Day 200 - just another day

 Today is the 4th day of the 29th week, the 19th day of the 7th month, the 200th day of 2023, and:

• Flight Attendant Safety Professionals Day - I am old enough to remember when they were called 'stewardesses' and were hired because they were single and pretty 
• International Balloon Dog Day
• International Retainer Day
• Islamic New Year - Observed the 1st of Muharram in the Islamic calendar
• National Daiquiri Day
• National Flitch Day
• National Hot Dog Day [this date seems to be in some dispute as different sites are listing it on different days but it is supposed to be on the third Wednesday of July]
• National Raspberry Cake Day
• National Words With Friends Day
• New Friends day [also observed on October and January 19th]
• Stick Out Your Tongue Day
• Take Your Poet to Work Day

Quote of the day:

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world."

~ George Bernard Shaw 

You would think that somehow, the 200th day, and the 200th post in this year of babble, would be significant, but it is just another day of being a cog in the wheel.  

larger image and story
https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/everything-about-commute/

As I drove into the office in the rain, I reflected on the joys of commuting - I have been working since I was 15 years old, and 55 of those years [before the COVID shutdowns] were spent doing exactly what I was doing this morning, dealing with traffic and weather and fatigue. 

In my younger days, I often found myself standing and waiting at a bus stop.   That involved not just the waiting, but often long walks to the office afterwards.  I was grateful to transition to sitting in my car along with a river of other cars, heading into the workplace.  Commuting cost anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours each way to the various jobs that I had, and before realizing how easily my job could be done remotely, and never counted that cost.  

After the job offer here at PBS, though, I found myself thinking about that time and energy, for the offer had a substantial cut in pay and I was trying to see if it made sense.  At MainStreet Lenders, I was working ten hour days - and because the office was downtown, the commute was 1 1/2 - 2 hours each way.  How much, I asked myself, was getting back 4 hours of my personal time a day worth?   I decided it was worth the cut, and I never regretted that decision.  Indeed, I have turned down job offers that sounded quite lucrative because I would be back commuting for well over two hours a day again. [The other factors were having to stay in the office for longer hours, dress for success again, and play the office politics].  So now, after fulltime working from home, I find myself grousing about having to come into the office even two times a week.  It isn't just the drive, though, it is also the exertions of getting myself gussied up pretty and out the door - when I compare that to the ease of setting up my workstation and logging in...

I think the problem today is that adulting seems just too blasted difficult...