Overcoming lethargy, walk to northside docklands

I’ve been feeling lethargic lately due to the moody weather and the humdrum life under lockdown. As a result, my usual weekday routine has been slipping somewhat. That said, there haven’t been many new job postings that have caught my attention, and I’ve been keeping up with my CMA study programme, so there haven’t been any real consequences. However, I didn’t meet my goal of averaging 5,000 steps per day last week, so I’m hoping to get back on track with that in the days ahead. 

Side note about life in lockdown: I’ve now gone without a haircut for the longest stretch in my adult life, having beat my previous record of 80 days last year. Although it’s been surprisingly manageable and still relatively presentable, I can’t wait until I can get it trimmed and cleaned up.

My biggest accomplishment of the day was submitting a “work experience” form to the Institute of Management Accountants for my CMA qualification, which requires two continuous years of full-time work experience in management accounting or financial management. The form requires you to list your previous positions, a summary of your responsibilities, and the names and contact information for people who can verify your experience. I have more than enough qualifying experience from my past positions at the University of California, so I’m not worried about that. The reason I had been putting off the form is because I was unsure who to list as the contact persons, or more accurately, I did not want to face the fact that I’d have to list supervisors with whom I didn’t end on the best of terms. Part of me thought maybe I could just put down a general HR contact, but given the massive and oftentimes dysfunctional bureaucracy of the University of California, I knew that probably wouldn’t fly… in particular, I don’t think a random HR person would blindly sign off on the summary of responsibilities. In the end, I resigned myself to putting down the name and contact info for my past supervisors… on the bright side, at least they are all still in their positions at UC. If there’s a problem with any of the verifications, I can deal with that later.

Dublin is enjoying warmer weather today, with highs in the mid 50s F / low 10s C, and partly cloudy skies. I get out for a walk in the later part of the afternoon, which now that the days are getting longer isn’t a big deal. I cross over to the north side of the river and head eastward towards the docklands, which has been my no-brainer  destination lately given its pedestrian friendly walkways. I take the opportunity to catch up on some podcasts, including one on the movement to introduce universal basic income in Ireland. Apparently, the coalition government that was formed last year by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party committed to conducting a trial of basic income in Ireland over the next five years (although no movement has happened yet).

The River Liffey is quite still today, almost mirror-like:

View towards the southside docklands with the Capital Dock building (the tallest building in Dublin at 22 stories) and Dublin’s iconic red and white Poolbeg chimneys in the background: