Quarantine: Day 27

I’ve been telling myself to journal more. But even though I value journalling and respect those who steadily practice it, I’ve always found it hard to form the habit for myself. However, I don’t want to give up. In fact I’ve been inspired to keep at it after reading Jonnie’s recent posts as well as the others coming through the RSS feeds I’ve been collecting and consuming. So I’m making an effort to contribute by sharing what’s happening in our little corner of the quarantined world.

The kids are staying busy and have settled well into homeschooling. It’s a mix of self-paced work and tasks which need our guidance. The school has them on Microsoft Teams where they distribute a daily work schedule and manage assignments as well as Zoom for teacher “office hour” chats and classmate “recesses”. From 9–12 they focus on school. The rest of the day is split up into outdoor activities (the boys have started to build a fort), group activities like games/puzzles and some technology time (the new Xbox One is a hit).

My wife Cynthia and I fit in work hours when we can. She helps with accounting tasks for our church and gets most of those done at home, though one day a week she goes into the office to take care of needs which can only be processed on site. As for me work has gone fairly uninterrupted. PCPartPicker started distributed so we’ve all returned to working alone, communicating via Slack and hoping on calls as needed.

This year I tasked myself to focus on a proper Design System for PCPartPicker so that work continues. In addition I’m diving back in to 3D, trying to keep my skills fresh and pushing myself into projects that feel just beyond where I feel comfortable. 3D is addicting and a nice change of pace from digital design work.

Outside of work and schooling we are maintaining our sanity by going on walks, bike rides, playing board games, watching movies, and helping support local restaurants by getting curbside pick-up. The extra family time is both great and exhausting, but I’m encouraged by the challenge of taking our relational dynamics as a family to deeper depths.