Yes re NPR.
My current job is in Burlington, Mass., which is way outside of the big city but right near the enormous Burlington Mall. And the office park is a wooded area, so there are a lot of trees and birds and, of course, flying bird poop for your windshield. Oy.
My boss, who has an office with a window, had to put a cardboard cutout of an owl on her big window to keep the birds from flying into the window. We are on the ground floor (it's only a one-story building), so the birds didn't have too far to fall, but still, that was a bit disconcerting.
There are a lot of pine needles, the area is mainly coniferous forest, but there are some deciduous trees, including one with some sort of berries that I park near so there are a lot of these little berry/apple/whatever the heck they really are fruits all over the ground, littering about two or three parking spots, including the one I always try to park in. They don't seem to have large seeds inside them, I have squished a number of them with my shoes and have not felt a nut or big pit inside them. Hmm. They're kind of a yellowy-orange color.
I see no one when I'm coming in, except for fellow car commuters, so I can't speak for who's in which car. But it is dark, because I'm on the road before 7 AM and often before 6 AM. Today I left at about 6:05 AM and arrived at about 6:45. I am nearly always the first person in the office. But at least I'm (almost always) not the last to leave. I usually cut out at 4:30 PM although recently I have been doing work that requires a lot of hurry up and wait, and you need to be able to start/continue/move/whatever your stuff when it's ready.
On Friday, I worked at home. I was up for 5:30 AM to kick off a set of tests using a remote access into my work computer and then stuck around for about an hour and a half to do some other work. I was then on again at about 9 AM to do more adjunct work. Then at 10 AM I had a phone call meeting. Fortunately, it only took 15 minutes -- these calls usually take more like two hours. I was around and online until about noon, then back at 8 PM for an hour or so and then back at midnight for another hour or so. All told, I billed for only 6 hours, but it felt like 36.
Then I worked on Saturday and Sunday, keeping similar hours in that I started up very early, kicked off some things and did a little adjunct work, then checked in a few hours afterwards, did some more, then checked in again late at night. It has paid off, a huge amount of testing work was accomplished, but the whole thing was immensely tiring. This week, testing continues, but there seems to be less of it (mainly because I worked like a dog last weekend).
Part of the reason I'm being so dedicated is because we have a deadline, but it's also because I'm banking time (and $$) since I will have holidays and whatnot later this year. But I still need a nap.
) ... Then, after a bit, I'm into the 110 km p.h. zone. Open road. I'm in auto pilot. It's hard to stick to the speed limit, the drive is so easy now. I'm in the country! The sun suffuses the landscape with a gentle light & I swear, looking at those ancient, worn down hills & plains that I can almost see the ghosts of the aboriginal tribes that walked these parts for hundreds & hundreds of years! The scenery reminds me so much of the early Australian paintings that I'm so familiar with, it's uncanny. (I'm an art teacher, amongst other things.) There's something about that landscape, despite the cars, the new houses, that is so compelling & timeless. Finally, my turn-off. Back to reality. Almost there. Snap into work mode. All of this took me 25 minutes. Amazing.
