What have you learned while being quarantined?

mulemom said:

 Actually, I've never been on Zoom at all, ever, not even once - I'm learning Welsh from a site called Duolingo where you can study any of many languages for free (yes, even Klingon!) 
smile

https://www.duolingo.com/

OK I guess I was over-inclusive saying "everyone!" Learning Welsh sounds very cool indeed. A part of me would also like to learn Klingon. A very small part to be sure - but a part. 


DaveSchmidt said:

Morganna said:

mulemom said:

I'm learning to speak Welsh.  Though I haven't figured out yet in what circumstance I might need to know how to say "are you enjoying painting the ceiling" in Welsh.

 That sounds interesting. A branch of my family seems to point in that direction. Maybe start a thread and teach us a few words? The spelling looks pretty challenging.

MOL thread mashup:

A Man for All Seasons was on TCM the other night. Classic line, when Thomas More confronts a betrayer who has been appointed attorney general for Wales:

“Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world.

“But for Wales.” 

 Unfortunately he quotes the King James version which wasn't produced until the following century. And at this point, his church didn't believe that the bible should be translated into English.


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I've learned how much I love coffee. Driving to work everyday I drank coffee every morning but now I'm drinking it (mostly decaf) all day. And now I realize how wonderful coffee is with breakfast! With lunch! With dinner! With conference calls! With TV! With the newspaper! With crossword puzzles! With MOL! (And what a good alternative it is to booze.)

 You're lucky. If I had that much coffee my post would look like this:

I'velearnedhowmuchIlovecoffee.DrivingtoworkeverydayIdrankcoffeeeverymorningbutnowI'mdrinkingit(mostlydecaf)allday.AndnowIrealizehowwonderfulcoffeeiswithbreakfast!Withlunch!Withdinner!Withconferencecalls!WithTV!With the newspaper!Withcrosswordpuzzles!WithMOL!(Andwhatagoodalternativeitistobooze.)


jonesey said:

 Unfortunately he quotes the King James version which wasn't produced until the following century. And at this point, his church didn't believe that the bible should be translated into English.

Ah! Maybe it was his own off-the-top-of-his-head (soon to be made moot) translation, then, and the King James version was quoting him.


I've learned that I will order a can of Chef Boyardee online even though I would never, ever buy it while shopping in a store.  

I've also learned that it is really easy to go back to my natural sleep pattern of staying up late and getting up late even though for the last twenty years I've trained myself to go to bed early so that I can get up early.


steel said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

I've learned how much I love coffee. Driving to work everyday I drank coffee every morning but now I'm drinking it (mostly decaf) all day. And now I realize how wonderful coffee is with breakfast! With lunch! With dinner! With conference calls! With TV! With the newspaper! With crossword puzzles! With MOL! (And what a good alternative it is to booze.)

 You're lucky. If I had that much coffee my post would look like this:

I'velearnedhowmuchIlovecoffee.DrivingtoworkeverydayIdrankcoffeeeverymorningbutnowI'mdrinkingit(mostlydecaf)allday.AndnowIrealizehowwonderfulcoffeeiswithbreakfast!Withlunch!Withdinner!Withconferencecalls!WithTV!With the newspaper!Withcrosswordpuzzles!WithMOL!(Andwhatagoodalternativeitistobooze.)

 Here's my dirty little secret: I don't drink coffee with caffeine.


It's a dog's world now.

I never realized quite how many dogs there are in Maplewood. Every time I go for a walk it is dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs walking their owners. Bow wow wow.


I knew I leaned a bit introvert... but I'm learning more about how introverted I really am. I found an article that touched on a bit of this, and the applicable headline and sentence was:

An introvert's plea: Let me socially distance in peace

...But the notion that introverts suddenly have it made while we're all ordered to stay in is wildly misplaced. Our home life -- traditionally a refuge for laying low and recharging social batteries -- is suddenly required to be all things at once.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/opinions/introverts-during-covid-19-pandemic-stewart/index.html

I'm realizing that someone I supervise craves human interaction to get motivated to work, and it takes a lot out of me to provide that motivation. My work-from-home days used to rarely have a meeting. They were blissfully quiet days when I would get a lot accomplished. Especially since I didn't have to get out of pj's. 

Now my WFH days have multiple video Webex's, so I dress for work. We have Teams chats going. Then there's my family, who are amazing and I'm extremely grateful for -- but I miss the calm. Even when everything is quiet, I can feel overstimulated just from their walking around in my vicinity. 

I realized I was up until 4am last night just to have some time to unwind with no one around. I'm aware that I'm extremely fortunate -- and I'm also understanding more about why I'm feeling mentally and physically tired so often. 


I haven’t used zoom, but I can tell you from other life experiences,  never trust the mute button.  Never. 


spontaneous said:

I haven’t used zoom, but I can tell you from other life experiences,  never trust the mute button.  Never. 

 I, and I'm sure many of my colleagues working in radio - and the media, generally - have always been warned to treat every microphone as 'live', unless you can physically ascertain that it has been removed from the circuit, and any batteries which might be in it have been removed.


DaveSchmidt said:

MOL thread mashup:

A Man for All Seasons was on TCM the other night. Classic line, when Thomas More confronts a betrayer who has been appointed attorney general for Wales:

“Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world.

“But for Wales.” 

 Meet you back at the movie thread. Pick your favorite line from Apocalypse Now.


marksierra said:

spontaneous said:

I haven’t used zoom, but I can tell you from other life experiences,  never trust the mute button.  Never. 

 I, and I'm sure many of my colleagues working in radio - and the media, generally - have always been warned to treat every microphone as 'live', unless you can physically ascertain that it has been removed from the circuit, and any batteries which might be in it have been removed.

 I just know of someone who used to answer phone calls at a PD and would use the mute button on their phone to take out their frustrations with stupid callers by making snide comments, and one day the mute button didn’t work


I have learned that if I’m not really going anywhere or seeing anyone, I have absolutely no problem pulling together - and I use that term loosely - “outfits” that could easily have come from a lost and found bin at any train station or bus depot. I looked down today at my black cardigan over an old college T and my jeans that are so worn through they could split at any time and thought, “what the hell? I’M adding a mask and gloves anyway, and I’m only going food shopping.” It may be hard to get back into the habit of regular hair brushing. 


HatsOff said:

I think I've learned that I can't stand video conferencing!! I

My job has used video conferencing for a long time because people are scattered around. Very few people activate their cameras. (Mostly the marketing people.) We all need to see the info being displayed on the presenter's screen, but nobody needs to see us. For several users who haven't figured out how to disable their camera, their picture is a blue blur of the painter's tape covering their camera lens.


kthnry said:

HatsOff said:

I think I've learned that I can't stand video conferencing!! I

My job has used video conferencing for a long time because people are scattered around. Very few people activate their cameras. (Mostly the marketing people.) We all need to see the info being displayed on the presenter's screen, but nobody needs to see us. For several users who haven't figured out how to disable their camera, their picture is a blue blur of the painter's tape covering their camera lens.

 same here. We use webex a lot, but no one turns on their video.


kthnry said:

My job has used video conferencing for a long time because people are scattered around. Very few people activate their cameras. (Mostly the marketing people.) We all need to see the info being displayed on the presenter's screen, but nobody needs to see us. For several users who haven't figured out how to disable their camera, their picture is a blue blur of the painter's tape covering their camera lens.

There is an expectation we will turn on our cameras, at least so far. The meetings I have been in have had all cameras activated, not one person with video off. And there have been no presentations or visuals of any kind, other than the backdrops of our workplace that the brown nosers have been using.

In normal life my job involves many, many teleconferences. I am used to living life on my phone and do not understand why we can't do this work using our phones. It is crazy!

But to answer my own question, I think maybe it is because my boss wants to go around the "room" to get reports and she relies on the visuals so as not to forget somebody. The raise hands feature also helps ensure people can chime in, whereas phone makes that a little harder. I am prepared to cut her a break for using Zoom, but don't like the expectation of being visible and really really can't stand the dumb backgrounds.

.


Would love to not have the cameras on, but our leadership is pushing "the wonders of human connection!", and encouraging sending photos of our home workspaces, our pets,... etc...


sprout said:

Would love to not have the cameras on, but our leadership is pushing "the wonders of human connection!", and encouraging sending photos of our home workspaces, our pets,... etc...

Told my kids to cover the webcam with tape unless they’re in a scheduled online class with their teacher.   At my fourth grader’s first class the teacher had the students turn off their cameras.  Apparently human connection among 9 and 10 year olds can be distracting from the lesson  oh oh


sprout said:

Would love to not have the cameras on, but our leadership is pushing "the wonders of human connection!", and encouraging sending photos of our home workspaces, our pets,... etc...

 I've been greeting my team on Slack every morning just to say hello. A couple times a week our cat says hello. So far he seems to be pretty popular. So far. 


DaveSchmidt said:

MOL thread mashup:

A Man for All Seasons was on TCM the other night. Classic line, when Thomas More confronts a betrayer who has been appointed attorney general for Wales:

“Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world.

“But for Wales.” 

 The incredible Paul Scofield was never outdone in the role of Thomas More.   


ml1 said:

 I've been greeting my team on Slack every morning just to say hello. A couple times a week our cat says hello. So far he seems to be pretty popular. So far. 

 His photo definitely livens up the thread title. Please share his name so we can give him the proper salutation.


DottyParker1 said:

 The incredible Paul Scofield was never outdone in the role of Thomas More.   

 Please join us on the Movie Talk thread.


Morganna said:

 HIs photo definitely livens up the thread title. Please share his name so we can give him the proper salutation.

 that's Finn.  


I have learned that I am not much of a baker. I kind of enjoy it though, and at this point, maybe that's enough.


I have learned that I have friends who are even better human beings than I’d previously realized, and I thought they were pretty great to begin with. 


I learned that some people are even competitive about how well they quarantine and I should probably stay at last six feet away from social media.

Two nice Zoom experiences this week: the high school fencing awards and a live acoustic happy hour concert with my company.


I leaned that what I thought was a neighbor’s cat is actually feral.  And pregnant.  And liked my barn enough to pop out her babies inside it.  And is smart enough to repeatedly go into the live trap, eat the food bait, and walk out again without setting it off.  I’m thinking of naming her Houdini 




spontaneous said:

I leaned that what I thought was a neighbor’s cat is actually feral.  And pregnant.  And liked my barn enough to pop out her babies inside it.  And is smart enough to repeatedly go into the live trap, eat the food bait, and walk out again without setting it off.  I’m thinking of naming her Houdini 



 Is there a local rescue who can help you? Most rescues will take a feral mom and kittens if they can return the mom spayed after kittens are weaned. You can PM me if you need help finding one.


spontaneous said:

I leaned that what I thought was a neighbor’s cat is actually feral.  And pregnant.  And liked my barn enough to pop out her babies inside it.  And is smart enough to repeatedly go into the live trap, eat the food bait, and walk out again without setting it off.  I’m thinking of naming her Houdini 



 Houdini would be the perfect name.  She's also smart enough to find a nice human like you who will help her and her kittens.


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