One of the sprints at work is wrapping up next week and they started discussing the pre-meetings for the meetings about the next sprint’s planning.
Well, if memory serves, next week is the last week of anything approaching normalcy. So during the “is there anything else?” portion of the meeting where you’re hoping and praying that nobody says “oh, yeah, I have an item…”, I was That Guy and said that I had an item.
“The silly season starts next week. Not ‘The Holidays’ but the whole issue of needing somebody but they’re on vacation and then their backup won’t answer the phone and then…” and the Chief Systems Engineer finished my thought: “The next sprint will suffer from massive inefficiencies and we need to take them into account.” The scrummaster gave a half-sigh/half-chuckle and said “yes, we will take the inefficiencies into account.”
I mean, I didn’t want to also point out that “Cyberpunk 2077 comes out next Thursday and so you can pretty much say ‘see ya next year’ to two-thirds of the dev team and the Chief Software Engineer.” Well, I *WANTED* to point it out. I just didn’t want to throw the CSE and the dev team under the bus more.
Which makes this weekend the last one before Cyberpunk 2077 comes out and the last one before the week before the silly season.
As such, we’ll probably want to stock up with stuff from Costco that we expect won’t be easy to get until January. Not like toilet paper or paper towels (we’ll be able to ride it out until February if needs be… I hope there isn’t another shortage starting in February, though), but stuff like Hecho en Mexico Coca-Cola and those Spindrift fizzy drinks. The little dinky luxuries that make it easy to think “I haven’t left the house except to go to the Pharmacy since October.”
On top of that, we are going to go through our various Christmas lists and getting a bunch of presents for the people that we usually see a couple times a month but haven’t seen since the summer (or the spring). I used to know exactly which board game I was going to get them, which video game, and which book. Well, I’ve got Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the eldest of the nephews… and, well, this weekend will be spent doing research on the rest. (The kiddos aren’t old enough for me to get them Cyberpunk. Yeah, I know. I’m square. I figure they can get it the way I used to get games that my elders wouldn’t have approved of. Builds character.)
Costco order (delivery, not the joys of wandering the aisles) and Amazon, Amazon, Amazon. Sigh. Oh, and laundry. Loads are smaller, though.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “Snuffling In”, taken by Maribou.)
My apartment purchase settled yesterday, so I’m officially a home-owner. This weekend will be the last of my packing, or as close as possible before the move on Wednesday.Report
Good luck! Congratulations!
(Take into account the one closet that you forgot about because the door was behind a bookcase and how it’s full of boxes of books that you said “oh, I’ll take care of that later” and haven’t thought about since. Not because I’m scolding, it’s that you’ll find that door after you pack up the bookcase.)Report
Thanks.
This weekend is mostly working out what I can pack now vs what has to wait until the last minute.Report
I’m with Jaybird. You don’t need anything at the last minute. Or, the one thing you’re going to need at the last minute is time, not silverware and computer cords. Pack an overnight bag with clothes and toiletries, and put everything else you own into boxes.Report
In fairness, by “last minute” I mean the night before the move. The only thing I intend to do on moving day is strip and disassemble my bed.Report
Good. Anything to mitigate the grief of moving day.Report
Is the mortgage a boy or a girl?Report
I don’t follow.Report
I too am looking forward to Cyberpunk. A youtube video of the game described the player taking hours to complete the prologue. WOW. If it’s half as good a wticher 3 it’ll rock.Report
Given that it comes out NEXT WEEK, doubts have started creeping in for me.
What if there’s too much combat? What if it’s just fetch quests? What if character customization is limited and I can’t make a character that looks like me and I have to choose between one that looks like Jon Hamm or Jude Law or Colin Farrell? At least put a Jake Gyllenhaal on there that I can make bald and put a beard on! Oh my gosh, what if it stinks?Report
lolz.
From what I’ve see, you can approach missions in multiple ways…stealth, etc. It appears you can spend the majority of your time traveling around the city and not doing anything but talking to folks.Report
You’re describing pre-wedding jitters. Heh. This game is *important* to you.Report
It’s the last video game.Report
I guess I will be making my mom’s “light fruitcake” recipe this weekend, given that my order of candied fruit and currants arrived from nuts. com
Other than that, I don’t know. I’m worn out and today I am having a bad “grief ball” day (reference) because someone I know from church who, before he became so ill, was an important part of the congregation died last week and his memorial service (such as we can do with distancing) is today.
Also, I scrubbed whatever plans I had to go “big shopping” in North Texas any time soon; the places I would go to are in counties that have gone back to strictly restricting occupancy (because hospitals are full) and I don’t want to wind up standing waiting outside the JoAnn’s or something. And no, there is literally nowhere else I could drive to within a couple hours of me.
I’m telling myself this is the worst and darkest part and it will get better soon but I am also having a hard time convincing myself.
Next week is distanced exam week, and I am expecting to deal with lots of computer problems from people; some places here the internet isn’t exactly stable. I don’t like being more of a tech support person than I am a teacher but this is just life now.
Honestly I am just mad that evolution took the ability to hibernate from humans; it would be a lot easier this year to just tank up on some big meals and then sleep until March.Report
I think the bulk of the most vulnerable will get vaccinated in the next three months, so new deaths should plummet. Death rates are down from the first wave because we’re better at treating it, and potentially down from the summer wave (although it’s still too early in a wave to be sure). And it’s more like 30 new deaths in 40 states than 1200 new deaths in a single metro area, so we’re less likely to see systems really overwhelmed. With all due respect to hospital workers, it looks like a lot of facilities are near capacity only because they’ve staffed down to prevent the spread. If they had to, they could handle more patients.
I want a shot so I can recreationally travel, but I’m not going to try to bump my way forward in line for that.
As for this weekend, no recreational travel, so takeout on Saturday, church on Sunday. I wouldn’t be looking to do any in-store shopping in December even if there wasn’t a virus.Report
I think the bulk of the most vulnerable will get vaccinated in the next three months, so new deaths should plummet.
I’d think it would make more sense to prioritize potential superspreaders, like people working in essential services. Priority should be on slowing the spread, not protecting people who are unlikely to get the disease.Report
I don’t know. At less than 1% fatality for healthy patients, my assumption is it’s better to prioritize the people more likely to die from the virus. But either way, the nurses and elder care specialists have got to be high on the list.Report
People start getting the vaccination in anywhere to a couple of weeks to a month if the twitters aren’t lying.
Things will start to turn around soon.
But yeah.Report
I’m really sorry to hear about your friend from church.Report
One week down, two weeks to go. After which, through the magic of strategically-placed PTO, I will enjoy 11 days off.
This weekend will be spent figuring out where I can get a good prime rib roast–going to try my hand at one for Christmas dinner. Probably not a good idea to attempt something like that for Christmas dinner, but to hell with it. I’ve got a handful of other errands that I’d only really be running just to get out of the house for a bit, so I’m going to sit here and watch Hertha Berlin vs. Union Berlin and think about how badly these errands need to be run given current circumstances.
I’ll also spend some time playing Darkest Dungeon and I’m 44 pages into Battle Ground, the latest Dresden Files book (and those 44 pages were GOOOOOOOOD).Report
I did a rib roast for Thanksgiving and it was glorious.Report
I’m going to clean and try to enjoy the last meals out for a bit.Report