous king who I don't care for, plus all his messed up family. And you wonder why their popularity has waned so much. I could tolerate Queen Elizabeth II, because she had been a steady constant in a time of enormous change for the country. But with her death, I feel the royal family has also died - at least in it's current form. And I especially don't care for crowning Camilla and giving her the title of Queen. That feels egregiously wrong.
I'm still going into the office a couple of days a week, and we've had some good weather recently. So here are a couple of photos from some lunchtime/early evening walks over the last few weeks around Lake Union near the office (whilst dodging the many homeless).
I've decided I need to restrict myself to one moan a week about work. And since I had a 1-on-1 meeting with my manager yesterday and found out some stuff, this is my one for this week. I got hit with a quadruple whammy of bad news. 1: I told my manager that I was thinking about asking for a personal leave of absence. I didn't say this, but I'm sure she knows - but I'm not happy with my job right now. And since I'm not leading any projects, only supporting, I'm essentially just a unit of resource and can be easily replaced - so this seems like the perfect opportunity to take some extended time off. However, my manager quickly shot down that plan. She told me not to do it as there wasn't likely to be a job for me when I want to return. Well, that's disappointing on all sorts of levels. I guess they don't value their best employees enough to do what they can to retain them, which is contrary to everything they say. Apparently there is currently a hiring freeze, and they were expecting lots of people to quit after getting their bonuses - which normally happens, but apparently didn't this year. This suggestion is that we are overstaffed, but my impression was that there are some areas which don't currently have a lot of work (like mine) but others which have way too much work (which is why we are supporting them) so it all kind of balances out. I guess not. 2. And another surprising consequence of this is that apparently it is no longer so easy to convert from being an office-based employee to being a remote employee. Something else I have strongly been considering. Which is also very discouraging. 3. Something I found out yesterday is that I won't be going to a conference this year. Again. I can't remember the last time I went to one - it's been well over 10 years. I did express an interest in attending one later in the year in Washington DC. But there are only limited slots available to attend. And they also said that you would be expected to do a presentation when you're back in the office - something I would be very reluctant to do, since I suspect I would spend most of my time playing tourist in DC rather than attending any actual talks/presentations. What is stupid is that I believe my job title entitles me to attend 2 conferences a year, but then there are never enough slots available to ever be able to achieve that. Even more ridiculous is that although our company restricts the number of people who can go to external conferences, a whole bunch of us are flying down to California for an internal "data symposium" in a few weeks time. Which is a total and utter waste of time and money - I've seen the agenda, and nothing interests me. I'm already thinking about whether I can sneak off into San Francisco for a half-day or more. Expect more about this in a future blog post. 4. And then, despite this supposed hiring freeze, apparently someone who left just before the pandemic is going to be returning to our department soon. Someone who I think was on my level when she left (despite being a lot less experienced, and frankly also a lot less competent, than me), but who I think is returning at one or maybe two levels higher than me. Which is shocking, if not surprising. I don't think it's coincidence that she's best friends with my manager. A classic example of favoritism and nepotism. Not happy about this at all - which is the all the more unfortunate since I actually get on quite well with her. And, I don't need to tell you this, but she's also Chinese. I guess I'm not going to become less racist any time soon.
Ah yes, a peak early 90's kids TV show. I'm not surprised to learn that this is an adaptation of an American show. They should have made an adult version.
Our loss, is your gain. James Corden is no longer hosting a chat show here, and presumably he will return back to the UK. You're welcome! A guy who I have disliked for some 15 years - well before he came to the US - and will, hopefully, not appear on US television again anytime soon. I've enjoyed the LOT of negative press he has had recently - just reinforcing my belief that he is an absolute dick.
