I still haven’t taken the time to process all of the notes I took during the last two weeks’ conferences. Given the topic of this week’s missive, that will come across as procrastination. Maybe it was.

This was the first week without either travel or curling on Sunday and Monday for me since early fall. It was different. Combined with the longer daylight hours, it bordered on unnerving during those evenings. I am very much routine-driven, from my gym schedule to most of my meals to my target work schedule. Now I have gaping holes in my weekly evening routine for the next several months. It presents opportunities, but I must seize them.

I’m dabbling with speaking Spanish again by trying a few different teachers out this week who will speak with me over Zoom. That, though, is a morning activity and morning availability is more a reflection of the continued slow M&A market than anything else. So far, it’s been amazing both what I remember and what I’ve forgotten since I last spoke the language at any length some two years ago.

In addition to taking extra walks in the evening, I’ve begun watching The Parisian Agency on Netflix as a stopgap measure. One episode per evening as I’m not a fan of binging content. It’s a real estate show that if nothing else adds a little perspective to the prices I see on houses and condos locally. There are a few more episodes and a new season on the way, but that’s not even a medium term answer. Staying at home isn’t the answer at all actually. No, I want new activities to occupy my evenings, new chances to meet people and sink in roots here in the Triangle.