As per usual, the kids get up, get food, go online and log into school. At least one does all of their work while the other does most of their work. The one who finishes their work goes outside and plays basketball. The other, video games, I think. I supervise NOTHING. Mother of the year award, right here. I log into my work computer, open up email, check the calendar to see what I have to do today. I have the cheek to email the boss about maybe not eliminating my position next Friday, but extending my stay due to COVID-19? Hey, it’s worth a shot.
For the first time in days, I wake up feeling hopeful and positive. The last few days were me wallowing in self-pity and worrying about what in the world I am going to do if I cannot pay the mortgage or the Comcast bill or the car loan or buy groceries. I do believe this repels good things from happening.
At some point this morning, I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to invite my Facebook friends for a virtual happy hour? I have been horrible at attending NYC get-togethers of my old colleagues, and not that great at attending happy hours with my current colleagues. I mean, I love me a good couple of glasses of wine with friends but the transportation part of the equation was always what got me. And now – well – we CAN’T go anywhere or see anyone. I miss people (okay, most people.) My FB friends are from all parts of my life – work, school, childhood, marriage – and wouldn’t it be a riot to get some of these disparate people together online with WINE? I am an optimist at heart, so I put it out there. And people said they would show up! COOL.
Only one problem. I needed a way to host this online party and the basic options for Zoom and BlueJeans both had a 40 minute limit and a people limit, too. WTH. We all love the easy apps but these companies really know how to get you to pay for things you really shouldn’t. Even the next tier of paid subscriptions were lame in terms of how many people you can have for how long. NOT GOOD.
So I am going about my work day, looking for jobs, answering emails, having meetings, and looking for ways to host happy hour! I find out that WEBEX has a basic plan that’s FREE, allows 100 people to gather and has no time limit! It’s not the coolest UI solution, but it gets the job done.
I set the happy hour time for 6 pm. I log in at 5:45. Five of us show up and have cocktails together, talk shop as always, welcome at least one person a couple of glasses in, and generally laugh our butts off. I expected more people to log in but I have to say, I think we will get more people as the Social Distancing Era continues.
It was silly, fun and well worth it. I hope our reason for meeting online with wine goes away quickly. But until it does, I will see you all on Webex every Friday at 6 pm EDT. Join us!
https://meetingsamer2.webex.com/meet/sheilasulli