Entries Tagged 'Work from home' ↓

June 30th. Wow.

This is going to be a really imperfect post (working on that perfectionism streak, join me if you wish). I only have 30 minutes to write it, and then I’ll post. I think.

Notable events in June

• I went to Portland, OR, and loved every minute of it. I’ve been teaching Shiva Nata for three months, so it was awesome to (finally!) hug Havi and other fellow shivanauts in person, and get lots of smartnesses (underestimation) from the Shiva Nata teacher training.
• Went to Santa Cruz, CA – celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary. Sea lions are awesome. I totally loved the light, the air, the nature in Nothern California. If only it was a bit closer to Europe and the rest of the world!
• Wrapping up a couple of large projects at work. Doing it well! Filed under “useful experience”.

Best conversations in June

Don’t underestimate two guys in a bar

Setting: in a bar in Portland, talking to two guys in their forties. (I realize this makes me come across as a gal who hangs out at bars in unfamiliar cities talking to strangers. Believe me, totally not my style. Whatever, don’t believe me, I don’t care.)

Me: So, where do you guys work?

Guys: Oh, we work for Delta.

[Chatting about where everyone's been and where people I going]

Me:  Wow, you are here for such a short time – just a very quick meeting, I guess?

Guys: Oh, we fly the planes.

Turns out, not everyone flies there to be there. Some people just fly to fly. Anyway, next time I will look more closely at their watches (pilots usually don’t adjust them to the local time) and haircuts (supposedly sharper than regular Americans).

Only going to take decades

Setting: sharing insights during the Shiva Nata class.

Me: So I really want to process everything I’ve learned and experienced at the Shiva Nata teacher training. And I just can’t! It does not come out! Ohmygod I think I’m suffering from the Apex effect!

L: Oh, I can definitely see it in you, that you are still processing it. It might take time. Some stuff takes years to process, even decades. It may even take a lifetime, you know?

Me: Goodness gracious, years?! Oh wait, is it a pattern again?

This is what I get when my student also happens to be a full-time spiritual teacher.

My 30 minutes are up! I am wrapping up, folks.

Other memorable stuff: TEDxHouston, some fascinating work-related events that I can’t blog about, and the decision to write more about non-localization stuff on this blog. Still thinking how to do it graciously and wondering what people who find this place by searching for “zanzibar jokes” and “questions to ask before you localize” will think. How is that for the start?

That’s it for June! What are you people up to?

Time for another working-from-home update! Thanks to a friendly reminder from our ever-vigilant Oldrich.

Over two months since the last update. Yes, I guess I did get busy.

By the way, the format of this update post is inspired by Havi’s Friday Chickens.

The hard stuff

The hours

Work got very busy, very quickly. In fact, I have been running on an average of 60 hours over the past eight weeks – early mornings, late nights, all weekends. My brain hurts.

To be fair, would have probably been the same even if I worked from an actual office. Cyclical nature of business, learning curve, setting boundaries, this kind of stuff.

The stress

Oh, the stress. Two very stressful months. Taking a lot of notes about things I intend to do differently in the future. Don’t want to go into details.

Slow connection speed

Not being on a local Ethernet means that everything takes forever to upload/download/open. Very frustrating.

Not enough live people

Being an introvert means that I love working on my own, with less distractions and interruptions. At the same time, working from home in a new city means limited opportunities to meet people. Things are better than they were right after the move, but still.

And I had high hopes for Caroline Collective, but the couple of times I went there, there were very few people. Also, the desks are too far away from the windows and the AC is set way too low for me. So I stopped going.

Not in the mood to spend time on cooking and eating

Shopping at Kroger? Making lunches that I eat on my own? Boring and depressing. Doing it with minimal effort and not proud of it.

Hot and muggy Houston

Too hot for walking outside. The temperature climbs to 30°C by 8am and stays there until midnight. Even a walk to the mailbox or from the car necessitates a subsequent shower. So, the walks at the Hermann Park had to go.

The good stuff

Nice office setup

With a wireless keyboard and mouse, large monitor, and a near-perfect arrangement of stationeries. Very satisfying!

People I work with

Are simply awesome. Very smart, supportive and hard working. I am learning so much from them everyday.

Texas Rock Gym!

There’ve been ups and downs, but I’m slowly establishing the twice-a-week routine. Climbing 5.9s and starting to branch out into 5.10s. For the first time in my life, I actually have discernible biceps and it makes me ridiculously happy.

And people! Have been meeting people every time I go, and slowly building my circle of climbing buddies. Some of the guys I’ve been climbing this are amazing athletes and climbers, and it’s thanks to their friendly prodding and beta (“tips” in climbing jargon) that I’m now climbing at the level that I am.

Also, bonus points to reaching the point when actually driving to the TRG is no longer a big deal: got used to the car (quite a “sporty” ride as the wind blows right through the fabric cover), to the highways (was taking surface roads for the first couple of months to keep everyone safe) and to the speed (no more white knuckles and holding breath while changing lanes).

Trips and travels

Boulder, CO in April. Although I mostly kept my nose to the screen, I met many of my otherwise remote colleagues and checked out some places in both Boulder and Denver. I liked it, but would want to visit in during “real” summer and “real” winter to get a better feel for it.

Miami, FL in May. Went for the Memorial Day weekend. Lots of sleep, lots of yoga, accidental sunburn. Quite a seedy scene in South Beach, but otherwise very good time.

Practicing yoga

Ashtanga. Shiva Nata. On my own, almost every day. Taking classes, at least once a week. Teaching a private class, almost every week. So much goodness.  Also, thinking about and actually making plans for yoga teacher training. Very exciting.

All in all…

…I guess this update is not so much about working from home, or working per se. Oh well. Things are looking up and I am hopeful that June will still be a lot of work but manageable, and that July and August will be normal or even (*gasp*) easy, for a change.

I’m glad you’ve read this far – it’s good to be back and blogging. How has your week (month, season) been? Challenges? Joys? Random thoughts? Comments, I’d like them please.

Perception is reality. This phrase has been bouncing in my head all week, ever since I read it in my company’s social media guidelines.

*Yes, my company has social media guidelines, as I found out after mentioning this blog to the HR. And while we are on this topic, the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Lionbridge’s positions, strategies or opinions. Which you have probably figured out already.

Perceptions and mob justice

A memory about perceptions keeps coming up: last summer in Dar es Salaam, Paul and I were very close to falling victims to mob justice.

Here is what really happened. Salum, a taxi driver, was taking us to the airport. Suddenly, we saw a man flying across the road and landing right in front of our car. Salum quickly veered to the left to avoid him. The car in front of us, that had hit the man, drove on.

A few seconds later, the traffic slowed down and stopped, the car in front of us had to stop, and our car had to stop, too. Instantaneously, a mob of thirty people gathered on the road, shouting, pointing towards the spot of the accident and the two cars, and shaking their fists.

We knew the most important Tanzanian rule of the road: if you hit someone, don’t stop. Drive on and come back with the police. But there was no way to drive on – we were stuck in traffic.

It was the other car that caused the accident. We knew it, they knew it, and the mob kind of knew it. Suddenly, a Swahili woman in a red burqa emerged next to our car, pointing and shouting. More people moved close to our car, pointing at us and shouting. Salum rolled down the window and started yelling back.

Part of the mob seemed to believe that our driver was at fault. The new reality was being created, with the possibility of us having to bear the consequences. We were mzungus (= Europeans, so meaning walking wallets, from the Tanzanian perspective), and it made our position even more precarious.

We got lucky: the victim was hurt (probably a broken leg) but still conscious. The mob picked him up and carried him towards the two cars. It was the moment of truth: he pointed to the other car, the mob moved away, and our car was forgotten. A young man motioned “go” to Salum, and we sped away.

What could have other outcomes be like? I don’t know, and it’s not the point of the story. For me, it was about how quickly perceptions can cross into reality, and how palpably real they can become.

Online vs. offline perceptions

I work remotely, so I am in the perceptions business – big time. For my team members, I am a Russian-accented voice in a teleconference, a bunch of emails, an internal wiki profile, and whatever comes up if they google me.

I am traveling to Boulder on Monday, to spend a week onsite, meet my manager (a remote employee herself), and work side-by-side with my Boulder-based coworkers.

With me being there physically, are our pre-existing perceptions of each other going to be majorly disrupted? Are people going to be very different from my mental images of them? Am I going to be perceived completely differently in real life than as a virtual teammate? I am a bit worried about these things.

At the same time, I am very curious about how this trip unfolds and what I can learn from this de-virtualization. And meeting so many people in real life will be good for my social tonus. And getting to know my team with help me understand them better, and work productively in the future.

Are you in the perceptions business?

These two situations – being in the middle of a mob in Tanzania, and flying to Boulder to meet my team in real life for the first time – are two very different examples of how perceptions and reality can interact in everyday life.

I am sure there is more stuff in between. Have you been there? Is it something that you are noticing around you? How do you interact with it?