Weeknotes 123

Tomorrow I’ll be on a plane to Portland (via Seattle) for RailsConf. I’d like to paint myself as the sort of capable and well-adjusted person who takes unusual events in their stride without making a meal of it, but the truth is that this week has mostly been about preparing logistically and emotionally for that trip so I might as well admit it.

The most significant logistics were COVID-related. Entry to the conference itself requires a negative PCR test but those take time to process in a lab; entry to the United States requires basically any kind of negative test but it must be taken no earlier than the day before travel, which makes a PCR feel a bit risky.

In the end I went and got a PCR in person on Friday (the earliest date from which the conference will accept a result) and then took another lateral flow test today while a man watched me unblinkingly through my webcam. Both were negative so I’m good to go.

The conference needed me to upload proof of vaccination and my PCR result to a wonky third-party site which hasn’t been working very well but does appear to have verified me at last. While British Airways had a whole system for checking a vaccination record & COVID test in advance, Delta have just told me to show up at the airport with my “documents”, which are PDFs on my phone, so I expect that’s going to be annoying.

I do appreciate the caution but, cumulatively, what a palaver.

I also booked a taxi to take me to the airport tomorrow morning.

This reminded me how much I dislike the game of chicken called “get to the airport on time”. On my previous trip I left home far too early and got the sucker’s payoff of spending hours at Heathrow with nothing to do except eat Pret, so this time I’m trying to make the margin of error less absurdly generous in the hope that I’ll still have enough time to check in, get through security and arrive at the gate before they retract the jet bridge.

In the limit it’s possible this overcorrection will make me miss my flight, which would teach me an expensive but important lesson about the psychological value of being bored in airports. And if it doesn’t, it’s instead likely to encourage me to become increasingly cavalier with each subsequent flight until disaster eventually strikes. So, to look on the bright side, it doesn’t really matter which way it goes tomorrow.

I’m excited about seeing my teammates again.

My Global Entry renewal was approved without an interview. That’s that sorted until 2027.

It’s becoming increasingly likely that I’ll be back in North America in August, so once I return from Portland I’m going to make sure I properly savour a couple of months uninterrupted by flights and plans.

Since I got back from California I’ve lost 5kg and that’s made me feel a bit more normal.

As a chaser for The Dropout we’re watching WeCrashed, a miniseries about the rise and fall of WeWork. It’s a less serious depiction than The Dropout but it’s definitely entertaining in a cartoonish way. Jared Leto does a suspiciously good job of pretending to be a charismatic arsehole, and Anne Hathaway & America Ferrera both put in impressively complex performances. Pretty watchable I reckon.

I had a neat little speech all worked out for my final meeting with my manager peer group so I could impress them by being thoughtful and erudite. In the event I felt a bit emotional so instead I choked up slightly and squeaked out some vague, grateful platitude before walking backwards into hell.

I started my job two years ago; year three begins.