Ugh Jess and Shrift. I’ve always been in the laid off, not the other end, but neither is great. Sorry for the suck.

I'm in a bizarre laid-off-but-still-here limbo. My role has been eliminated but my end date isn't until October because somebody needs to stick around and finish turning all the lights off. So I'm actively job hunting but also still at work.

Big Boss was like "Oh right...I meant finish your work and then take the rest of the day off." My dude I don't know if you know this but finish your work and then stop for the day is just how a regular work day goes.

Wow. People.

This morning I am reconfiguring my work area, because since I've been sitting in my iconic Ikea chair and working, my right shoulder and back have stopped hurting. So I havne't worked from my desk in a couple of months. The chair sucks, but I've never found good office chair, so I'm giving up for now.

But the desk is where the big monitor is, so I'm going to move it over so that I can use it again, but I havent quite figured out logistics yet.

JZ not only got all the sleep, she got up early this morning to handle her Tuesday morning case conference of pediatric heart surgeons.

Which was pretty hard to imagine happening after Sunday morning's puke fest.

I took in her tea and toast (with clotted cream and apple butter) and overheard a bit of the case conference. (No HIPAA violations!)

One of the doctors was presenting her case and her voice was clear, and low and she enunciated everything. Very articulate.

But she was popping her "P's" like she's never had an audio engineer glare at her through a sound booth.

I'm in a bizarre laid-off-but-still-here limbo. My role has been eliminated but my end date isn't until October

This was me in 2021. I was formally told in July that my role was being eliminated but I’d known for months before that that it would be. I was really lucky to then get severance that lasted through the end of that year but I still haven’t found a new permanent job. I’ve done ok freelancing but it’s been a rough year emotionally. I’d never been fired or laid off before in my 40 year working life.

Huzzah for a good night’s sleep, JZ!!!

I can almost guarantee that none of these people have ever been inside a sound booth.

Now I want to start a podcast, called "PPPodcast", where all the guests are encouraged to pop their Ps as loudly as possible.

Do any of them commonly use headsets on the calls?

A good mic, and hearing your own voice the way it is being transmitted, makes a big difference, in my opinion.

One habit that I still fall into is always starting what I say with "Ah...." or "Um...." Legacy of my flying days, when the transmitter was voice-activated -- wanted to hear myself in my headphones to be sure that the mic was live before I actually said words.

Now I want to start a podcast, called "PPPodcast", where all the guests are encouraged to pop their Ps as loudly as possible.

"Our first guest on PPPodcast is Peter Pappadopalous and his polite peregrinations pursuant to Polly Pupplington's pacifism...."