Consequent Ideas

I had one of those days today, so I’m going to share.

I was up late last night (writing on here to maintain my perfect record of posts), and, coupled with my trying to fit everything in over the past couple of weeks, the result was my ambling out of bed about an hour and a half later than normal. That meant that, after my shower, I only had about an hour to get the necessary reviews done before my 0900 deadline. And I was really hoping to start work on something else early today, too. The back-of-the-hand calculation made me wince as I stumbled toward the bathroom.

I clean myself up, come back, and boot up my computer as I finish getting ready for the day. Pull on this, log in there, pull on that, open up a browser, brush my hair, load a set of tabs, open up the curtain to let in some natural light, check the appropriate tab for the number of cases I have to do before the deadline and it’s… zero.

Maybe I should have pinched myself.

There was work for me to do, certainly, but there were no cases that had to be done this morning. I went through the short list of those that had popped up, checked on something, and switched tasks at 0832.

I grabbed breakfast (yogurt and fruit which was grab-and-go ready this morning) and started on the thing I had hoped I’d get done yesterday (*shakes fist at teh interwebs*) because of an impending external deadline. I wanted to get it done quickly, but I needed to get it done thoroughly and well, both because a client’s interests rely on it and because, as my first project for this group, it was imperative I make a good impression. (Especially given that this particular tech is right in my wheelhouse, doing well was critical.) Moreover, it was my first time getting my hands on working one of these tasks in quite a while – so not only was the heat on, but my hands felt like they were caked in mostly-dried mud as they went to tune an antique clockpiece.

Diving in, I skimmed my (handwritten) notes from yesterday, then flipped through the document I was writing for submission. Last night, I was a mixture of excited and frustrated: it was fun enough that I didn’t notice the time flying by, but there were several times when I just couldn’t grasp what the disclosure was saying. What does that mean? … Why is this here? … Is that supposed to be… ?

This morning, everything just clicked. Everything I was looking at fell into place: the invention, the prior art, the arguments that I knew I wanted to make but couldn’t put my finger on the appropriate wording… Everything. I thought I’d be working on it through the mid-afternoon; even with several interruptions, I finished before noon.

I also expected the partner would have a number of corrections for me. I’m a little rusty, I’m a little new, I’m a little a lot of things. And I’m working from home because of the pandemic, which also works against me and my focus. One of the reasons I wanted to submit the document to him early was so he would have plenty of time to look over it and make the necessary corrections. That’s what I’m used to, that’s what I’ve been told and taught to expect; that’s what I expected. And then…

“I reviewed the draft, and excellent work on it. Two minor style things…”

Excellent work. Minor style changes only.

… Am I dreaming?

I had to re-read the email. I work hard and well and thoroughly, but that doesn’t mean I’m used to receiving praise (let alone high praise) for the product. I got it done on time (ahead of schedule) and to the point where if it needed to be filed immediately, it could have been. Oh my goodness. I was thrilled. I still am thrilled. I was so excited that I had to step away for a little while to cool my jets because my head couldn’t handle all of the excitement at the same time as processing the information about another invention.

While I was metaphorically paused, I performed some administrative tasks, like plunking through the time tracking system. When I tallied my time on the project, it came out to less than three business days. And that was with me struggling with it. The first day I felt as though I didn’t know what I was doing because, the way my brain initially processed the description, it all seemed entirely foreign to me. I plowed through it because of the impending deadline, but it was certainly slow progress the first day, much slower than it had any right to be. Despite that, and some time wasted on trying to argue something that I recognized this morning was weak at best and wouldn’t matter at most, and I still came in under three days of work time. That’s super close to the well-oiled machine goal!

As if I needed anything else to top off my day, I clicked into my inbox after clock out (which was oddly quite late because I was so absorbed in my work) to find an email from a reference who’d had a “nice chat” with someone on my behalf and he just wanted to touch base and wish me well.

Sidenote: I owe him a really nice thank-you card.

So, okay, you may be thinking, “A solid day, but you were trapped inside.”

Today, I was barely tempted to go outside. Yes, I would have loved to have made time for a walk, and it looked like pretty decent weather, but for anyone watching my posting time, this is going to go up about 2300 hours, and I still have a few things I want to get done before bed. The mere fact that I wasn’t staring out my window longingly, wanting to escape from the task at hand, is a huge sign of great things. Everybody has those moments – you hit a stumbling block, or there’s a more difficult obstacle than you really wanted to face blocking your path – but today those were few and far between for me.

Tomorrow, I’m getting my tuchus outside. It’ll be gorgeous. I’ll get done what I need to in the morning, go for a walk, go visit a friend, maybe go for another walk, and figure out this Mass-without-church thing. (All public Masses in my area have been shut down by the bishop; I needed a day like today after receiving that news this week.)

This week has been exhausting in a fantastic way; I’m excited for what tomorrow will bring.

How about you? Are you sheltering in place this week? If so, how are you handling it? If not, what have you been better able to do with fewer crowds? What has been the best thing about your week this week, and what are you most looking forward to in the near (or distant) future?

And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”
And He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?”
And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?”

– Mark 4:37-41

Just a quick note tonight about a current event.

COVID-19 (otherwise known as the coronavirus) has officially hit the United States. It’s a nasty flu causing pneumonia-like symptoms, the most common of which are fever, dry cough, and fatigue.

People are going nuts.

Granted, it appears to have a higher mortality rate than the typical flu, and the harshest of the symptoms are ones we as a nation are ill-equipped to handle. I was (reluctantly) discussing the topic earlier with someone who works in a hospital and gets all of the updates for safety reasons. Some of the equipment that has been most necessary to sustain life through the worst of the fight is in short supply (nationwide) relative to the number of people they suspect will show symptoms. Then the question came up:

How do you decide who gets the equipment, who lives and who dies?

The question struck two chords in me. First, for the first time since the outbreak began, I felt panic sear across the back of my skull. Zombie apocalypse? That was the first thing to come to my mind. Second, my companion mentioned that, logically, once the stash is depleted, the equipment should be taken away from patients less likely to survive if new patients come in. I was morally outraged. And yet, even my repugnance was overshadowed by this fear.

It’s not the first day of worry; I was texting with a friend the other day when I was in the airport about the concerns around travel. There are horror stories coming out of China, and hand sanitizer has been sold out for a week in my area. (I went to pick it up for an event last weekend and several people laughed aloud because it’d been sold out for days already.) However, the reality that hospitals are planning to ration care and equipment based on factors such as age struck hard enough to jolt a frightened reaction from me.

For the rest of the conversation and at least an hour afterward, I was shaking from nerves; as I tried to blow off steam, I found myself distracted with thoughts of doctors ripping equipment away from my grandmother to give to me. Absolutely not. It was such a haunting thought.

But then, hearkening back to the airport conversation, I realized: I have nothing to fear because the Lord is with me always. Always. It may not be easy, it may not be fun, but God will take me in His time, regardless of whatever the world may throw a me. Jesus will only allow my family and friends to suffer if the suffering itself is for His glory, and He will be with me through everything.

So take steps, but also take heart. Wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer frequently. Minimize physical contact. Be your best hygienic self to help prevent the spread of this thing, but do not panic. We are called to be good stewards, so take care of yourself and others by following precautions; we are also called to trust God and to find peace in knowing that He loves you.

We are children of the Living God. Know that He loves you and protects you, and use the tools He provided you to stay in good shape. Take a breath. In… Out…

Peace of the Lord be with you always.