Lockdown/Covid Check In
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@Hooroo said in Lockdown Check In:
@voodoo said in Lockdown Check In:
@Hooroo said in Lockdown Check In:
@mariner4life said in Lockdown Check In:
not drinking every night is becoming a challenge i have so far failed. it's not a lot, but it's more than i used to.
So long as I avoid the Lunch time wines, I do OK.
Pretty big job working at a desk with beer fridge within 2 metres and not going for a beer.
I'm failing miserably. Being unemployed doesn't help. You can only hike/run for so many hours of the day, and then it's into lighting the fire, cooking, sitting on the deck, none of which can be done without a beer or wine in hand.
I immediately felt a pang of jealousy at the thought of a fire and being in Queenstown. Is it an open fire? Are you mucking around trying to cook in it?
Nah just a log fire for heating. Could probably get some marshmallows in there I guess!
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So, in the old world, (remember that? 3 weeks ago!) tomorrow I fly to Bangkok to meet up with the wife who's taken a 8 week sabbatical from work in oz, check on our house, family and dogs, spend a week playing cricket with Gordon Greenidge, have a great Thai holiday and return with the wife on April 17 ready for work again in May. Great times!!!
But not now, no friggin way.
So, the bit that grinds my gears is that me and the wife are in different countries. Mid Feb and our plan was sound, now this.
I know many have far bigger issues, ( we've got an income and wife is doing lots of good with her family) but Jesus Christ ferners, this is one calamity that you want to share/experience with your most loved one. Even if it's all shit, the experience of traipsing through this bog without her is well and truly hurty!
And then the "when?" for international flights to resume is demoralizing. Thank God I wasn't in the room when @mariner4life was listening to that twat talking about 12 more months of this!!
So folks, do me a favour and give your loved one across the room from you a kiss or a dead leg, or whatever and pause for a minute while appreciating their presence 🙂.
Life apart in this time is a fluffybunny.
Otherwise I'm pretty well off, but what an uncomfortable itch it is to be separated in such uncertain times.
Bless you all 😘
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@mariner4life yeah, but not the shittest 😉
Take turns with you at watching for the Asian planes to come back?😃 -
Day 7 nearly done, or is it day 2868??... I have the ability to do work from home but hasn’t been a lot to do. Strangely I’m disappointed with that, on the bright side I have some sweet cars parked in my GTA V garage, enjoying the friendships forged through this great little community too..
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@Siam nice one mate. Must be weird to be apart. We have our little network of 5 together, and have decided we will keep it they way unless NZ and Australia come a travel agreement that works. If that happens , I can see a split happening, with me being here in NZ and the wife being in Aus. Kids to be split in some way. Will be weird!
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@Siam said in Lockdown Check In:
So, in the old world, (remember that? 3 weeks ago!) tomorrow I fly to Bangkok to meet up with the wife who's taken a 8 week sabbatical from work in oz, check on our house, family and dogs, spend a week playing cricket with Gordon Greenidge, have a great Thai holiday and return with the wife on April 17 ready for work again in May. Great times!!!
But not now, no friggin way.
So, the bit that grinds my gears is that me and the wife are in different countries. Mid Feb and our plan was sound, now this.
Say what? Think you need to elaborate on this ...
I've always wondered, and feel free to answer ignore ... how did somebody who spent years living in Thailand, then make the decision to live in Mt Gambier? Not the most routine of life paths!
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@MajorRage Greenidge is my jegga breakfast story and he likes a wee cricket comp we run in Thailand.
And the Gambier is a change of pace for nice family reasons. It's all been a surprising cleansing of the soul being in the Aussie countryside for a bit. -
@chimoaus said in Lockdown Check In:
As I sit at home isolating it has me reflecting on my family, work and our relationship with debt and money.
Those who are working from home seem to be spending far more time with their kids, exercising together and many other productive things.
It makes me question if working 40 hours a week from 18 to 67 so you can “provide” for your family and buy the latest things is the best exchange of your finite time on this planet.
Will this crisis make some people re-evaluate how they spend their time and maybe alter some of their life choices?
Some good thought provoking posts on this thread over night, and I think most of them stem from this and Baron's.
I came up with the same question about 5 years ago. We came very close to chucking it all in in HK and moving to rural Devon to live near the coast. However, the place we were looking at came with a whole bunch of issues (legal, council etc - not just home repairs), and then the project just lost momentum after that fell through.
Anyway, we made a half way move in the end, and the UK political situation aside, its been a good one. I see the family for minimum 2-3 hours on weekdays and pretty much so all weekend. I work 4 days a week so don't need to break into kids time to play golf / take the car out / enjoy my hobbies. I've just changed my work situation to add more stability for less cash, although I think it's probably now about as unstable as it could be. No more evening conference calls, no more checking mails all holiday/weekends, no more market watching til midnight.
A lot less spare cash floating around obviously, but still enough to put food on the table and give the kids what they need and mostly what they want. I sometimes look at the life I used to have with a few regrets, but that then passes. I know my kids so well now - their pluses, minuses, insecurities and that is just so rewarding. I know that if I was living the old life, I'd be so envious of those living the life I have now. Grass is always greener.
So if the job goes (and who know, it could) then what to do. 42 year old guys don't get employed much in financial services now unless they are senior MD level who love the 80 hours a week. I'm not that bloke, so I guess I'll have to do something different. Either way, I try not to be fearful about it, what will be will be.
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@Godder said in Lockdown Check In:
@chimoaus said in Lockdown Check In:
As I sit at home isolating it has me reflecting on my family, work and our relationship with debt and money.
Those who are working from home seem to be spending far more time with their kids, exercising together and many other productive things.
It makes me question if working 40 hours a week from 18 to 67 so you can “provide” for your family and buy the latest things is the best exchange of your finite time on this planet.
Will this crisis make some people re-evaluate how they spend their time and maybe alter some of their life choices?
Some will. It's an important decision for people, but one is rarely consciously thought through.
Mr Money Mustache is a lifestyle blog on high savings and low consumption to fund very early retirement. Not my cup of tea, and a lot of it is not really applicable to NZ, but it's another way of life worth considering.
Yeah Bonesetta has gone all "join the cult" on this FIRE movement, wants to retire in ten years and reckons she'll get there and drag me along with her. Sounds pretty far-fetched but hey, I'm not about to doubt the MFE.
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@MajorRage That work-life balance is a big part of my career path. I could move to Wellington and pursue career options, but the cost of housing in Wellington vs Christchurch makes it pointless. $300K for 3BR, 10 minutes drive to work in the CBD, cheap parking vs $700K or having a lengthy commute (or both) - isn't worth the effort.
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@Godder Work-life balance is an interesting issue and I've found that the ratio for me has varied massively depending on what I've been doing and who I've been working with. Years ago I was provided an opportunity to fix a programme behind on schedule. I was having a discussion with a PM explaining that they needed to do whatever was necessary to make their work green. They complained about the hours and I remember pointing out to them it was Wednesday morning and I'd already done 40 hours that week. A coworker from Bulgaria asked me if I believed in work-life balance and my answer was yes - but as I explained to her; I would do what was necessary to make this a success and then I'd take six months off. At the time, that was my definition.
Not a lot has changed for me over the years. Had I worked like a psychopath constantly I'd probably have climbed the greasy corporate ladder a lot better than I've managed thus far, but I've been vastly more content earning so that I could "go do things".
One of the saving graces is I don't find the work I do particularly taxing and most of the time it's genuinely interesting as I learn things from people who are amazing at their jobs. Of all the lessons I've learned, the biggest difference for me is I no longer emotionally invest in the success of work. A friend explained to me that any clown can plan, what I was paid for was the ability to fix things when they went pear-shaped. Once I understood that my quality of life improved massively.
My current role has me working a normal working week (most of the time), but on really interesting stuff with knowledgeable, talented and amusing coworkers. I'm perfectly happy doing this for another 30 years but the wife wants to go back to the farm sooner rather than later. Hopefully with the current state of affairs proving the viability of WFH, we may be able to accommodate that. Even if I have to commute for three-four days a week.
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Whilst not being officially in lockdown I've been working at home for two weeks now.
My work basically said you shall work from home, you're doing it now.
(An interesting aside, we had a webinar from the new CEO last week (was originally a planned routine catch up apparently) but they had been contingency planning for this for some time. Part of the business is in international development and they've got epidemiologists and crisis management experts advising them. But I Lee Grant.)
Finding the mindset of being at home a little difficult to adjust to. I need to keep telling myself I'm working. So boredom is not a problem. It's stopping myself from doing domestic chores on company time.
Started off leaving the ABC News 24 or Sky News on in the background. But that shit will just depress you. Much better for my mental state to turn it off.
Am super disappointed Radio Sport has gone as that was good background noise.
Mrs Boo is still working. She works at a Private Hospital here in the Bay. She gets home a little after 4. So I've got to try and get my 8 hours in before then.
Mrs Boo and I are quite reclusive anyway, so keeping our own company is/won't be that much of a problem.
Ms Boo Jr (16) has inherited similar traits, but keeps connected on line. So won't notice too much difference.
She's home for the holidays now (effectively brought forward a week) so we're avoiding making too much musical noise in each other's direction.
She made a cake yesterday and is very proud of herself.
Am currently awake far too early waiting until it's reasonable to get up and go into town for a blood test (one collection centre opens at 6, another slightly closer at 6:30). Just the routine tests that need to be done every few months but need to be done to maintain one's health. I'd get up and do some work but would need food if I did and can't eat before test. So I'm boring you lot instead. Am imagining that the waiting room is an incubator for COVID as they're usually oldies (refer the OP on the grumpy old man thread), so will check in and wait outside. An excuse to get out of the house anyway.
Will hang in town briefly until the Supermarket opens as I'm on a toilet paper hunt. As I posted elsewhere Thursday is apparently the day when the non-insane get the early access so there should be some left.
So we're good .
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OK, like all you blokes, I am making an increasingly token effort to stay fit (ish). Today I had decided to up my game and signed up for a 30 minute kettlebell HIIT workout given in live time by an accredited guy.
10.00am start. So I set up the laptop in the backyard, checked connectivity and logged on at 9.55. Result? I get a close up video of the very breathless guy's sweating bald head saying "Sorry. I decided to video the workout beforehand and release it. I've done the workout (see sweating bald head - above) and when I checked the video I have one picture of me at the start. I really can't do it again. I'm fucked". And he was.
So was my workout. Went for a run instead. Took the dog, who tried to trip me up every 50m. Not a success.