2020 : My month-by-month retrospective (First quarter)
2020 was a incredible year, on many aspect. I have the feeling it has passed like a flash. And despite this difficult context, I was lucky, as well as my relatives, to have been preserved and to have been able to work almost normally. I am going to tell you my little story month by month through books, movies, music, personal and/or professional events, which made 2020 a year like no other.
January : 2020 — A new hope ?
We spent some days in Sankt Anton, Austria. Ski and fresh air to begin the year with energy. I had planned my work schedule for the first three months, prepared certifications and client’s roadmaps. This year was to be a turning point for my “career” (I really dislike this word…). And China announces 27 cases of viral pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan, named 2019-nCov few days after.
During the following days, several cases appears in Asia, Europe and USA. Northern Italy becomes the epicenter of the disease on the continent. Pandemic became the most used word.
The book : “Métronome — L’Histoire de France au rythme du métro parisien” — Lorant DEUTSCH. Part of French History along the subway of Paris, a time travel to learn (again) what is France.
The movie : “Monthy Python and the Holy Grail”. Because Terry Jones left us on the 21st, and as a knight who say “Ni !”, I had to say “Goodbye !” too.
The music : Sergueï Rachmaninov — The four Piano Concerto. Thanks to my wife who wanted to study the Prelude Op. 3 : II !
February : End of an era
The last month of a two-tear consultancy assignement… a client that I had to troubleshoot for three months initially. And an amazing experience of transformation, and new friends too. Before starting a new professional adventure, my wife and I had planned to leave for two weeks at the end of the month to visit the Banff National Park (Alberta). It was an amazing trip, one of my favorite. The first sanitary measures were visible, but the worst was yet to come. Our return to Paris, March 11th, was going to be the start of a year apart.
The book : Effective DevOps — Jennifer Davis & Ryn Daniels — A great guide to understand and embrace the DevOps Culture. Part of my “DevOps journey” during this year.
The movie : “Some like it hot” (Billy WILDER). My wife and I borrowed Billy Wilder’s Collection DVD boxes from our friends, I wanted to show my wife the art of Wilder and the fabulous Lemmon/Monroe/Curtis trio.
The music : John DENVER greatest hits. During our canadian road trip, I was stuck on a radio that played goold old folk and country songs. Great opportunity to rediscover John Denver ;)
March : A new era beg… Oh wait !
The month the earth stopped turning…
Monday 16th, I was working at home, on potential consulting assignments and to help some of our clients, I heard the front door open and my wife said “I need help !”. I saw her with her full office stuff : “we have to work home…”. We organized ourselves to have each our workspace. It worked perfectly. We each had something to take care of, and set up simple rules :
- Have lunch together, according to our agendas.
- Stop working at 7pm to be together in the evening and watch a movie, play games, have a discussion about the importance of German mysticism in the making of whooping cushions in the 17th century (^^), etc. Just sharing moments.
- But reserve two evenings a week to do a personal activity and/or discover something new.
It was a good opportunity to learn for many people. I have been asked by many companies to train and certify their teams, lead workshops and help them adapt to a new context. In any bad event, we can find good. And sometimes, we can find worst :) So it was also as interesting moment of non-sense, mediocrity and blindness…
The book : The Elric Saga — Michael MOORCOCK. I finally had enough time to read it completely :)
The movie : “Spirited away” — Netflix offered several Studio Ghibli films at the beginning of March. This was a good opportunity to watch it again (and again…).
The music : Interstellar Soundtrack — Hans ZIMMER. It was the perfect music to travel through the universe without leaving my home.
Stay tuned for the next quarter !
