Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!  I wanted to post a clip of a famous SNL Halloween sketch.  It's well known in the US, but I'm not sure about the UK.  However I can't find the video when I search to insert it, so instead here is a link to it that you might need to copy and paste into a web browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS00xWnqwvI

It's an interesting one - incredibly silly, no idea why Tom Hanks agreed to do it, but is it really good or really bad?  I'll leave that up to you!

Opportunity (Not)

Got a message from my boss today asking if I could call her urgently.  Yikes, what would necessitate a phone call rather than an e-mail or instant message.  So got on the phone with her, and sure enough she told me she had some important news.  And...... found out that one of her other direct reports had quit, who had lots of direct reports of his own, so she was thinking she could assign me a direct report.  As this distinctly anticlimactic and underwhelming news sunk in, so did the realization that this wasn't something I asked for or wanted.  But my boss seemed remarkably positive about it all, calling it a great opportunity that I couldn't possibly say no to.  So I didn't say no.  But I think she picked up on some of my very obvious lack of enthusiasm, and so I've got the weekend to think about it now.  She said she'd be happy with whichever choice I made, but I don't believe that for one second.  However, I don't need the weekend to weigh up the pros and cons.  I'm not interested.  Yes, it might hold me back promotion-wise - but I've been thinking about that, and I'm happy with the level I'm at and I'm not ambitious to improve it (I think the next level up is Associate Director, and that is something I don't want).  I also don't want a direct report who is not located in the same office as me (admittedly, something that is totally meaningless when everyone is working from home now), a direct report that isn't in my career goals, a direct report that will only cause me more stress, and - just for the record - a direct report who is, naturally, Chinese.  Sorry, I'm not even hiding my racism here - but obviously I won't say that to my boss.  I don't think this decision is going to go down well, but I don't care.           

Graph

Pop quiz, what is this and what can you tell from it? 

Answer – it is my company’s share price over the last 5 years! What do I take from it? You don’t need to be a qualified statistician like me to detect the noticeable downward trend. And when is the lowest point? Why, it’s today. Yes, our company reached a new 5-year low (in fact, a new 7-year low) in our share price today. A lot of people are not very happy about this, including me. It means all the company shares I’ve accumulated over the last 10+ years via the Employee Stock Purchase Plan are not worth nearly as much (and this is not a piddling amount – we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, my nest egg and/or source of down payment should I finally ever buy a house). It means our company is valued a lot lower and more prone to being taken over. It increases the potential for layoffs. And it raises some serious questions about just how good our new CEO is. We actually had a company all-hands meetings this morning – and he barely touched on all the concerns about the low share price, instead touting our recent multi-billion buyout of an oncology company – in keeping with our recent history of vastly overpaying for something that we will never get our money back on. His optimism and sense of confidence seem increasingly forced and fake. I don’t think I’m alone in having some serious concerns about the future of our company – judging by the way that the new CEO has cleaned house via the number of people that had previously been here for a long time having voluntarily or involuntarily left, and been replaced by people predominantly from his previous company that don’t seem nearly as experienced or qualified, and losing our company’s identity as a result. All our previous success and expertise has been in virology, yet he seems to want to make us an oncology company much like his last place. In many ways, it’s quite ironic that we aren’t a successful virology company at a time when a virus is ravaging the world. Am I worried about my job and/or looking elsewhere for other job opportunities? No. Not yet anyway.

Song of the Week #29

I feel like it should be a classic this week.

Whoops

It's just gone past midnight, I'm in bed trying to get to sleep and I've just realized I've totally forgotten to post anything today.  Or technically yesterday now.  That's what happens (a) when you forget thanks to pandemic brain fog, (b) your laptop ran out of battery and you were recharging it in a different room and so you never saw it during the evening to remind you to post something, and (c) you don't have much to say anyway because your life is utterly devoid of anything worth sharing.  Now let's see if I can try to actually get a few hours of decent sleep....    

4K

I've been watching some of the baseball World Series currently going on.  Not because I particularly like baseball, but because it's also being broadcast in 4K.  Since I now have a 4K telly, it's an easy way to compare HD to 4K.  And the difference between the two is noticeable, but not particularly pronounced.  At least not as much as I hoped.  Admittedly I do have entirely different picture settings for HD and 4K, but still a little bit disappointing.  The other advantage of watching the broadcast in 4K is that, inexplicably, it doesn't have any adverts.  And boy, you realize just how much baseball - and all other American sports - is dominated by commercial interruptions.  I didn't think this was possible, but it makes an already interminably boring sport even more boring.  But still, I'd rather watch an empty shot of the stadium than constant adverts for beer and male erectile disorder medication.  Yes, the advertisers know their audience.    

Cold

We did have snow in the forecast, but it never materialized thankfully (it all fell east of the Cascades - so I think Spokane in East Washington set snowfall records for this time of year).  However, it was still bitingly cold today - below freezing overnight and around freezing during the day.  I think it's the first time I've ever seen us get a "frost advisory" in our weather forecast!  As I was going on a neighborhood walk this afternoon, I was suitably wrapped up and it felt like one of those clear and invigorating chilly winter days.  However, it still looked suitably autumnal (though Washington state is known for not having the best fall colors - hence The Evergreen State).