— षट् सहस्राणि नव —
So our first day at this new office location was
on September 2 of last year. I was just recently thinking about how I wound up with this desk I have laid claim to, being the only person who works every day in-office (though Benny comes very close). I am only sitting here because Noah and Frank happened to be at the office that day before I arrived, and they had already chosen desks. It simply makes sense for me to sit here, given that Noah and Frank are in-office three days a week and use the same desks on all the days they come in: the desk I sat in was right next to Noah to his right; and right across from Frank, facing him. They are the two Grocery Merchandisers; when Kevin, who works on Grocery in Category Management, comes in, he sits in the desk to Frank's right and across from Noah. It just made sense for me to sit here.
This week I have a new envy for the desks on the ends of the rows, though. These have short walls that are like typical cubicle walls with fabric you can pin stuff to. I have no such option, though I
do have a rather thick pillar that stands in between my desk and Benny's—and some months ago I
taped the caricature portrait of Frank and Amanda and me from last year's Co+nvergence conference to it, further personalizing my space.
Back in those first days in the late summer of last year, I did not bring much to my desk at first, as I sort of tested the waters of how much I could get away with. Curiously, there seem to be different policies about this sort of thing depending on the department. Marie works in IT and she comes in the office pretty much every day too, but apparently everyone in IT is required to take their laptop and keyboard, etc to their cubby at the end of the day whether they work in-office every day or not. Here in Merchandising, I never asked for permission; I just did it. Technically all desks are supposed to be first-come, first-serve, but I come in at 7:30 every day, when only a couple of other people are ever also already here. So I never have any problem just leaving my laptop and keyboard and headset on my desk.
I did bring some things in several months ago, including the
plant that Lynne left me when she left PCC at the end of 2021, and I think it remains the only greenery of any kind of any desk (so far, anyway). I also brought a bunch of pens and a few other odds and ends to put into the pedestal of drawers that are still under every desk. For most people this is available for shared storage, but I'm the only one using this one.
I still had another cardboard box full of a bunch of shit that I had taken home after leaving the old office, and had been under my bed this whole time. Some of it is more office supplies but it was mostly other personal affects. After many months, last weekend I finally went through it. On the one hand, I got by just fine without all that stuff for seven months. On the other hand, I still want to personalize my space the same way I did before. I just don't have as much space for it as I used to.
I did take out several knicknacks, including even a couple small stuffed animals I used to have on my desk, and simply threw them away. I found a few things to recycle. I didn't throw out a ton of stuff from that box, but I still probably tossed maybe a fifth of what had been in that box all this time. And then, on Monday and on Tuesday of this week, in separate rounds I took what I could fix into my backback back here to the office. A surprising lot of it fits into the shallower, top drawer. This includes a smaller box that holds boxes of paperclips (which I really don't need at all), note pads, toothpicks (I'm thrilled to finally have that handy at my desk again), and most importantly, my "office emery board."
The bottom drawer is deeper, and less full. I put a couple of PCC branded tumbler bottles in there, which I don't want to throw away but also don't want to clutter our condo with more fucking bottles than we already have. Today I emailed Grant, our Office Manager, to ask if I could get a dedicated cubby like everyone else has. Not only would I love to have a space for overflow storage, but I need a spot to put my stuff when I go on vacation and want to leave my desk available for others to use while I'm out.
He wrote back that all the cubbies were claimed, although he acknowledged Chris J's cubby would technically be available now that Chris has also retired. But Grant also suggested I store my laptop and keyboard in the drawer in the pedestal under my desk.
Oh. I hadn't thought of that. I totally assumed I would need a cubby because that's what the cubbies were designed for. Plus, I already put crap into my two drawers. But! I tested it, and I can actually barely fit both the laptop and the keyboard in that drawer. That should work fine actually. I still keep thinking maybe I should go to a Container Store to find something I can put in the deeper drawer so I can more efficiently fit more stuff in there.
I still wish I had a fabric wall I can pin stuff to, like my anniversary pins (all in five-year increments), for instance. I also brought back a manilla envelope that had all the paper things of different types I had up at my old desk. I can probably select my favorites and tape them on the short wall affixed to the back of my desk, and/or on the pillar wall next to the caricature portrait.
— षट् सहस्राणि नव —
— षट् सहस्राणि नव —
Anyway, that's where my head's at with work this week. At home? I walked home, and immediately took my bike to 20/20 Cycle. I had throught I might cycle to work for the firs time this year on Monday, but when I went down to pump up the tires on Sunday evening, I totally fucked up the front tire: I completely forgot it was the different type of pump valve that you have to unscrew a sort of lid for first, and I stuck the pump over that. The pump got stuck, I had to yank it off, and I snapped off a piece from the end of the valve.
And the closest bike shop to me, 20/20 Cycle, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. So that left only yesterday to go and get it taken care of.
The guy fixed it very quickly and efficiently, though, and he replaced the tube with one that has the same kind of valve as the back tire, simpler and this way I won't break it again. I rode the bike home, and it felt really great to be on a bike again, I've got to say.
So, today was actually the day: my first bike commute to work for the year. I dropped a DVD off at the library first, so it was not my standard route. Also, I used the bike storage locker I have access to for the first time. I have really mixed feelings about it, though, because I have to use the room under Rainier Tower with access from University Street, the opposite side of the block from our office, and I have to roll the bike
along a groove to the side in a stairwell, and take the bike through three different locked doors. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, and far more complicated than just riding down the ramp to the open bike racks inside the entrance from Union Street. I'm going to keep using this room for now though, since we were given the key card access for it, and it
is a hell of a lot more secure. It just takes longer to get in and out of the building.
When I got back from the bike shop last night, I made us chai, and not long after, Shobhit and I had dinner. He made a lentil dish and a potato dish and made parathas from scratch. Then he found the new season of
Scrubs on Disney+ and decided to watch that. I had little interest in it and went into the bedroom and watched
Melancholia, as you do. This was at least the third time I've seen it. That's one of those movies that keeps drawing me back every several years. As far as I can tell from my records, I had not watched it since 2017.
I love websites like Flickr and Letterboxd so much—they make it easy for me to keep records of my life
and cross-reference them. I do the same with this blog. I sure hope all these websites outlast me. Only when I'm dead will I stop caring about how they collectively represent the aggregate of my life's activities.
— षट् सहस्राणि नव —
[posted 12:31pm]
