ryelle codes

A blogging chain is going around, that has folks sharing their typical days. It’s interesting to read through everyone’s responses, especially given the whole pandemic situation. It can feel like everyone’s just carrying on (we’re all tired of the “this is fine” meme, but that), so reading the real, everyday experiences feels very… soothing. I don’t know, maybe that’s the wrong way to phrase it. I was tagged by Mel, who was tagged by Eric. Colin Devroe, who started this whole thing, has collected a bunch of the posts here

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My biggest switch with the pandemic was that I stopped working from cafes and coworking spaces – I’d already been working remotely for years. I don’t really schedule out my workdays, I try to leave space open so I can really dive into something if I’m feeling focused, or catch up on assorted chats/projects/etc if I’m not. Actually, writing this out has been an interesting process in how I might want to use my time differently.

8:45-9:45 My alarm goes off at some point (I shift it based on bedtime). I do the typical social media & news checkins, peek at my work emails and slack. I don’t answer anything from bed, I actually hate typing on my phone; this is just to get a feel for the day. Double check if I have any meetings (rare), and then head downstairs.

9:45-10:30 Get roughly dressed (real clothes do make me feel better but a) I include leggings in “real clothes” and b) sometimes you just need PJs). Head downstairs. I have our speaker play the news, and do some light kitchen-cleaning while making espresso for an iced latte & grabbing breakfast. I’m a pastry-breakfast kind of person (fully incompatible with my meat + eggs spouse), and I like baking, so I try to keep something on hand for breakfast. Currently, that’s grapefruit and poppy scones.

If I don’t have anything ready-made, grab something from the cafe down the street, and skip the news.

10:30-2:00 First work shift. Clear email & slack, reply to the things that need replies, create a todo list for the day. I keep track of my tasks with todoist or a paper todo list, depending on how I feel. Lately I’ve been working on a project that feels really undefined, so I’ve been struggling with organization/motivation. I don’t have any tricks for fixing that, so instead I’ve been more productive on other projects.

I keep slack open all day, and usually check it while whatever I’m working on is rebuilding. If things are going well, I’ll get into a good flow around 12-2.

2:00-3:00 Lunchtime. Pre-pandemic (and before we moved) I would often get lunch & cafe-work for the afternoon. Moving physical space helped break up the day, in a way that taking a walk doesn’t. I come right back to the same desk, did I even do anything? Since we’ve moved (and, you know), I haven’t really found a favorite lunch place (I miss Darwin’s, Tatte, Flour, Curio, Lamplighter…). I know I need to explore more, but between the winter weather and, you know, I haven’t. Moving states during a pandemic is rough.

So instead, I’ll heat up some frozen thing or leftovers. I eat back at my desk, continuing work – or more likely, catching up on social media & watercooler slack channels.

Sometime after 3:00 Time for coffee part 2! All the good cafes nearby close at 3, which is usually when I want another cup. So I head back downstairs to make another latte.

Late afternoon Almost all my meetings are 4pm or later, since half my team is in Australia & South Korea. Continue working, I usually hit another flow 4-5:30.

6:30-7:00 The end of my workday. I head back downstairs & put on a podcast (lately I’ve been enjoying You’re Wrong About & Maintenance Phase), and clean up the day’s & prior night’s dishes. This is basically my “work brain off” switch. At some point Mel comes in and starts making dinner, and we chat a bit. Sometimes there’s a zoom with friends here.

8:00ish Dinner time with the TV on, currently an older season of Top Chef.

Evenings My evenings are mostly hanging out on the couch reading the internet. I have a small duolingo streak in Korean (29 days) – started because I wanted to learn to read 한글 (hangul), but now I’m kind of invested. I’ve been tinkering with a new site design, but my “wash dishes switch” works too well, and I find it hard to get back into coding in the evenings (probably for the best).

Sometimes laundry or baking will happen. Every few days I feed my sourdough starter. I’ll watch my spouse play video games, or maybe we’ll watch a TV show — we’re finally caught up on the MCU movies, so we’ll start WandaVision next. Maybe I’ll cross stitch again.

12:00am-ish (okay definitely more like 1am-ish) Time for bed. Nothing interesting here – I might read for a bit, but more likely I’ll just listen to the TV and fall asleep.

And that’s it. Repeat, until the weekend, where the whole day kind of looks like the “evenings” 🙂 (that’s not true, we own a house now, there are a bunch of house-projects I can poke at on the weekends).

I’m not going to call on anyone else to write up their day, but it was fun – so if you’re interested, consider yourself tagged!