Technology and my Passion: Alan Alper and Pandemic Positives

Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.

This time it is Alan Alper, Cognizant’s VP of Thought Leadership Programs. This time every year he is usually reporting to me from the annual WEF event in Davos, Switzerland (here is last year's). This year, however, he writes about adjustments during the pandemic and how he has learned to see the positive side of so much in life.

"I wrote a version of this at the start of the pandemic. When Vinnie approached me to write in his Passion series, I immediately thought of our black Lab, Nigel. Actually, there is so much more I have come to appreciate.

My wife has an underlying condition, so we have been in extreme isolation for almost a year and will be so until at least our second vaccine shot - we had our first this week. Other than to retrieve money to pick up our pandemic puppy, Nigel and to bring him to the vet for his first checkup, we have essentially stayed put in our suburban Massachusetts home – other than to take Nigel on his four daily walks in the neighborhood. (Three Nigel references in one sentence says it all!)

What a drag; we really miss hugging our kids (although our Boston-based daughter has stopped by to see Nigel, while maintaining social distance), as well as visiting our extended families and friends near and far. As a former hardboiled New York journalist, I tend to be dispassionate about emotional connections as my wife will attest; I am a just-the-facts kind of guy.

But as the prolonged COVID crisis shifts from winter to spring, and soon, to summer … I never thought we’d still be suffering from coronavirus in mid-winter 2021 … I am softening -- or at least more appreciative/understanding/aware of the human condition. As a result (and to reaffirm that we are all in this together), I thought I’d share 10-top learnings about myself and the people I’ve encountered (from afar).

1. People are friendlier. Everyone we encounter on Nigel’s daily bathroom breaks stops to speak with us – from a distance, of course. We are original home owners in our neighborhood and missed the last changeover to a new, younger group. I’ve learned more about my neighbors and their interests in the last few months than I had in the last five years. The same goes for my Cognizant family; amid the pandemic, I’ve interacted with more of my colleagues on issues that extend well beyond business, which is heartening in spite of the adage of how misery loves company.
2. Everyone needs a companion – pet or otherwise. Clearly my marriage of 34 years has stood the test of time, but the COVID crisis made clear that our companionship in extreme isolation wasn’t enough for my wife. She adores Nigel, who worships the ground that she walks on. He tolerates me; and I am learning to love him. He is the talk of the neighborhood; perhaps that’s why everyone (including the little kids) stops to speak with us/him. Nigel has princely status in our neighborhood; everyone wants an audience with him!  
3. News junkie no more. As a recovering journalist, my life pre-COVID revolved around daily newspapers, evening TV news and online news services. I lean left and still read the NYT daily summary, but I am staying away from the doom and gloom of 24-hour cable news! It’s way too disheartening and unhealthy. I still limit my cable news consumption … still reeling from 2020’s never-ending negativity.
4.  Maintaining a stiff upper lip. I’ve worked from home for 15-plus years, but I get melancholy now and again from the monotony of the prolonged lock-down. Feels like #WFH should be #SAH (pronounced, SIGH, for stuck at home) but I power through with positive thinking and the realization that humankind will survive – although we can’t expect a return to anything approximating normalcy any time soon. Nor will business as usual in our professional and personal lives ever return in the post-COVID age. Microsoft Teams helps me to productively connect with co-workers and business partners – although I’m learning that video fatigue is a real thing. 
5. Playing things by ear. I have rediscovered my musical passion; just wrote a new song for the first time in 35 years – Apocalypse (Not). I was a musician in my youth and even recorded a New Wave EP in the day. I will share this song with anyone who is interested – once the scratch track is converted to something a bit more polished. 
6. I appreciate the little things. Blue skies; green grass; budding flowers -- all of nature’s bounty. Self-grooming (beard, until I removed it earlier this year, eyebrows, earlobes, etc.) are my new preoccupations. And there is my new fondness for skin moisturizer – thank goodness there is a salve for my dishpan hands from the incessant washing! Sadly, I haven’t figured out how to cut my own hair and won’t burden my wife with it … perhaps in six weeks once the vaccine takes full effect???
7. Our adult children really care about us! As mentioned, my daughter has visited us periodically since Nigel came on the scene but we’ve had a familial awakening compliments of FaceTime! My son, who lives in LA, is a regular -- when he’s not working. We FT with both kids daily and actually have things to talk about. We miss our families; thank goodness for Zoom, just wish my 91-year-old father could get with the program. My brother bought him an Amazon Echo Show so we could observe him from afar… his mastery of it is hit or miss, unfortunately.
8. E-commerce is our new way of life. Since we can’t go to the store for even essential services like food, we’ve discovered the joys of online shopping and delivery (thanks for the most part, Mr. Bezos) -- from groceries to meds and gardening (flowers, shrubs, etc.).DoorDash has become our go-to (or is it come-to?) for eating in, although curbside pick-up at our favorite local eatery (Bar Athena) is a reasonable replacement for eating out. Instacart is a godsend when it comes to immediacy – got to love the delivery folks who place their lives on the line. Still loving the e-convenience of online shopping; not sure if or when I will ever set foot in a physical store! Or a doctor’s office – unless I am deathly ill. However, I am reserving my first virtual visit until I really need one (our extreme isolation has kept seasonal contagions at bay).
9. Admire/love the first responders. They’ve earned my respect and gratitude during these trying times; enough said. Double -- no triple that – now after a year
10. Sans live sports, I’ve learned to do without TV on the weekends. As a native New Yawker, I love (my wife would say I am addicted to) my NY sports teams. The return of live sports has been wonderful – but I tend to not watch as much as I used to. In fact, my wife constantly catches me dozing off at critical junctures so I rarely watch a full game.

This provides more time for reading, bike riding (at reduced distances since I stay off the clogged public rail trail, which I will resume once the winter snow melts) and regaling to music (both listening and playing), when I am not working around the house or on Cognizant afterhours projects.

And it leaves time for walking and playing with Nigel, because as the old XTC song goes, “We’re only making plans for Nigel”!

Comments

[Cathy Buday]

Alan, how I loved this column. Like you, the pandemic has made Bob and I more appreciative of our many blessings. It has been huge to have our adult son John, who has taken up cooking with me, at home with us. Our dogs Gus and Rita, eggs from our next-door neighbor's hens, the friendliness of the people along our neighborhood walk, a new shoot on a house plant...we have the band width to savor all of these now, freed from the compulsion to always "have to be somewhere." Thank you! Cathy

[Alan Alper]

Thanks Cathy; was real cathartic to write! Hope to see you guys in the flesh soon!