Category: t_covid19

##private”corners”during lockdown #MRT

Posted on by tiger40490

Goal is emulation of office in UOB.

  • bring small laptop to MRT, with wireless@sg, but need to find a safe spot with very few people
  • sit in the common corridor, where grandma likes to sit, beside the shoe racks
    • good enough mostly for blogging
    • more distant from the noise
  • use the Ikea foldable tray in room #1 or #3, with A/C on.
  • to prevent losing my cool due to boy’s misbehavior, to minimize its impact on my emotional balance,
    • Cigna counselor suggest leaving the scene. I said this is a simple technique but still useful. Now i think this is the most useful technique
    • Grandpa suggested working in a closed bedroom, putting on a headphone to completely block out the noise from living room. I can also try loud music as a “shield”
    • I would say MRT station is much better for out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

[22]excess mortality attributed to Covid19

Posted on by tiger40490

I guess that out of 100 elderly fatalities, there are always a few cases where the family are not really shocked, because the patient has been hanging on for a while and could have been killed by many random hazards.  The family was probably warned that the patient had only a few months of life expectancy. Such a fatality is not an excess mortality.

I used to question PAP government’s mid-2021 decision to carefully open up during Delta wave. I questioned the human cost in terms of fatalities. The Aha moment came when I realized excess mortality in SG was zero during that period.

The livelihood cost of zero-covid is complex, and includes hardship, long-term damage to the local economy, mental health.. Every month the governments pumped in billions to keep businesses on life support. This cost is s not easily measurable. But for the same argument, let’s say it is comparable to 2987 (excess) deaths a year.

What if SG maintains zero-covid and avoids those deaths, but the total mortality over a year remains the same as before covid (around 24,000)? It would mean that those 2987 covid deaths /prevented/ were offset by about the same number of deaths-by-other-causes, deaths that inevitably occur even in an airtight bubble city of zero covid.

It means that, in the grand scheme of things, the (heavy) price we pay in terms of livelihood actually buys us some benefit but not all that much.

Note in different scenario — hospital overrun — then excess mortality would be significant, definitely non-zero.

week1@RTO: shift@focus #w1r2

Posted on by tiger40490

k_office_sanctuary

“Self-care” is left without a clear definition, and includes some expressive writing such as parenting, stress mgmt.

— Q (asked in Jul 2020, and then in Aug 2021): the most positive elements of my first week back in office?

  • — my Jul20 answer
  • [1] no distraction. Is night hour at home comparable? I would say yes
  • .. [4] I now miss my kids again, rather than having “enough of them“
  • no wrong-time temptations. When I feel 70% hungry, the food at home would be irresistible, but in Bayonne home or office, I have limited (and only healthy) food, so pushing-the-limit is now possible, and I find myself in control of the situation, and on the offensive against the temptations. However, the battle is shifted to “reaching home” or supper time.
  • [2] can call people (esp. grandparents) in the comfort of office, without distraction or stress. Also has good speaker phone.
  • [3] jolt: can print lots of blogposts+tech notes, and capture the absorbency for QQ/zbs, GTD, localSys. Printer proved a huge boost comparable to monitor.
  • — my Aug21 answer:
  • I can work out on carpeted floor .. more spacious. At home, I would do so in a playground.
  • I feel the energy to work out at riverfront
  • yes [2,3]
  • — my answer within a month into RTO
  • standing desk is much easier than at home.
  • mini-yoga can be easier at ACM lawn than TPY .
  • — my answer near end of Sep going back into WFH
  • yes [1,2,3]
  • — my answer in early Jan 2022
  • yes[2,4]
  • more yoga studios near office; more variety of jogging/workout locations. I can leave stuff behind and go out for a jog.

— reminders: Don’t break any MLP rule (like Rbh). Follow strictly.
— [1] The recurring loss of family harmony and quiet time .. is the most common need/purpose/value for the harbor (of office). The library/stadium/Interchange are also helpful, but harbor offers:

  • stay for hours
  • safely leave belongings behind when stepping out
  • possibility of work, workout, yoga
  • diet options
  • many workout options at office
  • printer, big screens, big table

— Historical scan: The two acute stressors that require the harbor of office — WW) job expectation/demand, HH) loss of quiet time, similar to [1].

  • In Dec 2021, I had HH alone. WW was very light.
  • In Jan 2022, I had WW alone.
  • But in Apr-Jun 2020 i.e. first lockdown, I had WW (heavy) + HH (kids HBL). That’s the worst months that required the harbor.

## lockdown⇒ G3 damages@my life #harbor

Posted on by tiger40490

k_office_sanctuary

See also 1st days back in office 

This “Group of big 3 damages” highlights the real priorities among priorities.

  1. loss of private space (quiet hours) for reflective blogging and self care, but since late May 2020 I could go to MRT or bus interchange
    • the #1 most critical situation — family conflict. Lockdown results in Loss of harbor. In the form of office or MRT (later the bus interchange), the harbor had become a critical resource I depend on, similar to my son’s dependency on electronic devices.
    • A separate room did make a real difference, after grandparents left. Even though it is 10% as effective as office, this 10% is a Big Deal !
  2. bonding with boy — I had more frustrations, and more bursts of temper, until May.
  3. loss of opportunities to capture absorbency power-surges. I rely on these power surges to compete.
    • work projects, localSys
    • QQ
    • exercise, yoga
  4. — beyond g3, unranked
  5. diet and BMI loss of control
  6. sleep — my late hours often lead to poor sleep the next morning, with noisy kids.
  7. loss of exercise opportunities — absorbency, facilities, until I found the jogging tracks.
  8. no family outing, until we found the PCN at Lorong 8
  9. yoga
  10. standing desk usage

— Some of the unexpected triumphs:

  • More positive perception of wife’s parenting practices
  • I learned to accept my kids’ misbehavior — ignore, or become detached observer
  • jogging
  • repaired many things at home
  • wrong-time temptation at home meal time
  • intimacy with wife

##[20]steadfast focus@3priorities during lockdown

Posted on by tiger40490

see also (amidst countless demands)steadfast focus@protecting..#harmony,wellness

Amid the overwhelming demands on me, I want to keep a steadfast focus on these priorities:

  1. self-care — recognize the real demand/load on my system, and wellness hazard to my system. See ##self-care private hour usages
  2. family harmony, esp. with ah-boy
  3. PIP ——– (+ job security ) try to be rational, optimistic, mellow up and DoYourJob
  4. — LG2
  5. provide (emotional,logistical,,) support for grandparents. See separate blogpost
    • To a lesser extent wife also needs lots of support
  6. support kids+wife on home-schooling — the essential support needed from me is probably not so high
  7. diet and exercise — is a minor sub-focus of self-care
  8. face time with boy? Just LGpp

Sugg: allocate more time to these priorities. More leave is needed but not a major solution.

Looking at the heavy-hitter list, time allocation has emerged as key to everything, again! THE scarce resource is time, esp. private hours and quality time.

This great lockdown wipes out most of my private hours, cuts into my self-care. I lost my balance and unable to provide enough support for grandparents. I also feel less productive in my projects.

Compared to my earlier episodes of heightened stress,

  • I’m lucky to have no UChicago taking up 40 hours a week
  • I’m lucky the current codebase is more transparent than c++, pymodels/pixel, or Qz
  • I’m lucky to have a job in a mainstream technology, unlike Qz
  • I’m lucky to be free from in-law bitter miscommunication
  • Most important — no PIP, the biggest stressor of all

##self-care under lockdown: private hour usages #MRT

Posted on by tiger40490

k_quietime

Private hour is precious, mostly for self-care. I need to be selective when allocating private hours. If I devise a scheme to record utilization rate of each 30-min block, I suspect bulk of my private hours are spent .. elsewhere.

  1. sleep — Aim at more sleep (8H) than under un-heightened stress.
    1. Under heightened stress, Lack of sleep creates profound risk on performance worry, immunity, family harmony…. the steadfast focus targets
  2. therapeutic blogging, including some emails with friends, is my version of “meditation”.
    • I had to do this at MRT or in a park, with mlphone as hotspot
    • git-blogging and web blogging both became therapeutic self-care
  3. work project — underlies self-confidence, self-esteem, and reduces self-hate, anxiety… May need private hour
    • localSys including reviews — less likely to need private hours

Q: what self-care t-spends don’t work so well
A: Don’t aim to be there for “them” all the time. I need quietime4selfcare
A: movies
A: Robinhood — too time consuming. I can’t “stop after 1 minute” as i wanted

Some self-care acts do __N_O_T__ require private hour:

  • home repairs — (similar to gardening) tcost but can be therapeutic. Sense of achievement.
  • covid19 news reading
  • Robinhood, FSM
  • read [[chicken soup]], [[读者]] etc
  • Eng vocab blog review
  • movies with kids — generate self-hate, though it sometimes builds some bonding
  • time with grandpa — yes self-care
  • help grandparents with logistics — not self-care
  • longer sleep than before — Can generate guilt. Can help immunity
  • — the familiar
  • git-blogging or review of tanbinvest and 610610 blogs? guilty, but can do during day time, in another room.
  • jogging, perhaps in parks? don’t need private hours. probably the most efficient self-care. Sometimes it lifts my mood, but this time is mostly invisible self-care. I need to maintain and hopefully increase the workout.
  • mini exercise? kind of self-care, albeit too short to feel “tough” enough; Doesn’t need private hour
  • tech xx or recrec blog? makes me feel doing something to strengthen myself, but no private hour needed

 

##t-alloc4jogging,sleep #self-care++

Posted on by tiger40490

Weekday allocation:

  • jogging — allocate up to 2 sessions/day.  Avoid “spending” private hours. For evening jogging, see below.
  • work — 30min chunks throughout the day.
    • Can use private hours or other hours
    • late evening (10.30pm – 2am) is golden. Better use it on the most heavy-lifting.
  • reading news on paper — more comfortable than online
  • covid19 news reading — avoid private hours
  • Robinhood and per investment — avoid private hours. Limit to once in one or two days
  • email processing — may need private hours. Non-urgent emails should postpone to weekends
  • shopping as relaxing /pastime/ — but quite time-consuming
  • sleep — see early rise during lockdown: Have I tried@@

Evening time is golden, and kinda special

  • often in good mood for project work. Kids are less distracting and less shouting/fighting.
  • more family harmony, less conflict, confrontation with parents over academic study.
  • early evening: best time for jogging — most lively at the jogging tracks, with lowest resistance.
  • early evening: often best time for meimei cycling
  • after dinner: often good time for a family movie

night hours=best hours for WFH@@

Posted on by tiger40490

Demarcation — Night hours start after they go to sleep, around 10pm, and ends around 1am.

Night time is the best quiet personal time. As such, Night time is good for sleep and reflective blogging but here I argue that the best wfh hour is night hours.

  • drawback — morning kids screaming, if they don’t go to school
  • drawback — sleep deprivation -> immunity
  • j4 — highest form of concentration, as I have witnessed over 20 years
  • j4 — live discussion with US colleagues
  • j4 — day time always have some distractions
  • j4 (trivial) — monitors
  • drawback — diet loss of control
  • drawback — limited overlap with SG colleagues

— best time for blogging + composing emails?

Sometimes I feel night quiet hours are best allocated to reflective blogging, but it is rarely justified in hind sight.

— best time to read covid19? Not night time

Warning — avoid binge-reading news on covid19 during night quiet hours.

Night hours are precious as gold.

— best time for “paying the bills”? not night time

— best time for workout? Not night time.

avoid conflicts during lockdown

Posted on by tiger40490

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/covid-19-coronavirus-stay-home-work-quarantine-self-isolation-12548400?cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna

Tough Q: Shall I live at peace with more irritating misbehavior of my son?

20 minutes of exercise a day can also help lift your mood, reducing feelings of tension and reduce conflict.