So, it’s already been nine years that this thing has been running huh? I wish I could say I have something exciting lined up for when year ten gets here before I even realize it, but right now I don’t. With COVID-19 still going fairly strong, it’s hard to say what the next year will even look like.
Despite the current pandemic derailing everything, there are at least some parts of life that have changed for the better. While I do feel bad on the timing for leaving my old team right as things really started to get crazy because of COVID-19, I have, at long last, moved to a new role at Kroger… sort of. Technically, I’m actually on loan at the moment as I’ve been in-sourced to another role within my existing department.
That said, it’s quite something having to learn workforce management in the middle of a pandemic when absolutely everything changes almost overnight. It’s been a tough journey, but everyone has been working overtime (in many cases literally) to keep things up and running. While I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, Kroger has published much of what we’ve learned from operating in unpresidented time.
When things truly calm down, I think I’ll have to finally discover what this “work-life balance” thing is after four-and-a-half years at Kroger. While the timing is ironic, I think my personal state of affairs have been in the best shape they’ve been since graduating Drexel five years ago now.
Perhaps the best indication of that has been finally being able to do something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, adopt a fuzzy roommate. Jiji has become employee number two, and the CCO around here. That stands for Chief Cat Officer by the way. I can’t believe it’ll be a full month since adopting him in just a little over a week from now.
Things are very, very slowly starting to reopen and get back to some form of “normal” around Portland. As much as I would very much like to see the Japanese Garden and my usual weekend restaurant reopen, I don’t think it’s time for that yet, at least not in the capacity they were open before all of this started. I look forward to Powells and Kinokuniya as well, but at least they are still able to ship books. On that note, it will be good to exchange items at the library again too. While I’ve been pacing myself to not go through my stack entirely, it is starting to run out.
Hopefully this new year for the blog is less crazy than the new year has been for the world. Both have been quite the wild ride.
Here’s hoping things calm down in the world enough to make the tenth year of this blog the big year it deserves. But for now, stay home. Stay safe.
