When Time Is On Your Hands

Day 24,439: For the Love of Software

Are you sheltered in place? Is time suddenly feeling different?

In this household, Mondays through Fridays are filled with remote work, but I have more time from saving at least two hours of daily commutes.  I’m also saving time in deciding what to wear — jeans and a shirt – and having more time to sleep. I’ve turned off my phone alarm and now wake to the sun with more than enough time to shower, dress, eat breakfast and be at my computer at 9AM — at least 15 minutes earlier than I usually boot up at work.

I’m one of those people who is rarely bored with more things I want to learn than I still have time for. I’m frustrated that I recently purchased three different tutorial books for various software programs and left them all at work!  I’ll now have to figure out a new way to learn with an online tutorial.

The good news is that there are more online resources than ever before with everyone from yoga instructors to chefs putting programs online frequently for free. I’m currently taking a course on InstaPot cooking from Milkstreet in Boston for free! Tonight, I made a great sweet potato dish with a coconut-cashew topping so hats off to Milk Street.  They have a series of courses including one on Improv Cooking, which might best for these times when you might be missing an ingredient in your own magic pantry for a recipe and not be able to run out and get it!

The cooking classes are not helping me improve my software skills on some programs that continue to elude me, but then again it was the weekend and I, like everyone else, needed a break from the seriousness of the news and its effect on work.  I got an email today from work about budget cutbacks. It wasn’t unexpected, but it would have been nice if the sender had waited until Monday to impart the news. Harvard Business Review even has articles and tips entitled “No, Really, Don’t E-mail Your Team on the Weekends.” One of the guys at work didn’t get the memo.

So instead of stressing, I cooked sweet potatoes.  I’m also steaming bunches of artichokes. There was no run on artichokes at my local Acme, so I’ve been indulging in them for the past week.  My husband reminded me that during the last recession we ate lobster, which for some odd reason was selling for less per pound at the time than chicken so we went for it. It felt decadent, but money talks and we went for the cheapest protein of the week. We were just surprised at what it turned out to be!

So here in times of extreme stress I wish you fine wine, sweet potatoes with cashews and coconut, and maybe even some lobster when the weather warms up. For now, chicken is still the better bet and seemingly in more supply than other sources of protein. Eat sanely and nutritionally, stay as healthy as possible, and, of course, stay safe and wash your hands! Having time on your hands is not such a bad thing.

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A Moment on Gun Sanity:  While some are stocking up on toilet paper and food, others are on lines for ammo. If you’re scared of Covid-19, find ways to fight it other than stocking up on AK-47s and magazine rounds. If I’m scared of anything it’s the Fear Virus not the Corona Virus.  I’m willing to fight the Corona Virus with everyone with everything we have. That’s a fight we can be in together.