So, Putin's plan to make a lightning strike, kill Zelensky, and put in a puppet government has not gone as intended.

I read that Putin expected to take Ukraine in 1-3 days. It seems his plan has a flaw.

In completely unrelated news….

SHAMROCK SHAKES ☘️ ☘️ ☘️

my first of the season.

I'm very interested to see how this economic response to invasion plays out.

I'm very interested to see how this economic response to invasion plays out.

China will maintain financial ties with Russia but the US and EU have massive financial trade with China, so we'll undoubtedly apply pressure on China and China will pressure Putin to back down.

But the sanctions that came down today are unprecedented. Even Switzerland is freezing Russian accounts.

Disappointing that India hasn't condemned the invasion nor the Saudis or UAE. So much for allies.

Britain has been sidelined from much of this because they're not in the EU. So their global influence has been vastly reduced by Brexit.

India has close ties to Russia, from what I understand the fact that they are not outright supporting them is pretty remarkable.

Anyway, it seems like it should be effective, and that feels historically important, like this will mark something significant in international relations. I do like that it only works with a coalition of nations agreeing to act in concert.

On the other hand, I don't know if Putin knows how to back down, which worries me a lot.

Today is Day 1 of no indoor mask mandate at work and even though there was language like “I urge all employees who have chosen not to be vaccinated to continue wearing face masks to protect your coworkers.” the one employee in my building I have seen moving about without a mask is unvaccinated.

We are back in the office this week, although with our hybrid schedule my department is still WFH today. I honestly do not know what our mask mandate is. I'll be wearing mine, although I think if you are vaccinated you don't have to. It used to be if you weren't vaccinated you could not come on site at all but I don't think that's the case any more. I don't know.

The first thing we are doing is having a celebratory lunch at the other facility that EVERYONE from both sites is invited to. I believe it's all outside, which is something, but still is making me anxious. But I will probably go because (a) free food) and (b) people notice when you don't go to these things and think you are not a team player. Hopefully I can pick up my food to go and eat in my car and stay masked the whole time I am around people.

We are back in the office this week,

Same with JZ. She's now back in the office two full days a week (Mon, Thurs). She wasn't happy about commuting this morning.

I don't know what's going to happen with mask mandates in the schools soon. OTOH, the district and board have done everything they can to stall shit to the end of the year when they can. OTOH, the recall was driven by pissed parents who were furious about the schools being closed all of last year.

I'm not even sure how I feel about it now. It'll feel weird going into places without a mask. I had just gotten that idea into my head after being full vaxxed last summer but now that Omicron has breakthroughs I'm not sure what to think.

Well, except, I personally have had Omicron and my anitbodies are golden for a month or two.

But it seems inevitable that JZ and Matilda will get Omicron at this point. But maybe not. Maybe the surge will fade and roll away.

Three days a week (Tues-Thurs) for us. I really can't complain about my commute, it's still very short and easy compared to most people's, but compared to rolling out of bed and stumbling to the living room to open my laptop it is daunting.

I know that odds are that if I did catch omicron or whatever at this point it should be pretty mild but I don't want to count on that. I'm usually pretty cavalier about my health but I'm on the paranoid side still with this.

Well, I'm moved into our new office. It kinda sucks. We have these tiny cubicles ... but since most people are still working from home it's less of an issue. We have one electrical outlet at each of our desks ... the other outlet is dedicated to iPhone/iPad/iWhatever charging, so I brought my powerstrip over from the old office and now have this tangle of cords on top of my desk. Of course, there's nothing in the office to corral them with. The lights are set so that if I go without moving too long (now up to TEN MINUTES), the overhead lights go dim and then out completely. We don't have printers or copiers, so hard copies aren't an option. I'm right outside my boss's office and he plays music all the time - loudly enough that I have trouble hearing phone calls; he, of course, objected the one time I played some music loudly enough to blunt some of the effect of his music. Our icemaker doesn't work, the microwave has no instructions and only seems to work in one-minute increments - press "1" and it runs for one minute; press "3" and it runs for three minutes. And I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to something - I've had a splitting headache every day I've worked full-time here.

sigh ... I'm thinking longingly of retirement, but I like having food and an apartment ....