Cellar Scribblings

[CellarDweller]

No handling your balls in public till January?

 

My newspaper staff is working remotely until the end of the year, and I hope they continue beyond that. I've been working out of my home office for years anyway, and prefer it here. I haven't been back to my desk since March 14, and haven't really missed anything. Working from home is more relaxing and efficient. Saves about an hour of round-trip commuting, as well as $160/mo rental at my parking ramp.

Newspapers, of course, were already struggling. Now they're doing a little better, relatively speaking, but they'll still have long-term problems if advertisers don't recover. My newspaper moved a few years ago into three floors of a big fancy office tower. It was already bigger than the staff needed, and although it's brand new and has lots of windows it feels kind of artificial and bleak to me. I would think the newspaper could seize the opportunity to get out of its lease, if it can, and move to a smaller place. Ideally one of those cool renovated old warehouses.

Here's hoping that the advertisers recover.

I've found out how much of an introvert I can be under this pandemic.  I always enjoyed going out and being with people.  That being said, I am finding a sense of peace being home all the time as well.  No morning commute, no traffic stress, no office drama between coworkers,  and funnily enough, I now realize how much of my job I can do from home.  I used to feel guilty for needing to work from home, but now, that's gone.  I'm more inclined to work from home during inclement weather now.

[serious crayons]

Of course, even though i can access my FB from my own computer, I don't post there.  I've heard stories about people getting into trouble posting on FB while during work hours, so I'm not tempting fate.

We're all but encouraged to. I use FB a lot for work. For example, last spring I wrote about how the maple syruping season (for hobbyists who tap trees, collect sap and boil it down to syrup) was really great. So I joined a Minnesota maple syruping group and asked people if they wanted to comment on their own experiences for my story.

We're also encouraged to post the paper's stories on FB and Twitter so they get wider readership.

But even when we post purely fun social things, nobody cares. When we were in the office, I sat at a desk behind my editor's desk and could see his screen. He was on FB A LOT.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends!!!!

Labor Day weekend has arrived in the US.  The "unofficial" end of summer, and start of the Autumn season.

Of course, Autumn really doesn't start until September 22nd.   I was talking to a friend online, and I said "I don't want any of this "Indian Summer" shit!  No falling back to 90 degree days at the end of September."

This coming week I have training I have to attend for work.  Wed - Friday, and then again on Monday, I have to be on a webinar from 8 - 12 each day.   Blech.   However, once that session is over on Monday, I am off for another "staycation".   Time to get some more things done around the apartment, perhaps take out the Halloween stuff.  I won't hang it up, it's still too early, but this way it will be out and ready for when I want to put them out.

Have to go out tonight to Target and get some things.  I'm not going until after dinner, I would assume that the store will be emptier than during the day.  I need to get a three-hole punch, some large 3-ring binders, and a few other things.

[CellarDweller]

We're all but encouraged to. I use FB a lot for work. For example, last spring I wrote about how the maple syruping season (for hobbyists who tap trees, collect sap and boil it down to syrup) was really great. So I joined a Minnesota maple syruping group and asked people if they wanted to comment on their own experiences for my story.

We're also encouraged to post the paper's stories on FB and Twitter so they get wider readership.

But even when we post purely fun social things, nobody cares. When we were in the office, I sat at a desk behind my editor's desk and could see his screen. He was on FB A LOT.

Well, we have internet access at work, but we're not supposed to be accessing it.  We do use Google to look things up, and check Google News.  However, FB, personal emails, forums, and other social media are not permitted.

[brianr]

September 1 is the official start of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere although we had the heaviest snowfall of winter in many parts of the South Island last Tuesday.  I only had a few flakes fall at my house. Spring is considered our most changeable season. We had 19'C the Sunday before (August 30) then maximum of 8 on Tuesday with minimum of just 1 on Wednesday morning. It was back up to 17'C yesterday but forecast only 14 with showers today.  I had to cancel our hike last Tuesday but the forecast is fine and 15'C for next Tuesday.

[serious crayons]

Well, we have internet access at work, but we're not supposed to be accessing it.  We do use Google to look things up, and check Google News.  However, FB, personal emails, forums, and other social media are not permitted.

I think at my job they might frown on shopping. And I might not spend hours on BetterMost. But we're supposed to be communicating with the public, so social media and emails are all fine.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I think at my job they might frown on shopping. And I might not spend hours on BetterMost. But we're supposed to be communicating with the public, so social media and emails are all fine.

That is the weirdest thing about my job. I cannot access my personal e-mail, which is blocked, but I could spend all day on eBay--or Bettermost for that matter--and I've done lots of shopping during my workday, not just on eBay but on merchant websites, like LL Bean, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and any number of other sites. I've done this for years on years, though if my current supervisor found out, who knows what might happen. I may soon not have the time anyway.

[serious crayons]

That is the weirdest thing about my job. I cannot access my personal e-mail, which is blocked, but I could spend all day on eBay--or Bettermost for that matter--and I've done lots of shopping during my workday, not just on eBay but on merchant websites, like LL Bean, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and any number of other sites. I've done this for years on years, though if my current supervisor found out, who knows what might happen. I may soon not have the time anyway.

To clarify, nobody would care if I spent 10 minutes ordering something from Amazon. But if I spent long stretches shopping they'd at least notice I'm not being very productive with work stuff.

Of course, they probably have ways to watch your every move online and certainly read all of your work email. But I figure no newspaper these days is going to pay someone to monitor that kind of thing when they don't even have enough reporters.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends!!!!

Happy Labor Day to all who celebrate it.




I had a nice sleep-in today, then had breakfast, did some stuff online, and about to have lunch.

I'm in the mood to go through dresser drawers and closets, looking for stuff to get rid or, or just in general reorganize, so I'm going to start doing that at 2:00.

[CellarDweller]

That is the weirdest thing about my job. I cannot access my personal e-mail, which is blocked, but I could spend all day on eBay--or Bettermost for that matter--and I've done lots of shopping during my workday, not just on eBay but on merchant websites, like LL Bean, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and any number of other sites. I've done this for years on years, though if my current supervisor found out, who knows what might happen. I may soon not have the time anyway.

To clarify, nobody would care if I spent 10 minutes ordering something from Amazon. But if I spent long stretches shopping they'd at least notice I'm not being very productive with work stuff.

Of course, they probably have ways to watch your every move online and certainly read all of your work email. But I figure no newspaper these days is going to pay someone to monitor that kind of thing when they don't even have enough reporters.

I haven't checked at work to see what sites we can and can't access.  I do know we can access Amazon, but I've never tried ebay at work.  The last thing I want to do is give the impression that I'm shopping online while at my workstation.

I do know that I've seen a few people around the office looking at Zillow during the day.