What's on your Wednesday Menu?

Yo Peeps! It's the half way point--whoooo! Yesterday went well with mom. She is home resting and I got her set up watching The Home Edit on Netflix while she recovers and she is happy as can be, lol. Has anyone else watched that yet? It's a reality show about closet organization and it is very very very satisfying, lol.

I didn't end up going to Trader Joe's--I pulled up to the store and the line was wrapped around the store and there was no way I was going to get in the door within 45 minutes but I was too hungry. I was going to make some very bad decisions if I waited, haha, so I just left and went to regular grocery store closer to home. I'm disappointed though because I had worked out a menu for the rest of the week with those items. Oh well.

Hoping today is quiet-ish. I have a few meetings and a lot of emails to catch up on, so it would be great if there aren't a million extra fires to put out today. I am weirdly tired this morning, and just not up for anything stressful.

Today's zoo lights pic = the giraffe family with the zebras & butterfly tree in the distance. I wish I could share the "live" pictures with you, because it's great to see the butterflies sparkling! I'm also adding my iFit reward for August for doing the Summit Challenge. So many hills!

QOTD: It's a bright sunny, low humidity 80 degree day and you can be anywhere... where are you? One of my happiest happy places is this gorgeous pond in MA, nearby where I grew up. There is a large grassy area before a tiny sandy beach, then beautiful blue waters with the green woods in the distance. There are always giant Blue Herons flying around. I love spending the day walking around, canoeing and picnicking there :)

Morning! I slept for the 2nd night in a row, woohoo! I hope that means my bad sleep cycle is ending. I need to run this morning to pick up my prescription. I was supposed to go yesterday and totally forgot. Then I have a day full of meetings. This is such a long/busy work week. I'll be happy when it's over - but next week will probably fill up anyway. We also found out yesterday that most of my department will be permanently remote. I manage a "walk-in" group, so my group will go back at some point but probably not until at least Fall 2021 and I won't need to be on campus daily anymore.

QOTD: 80 degrees and no humidity sounds like a spring or fall day. I would love to be walking on campus. I miss it a LOT. I suppose I could go park and walk around campus when I can walk further.

My Food:

• Coffee w/ Cream x3
• Leftover "hash" my husband made last night with Andouille, Potato, Peppers, and Onion (so good!). I'm going to crack an egg over it for lunch.
• My younger daughter's night and I think I'm going to suggest she makes hot dogs and I'll have veggies.

I'm heading upstairs now to do 20 minutes on the bike. I will complete the rest of my PT/work out after work.

I am sleeping better, too, now that the weather is cool and we are under covers again!

Wow, that's really interesting that they are already making permanent plans for remote work. I feel pretty confident that we are heading in that direction but they aren't communicating those plans, yet.

I think my department is going to lead the charge. Mostly because about 2/3rds of our work force is either on the phones or doing live chat (I manage the walk-in/chat group of a Service Desk) and they literally can work from anywhere. But, we also had the happy accident that before the pandemic we were informed we would need to temporarily house another group while their space was renovated - a group that doesn't have a choice but to be on campus. We found out yesterday they need space for 12 people, which I have no idea how we would have accommodated that - I think we had maybe 3 or 4 open desks and 1 open office. So, we pretty much just said - "Here, take the space!". I still have people going in on a rotation of 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off but they aren't seeing any customers right now anyway and are all working in closed door offices.

I think I could have held off on my retirement for another year or two if I could have worked at home! DH worked remotely from mid-March 'til early September (he also works at a university) and now goes in two days a week (the staff rotates), so that would be OK too, I think....

Because my group will eventually start seeing students/faculty/staff again at some point, I will need to go in a couple days per week. Right now we have a contactless locker system where people can drop off their computers and pick them up when they are finished being repaired. I have an accommodation to stay off campus due to my diabetes that lasts until at least start of spring semester.

I know you are happily enjoying your retirement. If you ever decide you want to work remotely part time or for a while, let me know. There are many jobs that you can do from home that pay well and are interesting.

There are also many, many scams, so you have to be very careful if you do decide to work for a work from home company.

will do - and thanks!!! Yes - if I ever wanted to (or had to) work again, I'd definitely prefer something I can do remotely. A friend of mine edits science books in her retirement. I asked her about this once - wondering if I could help her out to build some experience - but then, she focuses just on science texts, so you kind of have to be familiar with the vocabulary (she has a PhD in Molecular Biology). But I'll definitely let you know!! Thanks!!

I love my organization, but was told yesterday "After this whole covid thing is over... no more remote work from home at all. It's simply not part of our culture."

It's mind boggling. I am casually looking for other opportunities. LOL

That sucks. My boss basically said that even if we have a mandate to come back in, she can "hide us" for a long time, lol, so I'd have enough time to look elsewhere for work if needed.