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Changing telecommute

Posted on June 15, 2021 by backuphill

Well, after telecommuting full time for the last 16 months, there is a date to start going back to the office and I am not sure I am all that happy about it. Actually, I am sure that I am not. I lied. I am not happy about it.

Yes, I realize that the expectation to be at the office for work has always been there but this whole situation has fully exposed the fact that we don’t need to be in an office to get our job done. We have proven beyond that shadow of a doubt that our job can be done fully remote and that our clients have been affected to the smallest degree possible. In fact, many have commented over the this time about not really even realizing we were all working from home except that they knew we were working from home. That’s how we roll. There was no break in service, ever.

Anyway, the time has come to get back to the office and there will still be a telecommute policy as before, except that there is a new proposal to expand upon it. Frankly, I don’t think the expansion goes far enough and while I haven’t talked to any of my co-workers yet, I am sure there are quite a few who will express similar feelings.

Prior to the pandemic, we were allowed two days a week (40%, with a few limitations on what days they could be). Now, we are going to be allowed three days a week (60%, not sure of limitations yet). Also what remains to be seen is whether or not this policy has built in flexibility, meaning I don’t have to have a set three days but can pick and choose when I want to telecommute.

Anyway, I don’t think three days is enough.

It could be and should be more.

Perhaps I’ll see what is out there, in regards to full time telecommute and whether or not a change can be had.

Never hurts to have options, right?

Projects

Posted on January 22, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi on Pexels.com

Ever feel like you just have too many? Projects, that is. Ever feel like you have so many projects going at once that keeping up on all of them takes enormous effort and time?

Yeah, me too.

I am not just talking about the ones at work. While there are lots of projects at work to always do, at least there I feel like I can block time effectively and focus on what needs to be done when it needs to be done.

I am talking about projects in my personal life.

Owning a home is a never ending project – improvements, maintenance, yard, cleaning and organizing. It just seems overwhelming at times because you can literally stand in one room and identify 17 things that need to get done or want to get done. There is never enough money and never enough time.

Social media projects. This is sort of a self-imposed problem. As you all know, there is absolutely no actual need for social media. It is there to distract and entertain (or infuriate) but there is no real need for it. But, blogs and Facebook and Instagram and Reddit and Snapchat and Twitter and [insert whatever else you have going on], can really take a lot of time. Am I right? Promotion of your businesses, blogs, ideas, etc. takes time and obviously it is something that needs to be done on a regular basis or you lose your following. I guess I am probably preaching to the choir here…

Anyway, I think my job is interfering with my creative side and completing those personal projects I have going on. Plates are spinning, and wobbling, and keeping up is a challenge.

I don’t have a solution. Just a whine. Just a complaint. Just general angst. I know it is all self-imposed, but I want to do a better job at it.

Anyone have any suggestions? How do you balance everything you have going on, outside of your actual job? I know, “first world problems,” right? I am open to suggestions….and if you just need to virtually slap me on the back of the head and tell me I’m an idiot because my self-imposed struggle is stupid, you can do that too.

The long road home

Posted on May 9, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Luan Oosthuizen on Pexels.com

I was returning home last night after dropping my daughter off with her mom.

I knew I was gonna have to take the long road home since the highway in the opposite direction (my usual return route) was backed up because of road construction. It was clearly visible from the other side of the highway that the construction workers had closed one of the two lanes that was supposed to be open to keep traffic moving (it was in the plans to keep two lanes open at all times, posted on WSDOT website). Looks like that wasn’t the case after all.

Anyway, knowing this in advance, I took the long way around.

I found it rather interesting that the people who set up the detour route left a little bit to be desired with the route. I have navigation and already had a fairly good idea around the backup, but it was odd that the detour round ended in the middle of nowhere. It just stopped. I knew where to go from there, but someone who was not familiar of the area would have had no clue what to do next when the “Detour End” sign came up. Seems someone may have run out of signs and just decided to end the route because there were at least two more turns on the route to be back to where someone would have started normally.

I guess with navigation you are really never lost.

Take the long road home once in a while. You might see something you didn’t expect. Plus, do you really need to be in a hurry all the time?

And then there was none

Posted on January 14, 2019 by backuphill

Photo by Jaymantri on Pexels.com

There is one persistent problem with the house. We just don’t have enough storage.

The house has some closets and, of course, cupboards in the kitchen but otherwise there is just not enough space in the house. Which means, by default, the garage (which is supposed to house the cars) has become the dumping ground for all those things that don’t fit in the house.

As such, I have done my best to maximize the space. There are shelves on all the walls, floor to ceiling. There are shelves in the middle of the garage, floor to ceiling. There are shelves attached to ceiling and things hanging from the ceiling. I have been creative in finding places to fit things into things, just to make sure space is used. Yet…

It is still not enough. I guess we just have too much stuff. Do we really need it all? I keep asking why we need 30 serving platters of different sizes, shapes, and colors. I mean, obviously if we didn’t have those I could fit more tools into the garage…and that really is the most important. I mean, really.

Anyway, I built some more pantry-esque shelves over the weekend to free up some of the bigger shelves from canned goods and that will work for a while but after that there just isn’t going to any more space in the garage.

And then there was none.

Do you deal with a similar issue or do you actually get to use your garage for it’s intended purpose?

Who left this here?

Posted on January 11, 2019 by backuphill

woman in white cap sleeved shirt blowing dust

Photo by Jakob on Pexels.com

Ever notice that someone has left a mess in your house? The worst part is that as soon as you spend time cleaning it up, like almost immediately, you have to do it again! I swear I am gonna lose my sh…

Anyway, to be ore specific, have you ever noticed that some jerk has strewn dust all over the house and didn’t bother to clean it up?

Yeah, me too. Who is it and why the hell do they keep leaving all this dust in the house and why don’t they every clean it up? Maybe a better question is why do they have an endless supply of the stuff?? I don’t have an endless supply of anything so what makes the “dust distributor” so special?

Sheesh…I have to go clean, AGAIN. Thanks a lot dusty…

Yep, I’m THAT dad

Posted on December 19, 2018 by backuphill

blue and gray concrete house with attic during twilight

Photo by Benji Mellish on Pexels.com

Temperature is an important thing. It can’t be too hot and and it can’t be too cold. That is why I commissioned as scientific study (not really) of the atmosphere in the house and I have set the thermostat to the perfect temp for every occasion and every moment of the day.

So, SO HELP ME if someone touches the freaking thermostat! Period. It was perfect where it was at both in temperature but also on energy consumption. Leave it alone!

I swear the next person I see touch the thermostat…IMA BOUT TO COME UNCORKED!! I’m gonna break their fingers, and the next person after that (since they didn’t learn from the previous example) will get their fingers cut off and feed to the dog (ok not really, but it sounds good)!

Just. Leave. It. Alone.

If you’re hot, wear less clothing. If you’re cold, wear more clothing. Just don’t touch the thermostat.

Anyone else have to deal with this? Am I insane? It is really that hard to just not touch?

I am a shoe person

Posted on December 18, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by Fancycrave.com on Pexels.com

Ok, the title is (purposely) misleading. No, I am not the kind of guy that collects shoes just because they are cool or because I need one for every occasion. Read on for the explanation.

I was recently invited to a party. It was a gathering of about 40 people (adults and children) getting together to celebrate a special occasion and it was at the host’s home. they have a nice place and the carpet/floors are fairly new.

Usually when you go to their place the first thing you have to do when you get in the door is take off your shoes. This is rather irritating to me, for several reasons. One, I am a shoe person. I don’t like going barefoot and I don’t like just walking around in socks. Two, I am short so my pant legs either drag on the ground or I have to roll them up like a nerd waiting for a flood. Needless to say, it annoys me.

Anyway, I showed up and got to the front door and, sure enough, there were piles of shoes in the entry way. Dang it! Why invite hordes or people over and then make them take their shoes off?

I looked around. Hey, not everyone had their shoes off!

I didn’t remove mine. Because I am a rebel.

What do you think? Is the practice of asking your guests to take their shoes off OK or do you find it annoying too?

Fall colors = a close simulation of hell

Posted on November 2, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“Ooh they’re so pretty!”

“I just love fall. Crisp air and all the pretty colors on the trees.”

…said no one ever! Well, at least by someone who has the major task of raking all that “pretty fall color” out of their yard. Or, if you are in the Northwest, there is the forever piles of pine needles clogging up everything in sight! Sheesh.

As long as the days are dry and the weather is moderately mild, you can cheat and blow them outta the yard into your neighbor’s yard fairly easily. Once it get wet, as in rain, you need a freaking jet engine to blow them things loose.

So, if you don’t (or can’t) stay on top of the task, you are left raking – back busting, blister inducing, getting all wet and cold hell. After hours of sweating and bagging, you can see the lawn. And then the next wind storm comes and the process starts all over again. Welcome to fall hell…

Trees suck. We should cut them all down.

I am not a fan

Posted on September 3, 2018 by backuphill

How did you spend your Labor Day weekend?

Me? Oh, well, thanks for asking…I spent it laboring way too hard. It was one of those projects where I had no choice. You know, forced to do something you really had no intention of doing but are forced to do it anyway? Sucks hardcore and that ain’t no lie.

If you can read and understand the picture above, 2016 & 2017 are pretty normal readings for our house. Obviously then, you can understand that starting in February of 2018 something is going wrong. August broke the camel’s back…

No, that little blue dial isn’t a fan, it’s the water meter for the house and it isn’t supposed to look like that!

So, there was nothing left to dig, dig like you are Indiana Jones on an archeological hunt for the lost leak. By the way, whomever planted all those rocks in the yard is a damn idiot! But, that is a subject for another day. Anyway, I dug. And dug. And dug some more.

It’s hard to get the scale from the angle of the picture, but that is about 20′ and about 36″ deep. Dug by hand, well, not just my hands but my arms, shoulders, back, and a shovel. Yeah, can you feel my pain now? No, literally, the pain…my arms and hands go numb now…anyway…

The leak has been repaired and hopefully the water meter readings go back to normal. What sucks is the repair was relatively cheap ($35) in comparison to the bill ($295+) and effort (pricele$$) to find the leak.

So, to sum up, Labor Day shouldn’t be taking quite so literally.

Cockroaches, AND weeds

Posted on August 17, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by zhang kaiyv on Pexels.com

Alright, you all know the joke about the only living thing being able to survive a nuclear holocaust is a cockroach, right? Well, I think we can add one more thing to that list…and they’re living in my yard (and likely yours too). As we work in the flower beds or mow the lawn, we all refer to them as – “F$%*#@ weeds!” We just get tired of them always being there.

Weeds. Weeds! How is it that the grass can turn brown and die, but there are weeds flourishing in my yard? One the side of the road? In fields everywhere? How is it that they can get NO WATER and still live? They can’t be killed! You spray them with killer. You burn them with flamethrowers. And they just keep.coming.back. How can this be?

So, I think we need to change the joke. We can just simply say that there will be two living things on Earth after a nuclear war…cockroaches and weeds. It will be a perfect world where two of the most unwanted, least desired, most indestructible life forms will live in our place. Perfect.