Personal Log 20200414 – daily routine changes in our stay-home world.
Work from home really means work from home right now.
Personal Log 20200414
When training classes begin, my introduction includes saying something about New Orleans. While I teach remotely from here at the house, it’s not accurate to say I work from home. That’s because I get out to the coffee shop on most mornings. Well, not now, naturally.
Teaching routine
Teaching via WebEx requires I stay put. I have a “business” internet account. My desk computer connects via wire to the router to the rest of the world. This provides a better quality of service, QoS. While I probably would survive on the PJs or Starbucks wi-fi, the noise of the blenders presents an issue.
Teaching from home isn’t a terrible thing. I still have time to get up, catch the Amtrak Crescent at the PJs, have coffee, and plan the day. By 0830, I hop in the car and head back home.
Writing routine
No class on a given week means no reason to hop back in the car at 0830. I hang out at the coffee shop for a few hours, working down my BuJo’s task list. The people-watching and train-watching is good for me. So’s the fresh air on the coffee shop patio.
Pandemic adjustments
I worked from the coffee shop for three days after the stay-at-home “suggestions” started. The baristas pushed all the seating to the sides, as if they were about to mop the floor. It didn’t discourage the customers. They gathered on the patio. This annoyed me because I don’t like all those people in the first place. Mark Bologna and I grabbed two of the outside tables that first Sunday (how many Sundays ago was that? I’m losing track.). We social-distanced nicely. Still, there were too many people. After that, I surrendered.
Coffee from home is a first world problem
I’m not a fan of making my own coffee. I prefer that to being around asymptomatic carriers, though. So, out comes the pot. The cats are amused. I still drink about the same amount of coffee. From a price perspective, I’m sure it’s saving me money. The lack of donuts, on the other hand, makes me sad. Same for the cinnamon rolls at the PJs.
Productivity
My writing production isn’t what it was prior to the pandemic. Home distracts me. Home means I can work on my other computers here. I don’t do that at the coffee shop, unless something’s wrong with a website.
Actual work-from-home offers the distraction of making network changes. While the network improves, my NaPoWriMo output drops.
General mindset – Personal Log 20200414
I don’t like going to the grocery in the pandemic. Grocery shopping has always been fun for me, going back to when the boys were kids. I cook, so it’s logical I buy the groceries. Planning isn’t as necessary when Zuppardo’s Supermarket is less than a, mile away. So, normal meant 2-3 trips a week. Dinner planning happened two hours before cooking started.
Pandemic conditions changed that. People in #themetrys make me uncomfortable. Way too many of them are Fox News viewers who think this is a hoax. I don’t need them breathing on me. Seriously. My headphones provided escape from racist white people. Turn on, tune out. They continue to breathe, though.
Even a weekly trip to the supermarket increases my stress levels. While Whole Foods is a better (and smaller) group of customers, they don’t have everything we want/need. Trips to the supermarket early in the day provide some respite from stupid people, but all it takes is one. Not good for my general disposition.
Back to the N-scale trains
I need to get the extraneous stuff off the train table and run them again. It’s a distraction that doesn’t involve watching TV. That’s my main goal for the week. I dismantled the layout before the holidays, and never got back to it. Trains fuel the imagination! They mitigate all the stuff I’m fussing about in Personal Log 20200414.
