I'm trying to gauge how regularly I want to return to the office. I went today, with two other people on my team.

It was nice to be with people, but kind of a lot of effort (and a really cold walk through the parking lot) to spend so little time face-to-face. With everyone else still remote, most of my meetings was still via Zoom. So it's really the lack of value I feel I can offer, because I'm still sitting off to the side glued to a screen.

It does provide a glimpse into how others work, that might be missed when not together. The people in the office bantered and worked together a bit, as might be expected. They also spent a lot of time in their own Zoom meetings.

The best part is that I brought delicious pastries, so there was an easy excuse to overload on sugar and cinnamon.

During the day, in one of the Zoom meetings, we met with HR to discuss the future of work. Little has changed; we're still "office available, remote first, teams decide." There are some COVID considerations, like stay home if you feel ill, mask in common areas, and socially distance even in work spaces. Newly called out is the direction to mask in groups of any size, even in less common areas.

I also found myself missing the comforts of the office at home when at the company office. Sure, if there were regular visits, some of those comforts would come with. I got thirsty at one point, out of coffee, and would have grabbed some water, but didn't have a glass. Stuff like that; all the comforts that fill a cube when regularly in the office just aren't there when visits are infrequent. I brought pastries, and ended up snacking on far too many, as there weren't other options; I can fix that with more stuff, but that's not useful with intermittent visits, either. Because of the pace of meetings, and because the cafeteria is a mile away, I skipped lunch, where at home I could have nabbed and nibbled something in a few minute gap between meetings (or during but before I turn on the camera). Also, I wasn't sitting in one of the good chairs for some of the time (but did sit in my old cube for the other bits of time), where I have a broken-in comfortable office chair at home. Even the nearby restroom at the office is a long enough hike to factor in between meetings, ad just a dozen paces or so, where it's a dozen feet from my home office.

Just comforts, not necessities. And just adjustments, not real deal-breakers.

The commute is still not missed. I did enjoy the time away from screens, listening to music or comedy on the radio. It isn't all relaxing, especially on the almost-regular-strength rush hour traffic on the way home.

I'm still liking the remote-first, and will for the foreseeable future likely default to work-from-home. Maybe with a change in the weather, and a turn for the better in pandemic and variants and all that go with them, more people will visit on those infrequent days. I can control my calendar better, too, to make sure it's filled with fewer Zoom meetings, or maybe make blocks of free time to spend more with in-person people.

It was a race to get the kids before time expired. That was a little bit of circumstance around not leaving when planned, because once the Zoom ended the chatting began, and it was a little difficult to turn and go. Hard because I didn't want to be rude, but also because that was part of the reward of the effort. The kids were fine, doing something fun in a different room, and ready to go with eagerness to get home.

Everyone's healthy.