A grey misty rain that turrned into sporadic showers filled the day but it was the warmest day this year <smirk>. My home chores focused on laundry. I headed out to campus to print and scan a couple of documents and to login on campus to renew the Office license. This has to happen every six months. Invariably the message that the license is about to expire occurs on holiday weekends. I planned my print/scan visit for today since there would be very few people in the building. I saw only one grad student in the main building where I picked up mail. Then I walked over the the building with my current office. The key I had to the front door would not open the silly thing. So, I schlepped back to the other building and walked the hallways looking for someone with an ethernet cable, since one needs to hardwire the machine to boot the system. Booting via wifi will not update the license or the security system. Finding no one in their offices -- smart colleagues to be elsewhere <smile> -- I headed back to the grad student who was no where to be found. I managed to find a cable on another machine elsewhere and was able to boot and print. When I approached the printer, I found the grad student. I startled him and he scrambled to get his mask on and we chatted briefly as his jobs printed. After the short trip that took 90 minutes, I returned to my laundry.
While on campus, it struck me how quiet it was both inside the building and outside. It felt like walking around an abandoned community. The few people I saw outside were locals out for a walk. There are many hills and stairs on campus, so it can be a great workout area. Walking outside and through the building brought back memories of my 20+ years here. The distant echoes or memories felt positive not overly sad. It didn't feel like when I was there everyday and a piece of the larger machine; it just felt comfortable. Making the transition from full time work to retirement and more distant research work hasn't been easy, particularly during a pandemic. Today, I felt as if I was closer to the retirement side of the equation. Interesting. <smile>
Lyrics that reflect memories as echoes came to mind as I pondered today. It has a upbeat tempo and sound. Keep safe. Ejoy!
NOTE: I found the actual outside door key at home as I'd been trying to use a key to a second floor door between two buildings <sigh>. Both have similar six digit codes and I took the wrong one with me today <DUH>
Everybody's Talkin' at Me -- Harry Nilsson
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