Day Two Hundred Nine

Day Two Hundred Eight

My place of employment never actually closed for COVID-19. There are a lot of reasons business was able to resume, but the important part is that it was possible because a whole bunch of us got kicked out of the building.

Thanks, Governor Wolf. Seriously.

The governor's order to "work remotely whenever possible" resulted in basically everyone I work with on a daily basis getting sent home to think about all of the things they've done. That was all the way back in March, and while a few have returned, most of us are like naaaaaaaaaah, I'm good. The official word is that we get to keep on keeping on until the end of the year, but I guarantee it's going to get extended. Regardless, we took matters into our own hands. My team gave up our individual workspaces for hotel space and larger conference rooms. I am on the record as saying, "I'm never working from the office full time again."

Whodathunkit? If you'd asked me last year how I would feel about that sort of change, I would NOT have been amused. I hate talking on the phone and in-person is more effective and Starbucks. There's a Starbucks in my building. I need it.

AND YET.

It turns out I do fine talking into my computer all day. Just don't ask me to actually dial a phone number. That's a step too far. In-person, it turns out, is not more effective because apparently that thing where people perceive me as someone they don't want to disappoint isn't tied to my glaring eyes so much as it is just a general vibe I give off that can be sensed even through a computer. Or so people tell me, anyway. And Starbucks? I can live without Starbucks!

I would not have guessed that. But here we are!

ANYWAY. All of that is to say that I had a bunch of stuff at the office, but it doesn't need to be there anymore. Since I officially gave up my work space, I needed to clear personal stuff from said work space. And, thus, I went to the office late at night one day last week to pack it all up.

There are a lot of things that were weird about setting foot in the building again, but there's exactly one that's following me around several days later. I had a whole bunch of stuff to haul over to a trash can, and along my way, I walked past a calendar. It was just a boring old calendar with a photo of some sort of farm scene. The important part is that it was turned to the month of March.

Time really did stop back then, didn't it?

Day Two Hundred Seven

I've been asked a few times if Christmas Crazy would be happening in this, the most delightful of years, 2020.

OF COURSE IT WILL.

Y'all, 2020 needs to end with something good. I can't control all of the things that will make it better, but I can control Christmas Crazy. Besides, our help is needed more than ever to make sure the holidays are merry and bright for kids receiving services from Center for Victims. Fact: Federal funding for domestic violence prevention and response programs has been cut in recent years. Fact: Incidents of domestic violence increase when unemployment increases.

Basically, there's less money and more need.

We're going to do this.

There is going to be one major change this year, though. We are starting much earlier. Typically I like to kick the things off the week before Thanksgiving, but I need extra time to manage making sure delivery can be handled safely and by as few people as possible. So! Expect an early November kick off. I'm toying with election day, even, because it might be nice to be preoccupied with early organization tasks right about then.

Anybody who complains that we're talking about Christmas too early is required to donate two toys, by the way. Plan accordingly.

The other thing that will be happening is that I am working on some ways to facilitate "Giving Trees" for a few local companies that can work virtually. If you have a company, small or large, that would like to give employees a way to give back to the community while following COVID-19 best safety practices and working remotely, toss an email my way (burghaby (at) gmail.com).

Get ready, y'all. We're going to make sure 2020 ends with a giant pile of positivity.