Monday 04 May 2020
Britney (my robot, named after Britney Spears, long story) and I had our first fight yesterday. I was on the couch having virtual Sunday brunch with friends while Britney was working her magic around the room. Suddenly I heard a strange whirring noise and she started beeping loudly, crying for attention. I excused myself from brunch, searched for Britney, and found her wrapped up in a lamp cord somewhere in a corner. As I freed her from captivity, I mutteringly wondered how she managed to burrito herself in a cord that was tucked away to begin with. Pretty soon she was on her way again, I made sure that the cord was really out of reach, and returned to brunch. Within two minutes it became apparant that I had done a bad job at mitigating the cord risk because the same cringy whirring noise was back and Britney raised the alarm.
Thoroughly annoyed, I put brunch on hold once again and walked over to Britney while spewing expletives. In the heat of the moment I also loudly called her a [bad word] and I admit she did not deserve that. But, karma being karma, I also learned that Britney understands Dutch, because as soon as I liberated her from the same hostile cord, she mowed right over my bare feet.
Today I’m still wondering whether calling her a [bad word] justifies biting my feet off.
Wednesday 06 May 2020
I have never been more familiar with my neighborhood than I am now. This doesn’t come as too big a surprise since I’ve been walking around the area at least once a day for the past 7 weeks, but what is a surprise - at least to me - is the number of new babies that arrived in the meantime, in this area only.
What is going on? Is it breeding season? Have there always been this many births, but have I just not noticed it before? Is the demographic of my neighborhood such that everyone is in the reproducing stage of their lives? (I’m betting my money on the latter hypothesis)
Anyone out there who can clarify?
Friday 08 May 2020
My employer is preparing the office buildings to meet the 1,5m standards, and once the government gives a Go we’ll be returning to the office in phases and with targeted groups. I don’t expect to fall in any of the first groups that can work from the office again, but I actually don’t mind.
I’ve come to realize that commuting is a disproportionally inefficient utilization of time, even when you combine the commute time with something useful, such as listening to an audio book or reading a book. Depending on traffic and depending on the client’s location, my commute ranges from 40 to 90 minutes one-way (my worst commute time was 2 hours to and from Alkmaar, with heavy traffic). That adds up to 80-180 minutes per day of sitting.
What I find even worse is that I would always get in a squeeze with my evening plans. If I have dinner plans with a friend I would often run late and if I have a gym class scheduled it’s impossible to time my dinner well, so I resort to finishing half of my dinner one hour in advance of the workout and eating the rest when I get home.
So, I am loving this commute-free life. I have enough time to plan multiple things in one evening AND almost never run late anymore AND be in bed at a reasonable hour.
Ah, but there is one flaw. If the client decides to return to the office, including external consultants, I might have to give up this commute-free life. Hmm.
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