Social Distancing Week 6 - Productivity
I took some time off work this week; partly to set a good example for my team and partly because I needed it. I’ve been going flat out since January and it has become clear from all my meetings and discussions with co-workers that even though my company is accustomed to working from home, social distancing lock down is taking it’s toll on us. Unplugging from work helps keep it all in perspective. I’m fortunate that actually using the PTO my company gives me isn’t going to count against me at work. Not everyone is so lucky to be in that situation.
I’ve tried to keep it productive and learn new skills:
Cutting my hair extra short
I’ve been tempted to take the clipper guard down a notch or two for a few years now. A month or two more of staying at home seemed like a great excuse to try it out. I’m currently debatng whether or not to go even shorter on the sides. If I don’t like it, I can always buzz my hair all the way down.
Relearn my digital art programs
Back in high school I did lots of 3D animation and visual effects classes and personal projects. The results of those projects have not aged particularly well, but they formed the foundation of digital production skills that now in 2020 feel more like fundamental computer literacy that skills specific to people working in the digital creative arts. I signed up for Skillshare using a code from a favorite podcast and am going to take some tutorial classes. You can learn most of these skills off of Youtube, but finding highly reviewed classes with a more clear progression program seemed like a more compressed form of learning.
My first course was five hours long, but took less time as you can watch in fast forward. The parts that had not changed since the early days of After Effects were very consumable on 2.0X speed. Jake Bartlett’s “Beginners Guide to After Effects”
Pizza Redemption
Not all of my extra food learnings have been pizza related. I’ve made five or six new-to-me dishes from the internet and cook books since all this started. However, after a over-charred experience last week, I did secure pizza redemption: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/hot-and-sweet-soppressata-and-fennel-grandma-pie. I’m going to take a week off of pizza
(edit - removed pic)
Moving Board Game Night Online
The best part about board game night is seeing a group of DC area friends in an offline distraction free environment. I’m lucky enogh to be in a board game sports league. With no way to play that game online that we are happy with, we switched to using a program called Tabletop Simulator. So far we’ve played Wiz War and Cosmic Encounter successfully.