15 Ways this Data Scientist Spent the Quarantine at Home

and no, I didn’t spend all my time going on a coursera / udemy binge

7 min readMar 31, 2021

Coming from the working class and a non-affluent family, I probably spent a good part of my waking hours commuting. It took on a toll on my health and my mental well-being. Once, I caught pneumonia even though neither I nor anyone I knew (or interacted with on a daily basis) was a smoker.

For most of my days, I always wondered what my life would be like if I didn’t have to commute.

The pandemic has brought on a lot of challenges for most of us and working with a company with a brilliant boss and an amazing culture, I was fortunate to be able to work-from-home even in the pre-pandemic times.

Finally, I now know what life looks like when no time is wasted on traffic.

Here are 15 ways I spent the quarantine time at home:

1. Woodworking

I’ve always considered myself a maker — and I’ve always been fascinated by everything rustic and hygge. But, as a family, we were always pinching pennies, so I wasn’t able to afford extra “hobbies” stuff like a hammer drill, let alone power tools like circular saw, sander, palm router, jigsaw, kreg jig…

Since I was able to work-from-home, I saved all the money that would’ve gone into transpo expenses and bought some 2nd-hand / affordable power tools… then, I got my hands dirty with some woodworking projects!

DIY wooden standing desk setup and the typewriter featured on my website

this is me rocking my ash gray blonde hair while using the standing desk (to avoid back pain!)

DIY wooden low table with an open drawer where I place all the papers & notebooks I use often

rakk-lam-ang lite recommended by a friend, wrist rest from scrap wood

back of laptop has wooden stoppers so wires don’t get squished and ruined

DIY bookstand with phone holder (so that the front cam is at eye level when I take video calls)

the wooden bookstand also has hooks for organizing headset, wires, etc at the back (out of sight, out of mind!)

DIY wooden organizer: first, I measured out the items that are used often, then made a cut list on plywood

DIY wooden laptop stand for working on the bed but you don’t want your laptop to overheat

DIY wooden food tray to surprise my girlfriend with breakfast-in-bed

a portrait of my cat atty (made by my gf), on top of the wooden coin collection box I built for my girlfriend

this is me screaming, while pressing the trigger on the circular saw, on a DIY crosscut jig I made (with coco lumber & aluminum angle bar)

my first time cutting with a circular saw, a success!

this is me listening to my woodworking mentor give instructions on how to use pocket holes on huge lumber

2. Raising chickens in the backyard

In the province, native chickens are a hit. This is due to a local custom called palit-buhay where people would sacrifice a chicken (specifically, native chickens) whenever someone in the family is celebrating a birthday or if it’s time for a house blessing. Besides palit-buhay, our chickens are also a hit among sabungeros, locals who engage in cockfighting.