Serious question....

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

I think those of us that are old curmudgeon introverts are having an easier time than extroverts are.

I feel for the extroverts.  Not a situation to laugh at.  Serious business.

The Pandemic is serious business, but extroverts getting a taste of the opposite side of the coin for a while will be good for things down the road. I swear, now is the time to see "How to keep quiet, be introspective and enjoy life" articles instead of "How to be overcome introvert tendencies and be normal" articles.

THAT SAID... home remodel, fishing, woodworking, Zoom cocktail party, social distancing cookout while masked, take a drive, write a book, read a book, do pushups, the list goes on.

There's plenty to do. If you're bored, you're choosing to be bored. You gotta make the mental adjustment to get though this. It might not be easy. 

Brett_Murphy (Forum Patrón) said:

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

I think those of us that are old curmudgeon introverts are having an easier time than extroverts are.

I feel for the extroverts.  Not a situation to laugh at.  Serious business.

The Pandemic is serious business, but extroverts getting a taste of the opposite side of the coin for a while will be good for things down the road. I swear, now is the time to see "How to keep quiet, be introspective and enjoy life" articles instead of "How to be overcome introvert tendencies and be normal" articles.

THAT SAID... home remodel, fishing, woodworking, Zoom cocktail party, social distancing cookout while masked, take a drive, write a book, read a book, do pushups, the list goes on.

There's plenty to do. If you're bored, you're choosing to be bored. You gotta make the mental adjustment to get though this. It might not be easy. 

As an extreme extrovert,  I'm struggling. But im doing all those suggestions,  and keeping mostly sane. Having the munchkin down with me helps. She's an extrovert as well.

Mom still testing negative at the nursing home. They kept it to two infections. So far....

Covid infection rate is actually slowing down in Dallas. Maybe the worst is over. 

Cell phone died the other day. So much for refurbished hundred dollar iPhones. New one ordered. Hope I can afford the payments in the future. 

Parts to car projects already ordered and paid for. Some not delivered yet. Getting anything delivered is a bitch. It's got to suck being a UPS driver. 

Things slowing down at work. Money is getting tight. Clients are complaining about costs. I am a cost. 

This could turn from bad, to worse to Hell on Earth in the blink of an eye. It keeps me up at night. 

But there are lots of work from home jobs listed in my field and we have fast internet at home. 

Last night I was up building model cars at 2 in the morning to keep my mind off of the bad things. It's insane. Like watching a slow motion train crash from the middle of the train. You know where it's going. It's taking forever to get there. But you know where it's going and it's going to hurt. 

Stampie (FS) said:

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

Maybe Patrick the elder has moved onto Polish grandmothers.  He is getting older you know.

In reply to bobzilla :

Have you asked your doctor if there's something you can do for that?  Maybe additional pills or a different medicine without the side effects.

Haven't been on any pills for almost a year now. Apparently rewired my brain chemistry temporarily if not permanently. YAY. 

mtn: I haven't watched news (other than the 5 minutes of local news for the weather/traffic) in months. We don't have cable, so all the commercials all the time when we watch our fave tv shows. I refuse to participate in any discussions anywhere but here on anything remotely related to the topics at hand and I really onlt visit here during work hours to help not got stabby with a spork.

In reply to STM317 :

Race truck needs a lot of work right now that I don't have the spare time and energy for. 

In reply to Snowdoggie :

I just orderd a new back for my refurb iPhail8 and I already had a new battery. We'll see if I can mate the new pieces together tonight

bobzilla said:

In reply to STM317 :

Race truck needs a lot of work right now that I don't have the spare time and energy for. 

SAME!

In reply to bobzilla :

Mine needed a new battery the day after I bought it. It made a $100 referb phone into a $160 referb phone. 

Last month it was going crazy with the ghost touch disease and having trouble holding a charge. 

Two nights ago the connection to the screen went out. 

Shortly after that the screen got smashed. It had something to do with me throwing it against the wall multiple times. It's damned hard to kill anything in an Otterbox. (No, this is not an ad for Otterbox.)

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

work from home is NOT the vacation I thought it would be

I've heard this a lot from friends/family on social media. 

Not saying you, but apparently there are a lot of people who think "working from home" means drinking wine at 10 am and watching The Price is Right. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I also think that working from home plays bad mental tricks on some people. 
 

Work is work. With all it's stresses, aggravations, etc. At the end of the day you get to go home. 
 

Home is home.  It is a safe place. An oasis. A place you fill with the things you care about and enjoy, and the people you love. It's where you get away. It's where you have your own things, and hobbies, and life. It's you. It's where you go to get away from work. 
 

Or, it could be the reverse. Maybe things aren't so good at home, and you go to work to get away from the home stresses and feel good about yourself.
 

No surprise that it kinda sucks to work from home.  It combines 2 universes that are separate for very good and healthy reasons. 

z31maniac said:

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

work from home is NOT the vacation I thought it would be

I've heard this a lot from friends/family on social media. 

Not saying you, but apparently there are a lot of people who think "working from home" means drinking wine at 10 am and watching The Price is Right. 

Yeah. It is nice in that it allows me to sleep in longer, I can eat lunch with my wife, and I can give her a chance to shower. But that is about the only difference if you're doing it right. 

It helps that probably 10-15% of our company was permanent WFH before all of this, and another 20% was part time WFH, so it was somewhat usual already... Of course, with COVID it isn't a "normal" WFH situation anyways for many. A lot of folks in my office would be WFH until the summer, when they would come into the office because their kids were at home. That is obviously not happening now.

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I also think that working from home plays bad mental tricks on some people. 
 

Work is work. With all it's stresses, aggravations, etc. At the end of the day you get to go home. 
 

Home is home.  It is a safe place. An oasis. A place you fill with the things you care about and enjoy, and the people you love. It's where you get away. It's where you have your own things, and hobbies, and life. It's you. It's where you go to get away from work. 
 

Or, it could be the reverse. Maybe things aren't so good at home, and you go to work to get away from the home stresses and feel good about yourself.
 

No surprise that it kinda sucks to work from home.  It combines 2 universes that are separate for very good and healthy reasons. 

That is a good point. Since I've always worked at least 2 days per week from home with my current job, I have an "office" in one of the other bedrooms. And I don't really spend any time in this room unless I'm "logged in." 

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I also think that working from home plays bad mental tricks on some people. 
 

Work is work. With all it's stresses, aggravations, etc. At the end of the day you get to go home. 
 

Home is a safe place. An oasis. A place you fill with the things you care about and enjoy, and the people you love. It's where you get away. It's where you have your own things, and hobbies, and life. It's you. It's where you go to get away from work. 
 

Or, it could be the reverse. Maybe things aren't so good at home, and you go to work to get away from the home stresses and feel good about yourself.
 

No surprise that it kinda sucks to work from home. 

For this, it REALLY helps to have an office that is just an office. Bonus points if it can go in a detached garage or the basement. Many do not have space for that in the house, or refuse to make space for that in the house (do you really need a guest room that is a dedicated guest room?)

Additionally, when you sign off, SIGN THE berkeley OFF AND DO NOT GET BACK ON.

In reply to z31maniac :

same here. When I get to actually work from home I have the office set up and I work. I'm not there to play with the dog, or talk to the wife or any other number of things. I am working

In addition to looking forward to when all this social distancing and partial lockdowns are over, here are some more near term things I'd like to accomplish.

First, my '66 Dart is the recipient or victim of my first engine rebuild. I'm looking forward to getting that finished.

I wrote something that was supposed to be a novel. It turned out a novella a bit over 30,000 words - a really bad length to market. It looks like I will need to either stretch it into a novel, cut it down to a short story, or maybe reformat it as a screenplay. Or try all at once. And then see if I can find a publisher or producer who's interested.

There are a couple items of mine in the Ridiculous Coronavirus Purchases thread. Taking my son out on the inflatable raft has been a lot of fun - I wish my wife and daughter would be interested in going too, but they haven't been. I also brewed up another batch of ale - that one's going to be ready to drink pretty soon.

Part of me had been thinking "You don't have a commute anymore - you should be getting a lot more done!" Then I remind myself that my volume of work has gone up and I have actually gotten some minor home improvement projects done that have been bugging my wife for a while. Just not anything big. (Note that now I'm spending 3 days working from home and 2 at the office.)

I had been doing a great job of balancing slow at work with lots of car and home projects.  Unfortunately work has come back in a big way which is both good and bad. 

Caddy puked a rocker and I need to tear the freshly built motor all back apart to track down all the loose needle bearings.  I've been dailying the Rabbit but it is about to puke a front passenger wheel bearing.  I have all the goodies on hand to do the wheel bearing.  I have the boneyard hubs yanked apart but still have to pull the old races off the hub insert and get the new setup all pressed back together. 

Just need the time to do it all...

More bummed for my son who has been looking forward to football all year long and now appears they will be able to practice and scrimage only with no games till 12/31.  They are pretty broken hearted about it.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bobzilla :

Are y'all berkeleying enough? Srsly, berkeleying really brightens my mood.

I've been getting berked, but it's not the same thing you're talking about. 

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

Yes. Even at lunch, too many people continue to sit at their computer or desk and casually work a little. If it's nice out, I get up and go take the Miata for a quick drive. Or play some PS4, watch a little TV, but I get away. One thing that is common at my work is to see people say, "I'll be on vacation next. I will occasionally check email and Slack and be available by phone if you need me." I already don't have Slack or Outlook on my phone because they don't pay for my phone and I'm not salary. Even if I was salary, I'm not responding to Slack messages over the weekend or after work hours. I've always wondered if people do this because they feel guilty for not getting enough done or what, but I'm the exact opposite, when I take vacation:

"I'll be out on PTO. I will not be looking at email, Slack, or probably even my phone. If you need something, contact X. I'll return to the office Y"

In reply to bobzilla :

That's good. My office isn't a complete sanctuary because my guitars are also in here and at some point, the sim rig will be too. But I don't have a problem being available and getting my stuff done so I can checkout ontime or early.

In reply to z31maniac :

it is if I could actually use it. Our work load has jumped almost overnight and I have 60+ microscope samples that can't be done remotely

Maybe some smaller things to look forward to as a means to get by week to week or month to month.

It sounds like work is too busy but TNIA at Gingerman on August 13th if you can take some time off would be a great opportunity for track time before next years One Lap.

The Fort Wayne region has our next autocross on August 16th at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. It's our best local venue. If you want a change of pace, co-drive Spin_outs former 2006 Miata with me in STR. Not the fastest thing out there, but a change of pace is always good. Maybe even bum a ride/drive from Ozzy in the H Veloster car if he is running. 

In reply to bobzilla :

That sucks. They "released" guidelines this week for "when" the offices open back up. Keep in mind, every single person in the OKC office, sans the Office Admin/Manager, can do their job remotely with no issues. When the office opens back up we are to do the following:
 

1. Wear a mask at all times.
2. Do not gather in public areas like the break room.
3. Only use the main entrance door so the other two don't have to be constantly sanitized. 
4. Do not conduct in-person meetings, sit at your desk and still use Zoom.
5. Reserve days to be in the office so we can keep numbers low.

I don't see the point in doing any of this.

Granted they have told us that, once the office does open, that people who can work from home successfully or are uncomfortable can continue to work from home. My lady has an immune disease, so I may never have to go back into the office.
 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

What's there to look forward to?  This crap finally lifting and us going back to normal.

If you're too busy 'looking forward' into the rear view mirror, you might just miss the next corner.

This post is probably going to sound either very fluffy, or come across like I'm an jerk... but it's not intended that way.

As much as I miss my old, pre-covid life, I am bloody thriving.  I miss going out to dinner at the piano bar, listening to my friend perform, and meeting/hugging new people.  I miss working at the theater.  But I have always thrived in the unknown.  I know that sounds like "put on a smile and rainbows and unicorns will dance on marshmallow streams," but it isn't.  I was always the one family member that looked forward to adversity just so I could figure things out.  I remember when I was about 6 we got caught in a blizzard on the way to the grandparents for Christmas and had to accept the generosity of some nice folks who let us crash at their house.  I loved it.  I should have been like most other kids; "how will Santa find me," or "I want to see Grandma and Grandpa," or "this is boring."  But I wasn't.  Mom was all worried about having enough food for all the kids, Dad was worried about not being able to call and let the old folks know they were ok, and I was like, "this is so cool.  Let's see how we can do something fun."

Heck, just a couple weeks ago I was camping and SWMBO wanted a cocktail.  She had rum and I had club soda, and I remembered I packed some canned fruit cocktail.  Bingo, fruit juice and simple syrup on demand.  I even found some Pennyroyal mint by the creek for a garnish.  It wasn't exactly an artisan concoction, but the very fact that it sucked was what made it so awesome.  I will never forget the taste of that freaky rum punch.

I'm not saying you should just get over it.... far from it.  Saying you should react to a stimulus the same as I do is just ridiculous. This stupid bug is wrecking normal life, the economy, killing people, raising stress levels, and generally robbing us of normal life.  But I do reflect on how there are billions of people in the world right now who never did have the things I do, and never will.  If they get Covid, they don't have access to healthcare.  They don't even have TV or internet, and they still have to work like a dog for $1 a day so they can survive.  If they don't harvest a crop, successfully hunt and kill an animal, walk 5 miles to get water, or any other task that I don't have to do to survive, they might die.

I try to keep a perspective.  Compared to normal life, it sucks.  But (at least at my house) things are pretty beautiful.  I have my health, a smart phone, a laptop, and after Ramen noodle purchases, three pennies to rub together to do house projects.   My E36 M3ty corona-life is still pretty darn beautiful.  Far from normal, but to me personally, that is an awesome and fun thing.

Above all, man, lean on friends like you're doing now.

You all have motivated me.  I have the rabbit hubs torn apart, prepped, and painted for reassembly tomorrow.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

At least your smartphone works. Mine doesn't. That sucks.