Sipping cocktails while working

Hi Friends,

It has been a busy couple of weeks, but they’ve been very good. Just over a week ago, I was at our company's offsite in California at this gorgeous hotel on the water. Spent the week meeting 120 other people that had never met before in person, and working alongside them every day (most of the time at a bar drinking old fashioneds). It was A LOT of socializing. After work every day, we would immediately go to a team or company dinner or go drinking, karaoakeing, or some other activity.

While I will pick remote work 100% of the time, I do miss the option of seeing my coworkers and friends in person. I think next year's office will feel much less stressful because i’ll know most of the people already, and there wont be that pressure to introduce myself in person to 100 people.

Here are a few pictures from the week:

One thing that has been a little hard to adjust to is how much AI is being pushed into everyday life and the workspace. On the one hand, I am pretty amazed at the stuff I can create for my job using AI, on the other hand…I still struggle with whether it’s worth the price, creatively, environmentally, and morally, to use AI as much as we do. Since it is being pushed at my company, I have been using it more and more with work, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you struggle with using AI in your work, or are you gung-ho about it in general?

In other news, we took our sweet Indie girl to the vet because she kept having pee accidents on the couches/her bed/in the house in general, and it became obvious that it was not a behavioral issue. Turns out she has incontinence. We got her on some medicine and bought these cute diapers for her to wear:

Since I showed Indie, I gotta show you the other babies:

My brother and friend, Luke, came over to my house and excitedly played this song for me. It was so sweet and meant a lot to me. I felt special that he considers me his best friend.

Still working through “Picture of Dorian Gray” with my bff. Man, these dudes are super emotional lol. It’s a very interesting book so far, and I am excited to finish it.

Also, I finally got both a digital and physical copy of Dungeon Crawler Carl, which several of the people I love have recommended to me, so that’ll likely be my next read, but i’ll update when I start it.

Before my trip to Coronado, San Diego, I did some reading to find out what the smoking rules were, and apparently Del Coronado is very non-smoking. Like you can’t just walk down the sidewalk smoking a cigar, and the resort we stayed at stated that the entire property was non-smoking. I don’t have to tell you that I was stressed…5 days meeting 120 new people in person, without my comfort zone vice. I brought some cigars in case I found a place to smoke, and when I landed in SD, before I went to the resort to check in, I stopped at a little cigar shop to have a cigar (thankfully, this one was a 5-minute walk from the hotel, and you COULD smoke a cigar at that spot. The shop owner recommended I try this cigar after I mentioned I was looking for something with Connecticut broadleaf. This is the “Pioneer” cigar from ChìMolly cigars. ChìMolly cigars is a new cigar brand on the scene and was started by two friends in their sophomore year of college.

The cigar was pretty great, and it gave me a little buzz. It was very rich, and I wish I had grabbed a few more before I left.

Also, turns out Del Coronado hotel is one of the few places you CAN smoke, but you just cant do it near the hotel, which was no problem, as I found myself in the middle of the beach at 1 am, having a cigar, and munching on a bag of cheez-its in pure solo bliss.

Hotel Bars in California are charging $13 for a fucking Bud Light can. 13 whole dollars. We worked from different places at our offsite and often landed at a bar on the resort grounds cause they had tables and umbrellas. Since we were there often, we couldn’t order expensive cocktails each time (no cocktail was under $24 btw, even a basic old fashion), so we would find the cheapest item to order, but dear god I couldn’t bring myself to pay $13 for a Bud Light.

Become a member of the National Audubon Society today, and we’ll send you our exclusive, award-winning magazine as a token of our appreciation. That means every three months you’ll receive stories about protecting birds and the places they need directly to your mailbox!

With over 120 years of conservation expertise, Audubon is responding to the greatest challenges facing birds and people today while anticipating the issues and opportunities of tomorrow. Where we work - and when you help - birds are better off.

Give a gift that renews each year to ensure our quarterly magazine continues arriving at your doorstep.

Donate Now

Thanks for reading, and of course, no pressure to stay subscribed :)