Friday OT #2 - When It's Time To Change

Worked from home March to June. Decided to go back into the office in June because our house didn't have a good office space (I was in my daughters room). Our office was small and I had a door, so I felt safe.

Stayed in the office until I left that job in Sept. I transitioned into a 100% WFH job and we bought a house with room for a dedicated office.

I like working from home. I'm still adjusting to that "guilty" feeling when I've got open blocks and I elect to spend time with the family downstairs. Or, if I've got an open lunch time and decide to watch an episode or two of a show. That unproductive time just replaces the old "water cooler talk" time, though.

Biggest adjustment for me is not being able to go to lunches with people. I'm also having to adjust to not having co-workers to BS with in the office when the day is slow or I just need a break.

Found a clip of @throwittoblythe working from home.

 
I tend to continue working during meetings now. 75% of meetings are a waste of time anyway. Now I can get some work done. I do not miss in person meetings. Too many people rambling on far too long and wasting my time.


oh yeah, I do like that. I used to sit strategically in meetings so I could have my laptop and type away in those types of meetings.
 
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I started 8th at about 5'3", 6'2" now
Someone posted an old picture on facebook and it looked like I was standing in a hole compared to everyone else.

My oldest son, 13 now, grew 5 inches just during quarantine. He started out shorter than his 11 year old brother, and now he's way taller. Grady will get his revenge in a few years though. Will probably end up much taller as an adult.
 
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Do love the ability to get a workout in over lunch, see spouse a tiny bit more, take walks during calls, and get some random chores done during the day.
Bingo, biggest positives for me were working out and getting chores done during open blocks in the calendar. From a productivity standpoint really is no different than the BS/ watercooler time when at the office.
I obviously liked no commute but Teams meetings are loads better than in person ones. Most meetings are not value added and I'm better off being able to continue working through them.
 
Went from traveling 200k+ miles a year to nothing. Last trip was President's Day in February when my company shut everything down and went totally remote. We're in a travel ban and work from home until July 2021 and it'll probably get extended.

I used to work from home whenever I didn't go to the customer site so I was used to that aspect but I didn't setup my apartment really because I was never home and I rented a certain apartment because of lifestyle choices based on the fact that I was gonna all the time.

My work day to day hasn't changed much. Just endless meetings. Endless. I guess being home is nice but I'd still rather travel. At least at this point in my life.
 
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WFH with an infant is awesome as long as daycare stays open. He's a butthead and doesn't sleep regular hours? Roll out of bed at 7:45 and still be at the computer by 8. Keep hair short and no one can tell I haven't showered that day.

Working from home if daycare is shut down? Awful. He's not quite old enough yet to just give him an iPad and let him blow the day watching stuff on it.

Productivity wise its kind of a switch flip for me. Today is a lazy day...I'll probably do 2-3 hours of real work because I don't have a lot to do right now. Tax season hits? I'm thankful to not waste an hour a day commuting and can instead use that hour working so maybe I can take Sundays off. I do miss the random person sitting in my office for an hour talking about nothing important but we're starting to do virtual lunches to try and bring back some of the social aspect.
 
Professionally it's been a big change. Last March, I pivoted to asynchronous content to provide maximum flexibility for my students. Figured out how to make my own YouTube videos of my lectures and link them up for students. Had to rework assignments, labs, and exams to be online. I would not want to relive the Spring Break of 2020 for any amount of money.

This Fall we went back face to face (after delaying a week due to the Derecho). It lasted to Thanksgiving week, where I found myself again pivoting, but this time I was better prepared and had over half the material pre-prepped from the previous Spring (I anticipated we would pivot again). It's less stressful than last time. I expect to return to the classroom face to face the end of January.

My volunteer work has fallen off a cliff. I would travel (fly or 5+ hour drive) about 9 to 12 times a year to either carry out leadership events or major programs. That ground to an absolute halt and my role as logistics lead has been filled with delays, postponements, and cancellations. I don't expect things to pick back up until May of 2021, and that's provided things are going well. No major national events until 2022 at the earliest.
 
I was working from home full time from March until end of September. I got a new job starting in October where I am working in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Working from home Monday and Friday.
 
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WFH with an infant is awesome as long as daycare stays open. He's a butthead and doesn't sleep regular hours? Roll out of bed at 7:45 and still be at the computer by 8. Keep hair short and no one can tell I haven't showered that day.

Working from home if daycare is shut down? Awful. He's not quite old enough yet to just give him an iPad and let him blow the day watching stuff on it.

Productivity wise its kind of a switch flip for me. Today is a lazy day...I'll probably do 2-3 hours of real work because I don't have a lot to do right now. Tax season hits? I'm thankful to not waste an hour a day commuting and can instead use that hour working so maybe I can take Sundays off. I do miss the random person sitting in my office for an hour talking about nothing important but we're starting to do virtual lunches to try and bring back some of the social aspect.


is he just over a year, October baby, right? That would be awful. Not virtual schooling a kindergartner awful but like you said, they need constant supervision. Read a report earlier this fall that the average mom with kids at home had an average uninterrupted working time of 3 minutes. Accurate. We kept ours home Monday and I could tell at 2.4 he was a good bit better entertaining himself than the spring at 21-24 months. Definitely happier to watch Elmo for longer. Spouse and I decided that either a non-mobile infant or child old enough to entertain themselves but not yet in school are the best ages for this. The one nap toddler who needs semi-constant interaction is flipping hard.
 
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My day to day doesn't look much different. But my weekends are really different. We used to go somewhere within a couple hours almost every other weekend and do stuff with friends and family. Our interaction with people who don't live within a couple miles of us has been much more limited.
 
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For me personally not much has changed in regards to work - have been in the office the entire time although it is almost a ghost town compared to what it usually is. I was socially distancing before it was considered cool as I work out of a secure IT room by myself. Wife has been working from home since sometime in April. Socially definitely miss getting to go out with friends and family and doing things. We haven't dined in anywhere since very early this year. Wife has had some driveway socials with friends here and there, I played in a golf tournament in August that I usually do along with a shortened and delayed rec softball league this year and been to the ISU FB games but other than that really have not had much in person social time with friends.

Our 3 year old still goes to daycare, a few weeks ago they highly encouraged age 3 and up start wearing masks which sounds like every kid in her room is wearing one now. Our 1st grader has been in hybrid for school all year. Our school was set to go to full in person then backed off right when this recent spike hit. I'm just glad she gets some in person school but would love for her to get back to full in person at some point as really feel she is missing out on a lot at that age and she already lost half of a semester of kindergarten last year too.

The hardest part of this has been not being able to gather with family much this year. My wife's dad passed in late Feb. and we had hoped to make several trips to see her mom this year after that and we've had to limit our interaction with her and my parents as well as they all are early to mid 70's in age so with our kids being in possible exposure at daycare and school it's been tough not being able to do things we would like to do. That's the part that I struggle with the most is feeling like I have to apologize to my parents that they don't have the in person access to their grandkids I wish we could give them right now and I am hoping things start to trend in the right direction soon so we can at least have some kind of small in person Christmas with the grandparents on both sides even if it means we all are sitting in the room together with masks on.
 
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I'm in construction (field engineer / whatever my title currently is). We've pretty much stayed at the office full time. Can't do a zoom call to inspect forms / rebar, sign off concrete pours, etc.

Some of the planning could be done from home (and people did). Most of our business admin people went remote. Operations stayed in the office. Most of our meetings went remote, even though we were all in the same office. It would be very hard to give up some of interactive stuff that comes up throughout the day. I shared an office with someone and we were constantly bouncing stuff off each other. I think it's hard to get that spontaneity with a zoom call.

I also think being able to manage and direct the work of a bunch of young engineers (0-2 yrs max) would be difficult remotely. There are some that I would trust and there were others that we struggled to get production out of even in the office.

I spent a week working from home (waiting on a COVID test) and I flat out couldn't do it full time. I try to clearly define work/home time. The other reality is I'd be incredibly alone. Pretty much all my personal/social interaction came from people at work. It's probably better for people with have SOs or kids with them.

I also ended up moving from Houston to LA in October so that's been a change as well.
 
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I had to start working from home in March due to Covid. I get tired of being in the house all day every day.

I feel this from time to time. When the weather is nice, my husband and I go for a walk after work to get out of the house and away from our screens. But winter is imminent and I'm thinking my cabin fever is going to get worse. I'm not sure how to remedy it either.
 
Not much, things got crazy with the packing plant issues, but once that settled down, been pretty much the same. I guess raising food does have its benefits sometimes?
 
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Pre-Covid I was retired and at home battling with my inner sloth in what I now think of as mere skirmishes. Since Covid the battles with my inner sloth have become more intense, epic even, more total warlike. Biking kept him at bay this summer and fall but with the onslaught of winter he is gaining ground.

Thinking of launching a new offensive this afternoon by testing my knees and hips by going on a short jog. With that said, I am still in my pajamas drinking coffee and wasting time on CF. :rolleyes:
 
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