I work in retail. Today's a little bit of a big deal for retail. I used to work in Digital, where the big deal was in everyone's face. Now I work in Stores Moblie, where the big deal is in the faces of those who work in stores.

A little less this year than we hope net year will be, but when someone orders something online to be shipped from or picked-up at a store, the software my team creates gets involved. This year, there are separate apps for some of that, so those parts aren't in our app, but some of the inventory control and activity related after the order handling, certainly are in our app. Over the coming months, we're looking to change that and bring the interface of those separate apps into our single-facing app, leveraging software services the team managing that work already has.

For now, today, this year, I'm mostly watching. It's my first year with this team, spending the last two Thanksgiving weekends with other teams.

And I feel crummy. I mean, physically. Head-cold kind of crummy, with not-allergy related head-cold symptoms. It's not likely coronavirus, as we took our weekly test on Saturday and came out clean. Sure, I suppose I could have been exposed late in the week, but between picking the kids up after their "play day at school" ("no, not school today, but the same building," I respond to them every time they correct me) on Wednesday and going for our weekly tests on Saturday, we didn't leave the house. Our intern did, spending time with other interns and other host families to spread out the Thanksgiving experiences (poor thing had several turkey feasts to sample and compare...). But she seems fine. I suppose she could be a carrier or otherwise asymptomatic. But as I seem to be the only afflicted person in the house, it's likely just me.

We did go out for brunch on Saturday, after the tests. We were the first patrons at the restaurant, and left before our corner booth had any neighbors. The waiter and others working there were masked the whole time. We spent the rest of the day home, staying out of the cold, which approached a high of just below freezing...

The intern guest went out with another family on Sunday, so the rest of us went out for a bite of breakfast without her. This was less separated, with a few more full tables, but the tables were spread out. No one work masks, though. We're not going back there for a while.

I think what did it was that the trip to the park Sunday afternoon. Our little little was bouncing off the walls after being cooped up in our house for three cold days, with just little "good manners" excursions out. It was a bit warmer, a few degrees above freezing, so he and I put on coats and hats and went to the park. Two other hearty families were at the park while we were, but not at the same time. As we approached, the first family with a much littler little were wrapping up, and our little didn't engage at all before they left. I pushed him on the swings a bit, and then another family with a couple right-aged boys arrived, and then it was game on for a bit. One of the other boys dug right in with mine, climbing and running and sliding. Their other wanted to stay apart and play with just dad. We didn't last a whole hour, though, as the cold crept in. Except for the bit between others where I was helping mine on the swings, I sat on a sunny bench.

That's probably what did it.

We got home just before the disappointing football game. It was exciting, with loads of plays, but the early domination of our defense was soon fading fast, and their dominating offense and strong defense kept us from meaningful plays all the way to the bitter end. This ruins playoff math, and puts our teams chances at a wildcard run in jeopardy.

I was fine most of the evening, except for the slight disappointment at the game. I view it as entertainment, and it turned out to be a sad story. Sometimes I like those, too, but was hoping for something more fought to the wire, as most of the games have been. We followed it up with our third day in a row of turkey leftovers. Still delicious, but so many turkey things. Unlike the last days' meals of leftovers just like the feast, this was a turkey dumpling soup. Very yummy.

Showers for the kids, some laughing, and prompt bedtimes. A great end to a quiet holiday weekend.

Yesterday I wanted to bring our trailer into the garage. It's a "6x8," which is neither eight feet long nor six feet wide; maybe if you're counting the tongue and wheels that stick out on the sides of the trailer... Or maybe it's a "4x6," which is a lot closer, but to outside dimensions. Regardless, I try to stuff it in a corner on one side of our two-car garage, sharing with the motorcycle. That side of the garage is lined with shelves, and has a table stacked with boxes in the corner. I back the trailer in snug and park the motorcycle with its front tire beside the trailer's tongue. We usually pack in a bunch of camping gear, leaving lots of space in the garage for the trailer, and still leaves room for one of the Jeeps.

Last year, with all of the extra shipping boxes not yet recycled and other hastily moved from the yard mayhem, the garage was packed with too much stuff, so we made room for a Jeep, but left the trailer outside, on one end of the driveway/apron. Our garage door is about 8 feet from the alley, so the concrete slab "driveway" goes that 8 feet, but runs the whole width of our property. This gives us room to park sideways behind the garage without blocking the door. With the trailer on the side, we can park there, but it blocks the door. 

This year, with the attempt to rearrange the basement, there's a bit more stuff in the garage than before, so there's not room for a Jeep no matter how we shuffle things around. So, even though it's probably going to be too tight to fit both Jeeps behind the garage, I hoped to tuck the trailer in the garage, to keep it out of the snow, and give us somewhere to pile the drifts when it comes.

I didn't get to the garage yesterday, so when I took the trash out this morning, I figured I should do it quick. I dragged the things in the garage around, moving the bikes and yard furniture and excess packing boxes yet to be recycled, and made enough room to put the trailer in. Then I lugged the trailer in. I complain every time it's full that I should just drop some twenties and get a trailer dolly. The trailer is easy to move empty, and not too hard to move when reasonably packed. In a hurry, when it's cold, and when there's who-knows-what in there, packed who-knows-how, it can feel a bit heavier than I want to fight up the slight incline of the apron into the garage. The slight incline while at the same time making sure I don't lift the tongue too high and drive the top of the box trailer into the garage door or opener. This year, no dolly, but lots of wishing I had one. Maybe Santa... It went fine. I watched the top and lowered the tongue to knee-high through the door and under the opener. I retrieved the brick we rest the tongue on outside and put it under inside, to help keep the trailer level. I chocked the wheels and moved a few things around to make a path past it. Then I thought "If I moved the bikes and put the furniture over here...maybe I could fit a Jeep in, too," but maybe I'll do that later. It's inside now, so easier to do if it's warm enough. The trailer is inside, so good enough for now.

Then I made some coffee and settled in to check on things for work. Meetings start in earnest in just a few minutes. Nothing too exciting for my team happened all weekend. We did field a handful of incidents, but they were all caused by services and their problems; the app worked great. But we get the incidents because we're the in-your-face front of everything the users see.

Except for maybe a head-cold, everyone seems healthy.