A Glimpse Into Blueshift (Lockdown) Life

From the desk of Blueshift’s Amazing Officer Manager, Jessica Weber. As we’re approaching the end of week 13 of shelter-in-place, Blueshifters around the globe had a fun task during our weekly all-hands meeting: present how you’ve been staying sane during the lockdown. From parents with young children to those living with multiple roommates, we wanted to understand how our colleagues were keeping busy and maybe pick up a few tips of our own along the way.

Common themes emerge

Baking sourdough bread, mixing dalgona coffee, and propagating green onions have been trending on social media lately (and a few of us have dabbled in those too). But, the most interesting takeaway was the three main topics that kept coming up from the team: Getting outdoors, spending time in the kitchen, and exploring new hobbies.

Getting outdoors

And the most popular lockdown activity goes to … the great outdoors! Being stuck in the house all day with or without family or roommates can be a little daunting on the brain so it’s no surprise that the majority of the Blueshift team has been enjoying the simple act of being outside. From morning walks to physical distanced BYOE (bring your own everything) picnics to simply making the time to watch the sunset, the team has experienced a new (or renewed) found love of mother nature.

Spending time in the kitchen

It turns out that Blueshifters love to cook and to bake! It turns out, being at home more often leads to Here’s an extensive list of delicious recipes people have made: cheesecake, beer bread, pound cake, macaroons, milk bread, chicken biryani, Swedish cardamom buns, Moscow mule cocktails (ask Ruben for the recipe), Challah bread, lavender tea bread, Ajiaco (a Colombian soup), ricotta polenta cake with lemon rosemary syrup, homemade waffles, fermentation (pickles, sauerkraut, kombucha), pickled beets & onions, homemade pizza, momos, Chikoo shake, and creamy carbonara pasta. We also created a slack channel where we can share pictures of our creations and recipes. Yum!

Exploring new hobbies

Wow, wow, wow, we have some creative endeavors that have been started (and completed!) over the last 3 months. Along with cleaning out closets and rearranging tool sheds, some people went as far as obtaining a motorcycle license, vermicomposting, and guitar lessons. Some of the most unique projects that we learned of were: Miles basically built a playground (complete with a zipline!) for his kids since they couldn’t go to the local park, Ryan constructed an in-house driving range and Saro is manufacturing helmets with a 3D printer. So cool!

It has been enlightening and enriching to get to know my colleagues on a more personal level while shelter-in-place has unfolded and been extended again and again. This new normal is something we’re all having to deal with and define in our own ways. Ultimately, we are all human and all trying to make sense and cope to the best of our abilities during this unprecedented time. 

Perhaps this calls for a “Best of Lockdown Potluck” once we can all safely return the office together!