Seeing People is Weird
Today, I went to my wife's CrossFit box. Ok, it's not hers yet (and it's not hers alone – she's got an awesome partner), but it's supposed to be pretty soon. But it was still the first time I didn't work out either with my friend Steve or alone in the garage in at least six months, and the first time I'd been back there in twelve months.
We've been relatively careful during the pandemic – our pod has been relatively large compared to most people's at around 15 or so people that the three of us see on a regular basis without masks, and I know that the largest pod I know of is around 25 people.
So going out to the gym was an adventure for me; I originally went to work out alone, but then another guy we know showed up, and so he and I did the workout together (sorry, WOD. we're Crossfitters after all).
I have to say, it was fun. Not the WOD. That, like pretty much all CrossFit inventions, was just a lot of suck, made worse by the self-waterboarding that happens when you work out with a mask on.
But being around other people? New people? That was amazing. I didn't want to leave. I stayed an extra half hour, did a whole 'nother workout, and only left when it was just before the next class time because I had to get back to work.
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On the way home, I thought about it, and how I'd really convinced myself that it wasn't that different... and, of course, it is. We all need other people, in whatever community we're in. And, really, we need to be in person with that community. Seeing people on video or chatting over the phone or listening to a podcast or almost anything else turns out to be a lot of noise. Some of it is helpful noise, to be sure, like the kinds that make me money. But most of it is just filling the air.
I get why CEOs are anxious to go back to offices – for many of them, that is their community. It's not mine, though, and it's probably not yours, either, because a community is something that makes you better than yourself, and that makes the group stronger at the same time because they genuinely care about how you do. At least, the communities that I belong to are like that.
It still felt weird, though. Hence today's doodle:
Sources for this image are the New York Times for an average of 600 people per person (note that online estimates go from 200 to 750). For how big the average pandemic pod is, I took what researchers recommend at 10 people and just assumed that people are bad at following advice, so it's probably closer to 25.
New Fancy Members Only Section!!!
I wanted to thank those of you who are members / subscribers, and so I'm adding a little more content. This won't appear every day, but I'll try to keep it up. It's stuff that I found on the web that you may not have seen that will hopefully make you smile:
There's such a thing as dinosaur erotica, and it seems to sell really well (don't worry, that link is totally safe for work, and that might have been the funniest thing I've read in 2021).
Someone at Apple will probably get fired over this: Siri scooped Apple on the details for their April 20th event.
That's it for today! Thanks again for being a subscriber.
