Working From Home

One uncomplicatedly good thing my work did - let everyone take home their work monitors.

oh dear, dmac

11am, day 2, wfh: announced "dootly-doo" to nobody at all, as there is nobody else here except the cat
1pm, day 2, wfh: singing nonsense songs at the cat, who is maowing back (she started it, miss)

Fear I may be turning into the boss from A thread for Steve n.'s list of songs that his boss sings

The big boss did say we could take monitors and even a chair but I was walking 1.5 miles home so that was not entirely feasible. the chair was tempting as my back is going to be fairly knackered if I sit in this sofa, or even at the dining table in one of our dining chairs, hunched over this laptop for months

(I am sure there are people here who could carry a large Dell monitor and an office chair 1.5 miles through once-busy streets and a v muddy field, as well as my rucksack and carrier bag full of random stuff I found in my desk drawer that I thought I might need, or at least be embarrassed at still being in my desk drawer if I died - not even work paperwork, mostly chocolate and hoarded sachets and pots of instant pasta/noodle/couscous snacks)

the o/h has still been in work so far but he gets to wfh from tomorrow/Mon so then we'll be fighting over the one good chair and the big monitor

actually I don't want the big monitor, it is massive and was bought for gaming and I tried to do some work on it yesterday and it felt like I was squinting at some Excel cells in one small corner of the screen while who knows what was going on in the other 90% of the screen

supplementing my laptop with a good wireless mouse and keyboard has made getting actual work done much easier. logitech mx keys and mx master 3 mouse, official endorsement

I've adjusted surprisingly quickly to working on one tiny laptop screen as opposed to the two big monitors I'm used to. Just involves constant shifting and sliding of all the programs I have open at a given moment. I was relying on this being my busiest time of year to keep me occupied and focused but, ehh, I'm noticing a marked decline in the amount of work product coming in.

Acrobat version finally downloaded

received no work assignments yet this morning

absence of annoying coworkers is best thing so far

Yes. As opposed to trying to work with a frat rager taking place behind me every day, the only distraction atm is my gf's WFH sitch, which is just an ongoing video conference of her preschool's teachers singing songs to the stuck-at-home kids. It's kinda soothing my otherwise frayed nerves, tbh.

good thing about wfh is I can grouse in private after that annual review meeting.

So far the biggest upside is that I can take breaks to practice drum rudiments on the practice pad, can't do that in the office. Quarantine is great for the chops, too bad I can't put them to use.

Had a webex meeting at 11 and the host signed off by saying "we'll do this again in a month" so at least I have a rough idea of how long I'm expecting to be WFH. Probably gonna be longer, though; where I work (a med school in NJ) all events have been cancelled through end of May.

moved from dining table into back room with office chair & more ergo friendly setup
dining room chair was hell to sit on for extended periods

mr veg ordered an adapter for me to link my current monitor as second bigger screen, yay

I need more plugs

Hair plugs? Don't worry, Joe Biden will hook you up

corner desk setup, herman miller chair (bcz I knew this day would come, I decided to splurge a long time ago)

I have three computer screens, one big tablet and two phones to stare at throughout my day

the problem is the phones and tablet keep running low on juice

So far the biggest upside is that I can take breaks to practice drum rudiments on the practice pad, can't do that in the office. Quarantine is great for the chops, too bad I can't put them to use.

lol yes i've had the buchla music easel VST open on my 2nd monitor all day ready for between-email jams

i almost bought a dirty old aeron off craigslist yesterday, this repurposed dining room chair w/ $4 ikea pad isn't really working for me

This old office chair is the hardest part, no matter what pillow configuration i try.

My music computer is next to my current work computer, and yesterday I did chip away at writing this long midi track (which is meant to sound kinda randomly generated or through-composed in the end), but overall I've been surprised by how much work I've been doing and how little slacking off. More than when I'm actually in the office, I'd say.

I spent some time yesterday rather ruthlessly organizing what was on the screen and where, learning how to use more control keys and such to change focus instead of the mouse and learning how to use Mission Control.

crucial

(for windows 10 users, check out the built-in virtual desktop feature)

the o/h has still been in work so far but he gets to wfh from tomorrow/Mon so then we'll be fighting over the one good chair and the big monitor

hey this is now! who knew the desktop computer keyboard was so louuuud. might need to sit in separate rooms. the only other room is the bedroom and my back will disintegrate if I sit on the bed all day...

I still can't concentrate, don't know if lazy or anxious or just bored, but the same is usually true in the office except that I had less excuse to be anxious tbh. (I don't know how anyone else is getting anything done rather than constantly checking the news/twitter/ilx but apparently they are?)

i still haven't heard from the editor of my current project. no reply since wed morn when i told him i was likely to hit deadline today and asked some small questions abt style in the final version: i may actually still hit this deadline if i get off whatsapp w.my pals lol. but the last actual communication was over a week ago :(

the main reason to get this off my desk now is to get the whole thing out of my head and move on the the next project (= freelance life during plague)

i dearly hope the editor is ok tho :( :( and just busying himself with last-minute prep for living thru it all :( :( :(

just finally heard from him -- as well as this book he is wrangling a broken arm and elderly parents in geneva's version of the shutdown. glad he is ok, he's been good to work with. this project could hardly be less urgent but spending hours on end thinking abt music and technology and composition in the mid-60s is actually p soothing

And suddenly I can't access the workplace VPN (my home Wi-Fi seems to be fine). Just texted my manager to see if anyone else has reported this. I can keep working, but I won't be visible on Official Skype.

I have found I'm doing more work at home than I did at the office, as I have to demonstrate in some way to the boss that I'm not bunking off every day. Escaping into 1923 (editing) and 1933 (listening) is good too of course.

In line with experiences related above, I'm pretty sure this sitch is gonna lead to permanent back/neck injuries if I can't figure out an ergonomically-sound work setup. I'm getting some nasty twinges.

Girlfriend's 1930s bureau just buckled under the weight of her office-supplied monitor (managed to fix the hinge with a hammer), so I'm ok to work small for the time being. I've been WFH 1-2 days/week for nearly three years and I do often think, particularly late afternoon, "ah, I'll deal with *that* when I'm back in the office with the big screen". Well, this is it for the foreseeable. I did plan to make the 35-mile round trip to collect peripherals today but I can't get a ride now. As long as we're not on lockdown, I can try again next week.

just reaching the time in a writing day when all i can think of is biscuits and crisps

i guess when i complete this particular job i can actually trying baking some biscuits, probably not gnna try making crisps tho

I saw France have banned cycling, which has me baffled as surely it's the best no-contact exercise activity? Where am I going to get the chance to spread germs on a cycle ride in the countryside?

I've been 2-3 days wfh for 3+ years and actually there is no need at all for me to go into an office beyond the odd face to face meeting so this has been great. Obviously I'd much rather it didn't happen this way, but managers love control (it's their job really).

xp Cycling was banned so that hospitals don't have to deal with the x-odd number of broken limbs/collar bones right now.

ok, that makes a little sense, though not a great deal tbh, how many cycling injuries do they see?

I've no idea! And it does only make a little sense, I agree. Googling now I'm reading mixed reports re: the ban tbf.

"One watchword matters: "Save lives! Stay at home!'.'

The government then appeared to back up this message by retweeting the federation with the words: "We have one message for cyclists: 'stay home'. "

But when the ministry of interior was asked to confirm cycling was banned their response to Liberation newspaper was slightly different.

The ministry said it was permitted if it was "necessary for good personal balance" adding that that it is all about "reducing your trips outside to the maximum".

The interpretation of the rules by police on the ground may also not be consistent.

One French journalist reported taking his bike out to get some exercise and the police who stopped him to ask for his form accepted that it was allowed as long as he was alone.

Cycling to work is NOT forbidden however although you will need to have your "attestation" with you to show to police.

Runners on the banks of the Garonne river in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on the third day of the lockdown in France. Photo: AFP

The sports ministry's precision came after widespread criticism of the high number of people all over France taking to the streets to jog after the lockdown entered into force on Tuesday at noon.

"We are trying to protect as many as possible," the sports ministry said in their string of tweets.

"Be vigilant, do not distance yourselves too much (from your home. The idea is also to avoid anyone getting hurt to avoid overwhelming 15 (the French ambulance number) or health personnel."

I know we all hate cars, mostly with good reason. But if you have one, going for a scenic drive may be a relatively hygienic distraction. As long as you don't need to stop and get out for gas or meals or whatever.

Yes there is some risk of a car accident that puts you in unwelcome close contact, and stresses the health system. But with the quiet roads out there, it may be less risky than it normally is.

I went into work today to get my company laptop, instead of remoting to it from my home desktop. The smaller screen will be annoying probably, but I couldn't take another day of sitting in that chair, my back was going into meltdown. Now at least I should be able to try different setups.

Carpal tunnel update: now have pins & needles in my left hand :(

ok you can go home for the day

:D

Sorry about that, VG.

Came to post that I’m glad we still have clients to give my colleagues things to do, for which he gives me things to do. Was interacting today with friends who are basically the boss of their businesses but don’t have any business now and so were kind of distressed in a different way.

will I brick my personal laptop in order to squeeze employment out of nothing? time will tell

What do you mean? Saw your bad news on the other thread, that sucks

my employment, if it still exists (does it still exist? nobody knows!) is contingent upon my ability to do my work from home, which is in the stage of troubleshooting where it looks like I'm going to have to manually edit the windows registry to get it to work, which is risky

that's abominable.

we already had lots of telework capability in place, this has really just been a stress check on our VPN + O365 cloud services to accommodate everybody teleworking at once, which it appears Cisco and Microsoft were already prepared to deliver per whatever ridiculously priced contracts we have with them. One particular network that only certain analysts have to use has been a PITA all week but aside from that our stuff all works like a charm, no fiddling required.

otoh you didn't get a text from your boss saying "I think you shouldn't show up to work anymore, maybe just go ahead and file for unemployment, K"

at least you know and don't have to spend the whole weekend not knowin

I guess. I was making a bad joke about another ilxor's coworker's situation, I should probably hush. I hope you get some proper tech support or at least some respectful communication from your employer in the very near future.

at this point I would be surprised if there was a single person on the planet capable of fixing this, given that I've talked to almost everyone

Did you talk to Ed?

I really don't know who you're referring to

(when I said "everyone" I meant the tech support arms of every involved product/party, i.e. generally several hours of being tossed from person to department to person to department, none of whom helped, and also everything I could find on google, which was almost nothing)

Ed is a smart ilxor that often knows the answers to things

but is it something that any of us could help with? given that i have never once been able to solve a problem on the Oh no! More boring computer problems! Oh no! thread, i doubt i could help, but maybe someone else can?

sorry to hear about it, either way. tech problems are just the fucking worst, especially given the circumstances

I'm self-employed and have worked from home for the past year and half, though in the past couple months, I've been moving towards possibly being part-time employee rather than contractor for one of my clients -- and it was kinda nice going into the office, taking smoke breaks with my colleague, having beers after work -- now it's back to the way it was.