Labor Day? This Monday?

Wow, next Monday is a bank holiday here – Labor Day.  I honestly had totally forgotten this until this week – so much for making plans to do something!  After quite a few weeks of sunshine and hot weather, things seem to have taken a turn for the worst and currently it is overcast and rainy.  Just in time for the long weekend!  I’m just looking at the forecast for Mount Rainier – somewhere I would consider going to for a day trip over the long weekend – and there is snow in the forecast.  Good grief.  However, I’m seeing a mostly sunny forecast on Sunday for Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park – somewhere I would also consider going to for a day trip – so that might be an option.  This might be the last chance to go to either of these places at high elevations this year before the roads close or have restrictions like having to carry tire chains (which I don’t have, and probably never will).  But if I maintain the amount of ping pong I’ve been playing the last few days, then I might need the weekend to recover!  Intense.   

An Open Letter

Dear Chinese work colleague/cube neighbor,

I know that I am in the minority as one of the few Caucasians in the Biostatistics/Programming department, however since we are in America and working for an American company in an American office then I have some mildly racist observations and advice to pass on.  You’re welcome.

-          Typing quickly and loudly does not make you seem as busy and important as you want people to think

-          Clicking your pen all the time is incredibly annoying

-          Communicating in mangled English (“Chinglish” if you will), in both written and verbal form, is not helpful

-          Leading teleconferences on your headset from your desk is not considerate

-          Greeting, let alone conversing, with your non-Chinese cube neighbors would be polite

-          Talking extremely loudly in Chinese on the phone or to a fellow Chinese colleague is remarkably inconsiderate

-          A Chinese group mentality where you commute together, lunch together, talk only to each other in Chinese, only award bonuses, pay rises and promotions to each other, is not cool

-          Don’t use cultural differences as an excuse to not socialize or interact with other people

-          Don’t be naive about things like meeting etiquette, giving and taking credit where it is deserved, and blatant sucking up to management

-          Your food absolutely stinks so don’t eat it in your cube

Regards,

Your token Caucasian work colleague/cube neighbor

PS This also applies to my Indian colleagues.

I like driving in my car, it's not quite a Jaguar

My car passed 40,000 miles last weekend.  This is a big deal, because when my last car passed 40K that is when I started to have all kinds of problems with it.  So it may be time to start thinking about a new car – though more likely that is going to be next year.  But I shall definitely be keeping a close eye on how my car is doing – I’m already suffering from occasional transmission issues at low speeds, particularly when going uphill from a stop where my car struggles to find the right gear and seems like it might stall.  This is apparently a known defect of the automatic transmission on my model (thanks Ford!), so not much I can do about it.  And at least the 40,000 miles on this car are all mine – and I’ve been pretty good at driving sensibly and getting regular oil changes and services.  I don’t think I’ve had to get anything like new brakes or new wheels yet – which I’m sure I had to do by this time on my old car – so I’m always a bit worried about something going wrong.  But to be honest, I’m more worried about getting into an accident than any car trouble – such is the number of terrible drivers I regularly encounter on my commute. 

Respect the Flag

There has been a lot of discussion (read that as angry tirades) recently about the fact that Colin Kaepernick - San Francisco 49er's quarterback - refused to stand up during the American National Anthem before the start of a pre-season game.  His subsequent statement was:

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.  To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

I don't think anyone who has not been to a sporting event in America quite realizes just how sacrilegious an act this was.  I've been to a baseball game in the past where my friend chastised me for not taking my cap off during the playing of the national anthem.  I thought standing up was sufficient, but apparently not.  I think America is prone to excessive acts and displays of patriotism, and this is definitely one of them.  So contrary to a lot of the criticism being directed towards Kaepernick, I actually have a great deal of respect for what he did - I think it took a lot of guts.  Though hardly on the same scale, it is not dissimilar to acts like the Black Power salute during the Olympics medal ceremony or some of Muhammad Ali's much celebrated words and actions.  So I say good for him for expressing his beliefs, even though it might cost him sponsorship, endorsements and probably his NFL career.  Freedom of expression is one of America's founding principals, so I think we have to respect that even if we don't necessarily believe in what is being expressed.      

NOT a blu ray purchase

As much as I’m always on the lookout for limited edition blu ray box sets, even I balk at the following:

https://www.amazon.com/Middle-earth-Limited-Collectors-Blu-ray-DVD/dp/B01JH3KL0E

Yes, only $800 retail for 6 films that I’ve already got on blu ray – for that price I would expect it to be hand-delivered by Sir Ian McKellen dressed as Gandalf.

Noise

I am getting fed up with being assaulted by noise virtually all day.  From waking up to the noise of construction, to traffic noise on my commute (particularly with the prevalence of noisy construction vehicles and big rigs), to the sound of air conditioning and office chatter at work, to the noise of ship-building outside of where I work, to the noise of children shouting and screaming outside where I live in the evenings, to the noise of my neighbors’ dog and/or TV and/or door slamming by the time I go to bed.  I think this is why I am so keen to move again (which reminds me that I need to start looking soon), in the misguided hope that I can find somewhere quiet and peaceful to live (if such a thing exists without having to pay a fortune).  It’s not like I want to totally isolate myself from humanity (although that doesn’t necessarily sound like a bad thing!), it’s just that I value personal space very highly – and that encompasses not just physical space but all senses, which is why I get so annoyed by my personal space being invaded by the sounds and smells of others.  Maybe I’m done with city living and I'm a good ole country boy at heart!  This probably also explains a lot why I have and will always find it extremely difficult to share my personal space through co-habitation...

Hot

We are currently in the midst of a Heat Advisory issued by The National Weather Service – and boy is it toasty.  It’s not Texas hot, thank god, but definitely unusually high for the Seattle area, with temperatures getting into the 90's this afternoon (I only speak Fahrenheit nowadays, that’s about 33-35 Celsius).  The National Park Service also turned 100 years today, which means free entrance to all the parks through to the end of the weekend.  If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve only just come back from another National Park, this would be the perfect opportunity to take a sick day/mental health day and visit one of the local National Parks (Mount Rainier or Olympic) on a gorgeous week day and avoid the crowds.  Typically, the forecast indicates that the abundant sun we have now might not last into the weekend – but I’m still thinking I might brave the crowds and go to Mount Rainier on Saturday.