Craig Ruvere

03May 2020 by CJ

What I’ve learned about myself being quarantined at home

Recently, I was asked what I’ve learned about myself while being quarantined at home away from a life of regularity. Many will inevitably see this question as odd or not pertaining to them, for the subject of self-reflection is often believed to be limited to those who seek the guidance of counselors or psychologists. But in reality, we all could benefit from such observations. I’ve always been a rather self-reflective individual, therefore, I suspected I’d have no trouble discovering a few things I’ve learned about myself recently. What was surprising however were the things I learned. I’m far more adaptable than previously thought “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” - Charles Darwin I…

21Apr 2020 by CJ

Coronavirus fatalities – easy to overlook on the sidelines

Life & Living, Love & Relationships

In 1918, the Spanish Flu killed 675,000 Americans. In 2019, 38,800 Americans died in car crashes on US roadways. In 2001, 2,977 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. The commonality of the statistics above is NOT the demise of innocent people. Rather, how their demise will forever haunt the lives of spouses, siblings, children and friends, and the coronavirus fatalities are no different. As of this writing, 42,604 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. Congressman Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana is urging fellow lawmakers to “put on our big boy and big girl pants” and simply let Americans die in order to protect the economy. I wonder if the congressman was also referring to members of his own family, his friends or even himself, or just…

12Apr 2020 by CJ

Quarantine restrictions are a good time to learn how important the “doing” is

Life & Living

Many residents around the country are faced with quarantine restrictions – forcing us to isolate inside our homes for an unspecified duration of time. For those who are otherwise healthy, the isolation can be a heavy burden as one-week blurs into another with virtually no change to one’s environment. While anxiety is understandable, we shouldn’t overlook the time we’ve been given. While my wife and I (thank God) are still employed and working from home, we knew we needed to come up with ways to break up the monotony of any given day – especially come the weekend – during quarantine restrictions. I didn’t want to spend my time mindlessly watching television, for even that gets boring after a while. So, we made a to-do-list filled with a handful of…

07Apr 2020 by CJ

Online learning shows parents just how hard teachers work

Information & Education

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States (and the world) education has shifted to a virtual classroom environment through online learning – protecting the lives of students, teachers and both their families. While many colleges today already utilize online learning as an option for course credits throughout any given semester, grades K-12 still rely on face-to-face engagement for effective learning. After all, those formative years are when children and adolescents build their interpersonal skills, strengthen memory and learning development and find motivation from others to challenge themselves to work harder and go further. Still, online learning helps to keep students engaged during this pandemic – reinforcing concepts and techniques, while providing some the routine they sadly miss. If K-12’s recent migration to online learning has perhaps taught…

01Apr 2020 by CJ

3 working from home tips that will help you adjust

Information & Education, Life & Living

“Successfully working from home is a skill, just like programming, designing or writing. It takes time and commitment to develop that skill, and the traditional office culture doesn’t give us any reason to do that.” – Alex Turnbull, Founder and CEO of Groove I started working from home a little over two years ago. As a highly social and team-oriented individual, I questioned how successful (and ultimately how happy) I’d be sitting in my home office alone during any given 40-hour work week. But two years in, I’m still very happy with the choice. Many organizations condition us to believe that success is only achievable in an office environment where ideas and engagement theoretically thrive. While there is some truth to that, success in business today is not contingent upon…