Thankful for being employed during COVID-19 uncertainty

I am fortunate to be able to work from home during this COVID-19 pandemic. I work in the IT field and have a laptop. Other than spending more time and effort communicating with my colleagues, I can comfortably work from home and get paid.

My employer has asked all employees to work from home till the end of the month. Well, that date got changed to April 10. It will mean that it will be five weeks of working from home for me. Perhaps it will be extended some more.

I look at the restaurant business here in the greater Toronto area. Restaurants have shut down dine-in services. Takeout and delivery services are the only ways that these restaurants can offer their services. Bartenders and servers can't work from home. They are either laid off, or their employer pays them and then suffers the consequences of losing money daily.

I feel for businesses these days, especially local ones. My ordering takeout from them here and there will hopefully help a bit.

Here's hoping that we can resume our regular lives when this pandemic disappears.

Second knock on the job door

It's interesting that when I am not looking for a new job, I am fortunate to have folks contacting me. When I truly want to change jobs, I don't seem to have that sort of luck.

The other day, I had mentioned that one recruiter had reached out to me. A couple of days ago, another one did.

We spoke on the phone on Thursday. Work has been pretty busy. I have been training a new student while both of us continue to work on a software release.

This job isn't a lead position like I am currently doing. However, this position is a fifteen-minute drive from my home. I would save a ton in highway toll fees, time, gas, fuel, and perhaps sanity. I also like change.

This recruiter submitted my resume today. She got an immediate yes-let's-interview-Cutiebootie response from this prospective employer.

I am flattered that I am in such high demand. I have been the interviewee for a while. It'll nice to be interviewed and see how things go.

J is for jets and jetlag

My guy and I were fortunate to book the same flights to and from Seattle. We had a brief layover in both directions.

There is a three-hour time difference between Toronto and Seattle. My guy generally has a tougher time adjusting, but he seems perfectly fine adjusting when there is a small time shift. However, when he is halfway across the world, it takes him a week to get back to his normal self.

I managed to book my seat next to my guy for three out of the four flight segments. I couldn't sit next to him from Seattle to Chicago. Instead, I was in row 25 and he was in row 29.

My guy is a true gentleman. Whenever we fly, he manages to help me with my luggage and such. When we had landed in Chicago. I looked over at him, and he waved and smiled at me.

When we had landed in Toronto, we were waiting for our luggage off the carousel. There was an older woman who needed help getting her luggage off the carousel. My guy not only offered to do that, but he also went to fetch a cart and put all her luggage on it.

To my guy, there's nothing unusual about such a gesture. To me, it just shows how kind and sweet he is to everyone. It's nice to see. I am fortunate that he is my guy.