Waiting for dinner last week.
So, uh, what’s new? Anything interesting going on?
It was a wild couple of months even before the rona hit, with lots of good stuff and very little bad, thankfully.
I officially started in my new role with Duo on January 6th, and worked my last shift in Support at the end of that month. It was bittersweet to be leaving the team – on the one hand, I was ready for a new challenge and excited to start my new role, but on the other hand, I really liked that team. I’m a few months removed from things now, of course, but I still try to pop in and post something stupid, or stay in touch with people on the team. My experience with the team definitely set me up for doing well in CS, though, and the transition to the new team has gone well.
It’s definitely a change to be on the proactive side of the customer relationship, but it feels like I’m more able to build connections with them when compared to Support, which is definitely what I was looking for. I get along really well with my CSM partner, and it’s been fun getting to know everyone else, too.
We travelled to Ann Arbor for an internal summit at the beginning of February, which kicked off 20 days of being away from SF for me. I mostly stayed in a hotel while I was there, and it definitely made me feel like a tourist in my own hometown. It was a good bonding experience for me with the new team, though, and Becca and I were able to play a show at the Ann Arbor Distilling Company on Valentine’s Day after also playing there during my visit for a week in January.
Made the team go to all my favorite places while we were in town.
The real reason I come back to A2 is to see Danielle.
Tiny Corner Concert
It’s true.
If you’re interested in seeing us play, there’s a playlist with the whole show here –
I’ve also decided to start doing weekly live-streams of me playing covers or whatnot via my YouTube channel, just to stay in practice and keep my mood on the up and up. You can see the set I did this week here –
It’s nearly all covers, but I have enough material to play four more shows; I’ll end up having nearly five hours of music recorded. Becca and I are also in the process of writing some honest to goodness ORIGINAL songs, finally. Trying to make the most of our time stuck at home.
My visit to Ann Arbor was followed by a few days in Austin; I got to see my friends Tiffany and Kat, who I definitely don’t get to spend enough time with. Lots of good food and good times were had. It’s nice to have friends in all these different places. Working for a company who’s home office is in my hometown really helps to keep me connected to people I care about; I strongly recommend it, if you can arrange it.
Oh hey, Austin.
Me and Kat!
This is not Tiffany; I didn’t get a picture with her.
After getting back from Austin, I actually got to relax in the City for a couple of weeks. Managed to hit my first party bus, and got to go to the RSA conference for the first time.
Of course, I don’t like to settle down for too long, so I went on a cruise from Miami to Key West to Cozumel and back in early March. Clearly the best time to be traveling. I almost decided not to go, since the rona was on the rise, but I’m glad I ended up getting that time out and about with people, since we went right into work from home and shelter-in-place when I got back.
I’d been on a cruise way back in 11th grade, which means I wasn’t old enough to enjoy it. This team featured significantly more alcohol, which seems to be the main attraction on these things. I don’t think I would go on a cruise again, but I was glad I did this one. I shared some of my favorite pictures from the trip on my Instagram –
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My favorite shots from a great long weekend with some of my favorite people.
A post shared by Jessica Drew Quiroga (@jqnotjq) on Mar 9, 2020 at 11:02am PDT
We had rough seas a couple of nights, and I get very sick on one of them, but luckily Ben was there to make sure I was okay and didn’t die. He and I had a bit of a fling on during the trip; it was nice to have a “cruise boyfriend”. Definitely a change from my trip in high school. The only real downside of the trip was that my blue glasses, which I love, blew off the side of the ship on one of the windy evenings.
I’d been keeping an eye on the news while we were on the ship, because I’m incapable of surviving without internet access even while I’m far away from civilization, so I knew that there were Bad Things coming when we landed. While on my return flight, we got a notice from our CEO that we were going to be working from home starting the next day. My living situation didn’t really allow for me to do that, given the fact that I spend most of my day on calls and deal with secure information, so I was considering taking a flight back out to Michigan, and staying somewhere that I’d have some privacy. It wasn’t ideal, but I had to work. Luckily, my CSM, Caroline, and another CSM on the team, Jenn had me covered.
I was able to stay with Caroline for a couple of weeks while Jenn was traveling, but once she was back in town, I moved into her place.
Caroline’s had a nice big kitchen table for us, and a great view over the top of the city to the bridge. She ended up going back to stay with her family in the Midwest, so I was on my own for a week, but once Jenn was back in town, I migrated to her place. I miss my Coliving friends, but it’s really nice to sleep in my own bed again. Jenn is super awesome and kind, and adopted two kittens right after I moved here, so it’s been really nice.
She and I cook a bunch, and I do a lot of Zoom/FaceTime/Webex calls with friends back east, so I’ve been able to stay in a good mood while we’re sheltering in place. We’re still allowed to go out to exercise, so I’ve been doing walks in Golden Gate Park every couple of days, and we’ve got a lovely view from the top of our building, so I’m able to get outside often enough that I don’t feel trapped. It’s a very lucky situation I’ve found myself in, where I’m able to work from a stable home situation, and just have to make sure that I’m following appropriate social distancing and hygiene protocols.
The view from our roof
Cooking
The view from my desk
Jazzy and Disco
Very few people out and about, thankfully
“Kill me”
Mask time while heading out for groceries
I couldn’t get up for an hour and a half
Shhhh, they’re sleeping
Catching up on Deep Space 9
She’s a monster
Delicious pasta
Headed out for groceries
Jazzy likes to climb up my body to get onto my shoulder and then nip at my hair and face
Poloroids from my going away karaoke party along with some framed art from my friend Jess
Still hot potting at home
Jenn and I out on a walk to retrieve my car from Sunnyvale
The happiest I’ve ever been in my life
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Took a nice long walk with @jenniferjanekwokalypse today; my second long one this week! Glad to be able to still get out and exercise while all this is going on.
A post shared by Jessica Drew Quiroga (@jqnotjq) on Apr 12, 2020 at 5:55pm PDT
Sheltering-in-place with a friend has really helped keep my mood up; I’m really glad Jenn was willing to let me take up space at her place for the next while.
Any surgery stuff I’ve wanted to do has been pushed off to an undetermined time, obviously, as our medical system deals with everything happening, but I’m not feeling too down about it. I worry a lot about my friends from the hospital, on the front lines, or anyone I know that doesn’t have the option to just work from home, or who has already lost their jobs. I’ve been trying to check in on people and chat here and there, or schedule game nights online, just to give some sort of distraction from things. In these “unprecedented times”, as every email I’m getting from any place that has my email has called them.
But I hope everyone reading this is healthy and as safe as possible, and hopefully we all see each other out and about soon.
-Jessica
I Can Only Think About You So, uh, what’s new? Anything interesting going on? It was a wild couple of months even before the rona hit, with lots of good stuff and very little bad, thankfully.