I’ve gathered a bunch of notes from conversations and time reflecting, thought I’d write them down to at least be able to look back at them once the storm has passed.
- I’m mindful about how much news I consume per day. I want to know how things are going and what has changed, but I don’t need to be immersed in it hour by hour. It has an emotional cost.
- I find that many people don’t understand why other people react (or don’t) the same way they do. It is the source of much friction in the world. Discussing differences is good, if done in a civil manner, because any other way doesn’t accomplish much.
- This could be the the data event of our lifetimes, but I’m struck by how we struggle to get good and timely data, and more than that, to visualize it in a way that is helpful for the non-data people of the world.
- I’ve put all the SQLOrlando meetups and other tasks on hold with the exception of the monthly email. We’ll probably do an online event in May and it’s just hard to look much beyond that right now. I’m torn between trying to provide a sense of normalcy versus just giving everyone time to deal with all the life changes. Maybe it’s not an OR.
- Obvious but worth nothing is that it is driving employers to learn about remote work and I think it’s surprising many. Interesting to think about how or if that changes things when the world returns to normal. Will it stick, or will use of office space decline?
- There is something to be said for trying to keep groups and teams together. We had an online lunch and learn at work this week of our chef making biscuits and taking cooking questions. That was to fill the gap of the company wide Wednesday lunch each week and it worked better than I would have thought.Related to that, the team I’m on is definitely noticing the remote affect. We’re used to lunching together at least a couple times a week.
- I have two teen daughters and they are both trying to adapt to distance learning. Good for them in the long run I think, but they are definitely missing the structure of school (even if they won’t admit it!).
- And related to that, the first day/week on the tech side of distance learning was a little rough, not unexpected, but should improve quickly
- Our high school issued around 800 laptops. I’m remembering the one laptop per child project and wishing that was a national goal.
- I’m surprised that there are so many unknowns around non-N95 masks.
- Over time I expect more of our leaders at all levels to get more things right as consensus builds and they can see what works and what doesn’t. That is not a political statement at all, just how life works.
- And I suppose this is a political statement of sorts, it’s long past time to separate employment from health insurance. It’s crushing to be out of work, but then to have to deal with losing insurance on top of that is miserable.
- It’s a challenge to make the weekend the mental break you need. The days run together, there aren’t many places to go safely, and so far I haven’t figured that out entirely.
- Back to SQLOrlando for a minute, we have over the last couple of years slowly built up a cash reserve for a rainy day. It’s raining pretty hard, so at some point in May or June I think we’ll look to see how we use that to benefit our members or the community. We’ll do what we can.
- I feel like I’m working harder than I normally do, or task switching more, or both. That’s something I need to manage better going forward.
- Be mindful. Be Kind. Work the Problem.
- I feel like this is the kind of challenge America is best at. As has often been the case we’re starting out a little behind where we should have been, but we’re in the game now.
