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NFR: Working from home - How are you staying busy?

Started by SP, March 19, 2020, 09:44:39 PM

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SP

How are people coping with this?  I've been at home for a week & seriously need to do some exercise & have visited the drinks cabinet too frequently.  On the plus side, I must've watched the first three series of Minder on ITV4. Probably need to invest in a padlock for the fridge as lunch seems to start anytime after 10am.

davew

Quote from: SP on March 19, 2020, 09:44:39 PM
How are people coping with this?  I've been at home for a week & seriously need to do some exercise & have visited the drinks cabinet too frequently.  On the plus side, I must've watched the first three series of Minder on ITV4. Probably need to invest in a padlock for the fridge as lunch seems to start anytime after 10am.
Bring luchtime forward it will make the day end sooner and the next day arrive sooner! Good luck!
Grandson of a Former Director of FFC (served 1954 - 1968)

Logicalman

I worked remotely at home for three years (My company was based in Mississippi & California - I'm in Indiana), until I went stir crazy, quit the job and moved to a local company so I could commute each day, and see the sunshine, rain, snow, etc.

I have a regime of starting at 5:30, at 7am I do 1/2 hour treadmill, then breakfast, work until 2 when it's 1/2 hour treadmill again, finish at 3:30 and get dinner started ready for the boss to get home. When I have code running (meaning I'm twiddling thumbs again) I just do an odd job like load/unload dishwasher, clean up a little. The same I did previously.
Logical is just in the name - don't expect it has anything to do with my thought process, because I AM the man who sold the world.


SP

Good advice there Lman, thanks, some gardening this evening has been a good start. Today, I also smashed my existing lunch record by having cheese on toast for the fifth day running.

filham

Thirty years ago when companies and home computers were becoming widely used the prediction was that a majority of people would soon be working from home. It never really happened but then at the same time we were told paper work would be reduced.

sunburywhite

This could change the way we work forever
Remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
I will be as good as I can be and when I cross the finishing line I will see what it got me


SP

Quote from: filham on March 20, 2020, 06:09:35 PM
Thirty years ago when companies and home computers were becoming widely used the prediction was that a majority of people would soon be working from home. It never really happened but then at the same time we were told paper work would be reduced.

Funny enough, I vividly recall a slot on 'Tomorrow's World' which predicted that by now, we'd have Leisure People who'd be paid to stay at home.  I always fancied that challenge!

bahay18

2 weeks into WFH . certainly recommend getting someone to hide the biscuits each morning . hopefully with lighter evenings coming the time normally spent on the train will be spent going for a run/walking dogs .


Logicalman

Quote from: filham on March 20, 2020, 06:09:35 PM
Thirty years ago when companies and home computers were becoming widely used the prediction was that a majority of people would soon be working from home. It never really happened but then at the same time we were told paper work would be reduced.

I remember all that jazz. It's funny, but when I moved over here, and started programming as a career, I always believed that would be true, but the biggest obstacle are the bosses who, and I firmly believe this is a case of self-reflection, basically do not trust their employees to effectively and efficiently work from home.
One issue are the civil rights bunch who believe that having nanny software installed on employees PCs is a violation of privacy, although such software would go a very long way to reducing the fears of those bosses that have that trust issue, and allow those that can work from home do so even without the need for a pandemic!
Logical is just in the name - don't expect it has anything to do with my thought process, because I AM the man who sold the world.


love4ffc

Great thread this.  Slightly changing the title to find out what is everyone doing at home to both keep busy and sane?

I find I have had to make some adjustments due to the virus but not as one would think. 

A short back story.  For the last 2.5 years I have become accustomed to being alone for about 70-80% of my time.  My wife has been working for the last 2.5 years out of town about 80% of the time and at least once every 4 months or so she is traveling somewhere for two weeks or more.  Both kids are in Uni so, that leaves me alone during the week most of time. 

To keep busy, I have loads I do.  First, we have a lovely house that I am slowly redecorating.  I have started going through each room to freshen it up.  Just finished redoing our master closet where I built built-in shelves and drawers.  Added pullout hampers and shoe racks for the wife.  Also changed the floors out from carpet to Cherry hardwoods.  Did that in both our master bedroom and the closet.   





I have a lot of other things that also are keeping me busy but remodeling the house has currently become the number one item on my list. 
Anyone can blend into the crowd.  How will you standout when it counts?

SP


Southcoastffc

Normally I play sport 4 days a week, probably taking up best part of half a day each time.  Now I'm largely in the garden, preparing the vegetable beds, sowing seeds and creosoting (using what passes for that these days) fences, sheds, gates etc.  Thankfully the good weather helps.  If/when it turns I've plenty of interior decorating I could do.  I have a very long list in my head but, crucially, I'm not writing that list down because if my wife saw it, she'd add to it!   Also, I've ordered an exercise bike, but at my age that's partly an investment for my future well being.
The world is made up of electrons, protons, neurons, possibly muons and, definitely, morons.


KingofCheese

Apart from the fact that we all work with Teams, Slack etc so we can continue to meet up on line for our work (IT) and the fact that we migrated most of our systems to the cloud, we are still really busy. Apart from that I spend my time avoiding my kids demands to jump on the trampoline and brew beer (that is a great hobby especially when the pubs are shut!). As I am not drinking for lent I am about 220 pints to the good and have plans for another 360 pints in the coming months - as long as I have enough bottles. Currently the plans are for a Kolsch, a Mild, a dry Stout (Guinness clone),  an Oatmeal Stout, a North German Alt Beer, a English Bitter/ESB  and a couple of single hop beers using two hops I haven't had before Fusion and Sabro.

Other than that I have mowed the lawn, walked the dogs and am getting the rowing machine and exercise bike out of the garage...I also have a long list of books I haven't read yet. I wont be bored!
Jullie Kaas is mijn Kaas

love4ffc

Quote from: SP on March 23, 2020, 06:41:39 PM
Lovely job & saved yourself a fortune there.
Thanks mate.  Wife went into a store front that only does closets.  The quote she got was a small fortune.  Problem is, now that I have done this she wants to know when I will be done with doing other rooms  :016:

On a different note.  With everyone home we find ourselves filling our time with family games.   We are playing more billards, spades card game, Uno gard game and old fashion puzzles.  It's been pretty good  :wine:
Anyone can blend into the crowd.  How will you standout when it counts?

Oakeshott

I read a piece in the "Times" recently by veteran journalist Max Hastings suggesting that this is the time to write "that book".

Last summer a comment by the actress Lea Seydoux made me ponder and prompted me to do something I had never previously thought of doing, begin to write a novel. I've used the last few weeks to finish it and make a start on a sequel.

For anyone tempted to take Hasting's advice, and be thinking of writing fiction, I would only say that I have found it a truly remarkable experience. The main characters seem to take on a life of their own, as if I was an observer of their lives rather than the author of them. And although inevitably it says something about my psychopathology, I can honestly say that as I read what they do, which of course I am writing, I sometimes find myself laughing and, rather more often, in tears.

Having published it on Wattpad I am not holding my breath waiting for Steven Spielberg to bid for the film rights, but there is some satisfaction in seeing it currently in the 800s from about 3.5k others.


love4ffc

Quote from: Oakeshott on March 23, 2020, 10:27:07 PM
I read a piece in the "Times" recently by veteran journalist Max Hastings suggesting that this is the time to write "that book".

Last summer a comment by the actress Lea Seydoux made me ponder and prompted me to do something I had never previously thought of doing, begin to write a novel. I've used the last few weeks to finish it and make a start on a sequel.

For anyone tempted to take Hasting's advice, and be thinking of writing fiction, I would only say that I have found it a truly remarkable experience. The main characters seem to take on a life of their own, as if I was an observer of their lives rather than the author of them. And although inevitably it says something about my psychopathology, I can honestly say that as I read what they do, which of course I am writing, I sometimes find myself laughing and, rather more often, in tears.

Having published it on Wattpad I am not holding my breath waiting for Steven Spielberg to bid for the film rights, but there is some satisfaction in seeing it currently in the 800s from about 3.5k others.

Any samples for us to read?
Anyone can blend into the crowd.  How will you standout when it counts?

Oakeshott

#16
Love4FFC

I'll need to think about what I can reasonably post, as will be obvious from the brief introduction:

"This is the first book in a series about two young women who meet, fall in love and marry. Unsurprisingly given their ages and that they start a relationship there is considerable sexual content, including references to when one of the two, Jenny, was sexually abused in her teens, some six years before the story starts.

The story is broadly contemporary and the first book is about how the two young women met, the development of their relationship and their work, successes and adventures over their first year together.

Later books will describe their lives and adventures thereafter."

PS

Thinking about it overnight, the current draft of the opening of the sequel hopefully gives a sense of the possibilities (and, appropriate for this forum, includes no sex). To the extent that I am conscious of "sources" for Jenny, they are a young lady I encountered many years ago when I attended her mental health review tribunal as an observer (she had been sent to a secure psychiatric unit rather than prison for killing her brother, who had raped her) and Becca Gallagher in the television series "Ultimate Force". The Hereford reference links to important elements of the first novel and provides one of the bases for the on-going story.

"Shortly after 7.30 on the first Saturday in September [    ] Jenny Clark woke up, went to the bathroom and then got herself a glass of apple juice. Back in their bedroom where Margaret was still asleep, she sat on the chair, sipping her drink and remembering exactly a year ago when, having woken, she had nearly twelve hours to wait before seeing Margaret at the Bristol. She had been so unhappy, almost sure that the evening would be the end of her hopes of an on-going relationship with Margaret. Yet her fear had proved entirely misplaced. After an awkward hour in the restaurant when neither she nor Margaret felt comfortable to talk, they had walked to Margaret's flat. Then almost immediately they found that the several days they had been apart following their return from the cottage where they had spent August had in no way changed the love each had declared for the other. They had spent that Saturday night together, and had not been apart for a single one since.

Married less than four months after that first night in the flat, they had had a worrying period when Margaret's father, Simon, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and hadn't been given the all clear until after his operation some weeks later. That apart, things had gone so well. From the time a year ago when Jenny was alone, with no family or friends, she was now married, had been welcomed into Margaret's family and had several really good friends. Margaret would be returning to Grenville High on Monday as the newly appointed head of the English department. Jenny had enjoyed her year there as a teaching assistant, the highlight being helping train one of the girls, Pamela Jackson, to win the national school girls cross country championship. And in the course of Pamela's training all three had developed a link to "Staff", in charge of fitness training and assessment with 22 Regiment, the SAS, and had spent the last few weeks at Hereford.

Being so much in love, with Simon clear of cancer, and her place at university, Jenny knew she should be very happy, but in truth she wasn't. She had been sad when she left Grenville High at the end of June and part of her wished she was returning, with Margaret, on Monday. Leaving Hereford on Friday, though she was scheduled to return next February and July, had upset her much more than she had expected, and part of her wished she had taken up the invitation to work as Staff's assistant. From being in jobs she enjoyed, at the local leisure centre and then at Grenville High, and making a real contribution at Hereford, she now felt adrift. She hoped she would enjoy university when she started in three weeks' time and knew that getting a degree was an important step on the road to becoming a qualified teacher. But in her heart she felt going to lectures, writing essays and taking exams would be dull compared with Grenville High and Hereford."


toshes mate

The great thing about working from home which I learned when I was writing my first computer programs is that you can work flat out and for long hours through a rich period of progress.  You may then have to break up a more stagnant period of blockage by regularly going for distracting walks on common land or even in a shopping centre until you get that Eureka Moment and the renewed energy to work flat out for as long as you can.  When you have a brain blockage then distract with something that takes your mind off the problem completely.  It is guaranteed to find you an answer even if the answer is asking someone else for help.


Logicalman

Quote from: toshes mate on March 24, 2020, 07:36:17 AM
The great thing about working from home which I learned when I was writing my first computer programs is that you can work flat out and for long hours through a rich period of progress.  You may then have to break up a more stagnant period of blockage by regularly going for distracting walks on common land or even in a shopping centre until you get that Eureka Moment and the renewed energy to work flat out for as long as you can.  When you have a brain blockage then distract with something that takes your mind off the problem completely.  It is guaranteed to find you an answer even if the answer is asking someone else for help.

Excellent advice, and I can attest to the veracity of this.
Logical is just in the name - don't expect it has anything to do with my thought process, because I AM the man who sold the world.

love4ffc

Quote from: Oakeshott on March 23, 2020, 11:35:01 PM
Love4FFC

I'll need to think about what I can reasonably post, as will be obvious from the brief introduction:

"This is the first book in a series about two young women who meet, fall in love and marry. Unsurprisingly given their ages and that they start a relationship there is considerable sexual content, including references to when one of the two, Jenny, was sexually abused in her teens, some six years before the story starts.

The story is broadly contemporary and the first book is about how the two young women met, the development of their relationship and their work, successes and adventures over their first year together.

Later books will describe their lives and adventures thereafter."

PS

Thinking about it overnight, the current draft of the opening of the sequel hopefully gives a sense of the possibilities (and, appropriate for this forum, includes no sex). To the extent that I am conscious of "sources" for Jenny, they are a young lady I encountered many years ago when I attended her mental health review tribunal as an observer (she had been sent to a secure psychiatric unit rather than prison for killing her brother, who had raped her) and Becca Gallagher in the television series "Ultimate Force". The Hereford reference links to important elements of the first novel and provides one of the bases for the on-going story.

"Shortly after 7.30 on the first Saturday in September [    ] Jenny Clark woke up, went to the bathroom and then got herself a glass of apple juice. Back in their bedroom where Margaret was still asleep, she sat on the chair, sipping her drink and remembering exactly a year ago when, having woken, she had nearly twelve hours to wait before seeing Margaret at the Bristol. She had been so unhappy, almost sure that the evening would be the end of her hopes of an on-going relationship with Margaret. Yet her fear had proved entirely misplaced. After an awkward hour in the restaurant when neither she nor Margaret felt comfortable to talk, they had walked to Margaret's flat. Then almost immediately they found that the several days they had been apart following their return from the cottage where they had spent August had in no way changed the love each had declared for the other. They had spent that Saturday night together, and had not been apart for a single one since.

Married less than four months after that first night in the flat, they had had a worrying period when Margaret's father, Simon, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and hadn't been given the all clear until after his operation some weeks later. That apart, things had gone so well. From the time a year ago when Jenny was alone, with no family or friends, she was now married, had been welcomed into Margaret's family and had several really good friends. Margaret would be returning to Grenville High on Monday as the newly appointed head of the English department. Jenny had enjoyed her year there as a teaching assistant, the highlight being helping train one of the girls, Pamela Jackson, to win the national school girls cross country championship. And in the course of Pamela's training all three had developed a link to "Staff", in charge of fitness training and assessment with 22 Regiment, the SAS, and had spent the last few weeks at Hereford.

Being so much in love, with Simon clear of cancer, and her place at university, Jenny knew she should be very happy, but in truth she wasn't. She had been sad when she left Grenville High at the end of June and part of her wished she was returning, with Margaret, on Monday. Leaving Hereford on Friday, though she was scheduled to return next February and July, had upset her much more than she had expected, and part of her wished she had taken up the invitation to work as Staff's assistant. From being in jobs she enjoyed, at the local leisure centre and then at Grenville High, and making a real contribution at Hereford, she now felt adrift. She hoped she would enjoy university when she started in three weeks' time and knew that getting a degree was an important step on the road to becoming a qualified teacher. But in her heart she felt going to lectures, writing essays and taking exams would be dull compared with Grenville High and Hereford."

I have always admired those who can write.  It is something that I have never been good at. 

Think your writing is very good and that you seem to be on to something.  Good luck with your book and your series.  When you become famous make sure to credit FoF for supporting you.   :wine:
Anyone can blend into the crowd.  How will you standout when it counts?