I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more...

[thistlechaser]

Okay, maybe not miles. In an effort at things, I'm trying to work up to that whole "walk 10,000 steps a day" thing. (I know for some of you out there, that's a joke. But for me, who is on a computer all day at work, then on a computer all day after work, it's not ever anything I've even gotten close to.) Apparently you can break that 10,000 steps down into as small of units as you want, so I'm breaking them down into 100 steps at a time. (The goal of this isn't to get your heart rate up, just to not be sedentary.)

Small steps. Not literal small steps. Small steps towards reaching 10,000 steps. Apparently walking in place counts just as much as walking to go somewhere, so I stand next to my computer and do 100 frequently. That's worked so far at home, but tomorrow I go back to the office, so I'm not sure how well that will go there...

And speaking of work, changes are a'brewing...



So, once more, my company is offering early retirement. Anyone 60+ is apparently being offered a nice package. (I swear to god, if it were me, I'd snatch it up and go live in some cheap place.) But anyway, as almost my entire group at work is 60+, this is potentially an issue. (Four of six people are 60+. One is 75...)

Turns out, our group leader/manager is taking the offer. I honestly don't think it will be much of a loss to our group, except one of the other writers is stepping up to take her position. That means all the work she's doing will likely fall onto those of us who are still there...

I'm really worried about this change. Our current manager supposedly works offsite 50% of the time, but it's really closer to 80%. In some ways it's SERIOUSLY nice to have a boss so completely out of touch with what's going on. Of course it's a pain when we need help, but it's good when you feel like staring at a wall instead of doing anything.

This change won't happen until the fall, so we have time. I'm just worried...



In gaming news, the MMO I play (FFXIV) has an expansion coming out in June. Today was a four hour long preview of all the changes, all shown by the producer (man who saved the whole game). It was so fun and exciting to watch it all, especially since my whole guild watched it online together. It's such a cool, amazing experience to get excited over stuff with people from around the world. We have one person from Africa, one from South America, a bunch from across Europe, and lots from North America. All of us together, excited over this online thing. :)

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Aftermath of early retirement is tough... we had some teams go down by 80% as a result of it. And, I mean, those people were backfilled with internal transfers or (cheaper) new hires, but all that experience lost. Things normalized eventually, but there were several months of chaos.

(It is also nice to have a remote boss, yeah)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're thinking at best the empty spots will be filled with new, cheap, inexperienced people. But that would still be better than just splitting up the work between those of us left...

It's so nice to have a remote boss. Makes life so easy and calm!

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Good for you for getting extra steps in!

I need to get my stupid pedometer thingy going again. I used to be on https://www.walking4fun.com/, pretending to hike different trails.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really need to get a fitbit or something. I just count in my head and keep a tally on a Post-It note. So low tech!

[voidmagus.livejournal.com]

"these purchasable packs can flag scenario quests from the former Realm Reborn and Heavensward story progressions of the game as complete, allowing you to focus on the current and latest expansion. The yet-unnamed "Job boost" Tales of Adventure will be available for every job (except Red Mage and Samurai), and will raise said Job's current level to 60 upon purchase."


I'm really not sure how to feel about that. I mean, the first two story arcs are rather long. I'm working my way through Heavensward since rejoining a couple weeks ago. Which on that note...so I rejoined. Checked out my old FreeCompany - a group I played FFXI with, ran dynamis with them + more people long ago, eventually pared the group down and did smaller-group content like Salvage. Transitioned to FFXIV together. Real life stepped up and everyone took a break for a year or so (some went back to XI actually). So I was a bit sad when I checked the FC and clearly no one was playing anymore - one guy kept the housing claimed by logging in periodically. Asked around and the group was basically dead...so another group of people I know offered me a spot on a different server. I switched...and the next day got email from the old group, gauging interest in reactivating for Stormblood. And the new group flaked out completely and decided they didn't want to play after all.

And unfortunately, because Balmung, I can't transfer back. Argh. Really annoyed at SE blocking transfers - it isn't like the server is that full.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Welcome back to the game!

Yeah, unfortunately Balmung IS that full. We have way, way more people than the next highest server, and that's only counting level 50+ people. The server is teaming with low level RP alts. Counting them, we're more than double the population of the next highest server.

Luckily the transfers aren't closed for good! But still a pain now, for people who want to join us...

Yeah, the jump potions are causing a lot of disagreement. However (unfortunately) some people just don't care about the storyline, they just want to raid. So SE gets money and they get to do what they want... Plus RPers will be using them as well. My FC leader has leveled sight alts to max and completed the MSQ on them all. He said he would have used them if they had been available at the time.