Early Doors

I am not sleeping well at the moment, and I think it is giving me headaches.  I had another restless night last night – which at least didn’t mean I had any problems getting into work early today as planned.  Nothing more annoying than an 8 am teleconference local time (courtesy of European team members) – which means either taking the call at home and leaving for work late, or leaving for work early – and now I have these meetings fortnightly.  In order to avoid the awful traffic (which just seems to be getting worse), that means leaving really early – so I got up about 5.45 and left home about 6.15 this morning in order to beat the worst of it.  Hate it.  The traffic situation in and around Seattle is just ridiculous, and absolutely zero signs or indications that it’s going to get anything but worse.  Interesting recent article in the Seattle Times (don’t even get me started about the fact that most of their online content is only available via paid subscription now, so I was fortunate to read this as my “last free article”) about why so many longtime Washingtonians are leaving the Seattle area – fed up with congestion, costs and gentrification.  I’m not even a longtime resident and I’m fed up with it.   

DVR Decisions

Once again my DVR is close to full, and I need to make some tough sacrifices to clear some space - not that there is usually much worth recording over the Christmas period, but I will be away from home for 3 weeks so I fear the worst with automatic recordings.  So, what do I lose?  I've got a number of films sitting there for months that I haven't got round to watching yet - Inherent Vice, It Follows, Crimson Peak, Revolutionary Road, 45 Years, Carol, Eddie the Eagle, and most recently Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Or do I drop one of the TV series that I desperately need to catch up on: Season 4 of The Americans (which came highly rated and which I really don't want to delete), Season 2 of Mr. Robot (apparently not as good as Season 1, but still good) or Season 1 of Gomorrah (a rare non-English language show on American TV, so can't be bad).  Tough choices.  I might have to try to binge watch as much as I can in the next few weeks!

Harassment Awareness and Prevention

As a manager now (albeit only a manager of contractors), I had to complete an online course in “Preventing Workplace Harassment” today.  Yes, I had to be told that harassment is bad.  The course was about as awful as you imagine – full of those kind of HR videos that you saw on The Office (both UK and US versions) with poor actors and ridiculous/hilarious workplace scenarios (the funniest being the workplace relationship breakups).  This particular course was for some reason presented as a news story/talk show – it was truly cringe-worthy.  Naturally the course took ages to get through – what a complete waste of time.  I found it particularly controversial in saying it was not recommended that a manager accept a friend request from an employee – I disagree and don’t see an issue with that.  The timing of this course (I think/hope it was rolled out to everyone rather than specifically to me for something I’ve said or done!) seemed suspiciously coincidental with the upcoming change in presidency – President-elect Trump after all is almost definitely guilty of sexual harassment plus has made all other kinds of bigoted statements on religion and race, and is a clear bully.  Arguably – actually inarguably – I have been a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace in the past: someone has pinched my ass in the workplace before.  I could have made a big deal of it, but I didn’t since it was right when I had first moved to the US and didn’t want to create any undue trouble.  In the unlikely event it happened now, I would make a huge stink about it.  So perhaps the course has worked!

The Eagles

Who has the worst record in all 4 divisions of the Football League in the calendar year of 2016?  Why, Crystal Palace of course - worse than even York City or Dagenham & Redbridge, both of whom got relegated from the Football League at the end of last season.  I was worried at the start of this season about how they might struggle, and sadly I've been proved correct - currently in the midst of a 6-game losing streak and only outside the relegation zone on goal difference.  Frankly, I'm surprised not to hear that Alan Pardew got sacked today after yesterday's debacle.  That game was on TV yesterday - I started watching another game after Palace went 3-1 down, then I switched back after they brought it back to 3-3 then 4-3 up, then switched again after it became 4-4 and I missed them eventually losing 5-4.  A great game for the neutral, a tragic game for a Palace supporter.  There is a Welsh guy and big Swansea supporter who works in my office, so I'm going to have to endure a load of ridicule on Monday.  Maybe switching my allegiance to Palace was a mistake!

Spencer Island Natural Wildlife Reserve

In a rare break from the wet weather, I was able to enjoy a walk yesterday - I went to Spencer Island (only really an island because it's in an estuary).  A flat, 4-mile hike - not taxing, and really quite pleasant despite the proximity of a waste treatment facility.  Lots of bird life here - I think I annoyed quite a few birdwatchers by disturbing a load of ducks at least twice by making too much noise!  It's kind of weird that half of the island is the nature reserve, and the other half is set aside for hunting - so the same ducks are both photographed and shot at.

Star Spangled Banner

I can't decide which is my favorite rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, Aretha Franklin's amazing and mesmerizing version before a Thanksgiving game yesterday (it's the first time I think I've ever stopped and paid attention to a national anthem before a game, including the Superbowl)

Or Bleeding Gum Murphy's equally long version from The Simpsons:

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!  I had a vague notion of driving up to Canada for Thanksgiving (since Canadian Thanksgiving is on a different date to American Thanksgiving), but the bad weather put that to bed.  So instead I'm enjoying my time away from work by watching TV and doing chores.  I've not even been outside today because it has been raining all day.  Exciting huh!  I didn't even have any turkey today, but I did go for a Thanksgiving lunch yesterday because we were allowed to leave work early (I still count it, even though it was to a Sichuan Chinese restaurant - no turkey, but the food was damn good!).