by Chloe Gunn
At Catalyst we are striving to attain normality in our personal lives and reliability in our professional life. The latter is appearing the easier of the two. To maintain our community, share our struggles and tips for working at home, we will be publishing a regular blog with a different Catalysta each time. Today, we meet Paul, a developer at Catalyst-Wellington.
So how does Paul start his mornings? Well, he makes his damn bed like a fully-fledged adult. To top this off, he even gets dressed and takes a walk if he has woken up early enough – this helps him feel like he’s arriving at work.
It wouldn’t be a Catalyst@Home if I didn’t ask how Paul breaks that fast, “I try to mix it up - either overnight oats, peanut butter toast, or a cream cheese bagel. I realise how millennial that makes me, and I'll wear that badge with honour,” as you should Paul.
And what’s a millennial without coffee; Paul recently invested in a coffee machine as he realised it may be the most essential worker in his household.
Paul is living the life as he is blessed with a north-facing balcony that looks out onto Evans bay so he often eats breakfast al fresco style, sigh.
I now probe with what struggles one could be possibly facing in this 'coffee-filled cheese bagel eating bay facing' household. Clutching at anything to stop me becoming envious and ugly. Low and behold the only con to working from home for Paul is being distracted by his new kittens.
Double sigh.
Must be hard, but we love cats at Catalyst so I’ll stop being a negative Nancy. Tell us more about these kittens!
“They are called Astra and Zeus. They are brother and sister. As a programmer, I know that naming things is one of the most difficult things you can do, and the same is true for naming kittens. I am really into space, so Astra's name came quite quickly. We went through a few different ideas for Zeus and we just had "the feels" with that name because it fits his personality."
Astra and Zeus help Paul to take regular desk breaks by, well, breaking things around the house – if it works, it works!
Paul says keeping a routine and staying active has helped keep his mood light as well as feeling fit! He does some stretches in the morning and has been making use of his local bush – Matairangi, taking a hike once a week. Paul also uses TVNZ’s free Les Mills videos.
So what new hobbies has Paul taken-up during this time? Well, if Paul hadn't convinced us of his millennialism already - he is growing an avocado plant!
“It is suspended half in water. The bottom has cracked open and a tiny little shoot is making its way down into the water. The top is all dried out. This is all normal apparently. I expect the top to start growing a shoot in a week or two. If it doesn't then I think I have failed at the first step of my botany journey.”
I guess we are all on a journey of growth here, I hope the avocado plant flourishes at home as much as Paul is.
Thank you to Paul for giving us an insight into his new work from home life and be sure to read our other Catalyst@Home profiles: Dena, Jess, Liam, Billy and Alan.
Don’t forget to follow Catalyst on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Catalyst is a New Zealand owned and operated company where openness, long term relationships, community and diversity are essential characteristics of how we do business. Since 1997, Catalyst has been enabling success with expert open source solutions, and clients all over the world trust us with their mission-critical systems.