Glad to be Home

My wife and I have been traveling a lot over the past several months. We spent a week in Hawaii and then followed that up with five weeks on another island a month later. This past weekend we visited my youngest son in Ohio with his family. Last night we returned home and my wife let me know she is done traveling for awhile.

Even when travel goes perfectly, it can be rather arduous. Last night we experienced a number of small disruptions that all added up so that we didn't get home until 2 hours after our scheduled arrival. I'm sure that contributed to my wife's comment about not wanting to go anywhere. I admit it felt like a death by a thousand cuts. There wasn't any one issue that made for a big delay, just a lot of little ones.

We left Columbus, Ohio on time and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia early. Those that know the Atlanta airport know it is huge with 6 different terminals. Naturally we landed at terminal A and had to make our way to terminal F to catch our next flight. As I mentioned, we landed early and had plenty of time to take the train. It still required a lot of walking even with the train. We got to our new gate and found two seats where we patiently awaited for our next flight.

Our plane came in from Athens, Greece and required thorough cleaning. While we had a plane, we started boarding a little late. Then the flight only had 9 empty seats. An Airbus A-330 has a lot of seats and so it took a very long time to load all of those passengers. Our scheduled departure time came and went with people continuing to load the plane. Finally everyone boarded and we pushed back about fifteen minutes late. Soon the pilot came on and explained that the wind shifted and we had to reposition the plane to the opposite end of the runway with all of the other flights preparing to take off. Once in the air, the flight went relatively well but we landed 40 minutes late.

I am a firm believer in two types of luggage: carried on and lost. We carried on all our bags and made a straight line for long-term parking once we landed in Salt Lake City. A lot of flights were landing at the same time and the line to board the shuttle to get to our car was massive. It took about 15 minutes just to board the bus and another 10 minutes to get to our car. Fortunately SLC has an abundance of non-human cashiers at the parking exit and it did not require waiting in line to leave the airport.

By this point, we thought we had experienced all of the delays for the evening until we came across late-night road construction. We had five lanes of traffic merge down to one. That added another delay which compounded on the others as we tried to get home to go to sleep. Eventually we made it, albeit significantly later than we hoped.

Those that travel a lot have come to appreciate being at home. Those that don't travel much but then do a few trips in rapid succession discover how satisfying home can be. My wife falls into that later group. At least we can rest for a month or so before our next trip.

Mobile Phones Can Be Painful

It is too hot here in Utah this summer but I still got on my bike and headed out for a morning ride today. I started the ride in the heat and it only got hotter. I looked forward to completing my ride but towards the end I came across an auto/pedestrian accident that lengthened my time in the sun. Guess who wins an an auto vs. pedestrian accident? If you said, "Nobody," you are correct. Fortunately the pedestrian was not hurt severely but did get taken away in an ambulance.

I arrived just after the accident happened and took it upon myself to direct traffic around the poor woman lying in the street. She had the young driver of the car next to her on the phone with emergency medical services, also known as 911. The poor driver was crying and explaining how the accident happened. While directing traffic I tried to help the other two people that stopped and were performing first aid while we waited for the paramedics to arrive.

So what happened? Why did a young girl getting off the freeway run into another woman walking across a crosswalk? I did not witness the accident and can only share what I heard at the scene and can surmise based on where the car stopped and the victim lay. Having seen my fair share of bicycle accidents, the pedestrian was not hit very hard. The driver came off the freeway and was slowing down as she came to the intersection. She was distracted by her phone and didn't see the pedestrian in the crosswalk until it was too late. She immediately stopped and got out of her car to help the injured person. That was mistake number 1 and the biggie.

There was a second mistake made by the pedestrian crossing the street. She was also on her phone and missed noticing that a car was coming down the road. Her mistake was significantly less important when finding fault for the accident but one that could have saved her some significant pain. Had she been paying careful attention to the cars on the road she might have been able to jump out of the way.

Please understand that I don't fault the pedestrian for getting hit. She was in a crosswalk and had the right of way regardless of if she was on her phone or not. My only point is that paying more attention to her surroundings could have kept her from receiving a minor face laceration, a bruised hip, and a concussion this morning.

Mobile phones are one of the greatest inventions of our time. We are all instantly contactable and can use them to remain more productive than we would be without them. Unfortunately they require our attention and sometimes that can be unhealthy. Fortunately in this morning's accident, nobody was seriously injured and the only severe consequence is that someone's insurance will go up.

Is Working From Home Driving Us Crazy?

Friday evening last week I boarded a plane in Lihue, Hawaii and made the disappointing trip home. I spent 5 weeks working from the wonderful tropical island of Kauai and could easily have spent another 5 weeks there. Unfortunately there are a number of duties I have back at home and am back to my old-boring routine of working from home in Utah.

In Hawaii, one of my nightly rituals included spending an hour at the pool and hot tub. Most of the people staying at the condo complex were vacationing and so I got to meet quite a few people. On one evening towards the end of my stay, I met a medical doctor who was in Hawaii for 3 weeks. His wife is also in the medical field and they only get one long break every year that they can use to take a vacation. This year they spent it in Kauai. It surprised him that I was there for 5 weeks. I explained that I didn't need to burn any of my vacation time as I was still working every day. That sparked a conversation about the negative impact of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While I have thrived working from home over the past 16 months, I am actually an anomaly. I don't have any kids at home that like to spend time on conference calls with me nor am I using my bedroom as my office. I have a dedicated office with all of the tools I need to keep working from home. My home office actually rivals my work office, which might explain one of the reasons I am thriving.

While sitting in the hot tub, the doctor and I discussed the various ailments that people are exhibiting because of working from home. He personally has noticed a lot of anxiety disorders. Part of that comes from using one's bedroom as their office. One of the work-from-home seminars I was asked to attend mentioned the problem with that. You start to associate your sleeping area as your work area and when it comes time to go to sleep at night, your mind reverts back to work and it can be difficult to fall asleep as well as stay asleep. Anxiety also arises from concern over dealing with younger children and keeping them entertained. Having a parent dedicated to watching the kids helps but a lot of families require that second income and so parents are juggling kids while trying to work.

Looking at the title of this post, I would say that the answer is definitely, "Yes," for a number of people. Working from home is definitely driving those people crazy. But with most broad statements like that, there are exceptions to the rule. The trick is to do everything you can to minimize the downsides of working from home until you are welcome back at the office. Then be prepared as some of your coworkers only show up at work when necessary.

Changing the Weather

As companies that have allowed everyone to work from home start implementing plans to return to office, they are preparing workers for changes. My own company has started recommending online training about how to prepare for the upcoming adjustments in our work environment. I watched a video this morning about we shouldn't be anxious about things that are out of our control and one of the examples was the weather. Interestingly enough, the weather is one of the things you can change and there are many examples of this around us.

I love winters in Utah because I love to ski. Unfortunately summers are just too hot for my taste. Instead of surviving this summer at home, I opted to get on a plane and spend the last 5 weeks in Hawaii. The average daily high is around 83 degrees Fahrenheit with the low around 72. I also get to see the rain daily, something that doesn't happen very often during the summer in Utah. So while I have not technically changed the weather in Utah, I have changed the weather for me by simply changing my location.

There are other examples of changing the weather. If it is raining, you can always seek shelter to where it is dry. If it is not raining and your lawn or plants need rain, you can water them with sprinklers or other types of irrigation.

How about the cold or the heat? How can you change that? Easy with modern heating and air conditioning systems. I doubt very many people would visit Florida in the summer if it wasn't for air conditioning. I also doubt may people would call Alaska home in the winter without heating systems. Sure you may not be able to change the weather for an entire outdoor area, but you can change it for where you are currently standing or sitting.

Often times you will hear an absolute that isn't really an absolute. Someone may say you can't change the weather when now you know you really can. Don't be afraid to challenge all absolutes as you may discover new ways of doing the impossible.