duckland.org

Trying something new this month. Who knows how this will work out. ‘Macro’ photos, not always with a macro lens.

Note I started writing this 13.Jul.2020. It is now 9.Aug.2020. Oops.

As we go into our 17th 21st week of the Plague Apocalypse, I find that I have slipped into a routine for the week, but one which does not involve much creativity.

I have set a menu which is heavily driven by broad themes (Taco Tuesday, Take-out Thursday, etc). I still get dressed for work as if I was going into the office, which for me means slacks, shirt, and a tie. I spent a decent chunk of my time in the office on video calls, so why should I change what I wear simply because I doing it from somewhere else? Plus, it is a signal to my family that I am working vs not working.

I have gotten a lot of little projects completed. Both around the house, and on my computers. And, I have fund time to take some training classes at work above what is normally required of me.

I am still posting weekly photos photos, but they have been more snap-shots vs photos. I am finding that my creative drive is lacking right now. I am not sure if it is due to the stress of the wider world with the virus and the, um, interesting politics in the US currently or the stress from work.

I found out a while back that the group I work in at my $JOB is leaving Houston for whatever reason, and that I could move the North East, the UK, or Singapore. While we did talk about moving to the UK a few years back, we are not in a position to pick up and move anywhere, let alone overseas. I have two leads for different groups out of the office here which I am pretty excited for. They both have some great opportunities, as well as their own issues, but in the end, it is still a job.

I have had a lot of time to study up on photography and on coding, and I need to find some time to go practice both. One of the big issues is that since there are no commutes currently, folks have been scheduling even earlier meeting, so my mornings are ‘at work’ earlier than they were before this whole mess. I need to push back on that, where I can.

I am also going to try to post more here as a place I can leave notes to myself.

10 weeks ago, my $JOB told me it was time to work from home full time until further notice. And, that is not the only change since then. The kids switched to distance education, the wife started teaching her students online, and we stopped going, well, anywhere.

Since I already worked from home twice a week, it has not been too major of a shift for me. The only real downside is that I am now getting invited to more earlier meetings.

The kids have mainly settled in to the routine of getting up and then doing their school work. Since it is mainly asynchronous, they have been getting up later. With school ending for the year shortly, they will have to get a new schedule.

My main outing each week is to get food. I have noticed that some of the oddest things are out of stock. This week, it was fast pancake mix (just add water) and .5L bottles of Mt. Dew. Odd things for people to horde. The other things people had horded (toilette paper and paper-towels) are back, but not at old levels.

The good thing is where we live, we are mainly isolated from the main madness. No one we know has gotten sick yet, so we are doing good there.

Two things I have been working on in my spare time. My home LAN (full of containers now) and my photo workflow. I need to write up some lessons learned from the first, and some photos from the last.

Stay safe, wear your mask, and see you soon.