How can it be May already? I get chef and author David Lebovitz's monthly newsletter, he started off this month with saying he still finds himself writing 2020, then after he pressed send, realized the header said April 2021, not May 2021. I understand, 2020 will go down as the lost year, there was an article in the Washington Post about the archeology of returning to offices that have been empty for over a year, and finding artifacts of life before. My office committed to full time telecommute through the summer, we are starting to look at returning in the fall. I had no idea when last I was in my office that I wouldn't return for 18 months. Somehow the world didn't come to an end when I didn't look at that stack of working files on my desk.
I have committed to speak at a conference in Reno, Nevada in October, assuming my office approves staff travel by then.
I was talking with a collaborator the other day, who said she went to the supermarket for the first time in 14 months, after getting her second vaccination shot. She described it as thrilling and terrifying. A lot of terrified people around these days.
I read recently that scientists used tissue samples preserved from people who died in the 1918-19 flu epidemic to culture the virus in the lab, infected test subjects who then developed antibodies. They then looked at blood samples from people who survived the flu in 1918-1919, and found that nearly 100 years later, their bodies were still producing antibodies that neutralize the virus. Science and biology are truly amazing.
Next week is insanely busy, a major policy conference, and a huge funding proposal that needs to be finalized. That funding proposal, and another one that should come through in the next 60 days, if approved, will fund my position past my retirement date. Maybe by then we can travel again.
Funny you mention the "archeology" of the work place. Imagine all the dead plants alone!!! When we all got the ax from the store and the company, the two lone co-workers left, said they left my desk as is, as a memorial to remember me by. My mug and sweater and cologne sample collection still sits there. The one told me not a day goes by someone doesn't bring my name up or ask of me. Makes me feel good to know I was enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteThe bosses office is left as was too. but apparently business is still not back. People still not physically in the stores she said.
Traditional retail stores are still large empty of people. I wonder if they are fundamentally changed
DeleteI would love to own that art-glass installation. So would the cats. Glad you're beginning to see travel opportunities on your schedule. I hope the world is much more "normal" by October. It's hard to imagine the world after Covid.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the cats wandering among the Chilluli
DeleteGood luck with the funding approval process!
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a third proposal out there, that would allow us to add a staff member, for FIVE years.
Deleteboth of us have been in-store grocery shopping since march 2020; no big deal.
ReplyDeletewe are now fully vaxxed.
arteejee still working from home with no call-back date yet.
We have done the grocery store weekly, though usually only one of us at a time.
DeleteIs that Chihuly glass? I love his work.
ReplyDeleteWe never stopped going to the store, though always masked and distanced and sanitized and during what we hoped were slow hours.
Yes, a great display under the space needle in Seattle a couple of years ago
DeleteI love the Chihuly display. Looks like Chihuly Garden & Glass in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteI never stopped going to the grocery store but that and the drug store were the only places I went. This time last year, traffic was seriously slowed down and the air was clear and clean. Not so this year. Traffic is pretty much back to normal and our air pollution is back.
The photo was taken in Seattle a couple of years ago.
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