Serious question....

Looking good, FSP.

I decided a few days ago to tear into a wall for a fireplace installation.  After four days, all I have is a gaping hole in my wall.  I discovered really freaky construction that suggests this house was NOT built in 1900, but instead started life as some sort of barn/carriage house/gatehouse from the late 1800s.  It has since had 4 additions, and it's still only 835 sf.

I also discovered some knob/tube wiring still in use, so I'm re-doing two circuits.  Also found that there is a soffit from one wing of the house that needs to be altered for the chimney, so I'm more or less having to frame the whole thing up to support the weight of that eave so I can hack it out.  I get frustrated some days, especially doing wiring and construction in a hot attic, but I'm doing it right, dammit.  All of this is so I can set the fireplace back into the wall 4.5".  I could have just sacrificed 4.5 more inches of living room, but I wouldn't have found the two circuits in the wall with bare wires and electrical tape waiting to kill me in my sleep.

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I also think that working from home plays bad mental tricks on some people. 
 

Work is work. With all it's stresses, aggravations, etc. At the end of the day you get to go home. 
 

Home is home.  It is a safe place. An oasis. A place you fill with the things you care about and enjoy, and the people you love. It's where you get away. It's where you have your own things, and hobbies, and life. It's you. It's where you go to get away from work. 
 

Or, it could be the reverse. Maybe things aren't so good at home, and you go to work to get away from the home stresses and feel good about yourself.
 

No surprise that it kinda sucks to work from home.  It combines 2 universes that are separate for very good and healthy reasons. 

This speaks volumes to me having had to submit to this  process.....thank you so very much for this explanation of a dynamic 

that very few of us would ever think of in our lifetime that we would ever experience.............peace out late

On top of all the other fun, I'm into Day 3 of the Isaias-induced power outage, which is making things extra double-plus super happy fun time. It's hot, I haven't really slept in two days, and I have to do all sorts of battery-powered gymnastics to accomplish even the most basic tasks. Joy.

That said, in a broader context, I'm a hardcore introvert, so not having to engage in pointless interactions and being able to avoid perceived social obligations is lovely. Working from home is a deeply unwelcome intrusion, but I suppose it beats not working. Maybe.

I'm normally an "embrace the suck" kind of a guy - if anything, this whole conglomeration of events has intensified it to the point that I think it's fair to say I'm a practicing, if passive, nihilist (in a macro sense). The world's on fire - let's watch it burn. I'll bring the marshmallows.

759NRNG (Forum Partidario) said:

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to z31maniac :

I also think that working from home plays bad mental tricks on some people. 
 

Work is work. With all it's stresses, aggravations, etc. At the end of the day you get to go home. 
 

Home is home.  It is a safe place. An oasis. A place you fill with the things you care about and enjoy, and the people you love. It's where you get away. It's where you have your own things, and hobbies, and life. It's you. It's where you go to get away from work. 
 

Or, it could be the reverse. Maybe things aren't so good at home, and you go to work to get away from the home stresses and feel good about yourself.
 

No surprise that it kinda sucks to work from home.  It combines 2 universes that are separate for very good and healthy reasons. 

This speaks volumes to me having had to submit to this  process.....thank you so very much for this explanation of a dynamic 

I remember after my divorce noticing that I no longer enjoyed working OT.  Then I realized I had been working OT to avoid the ex at home.  Now that she was gone home had turned into my escape from work again.

Beat the berkeley out of a Craigslist drum set?

or some drywall buckets and a trash can lid?

I know! Go harass Ben til his stupid ass comes back here! 

I've been doing pretty well through COVID-life, but this week has plain sucked. We lost power on Tuesday from the tropical storm, so my life has revolved around trying to remain productive working with no internet access, and keeping the generator cranking 24/7.  The warm weather and lack of A/C last night resulted in a craptastic night of sleep that only made matters worse. Thankfully, we got screens in most of the windows today, so the house will be cooler than 84 degrees tonight!

I'm actually off from today - Monday to make some progress on cars, but my parts for an upcoming project that were supposed to arrive are all delayed indefinitely (a good chunk of roads in town are still impassable).  And it looks like it's going to be a full week before we can begin to see power/internet restored.

I tried to help a friend get a borrowed generator working today, but after a few hours with no success, we had to cut bait. I realize these are all first-world problems, but I usually feel better after I vent. It helps me hit rock bottom quicker.

Now that my complaining is over, I'm going to try to get a better night's sleep tonight and have a more productive day tomorrow!

Last night we took the dog for a walk down the street and back and I replaced the battery and glass cover on my iPhail 8. Never ever ever volunteer to replace that back cover. 2.5 hours, 4 cuts and time with a dremel later..... and it all works still. And the battery is bigger (1800mAh original, 2200 new). 

Still hate 2020

The only thing I kinda miss about going to the office was the routine.  I tend to be a creature of habit, so many of the daily stuff I did prior to leaving for the office (like brushing my teeth), has been hard to get into a habit when working at home. I do try to maintain a regular schedule - I log on around 7am every morning and try to log off around 4 - unless I take a long lunch to do some chores around the house. 

On a "well, that sucks..." note, I just canceled my hotel reservations for the Carlisle show next week. All of my friends who I normally go with are either not going at all or just going there on Sat. As much as I do want to get away, I'm not so sure about spending almost $500 on the hotel room to just sit around.  Bummer, but in the grand scheme of what many others are going through, it's minor. 

In reply to 84FSP :

Just don't forget to install that damn bearing retaining clip before pressing in the hub.  BTDT.  (doh...)

My office is also my guitar room.  While it would be ideal to have a dedicate work office space, my house is simply not big enough for that. All of the rooms in my house tend to have at least two functions. And that's just with me living here.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah, my office is really more just "my room." My work setup, which I'm fine with because it's way nicer than my office setup, my few guitars, and at some point I'll put together another triple-monitor sim rig. 

Even with a car perfect for HPDE and AutoX work now, I don't know how much I'll actually be able to spend doing track days.

ProDarwin said:

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

build a flamethrower

Finally, some helpful advice in this thread! 

I was impressed with the flamethrower advice as well!!!

bobzilla said:

Depression in this time is a f'n bitch. 

Yes, it is. I've been treating mine with Lexipro for the last 5 years and it's been stable and gradually improving. But the pandemic has been a set back. We've got young kids, work has been unstable, we've got very vulnerable parents. It's been a time of unprecedented stress. There have been moments during the last three months when it felt like years of progress were lost. Fortunately, they were relatively brief.

Two things have really helped. First, the smaller, more trivial one. I try to take a half day every couple weeks to tinker on the old 911. There's always something minor to fix. Last weekend it was a door light switch. Two weeks before that, it was inspecting front sway bar bushings. None of it was crucial, but making little improvements to something old (and in the process, learning new technical skills and info) was helpful to my soul.

Second, and much bigger, I've tried to find ways to help people in far worse positions than we are. A few years ago my wife and I founded a local charity that raises money to buy reliable cars, fix them up, and donate them to local families in need (mostly single moms with young kids who fit within the "working poor" economic bracket). Anyways, once the full Covid lockdown lifted, we were able to get back into the tax office and give some more away. We try to do two a month. While it's clearly a benefit to the recipients, it's also been a huge help in my own battle with depression. It gives life meaning and gives the future hope.

Wife and I have been working from home since March. Wife is pregnant and due early November and kiddo #1 turned 2 in July and has been home from daycare since March. #1 also has asthma and has had rough rounds with it and late night emergency doctor visits and all that. With everything we are isolating pretty hardcore, havent been out and done much of anything aside from groceries and doctors and rare carryout food since March. 

I work 8 hour days, she works 9 (RDO every other week for her) and with juggling a toddler...

Its easy to feel buried, but we are striving to lean in and make the best of it. I have been chipping at about a half dozen projects here and there in short bursts (30min to an hour at a time). I kinda blew my car stuff budget early on getting stuff to finish the bugeye, so I am down to non-money intensive projects. The other day I made a chain guard for the racecar, the next day I painted it. I have been messing with the drivers compartment (seating) in the racecar (its a formula car, so "seat" means something a touch different) off and on in short spurts. Thats on top of another list of "getting ready for another baby" house stuff. 

I think its helped to not do any one BIG project, but just take it one bite at a time and feel accomplishment for getting the bite done.  

Kiddo likes rides in the trailer for the bike and there are trails near the house I can ride and never see another soul, so we do that a lot. Trying to improve my fitness as much as I can, which isnt easy staying at home or around home. 

On the one hand, I could be really depressed. This was the year I was going to push and do some racing stuff I REALLY wanted to do, including time trialing the F500 at a racetrack. Worked a lot over the winter to have it set up to be much mroe competitive for FTD at local autocrosses this year and its August and I havent even started the engine on it this year, and likely wont get to. I wont get to go hard next year with a new baby, but that said, my wife feels bad for me and has been talking with her mom about schedule and helping with the kids to enable me to do more than I thought when things are hopefully more normal next year. Her understanding has made it easier to swallow not getting to do things now, so instead I get to be happy about having an understanding wife. 

On the other hand, its let me be a more engaged and better father to my son. I could type all the typical proud father stuff, you get it. Love the munchkin, even if he drives me nuts most days and truly insane on the nights he decides to wake up and stay up in the middle of the night (like last night).

I have my low periods, just gotta keep paddling. We might not see the end yet, but keep paddling and it will come eventually. 

Its like we are all sitting in a waiting room.  Can only do some limited things. Hard not to focus on the waiting aspect and hard to try to enjoy the limited things you can do right now. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Beat the berkeley out of a Craigslist drum set?

or some drywall buckets and a trash can lid?

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Looking good, FSP.

I decided a few days ago to tear into a wall for a fireplace installation.  After four days, all I have is a gaping hole in my wall.  I discovered really freaky construction that suggests this house was NOT built in 1900, but instead started life as some sort of barn/carriage house/gatehouse from the late 1800s.  It has since had 4 additions, and it's still only 835 sf.

I also discovered some knob/tube wiring still in use, so I'm re-doing two circuits.  Also found that there is a soffit from one wing of the house that needs to be altered for the chimney, so I'm more or less having to frame the whole thing up to support the weight of that eave so I can hack it out.  I get frustrated some days, especially doing wiring and construction in a hot attic, but I'm doing it right, dammit.  All of this is so I can set the fireplace back into the wall 4.5".  I could have just sacrificed 4.5 more inches of living room, but I wouldn't have found the two circuits in the wall with bare wires and electrical tape waiting to kill me in my sleep.

Let the motivation become as infectious as the Rona!  Glad to see you making progress.  I got rabbit up and running Sunday so a little bit of winning in my life.