It's magnetic!

Remote work with a team can be exhaustingly difficult to build connections. 

Even when we were all in one place, it was very hard to get a bead, a fix, an anything with some of the teammates. Some teams are incredibly connected and friends with each other. Our small sub-team of support is super tight. We get along really well, chat, joke, have fun, talk about our dogs. And those without dogs listen to us and love our dogs (I think).  

But our full team, it's not a cordial bunch and we don't all click together. I was once at the metro and one of my teammates was there, I walked over to say hi, didn't know we rode the train towards the same direction, and she just kind of turned away when she saw me approach. It was sort of wild to me. Just the cold shoulder, here's my back, I would rather not talk to you. 

Alrighty then. I'll just go over here. 

Our department head has been struggling with this. You can't force people to be friends, she knows that, and you can't be mad if everyone is just doing their jobs and yeetin' the heck out of there at the end of the day.  A few people on the "other side" of the team were friendly with each other, but it wasn't like they'd hang out or go get beers after work. We have team meetings and she talks the whole time because none of us have anything to say to each other in the whole, full group. 

We're doing a thing (at our old office in Boston my co-worker Sean called this "Mandatory Fun") where we're going to do show and tell. 

My work bestie has had to coordinate this, and made a slide deck for each of us to put something in to "show and tell" about. Like we're little kids. And of course, guess who is contributing to this mandatory fun - my small team. And one guy from the "other side" of the team. One.

Our smaller sub-team did this last year and it was so much fun. I learned one of my co-workers went to school with a professional football player and she showed her junior high yearbook with them in a photo together. Another coworker said she loves the Beach Boys, and her prized possession that she shared was a first pressing of Pet Sounds. We all had a good laugh, and it was super interesting to talk about small things in our lives that mean a lot. 

It was super fun to not talk about work in a meeting.

Now. For Monday's show and tell, I thought about showing some of the Guster memorabilia (of course) but I have one coworker who is honestly sick of me talkin' bout Guster. He can kiss my giant ass anyway. But I changed my mind on that. I hadn't gotten all my Red Rocks stuff into a nice display shadow box yet, but if I did, they'd have to suffer through me talking about it. The commemorative ticket, the red rock from Red Rocks, the cactus necklace from Charlotte, and hummingbird pin from Don, the photo of my friends and me, and Brian Rosenworcel's "Hi My Name Is Thundergod" name tag that he gave me. Let's just say that's a project for the fall. 

I thought about the guitar I have signed by all 5 of the Barenaked Ladies, y'all remember that saga from years back. 

But I decided I'd talk about refrigerator magnets. I've begun to assemble a little collection of them over the past few years. Some of them are very old. The cat one on the left with the mama cat and 3 kittens was one Clayton bought me, because he had a dream I had 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl. the lobster is from a restaurant in NH that my father in law really liked. Naptown is Annapolis, but I thought it was funny because I am the mayor of Naptown. The tabasco, Louisiana, and Fleur de lis ones are all from our recent trip to New Orleans. A bargain at 10 bucks for 3! VPR is one that my current boss gave me when he worked at Vermont Public Radio. And the drawings are by the kids - we got magnets for the years they did these hallway tiles, and Jess got to do one and Geoff was there for two. I've never been to Alaska but my friend Tess brought those with her when she came to visit about oh, 20 years ago! For some reason, Baltimore is well represented! Got a couple there from the San Diego Zoo when my sister went a long time ago,and brought those for the kids.  The Shakespeare one was a gift from one of the parents in the Shakespeare camp the kids were in. 

And of course, there's a little Guster slipped in there too. Sshhhhhh don't tell anyone. 

So I'll talk about these. It'll be fun. 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+21 Doug picked geoff up at the train and then sat outside talking to a co-worker on the phone for a long time. I put dinner on the grill, and did my indoor laps. 

blood glucose:
10am 252 (bad reading - i ate and then took the reading within a 1/2 hour)
5pm 212 (not sure why so high, unless it was the snack i had at 3:30, too close to reading?
10pm 212 (still high?)

food:
coffee, water, iced coffee, iced tea
12:30 - Metformin, 3 roll ups - large romaine lettuce leaves, mayo, a piece of colby cheese and 3 slices of ham in each one. 
3:30 - 3 celery sticks w/ peanut butter
6:30pm - metformin+jardiance, Salmon (about 8 oz) with butter, chives, lemon sauce; asparagus