Holiday Spirit

Probably because I’m going back to the UK for the holidays, I haven’t got into the Christmas spirit at all this year yet.  I haven’t decorated my apartment, and for what feels like the first time in an eternity I haven’t even got a chocolate advent calendar.  Last year, I remember going to see the Christmas ship festival – where you go to one of the Puget Sound waterfront parks and watch/listen to choirs performing on Christmas-decorated ships whilst standing around a big bonfire by the water.  But not this year.  Last year I even went to the church just down the road that does the most ridiculous over the top Christmas light show set to music.  I can even see the lights flashing away from my living room window.  But not this year.  Last year I made the effort to go to one of the downtown malls to watch their evening indoor snow show, where “snow” falls from the ceiling of the mall to musical accompaniment.  But not this year.  I’m going to be away for our department Christmas get-together, and I’m not even going to the company Christmas do this Friday (sadly because that is more of a couples thing, and I feel very conspicuous and awkward going as a single).  I think (and hope!) that I’m saving all my holiday cheer for when I’m back in the UK!   

Company Gift

I'm going to sound remarkably ungrateful, but each employee at work got a gift today.  This is what we got:

Yes, a solar-powered charger and light.  Something I doubt I'll ever use ever.  This is yet another remarkably useless gift our company has handed out.  I should be appreciative of getting anything, but this seems like a tragic waste.  And I don't think this is our company Christmas gift - instead it is something we got for getting another drug approved and on the market - so we might even get something else equally rubbish.  Joy.  What a miserable grinch I am.

Winter Storm Advisory

A “Winter Storm Watch” warning we had has just been upgraded (or downgraded?) to a “Winter Storm Advisory” – cold weather and precipitation is not a good combo in Greater Seattle.  It was snowing this morning, but nowhere near cold enough for it to settle.  But it is getting colder tonight and tomorrow, so may have to cope with icy roads on the commute tomorrow – which will not be fun (there is a bit of a hill up to where I live, and I’ve heard that it can get icy and the police will shut it down to traffic when it gets really bad, though have yet to experience that).  I don’t think I’ve blogged about the “Puget Sound Convergence Zone”, which is an additional risk because now I live close to that.  This is a phenomenon whereby the air flow kind of splits around the Olympic Mountains W/NW of Greater Seattle and converges in a narrow band on the other side – and apparently that convergence zone is often in the vicinity of where my home is.  I’ve experienced it a bit before – so it’s been raining where I am, but clear just a few miles away – so presumably the same thing could happen with snow with worse consequences.  At least I’m not at too high an elevation – I have a friend who lives in Bellevue who lives higher up, and he had to work from home today due to the road conditions.  So, I guess I’m going to have start taking my work laptop home with me most days this week, just in case I need to work from home the following day.  I don’t normally do that (I don’t like to bring my work home unless I absolutely have to – and I think I’m one of the few people left who do that, so I’m very old-fashioned!), and I hate working from home, so the last week before my holidays might not be very constructive! 

Westworld Finale

I'm commenting as I'm watching the Westworld finale live - so needless to say, SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Note to self, don't read ANY of the internet coverage of Season 2 - some of the great twists in the series were called early in various internet threads and discussion.  It kind of spoiled the surprises, but I don't think detracted too much from my enjoyment of the series.  In many ways, this show was purposely constructed for internet discussion and dissection.

Jeez, so much jumping between timelines, even in the same scene.  There is going to be a lot of that.

The setting is amazing - makes me want to spend some time in Utah.  Maybe next year.

Dolores is clearly the key to everything - including the "center of the maze".  Consciousness?  And, to no ones surprise on the internet, is she also the mysterious Wyatt?

Interesting fact - I've actually got Jeffrey Wright's autograph (he starred in a Bond film)!

So many good actors, who don't look as though they are just phoning it in.  Always an encouraging sign.

Excellent, looks like we're finally going to get the robot uprising, led by Thandie Newton.  And with a lot of gratuitous nudity.

The Man in Black is William.  That was an early internet theory that was always considered solid.  And now confirmed.  Even though Ed Harris looks nothing like the younger guy.

Classic line - "for f*ck's sake he's one of us and you're one of them"!

Excellent reveal - Thandie Newton escaping was programmed.  Is this Anthony Hopkins' new story line?

These violent delights have violent ends indeed.

Well this just got very crazy - did Anthony Hopkins just unlock Dolores?  Well he certainly seemed to turn off the safety control.  And he didn't seem like the kind of actor who would commit to multiple seasons, so I'm not surprised he was a goner.

Excellent, if a bit pretentious with the whole consciousness, reveries, Michelangelo thing, finale - looking forward immensely to where this is going to go next season.

Downtown

I took the opportunity today to go into downtown Seattle to do a bit of shopping, and to snap a few shots:

Busy

What a shambles is it at work at the moment.  I'm one of a few people who has been pulled in to help on a study deliverable due today - and it's a classic case of too many cooks spoil the broth, as different people do different things resulting in all kinds of inconsistencies.  It's a mess, and I like to think that if I was leading this study then things would be a lot more organized and it wouldn't be such a disaster.  There are so many issues, and so many contractors working on this who are clearly not competent but who have been given no oversight it is shocking.  Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence at this company - where everything is left to the last moment and rushed, resulting in all kinds of mistakes and all kinds of stress.  It's a horrible way of doing things - but it seems to happen all the time.  I think I've got the organizational skills to do a much better job of this, but if they don't want to give me that responsibility then that is their loss.  They can work over the weekend, I'm not.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

No, not another Thanksgiving turkey reference.  I’m talking bowling.  I bowled a turkey last night!  3 strikes in a row.  I think that might be the first time I’ve ever done that – at least if you don’t count Wii Bowling.  Actually, really disappointed that in a game where I threw 4 strikes I still couldn’t break the 150 barrier.  That’s thanks mainly to a horrific stretch of frames in the middle.  

Sadly, that was my peak in our first game and my score actually got worse over the remaining 2 games – and I managed to get a big blister on my thumb as well.  So no plans to turn professional.  Good to have an all too rare late night out – though probably shouldn’t have had a burger at 11 pm and typically inopportune timing as I’ve actually had some proper work to do this week for what feels like the first time in months!