Human Archives

Reclamation

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Pelican Flying

Like many people, my life was hit hard by the pandemic. My two decades-long hobbies halted abruptly. Swimming and playing in orchestra are my two life lines, both regular fixtures in my life for over twenty years.

I began lap swimming in the 1990’s to rehabilitate my leg after an accident. Instead of physiotherapy, I used to swim three times a week. After two years my leg was healed and I had a new routine. When the pandemic hit, followed by waves of severe lock downs, it was impossible to find an open pool. After avoiding pools, and public places in general, I finally dusted off my swim cap. I found a few public pools with lap hours that fit my schedule. I made a plan to go once a week, starting slow at first. Then Omicron.

I started ensemble playing practically the same week I started playing bassoon in the 1980’s. The two are inseparable in my mind. Practicing by myself is lonely without the thought that orchestra would be a possibility again. I reached out to a local orchestra and discovered there might be an opening for me starting this year. Then Omicron. Now I’m not sure if there will be more delays.

The constant starting and stopping of my beloved routines has been disruptive. When the pandemic started, it was hard to not to fixate on all the things I couldn’t do. Things I loved so dearly. Slowly, over time, without realizing, I found new ways to reclaim the missing parts of my life. It happened quietly and with an imperceptible detection. In fact, I didn’t realize what had happened until I was preparing holiday gifts for my friends.

This year I made homemade granola for everyone. Some even had raisins I made myself in my dehydrator. All of a sudden I realized my new hobby, and passion, had become food preservation. I’ve always hated food waste. I suppose since we started bulk buying groceries to avoid frequent trips to the grocery store, we were no longer able to finish everything before it went bad. My first project was learning how to dehydrate fruit. Now I’m about to expand production to homemade yogurt.

In this small way, I’ve been able to reclaim some of the many things lost, or missing, due to the pandemic.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

It’s Just Math

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Against my better judgement, I went to a store on Christmas Eve to buy something. It wasn’t a gift, but something I wanted to start using over the extended break. When I entered the store, a worker informed me the computers were down. She explained I could either put my items on hold and pick them up later, when the machines were working. Or go through the manual process.

I think I was the first sale of the day. I placed my items on the counter amidst a flurry of activity. Someone whipped out a paper receipt pad. Another person started muttering about the back-up manual. I didn’t think too much of it, until I saw the cashier. I don’t want to seem ageist, but this particular cashier was from a generation where kids are no longer taught the basics and fine art of math. Smart phone out, she looked ready. Luckily, a more senior cashier stepped in. The first cashier didn’t even know how to figure out sales tax.

To add to the complication, there were two separate tax charges. A lower tax (5%) for the clothing and a higher one (13%) for the other item. Through my mask and the heavy, plexi-glass partition, I told the younger cashier she could add 13% right on her calculator to figure out the sales tax. The other cashier was using a different method (amount x 1.13), from an earlier era when we had to do math in our head and knew how to make change without using a machine. Either way, it should have worked.

I checked the receipt. The 13% tax was wrong. I mentioned the tax was lower than it should have been. In the background I could hear the other workers discussing they should just close for the day. The senior cashier was saying one thing (the right total) and writing another (the wrong tax). With the confusion sorted out, she walked away as I paid. I pointed out that while charged the correct amount, this was not reflected on the receipt and could the cashier please fix it.

Instead of adjusting the receipt, the cashier carefully and painstakingly copied by hand the barcode numbers, amounts, different taxes, etc. onto a new receipt. The result: right total, wrong tax. Again! I collected my purchases and the freshly, written receipt and walked out, remaining silent beneath my mask.

Spring Cleaning, True Confessions

The Hybrid Workplace: Postponed

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After a lot of communications and preparations to get us back into the office in mid-November, now we’re all back to working from home. All the time. Before Omicron, I made peace with the idea of going back to the office. Every week I went through one drawer, or closet, of my clothes. I’m not done yet, but I’m committed to finishing, even though I’m working from home full time. The act, though small, was long overdue.

Spending so much time in lockdown, without interacting with others physically, I hadn’t realized what I was missing. Going to the office two days a week motivated me enough to start going through my clothes. All of a sudden, I had a new lens on the tattered, ratty condition of them. I didn’t wear any of these things to work, obviously. However, it occurred to me that my collection of “at home,” “messy project,” and “yardwork” clothes was taking over. I think this happened as a I pawed through them looking for something acceptable to wear to the office. Admittedly, I only made it to the office five times. However, I selected each outfit the night before to save time. It gave me a taste of what to expect when we do go back, for real.

Aside from wardrobe considerations, I also started thinking about the amount of paper people would, or wouldn’t use, coming back to the office. I’m responsible for coordinating shredding services at our locations. Although it seems like a straightforward task, it’s actually kind of complicated. With people partially in the office, and then not at all, I reduced the frequency of the service. Or postponed it indefinitely.

The whole time I kept wondering, when we do go back to the office, will people still be so dependent on paper? I suppose some people have hooked up home printers and still produce the same amount of paper. But others, like myself, have likely never bothered to hook up a printer. Instead I changed my habits. I take notes electronically, especially with my favorite app, sticky notes.

I’m curious to see if my predictions are right, that people will produce less paper when we return. And that we’ll be able to maintain our reduced services going forward without any complications. And if a problem does arise, I’ll be dressed appropriately to handle it.

True Confessions

Holiday Shopping in the Pandemic

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Last year I didn’t do any holiday shopping. It was a strange year, full of lockdowns, isolation, and a move right in December. This year, so far not much better in terms of the pandemic. But the longer it goes, the more we find our own ways to create a new normal. Or resume our old, normal things in new ways.

For the first time in over a year and a half,I went holiday shopping in person. Twice. I have a feeling I won’t be able to exchange the gifts face to face. More likely I’ll drop them off at a door. Or do a gift exchange standing awkwardly distanced, smiles hidden beneath masks. But still, it felt like some kind of progress to go shopping in a store. It also felt like some kind of advancement to think about buying gifts for other people.

This weekend I went to an outdoor holiday market. Normally, I would avoid events with people since the pandemic started. However, this is one of those things we’ve learned how to do in a new “normal” way, masked, distanced, and armed with hand sanitizer.

Except for having to wear a mask, the other difficult adjustment was the social distancing. Usually people crowd around the stands at a holiday market. The vendors engage with multiple customers at the same time. The booths, at least the good ones, have lots of activity. This time, it was all different.

The booths were prohibitively small. Many of them only large enough to accommodate two people, barely distanced. I waited patiently to look at the artisanal selections, sometimes only behind one other person who happened to be taking their time, or conversing with the vendor. Pre-pandemic, I would’ve been able to get close enough to at least have a look and see if I was interested. Or be near enough to hear the description of the products. Instead, I meandered around, trying not to seem stalkerish, figuring out which booths I wanted to wait at to peruse and purchase something. The mask felt uncomfortably warm and I couldn’t wear my sunglasses because they kept fogging up. In the end, I walked away triumphant with a few nice things clanking around in my bag.

I suppose I could have shopped online for everybody’s gifts, but somehow that just felt so pre-pandemic.

Digital Dilemma

Navigating the Hybrid Workplace

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After months of working remotely full time, my office decided to implement a hybrid work model. Each week we have to work at the office for two days per week. We can choose which two days. One of the main reasons for the hybrid work model is to foster in-person collaborative work and culture. With that in mind, my department decided to have one fixed day for everyone and one flex day. That way we have one day when everybody is usually around, and one day that works best for us.

I didn’t know what to expect. I still don’t know what to expect. Masks and social distancing are still a requirement. There are so many new things to navigate in a hybrid work environment. Some people are really strict about masking. Others are more casual. Ironically, I almost feel more isolated in the hybrid environment than I did working remotely. I stay at my workstation all the time, masked and distanced.

Before the pandemic, most of my meetings were in rooms with the other participants. Now I have meetings from my desk with a headset on. I always feel self-conscious speaking at meetings knowing that the people around me can hear what I’m saying, even if they can’t hear the other participants. It’s a weird feeling. Also, it’s hard for me to gage my speaking volume with the headset on. I’m naturally a loud talker so this is challenging for me.

One thing I didn’t fully consider is hybrid meetings. I’ve had hybrid meetings pre-pandemic, where some people are in the room and others are calling in. I’ve even had hybrid meetings with a mix of in-person, video, and on the phone. Those are definitely challenging. However, required social distancing has added a new dimension to these meetings. It’s hard to see and hear everyone in the meeting room.

So far the best part of going back has been wearing some of my favorite clothes. Admittedly, I’ve been living in yoga pants and sneakers for the last 18+ months. It felt nice to wear something different and put on my favorite pair of knee-high boots. I even motivated myself to get some shoes repaired and buy a new pair of pants, in the hopes I’ll have a reason to wear them. Even if it is just to sit in my workstation with a mask on two days a week.

Digital Dilemma, Facebook, Social Media

Experiencing the Metaverse

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I have yet to experience the metaverse, but it’s coming. My understanding of the metaverse is still hazy. However, with the rebranding of Facebook to Meta Platforms Inc. (“Meta” for short), I decided to learn more about it. Based on my understanding, the metaverse will be a way for us to:

  • Experience our existing world in a new way; and
  • Connect with others in a more tangible, yet still virtual, way.

For example, instead of a Zoom call, we might be able to walk around a virtual conference room. I imagine something similar, but more technically advanced, to the conference I attended. Another example is the virtual production room BMW built to mirror its real life production room. They did this to improve efficiency. Having a simulation of an assembly line allows them to test out processes to build new models. This enables them to make changes and adjustments before investing time and resources to develop it. Or it allows them to make changes in real time after testing them in a safe and risk-free virtual replica.

Learning more about the metaverse is interesting. Especially as I’m discovering the places where it could be really beneficial. However, I’m wary of how it will be developed and by whom. One of the most concerning parts is Meta’s (aka Facebook) involvement. I wonder how the metaverse will operate. Will it be freely available? Or will we have to pay money to use it? Or pay with our personal data and information?

And the one thing the metaverse can’t provide is touch. We’ve all been missing touch and real-life human connection since the pandemic started. No amount of technology is going to replicate that experience.

As for me, if I could enter the metaverse I would use it to visit all the worlds we’ve already destroyed. I would scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Walk through majestic, mystical old growth forests in the Pacific northwest. Visit the tropical rain forests, without the smell of oil and mining. Tromp through marshy, boggy lands bridging fresh water with salt water. Meander along beaches without seeing a single piece of plastic or that weird, sludgey, polluted foam. Ironic that we use technology to create an escape hatch, rather than using it to fix the problems we’ve created.