The people I support are pretty essential, being the talking heads and speakers for our customers. However, since all our customers have canceled or gone virtual, I haven't been needed as much. That doesn't mean I don't have anything to do, however. There is always computers to be tested and updated, devices to be checked, demos to be troubleshooted.
At the same time, we are under directive, both at a work level, and just in general: if you don't need to be at work, don't be at work.
My situation is unique, as it is so dependent on customers and speaker interactions. I'm doing what I can do to be involved when at home, as well as communicating via email and Teams with my team.
I am grateful that my direct manager is very accommodating and understanding of my situation. I bring value to the team overall and we are good. Also, MS is being awesome and paying all vendors despite any shutdowns that may happen. I do not take that for granted, knowing several people who are going through situations of job and/or income loss.
So it seems we are good to go on that front.
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The kids are now "home schooling," which means online learning with them. Luckily our school district is one that has computers for all students, as well as deep Microsoft integration, so they are able to attempt to continue learning at home. Last week was more along the lines of, "let's see if we can do this." Today has been, "Ok, let's do this."
They started with one class each and they seem to have gone pretty well. The technology worked out fine, but the teachers and kids are gonna have to learn how video calls go. Currently, the school admin has Teams locked down pretty tightly. Only teacher's cameras work; the kids' cameras are all blocked. But it sounds like they're going to change that as the teachers cannot see if the kids are on the call at all.
Marci's school has been at the forefront of MS technology and learning. They are a Microsoft Showcase school, and like our school district, all their students have Microsoft Surfaces and Office products.
Marci has been WFH since last week and she has been doing so much. She's on a daily call with her other teachers and leaders. Then she leads her class of 4-5 year olds through an hour or so of teaching/learning. Then then she's "on call" for the kids to chat with in case they have questions. I know they keep her busy at the school, but she's been just as busy here at home. It's really incredible what they ask of her and her students. But throughout it all, she's been executing at a very high level and delivering what her kids need.
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Just as we were prepping for our 3/20 show, this stupid CV stuff started coming down the pipe. We were hoping that it would pass, but obviously, that was not the case. The last show the Embers played was in November of last year. Early Nov, I think. Now it's late March, so we're well over 4 months since we last played a show.
As it stood, we didn't have shows in the interim anyway, but it was gonna be a nice return to the stage, with another show booked in late-April, which is likely gonna be canceled as well.
We did release a few songs recently, though, both Tom the Longboarder and Junkyard Diva. They were pretty well received, but who knows how many downloads there's been. I don't have visibility in to any of that stuff.
So, to offset the no playing and no band, I've been playing bass, teaching Riley how to play a little, and working on getting better with a pick. For the last four days, I've also been streaming a song live while I play along. It's fun to do and hear what people have to say, but it's been pretty low key for now. There are so many more talented people out there, but this is my little thing. I feel like I'm doing it more for me than them.
Here's a link to the first one I did. Mainly it was me just playing a song, seeing how it looked and sounded. The other videos I did were done via Facebook Live. I may try Instagram Live today, see what the difference is.
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It's been over a year since I last posted. That might be a record.
