Job (Dis)Satisfaction

I think my manager has just crossed the line.  I was already frustrated with her over-controlling nature and the resulting lack of control I have over my work – but now her micro-management has gone one step further and she has set up regular meetings with my reports.  This is unacceptable.  It once again shows a lack of trust and a lack of respect.  I think this is the final straw – I’m going to ask to transfer into a different therapeutic area, with a different study team and different manager.  I’m sad to say that coming back to Seattle and to this job and this company hasn’t worked out so far – I’m disappointed, demoralized, unmotivated, and indifferent to the work I’ve been assigned.  I want to care about my job and my work, I want to feel passionate about what I’m doing – and I want the opportunity to show that I’m good at what I do and to earn the trust, respect and reward that comes from that.  I have been wholly mismanaged and underused since coming back, with little to no opportunity to prove my worth.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to have job satisfaction – I didn’t have it when I moved to Texas, and I don’t have it now.  The last 3 years have been very frustrating, and it has made me question my career and my future.  I really want to give it one more shot at finding a rewarding and satisfying job, preferably in the SoCal area, but if that doesn’t work out then I would seriously question whether I’d even want to stay in the US.  It’s not like there’s anything or anyone to keep me here... which may also be part of the problem…

GoT S7E4

A Stark family reunion (they have issues).  Incest?  The Onion Knight - the most sensible person in Westeros.  John and Theon (they have history).  DRAGON AND DORTHRAKI CARNAGE!  Bronn (one of the best characters) taking down a dragon like in The Hobbit!  Jamie cliff-hanger?  Holy cow, that was a pulsating episode.

The Cove Community Beach

A very pleasant, and very rare, social excursion this afternoon/this evening.  Was invited to a beach bonfire and picnic on a private beach.  It was really enjoyable - good company, good weather, good food and had a good time.  Not quite as hot as it has been, and not quite as smoky as it has been, but the haze still made for a quite spectacular sunset.

Seafair

It’s Seafair weekend in Seattle, which means the Blue Angels flying over the city and the workplace.  I did go up to the roof of our workplace to catch some of the action, but not exactly ideal viewing or flying conditions because the amount of smoke around Seattle has only got worse.  The location of our office is also not exactly where the air show is taking place, so we don’t get to see the full display and it’s often only a case of hearing rather than seeing the jets – but we do catch bits of the show.

The air quality is terrible which, combined with the heat, is making it horrific to spend any considerable amount of time outside – reminds me so much of my time in Texas.  I was thinking about going to Mount Rainier this weekend, but I think I might put that off until better viewing (and photographic) conditions return.  I still need to get my steps in, so I’ll have to find some shady and forested walks to do this weekend.

Summer TV

Lets have a quick look at my DVR to see what I'm currently recording/watching from the meager offerings on TV over the dog days of summer: Manhunt: Unabomber, Shooter, Suits, Broadchurch, The Sinner, What Would Diplo Do?, The President Show, The Great British Baking Show, Room 104, The Tunnel: Sabotage, Game of Thrones, Ray Donovan, Preacher, American Dad, Loaded, People of Earth, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.  Apart from Game of Thrones, not really anything must-see - though I do think Preacher is very good, and The President Show has one of the best Trump impersonators around.

To Screw The Mooch

With the heat comes fire.  I woke up this morning to a faint burning smell, and apparently the whole region is enveloped with smoke from a load of wildfires burning in Canada that has carried south.  It’s nowhere near as bad as that time in San Diego when my office had to shut for a few days due to the really bad air quality resulting from nearby wildfires, but still not pleasant.  It’s definitely very hazy today and did notice that sunrise was more orange than normal as a result of the smoky atmosphere – I should have taken some photos…

I realized I haven’t even touched on the meteoric rise and fall of “The Mooch” in these blogs.  It’s clear that reality-TV star President Dump is turning the White House into a reality show.  Or at the least a very dark comedy….

My podcast intake seems to have exponentially increased – to the extent that I’ve started trying out more and more new shows.  The most recent permanent addition to my library – Ear Hustle, produced by prisoners within San Quentin – is very good so far.    

I want to see the film Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm – supposedly the  best way to view the film – but sadly there isn’t anywhere in the state of Washington where you can do that.  Disappointing.  Instead, I will have to resort to watching it in IMAX with Laser.  That’s for next week.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve had to give a history lesson on Dunkirk to various uninformed Americans and Chinese.

Thank god the noise from the wasp nest behind my downstairs wall has finally diminished – the sound of the wasps chewing the wood or doing whatever they were doing behind the wall was making my skin crawl.  Hopefully my landlord will soon cover up all the holes he put in the wall to drench the nest in chemicals.  I maybe should have done more to deal with the situation myself, but my DIY skills are limited to putting together Ikea furniture.

My daily step count has taken a bit of a knock recently – and the hot temperatures and bad air quality will not help my chances of averaging 15,000 steps a day.  As long as I record enough steps and activity to earn the Gold Prize (a $75 gift card) then I will be satisfied!  I’ve already resorted to watching some godawful and dated videos about dealing with stress and suchlike in order to add some more points to my total.

Some mid-year promotions were announced today.  Every single promotion in Statistics and Programming belonged to someone with a Chinese name.  I’m not sure if this is just reflective of the make-up of my department or some nefarious display of favoritism within my department, but I don’t like it  one bit and once again makes me question the lack of equality and the lack of inclusion that I have to endure in my current workplace.

Just finished watching the second season of The Expanse.  I do like a good Sci-fi show – and although it doesn’t quite reach the gold standard of say Battlestar Galactica, it is a very watchable space soap opera with nice Battlestar Galactica-esque visuals and a touch of political intrigue very pertinent to today’s highly charged political landscape.  Makes Doctor Who look like the cheap and dated show it really is (which I haven’t watched in years, and couldn’t give a monkeys about what sex the next Doctor is).

Excessive Heat Warning

Another day off work today, but after yesterday's excursions and the fact that our region is now under an Excessive Heat Warning I decided to postpone my planned trip to Mount Rainier.  I'll go another time, maybe even this weekend if I can get up early enough to avoid the worst of the weekend crowds.  The Excessive Heat Warning is a severe weather alert issued by the National Weather Service (the nearest the US has to the Met Office) and states that "unusually hot weather is forecast to begin today and continue through Friday.  Widespread record highs are expected.".  Seattle has only gone above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Celsius) 3 times since records began, but they expect a 4th time this week.  This is where the widespread lack of AC in our area is a real downer...