Day 4 of Covid-19 Social Distancing
Mar. 14th, 2020 05:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrj Ok, the craziest thing about working from home is that I get this (resistible) urge to open up the work computer off the clock and churn through some projects I haven't had time for because of our headcount deficit. I have resisted. But the impulse is still here.
I'm not entirely avoiding the world, just taking proper precautions and reducing interactions. I've gone to the store a couple times to pick up supplies that balance out my ingredients. (I definitely needed more onions and tomato sauce. Also: decaf tea.) And I've interacted with a neighbor over getting a tree guy in to do some work at our mutual interface. (We practiced our "bump elbows" ritual.) I also feel comfortable getting out for a bike ride, since it doesn't involve human contact...though not this weekend, since it's raining. Fortunately, rain on the weekend doesn't mean I lose my yard work window! I got out and did some work every evening this week. But I confess that I'm already starting to feel the absence of face-to-face interactions. I may be an introvert, but I like the feeling of being *around* people.
I worried a bit that being in the house all the time would mean I'd end up snacking constantly but that hasn't happened. In fact, I feel like I'm eating smaller meals overall. Huh. I'm also cooking seriously, which is something I often don't have time for during the normal work week. I finally tried out one of the recipes in Maryanne Mohanraj's A Feast of Serendib (which I got signed at FOGCon last weekend). And yesterday I did a braised chuck roast with dry cider and plum puree. It occurs to me that this is a good opportunity to work through some of the older things in the big freezer.
I also figured this would be a good opportunity to do some kitchen reorganization. I've started pulling things off the shelf in the food storage cabinets. After sorting through and making sure I don't have anything too expired, I'm going to organize better for how I use things. I also plan to draw up an inventory of all the Produce Of My Estates which will help remind me to use things. Food is not something where you want to "save it for a special occasion" endlessly! After I do the food, I may reorganize the pots, pans, etc. though I think they're mostly in their optimal configuration (not "good" but "optimal").
I wrote up a podcast script this afternoon and am about to record the next two episodes, then I need to get back to my correspondence with potential interviewees. At least that's done at a distance already! And I might--just might--set up my daily schedule to include starting on new writing projects.
I'm not entirely avoiding the world, just taking proper precautions and reducing interactions. I've gone to the store a couple times to pick up supplies that balance out my ingredients. (I definitely needed more onions and tomato sauce. Also: decaf tea.) And I've interacted with a neighbor over getting a tree guy in to do some work at our mutual interface. (We practiced our "bump elbows" ritual.) I also feel comfortable getting out for a bike ride, since it doesn't involve human contact...though not this weekend, since it's raining. Fortunately, rain on the weekend doesn't mean I lose my yard work window! I got out and did some work every evening this week. But I confess that I'm already starting to feel the absence of face-to-face interactions. I may be an introvert, but I like the feeling of being *around* people.
I worried a bit that being in the house all the time would mean I'd end up snacking constantly but that hasn't happened. In fact, I feel like I'm eating smaller meals overall. Huh. I'm also cooking seriously, which is something I often don't have time for during the normal work week. I finally tried out one of the recipes in Maryanne Mohanraj's A Feast of Serendib (which I got signed at FOGCon last weekend). And yesterday I did a braised chuck roast with dry cider and plum puree. It occurs to me that this is a good opportunity to work through some of the older things in the big freezer.
I also figured this would be a good opportunity to do some kitchen reorganization. I've started pulling things off the shelf in the food storage cabinets. After sorting through and making sure I don't have anything too expired, I'm going to organize better for how I use things. I also plan to draw up an inventory of all the Produce Of My Estates which will help remind me to use things. Food is not something where you want to "save it for a special occasion" endlessly! After I do the food, I may reorganize the pots, pans, etc. though I think they're mostly in their optimal configuration (not "good" but "optimal").
I wrote up a podcast script this afternoon and am about to record the next two episodes, then I need to get back to my correspondence with potential interviewees. At least that's done at a distance already! And I might--just might--set up my daily schedule to include starting on new writing projects.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-15 09:03 am (UTC)Do you have folks who might be up for a Slack group or a video call hangout? As a fellow introvert but required of social interaction for sanity, I find my writers group Slack invaluable.
Oh and I was dreadful for working out of hours when I was postdocing from home - can you shut your work laptop away in another room in the evenings to help avoid the temptation?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-16 06:35 pm (UTC)Once I shut my work laptop on Friday, I didn't touch it until Monday morning. But there was that impulse to just keep working on Friday. (The impulse was stifled by the desire to use the daylight for some yard work, which I don't usually get to do on workdays.)
I think my biggest challenge will be partitioning off the non-day-job part of the day into specific task-types, so everything gets moved forward at a constant rate. Ordinarily this happens because I psychologically tie task-types to different working environments (the morning coffee shop, the lunchroom, the commute, etc.)
no subject
Date: 2020-03-16 08:27 pm (UTC)