Congratulations, Brenda!

I'm so sorry, msbelle. It's been a shitty last-15-months.

I am trying to get used to being the boss but my predecessor left no guidance so I'm kind of flailing. I end every day exhausted. And of course I'm still doing my old job. Trying not to get too stressed out about it all, but it is stressful! And the division overall is struggling: we did pretty well in the first part of the pandemic, but we've lost a bunch of staff to retirements and other departures, and replacing them has been difficult. As a result we have many bottlenecks in our project workflow and we're not going to meet our targets this FY for the first time since I've been here. So all the managers are upset.

Got my 2nd shot yesterday and took today off in case I get knocked out; at the moment I'm just kind of tired. My arm doesn't even ache.

That sounds stressful, 'Suela. Hope it eases up. Yay 2nd shot!

I think the situation is wearing on everyone, eroding work practices. We have a staff Zoom call every two weeks and the last one was focused on how people were working - reminders of our core hours (citing staff not responding to requests/messages until 11:00 at night), wearing respectable clothing for calls with members, what was in the background during such calls and so on. There's an "official" background for calls that uses our color and logo (on my one attempt, I had a wall of books, which I think is respectable enough). We've lost people - one job eliminated, two people fired ... for cause, I think. I find it easier to stay on track coming in to the office and want to keep doing so. (Excitingly, I've had FOUR co-workers in the office this week - three on Monday, one yesterday!)

In my news, my vaccine injection site is very painful ... I rolled over on it during the night and came awake from the pain. I was warned that the side effects might be worse after the second shot.

My phone cable arrived in Vacaville (15-20 minutes from me) late last night and got to West Sacramento (45 min-1 hr from me) this morning. So that's efficient.

My analyst is AWOL for our Zoom therapy session today. It’s causing me a great deal of anxiety.

EDIT: And posting here made him call me!

Has she arrived? I hope you can let the anxiety go.

Vaccine dose #1 all done!

In lighter news, the Minnesota DOT had an online poll/contest to name their snowplows. Somehow, the #1 choice was not a surprise.

Absolutely, msbelle. Do you want them to be true or should we make up wacky stuff?

Smonster, I think you have the most I've seen.

I am proud to carry on the legacy of “Six Degrees of Grandma Lilla,” my paternal grandmother.

Oh! Also meant to say that I’m glad people are appreciating the playlist I made… I’m planning to keep it a living document and add songs that make me think of her and/or wish I could play for her. I like to think they have Spotify in The Good Place.

Y’all, I cannot get going today. I had to take Frankie to the vet yesterday (kidneys are fine, little jerk ate something destructive apparently) and I was fine yesterday but I have an emotional hangover today.

Glad he called, Scola!

Yay, Jess!

All those snowplow names are terrific! Um, I only looked at the top 8, but they are gold