I am a self-confessed "glass is half-full" optimist, but in these trying times, I seek out positive humans and I am finding plenty of them.
For starters, I am grateful to the contributors to this year's Tech and my Passion series. I was planning to run one guest column a week over 6 months but I have significantly accelerated the flow. By next weekend I will have posted 25. It has been a very nice distraction for readers. And even more for me as I research each of their passions and help them improve their columns. You can see the index for this year's posts here.
Our neighborhood and many others around the country had a Chalk the Walk day. Our paths continue to show the creativity of our young ones even a week later. Color always cheers up my FitBit.
Photo Credit Dana Schwenn Wood
More color as many neighborhoods around the country are sprucing up their gardens. Here's my wife Margaret. The neighborhood cat, Shadow supervised her keeping the prescribed six foot separation.
We went shopping at Home Depot and Lowe's for her gardening needs. Seriously, if your town's shelter-at-home rules allow, head there - their spring flower collection will cheer anyone up.
I have been getting plenty of jokes about the economy we find ourselves in. Jokes are always welcome!
Bill Kutik shares how his neighborhood continues life while respecting social distancing guidelines.
Photo Credit - Nancy Breakstone Photography
Talking of happy hours, my former and current analyst friends have been hosting virtual ones on Zoom.
The EIs had an appropriately titled "Very Irregular Happy Hour".
Photo Credit Ray Wang
Gartner alumni met in a "Socially Distanced Happy Hour". This group is older than the EIs and I thought would be more somber. Nope - it was so lively you had to wonder whether we are in the middle of a global crisis. Word is getting around and many more are expected for the next one.
photo credit Tom Austin
David Deal reminds us in this Facebook post that many people are sharing negative virus related stats on social media and that is crowding out a lot of amazing work being done by many to combat it:
"I am not advocating for people to stop sharing COVID-19 related information. Bottom line, though: if you know someone who is not taking this pandemic seriously, reach out to them and have a conversation. Facebook may not be the way to help."
Finally, my friend in Minnesota, Brad Callahan recorded this lovely song. "It's past the time for complaining...we are all in the same boat..." He will gladly work with you if you want to use creatively in a live video. You can email him here.
Friends, stay safe and sane!
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