Sanity in the sudden Work From Home world

My first experience with really trying to work from home was in 1994, two years after I moved into my Reese house; I put out a shingle, drummed up some business, bought a fax machine and a fancy Mac Quadra 605 with an astounding 250 mg of memory, and two days later the ice storm shut off power to my house for about 12 days. I had another stint of home offic'ing in 2010 for about a year - not by choice. In 2012, my new job was excited to have me but literally had no space for me so I spent 6 months working from home.

With a little experience, I  can offer , hopefully, some helpful tips for folks that have not done this:

1)      Be thankful you are working from somewhere – a lot of people aren’t.
2)   Create a workspace – whether in a spare bedroom or just a corner of the kitchen table – so that you can (a) go to work and (b) leave work. Otherwise you’re working all the time.
3)      GO ahead and vacuum  the house and scrub the bathroom. Otherwise every time you get writer’s block , you’ll go look for something to clean rather than work through it.
4)      Have a talk with your dog. He will probably think you took vacation days especially so that you could play with him all day. This will be a difficult talk. Ask your cat to help; she gets it already and could honestly care less whether you are at home or not.
5)      Keep food in the house including snacks. It might be nice to run over to a drive through, but if you are on a roll  writing away at something brilliant, not having to stop your train of thought can be a good thing.
6)      Do leave the house from time to time. Oh, I know there are not many places to go just now, but even the backyard is a welcome break. And you need to get out of a chair and stretch periodically.
7)      Definitely spend time in the backyard and DO NOT take your phone. Blues skies, blooming flowers, and singing bird are nice therapy from the onslaught on doom on social media and traditional media.
8)      Play your in the zone music as loudly as you want to – hooray, no co-workers to complain – but be able to quickly mute it if the telephone rings.
9)      Shower and dress daily. Sorry but this is a much for your frame of mind as anything else. Plus the new Zoom conferencing feature includes a smell component!
10)   Keep as much of a routine as you can, but it is okay if you hours are slightly different from someone else’s.
11)   Talk to someone from time to time who does not wear a flea collar. It is okay to pick up the phone and have a quick chat. We do this all day long in an office setting, right?  It’s a sanity check.
12)   Make sure that you are working on your main focus and don’t rabbit trail too much. It is easy to veer off course.

Turn It Off and Breathe

I did not watch the super bowl, the bowl halftime show, or the pres remarks tonight; from the looks of FB and Twitter feeds, I think I am going to sleep better than a whole bunch of folks tonight. Take a chill, people; its just drama on TV precisely & deliberately created to push your buttons and cause you to want to make remarks to your friends of differing viewpoints which you will (hopefully) regret tomorrow. Turn it all off. All of it. Read a book. Take up piano or try knitting. There is nothing you can do about any of it until you step into a voting booth for the primaries. Meanwhile weeks of stewing boost your blood pressure and hasten your heart attack.

A Christmas (Social Media ) Ceasefire

This morning I read an appalling social media post, meant to stir up anger, on Christmas Eve.  Like the best traps for divisiveness, it was not an outright lie but a partial one, one so twisted and so crafted as to foment turmoil. This clever twisting  on social media can trace a direct path back to the misinformation campaign of  the serpent in Eden.

This particular post came from a friend on the left but could just as easily come from a friend on the right.  Everyone is equally culpable these days, sometimes knowingly, sometime unknowingly.  The fact that Facebook removed 55,000,000 fake accounts last week created by foreigners for the sole purpose of causing dissension in America should be the biggest news story of the decade. It is a blip because every day there is a newer and larger shocker and now tragedies  & crimes of all sorts garner only their 15 minutes. 

My friend who posted the story today (which was a screenshot of some random tweet) could have taken 90 seconds to check out its veracity (so shame on you, Pxxx! ) but hardly anyone does because the of glee we now find in lobbing media bombs. 

As I thought over this,  I thought first to abandon social media.  Humans have survived ice ages, bubonic plague, volcanoes, world wars, and more but our own social media posts which sow distrust could be the biggest challenge yet.  Social media has undermined credible traditional media and returned us to an age of yellow journalism,  partisan and vitriolic.

At the same time there is a power for good – I love to baby photos, pet pics, seeing my friends ‘ kids grow up,  beautiful vacation scenes, and staying in touch with people dear to me even when far away.

Rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater,  I will spend the next few weeks unfollowing prolific political posters.  We may yet salvage from real life friendships if we hide online foibles.

Let’s make the holidays truly happy and leave the rhetoric at the door.  Merry happy!

Definition of a Gentleman

Today the Vatican announced the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) whose great mind left a goodly body of written work and whose leadership helped shape the Oxford Movement.  Since college days, there are few pieces of writing which I have returned to so often , usually to assess my own failings! -- as his Definition of a Gentleman taken from a lecture series on The Idea of a University.  In case you don't know the work,  here it is, and with no further comment from me.

"Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast --- all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favors while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp saying for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.

If he engages in controversy of any kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds; who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifles, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forcible, and as brief as he is decisive. Nowhere shall we find greater candor, consideration, indulgence: he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province and its limits.

If he be an unbeliever, he will be too profound and large-minded to ridicule religion or to act against it; he is too wise to be a dogmatist or fanatic in his infidelity. He respects piety and devotion; he even supports institutions as venerable, beautiful, or useful, to which he does not assent; he honors the ministers of religion, and it contents him to decline its mysteries without assailing or denouncing them. He is a friend of religious toleration, and that, not only because his philosophy has taught him to look on all forms of faith with an impartial eye, but also from the gentleness and effeminacy of feeling, which is the attendant on civilization."

In case you've seen the Popeyes vs Chick-FIl-A thing on FB

Service at Popeyes is somewhere between McDonald's and a three-toed sloth (actually there is not much difference between service at McDonald's and a three-toed sloth so that is a narrow margin); the chicken is okay but you have a 50-50 chance of getting the correct order on a good day. My dad loves Popeyes so I have to wrestle food from the staff there (Olive Branch - Goodman Road)  all too often. This versus the dual line, thank you-please-yes sir,no m'am, right the first  time and every time, God Bless America serving of excellent food at Chick-fil-A.  So your choice can be politics or food. Do what you want but I'm hungry!

And it's only Monday

Facebook (or other social media) is a platform to share, catch up, rejoice, and have fun.

Facebook is should NOT be a platform to demean, picks fights, and condemn. If you want to know my views on immigration, gun control-rights, prolife-prochoice, political agendas, gender & marriage, and more, you will need to ask me... offline. If you want to debate any of them, I'll be happy to accommodate ...but only in person, not online. Online "debate" quickly devolves into a playground for bullies and cowards.

Clearly, I am about a decade behind in my views on social media, but I'll stick with the idea that basic civility is always to be desired in any epoch or age. I can dream, can't I?

Eras of Service

To say 2018 has not been a good year for me is an understatement, but one on which I do not need to dwell.  Instead, it is best to find some good. A recent Commercial Appeal article on my friend Julie Allen, stills volunteering at 93, is exactly that. President Bush’s funeral was a testament to the good in civic and personal service that can me done long after leaving office. Former Mayor Bill Morris’ maxim that service does not end when a job does is one that he has lived out and one that all of us need to embrace. My time of leadership may be past, but I still find ways to serve and hopefully to lend a hand to younger people in their endeavors. It is important for me to find the balance in giving too much advice and being available when needed; sometimes I miss the mark on finding that balance and I apologize to my patient young friends who put up with me! Memphis is on the brink of great things and at the same time suffers from some debilitating problems…an observation that you can cut, paste, and repeat since 1819. To look at all that needs to be changed is daunting, to look at the bits & pieces that you and I can do to make our town better or a day better for one person, that is do-able and in fact, is vital.