March 30th, 2020
I guess I’m glad these posts are still so boring. The news in other parts of the country is really rough, but around here it’s still pretty quiet. John Prine has the Virus, he’s in the hospital in critical condition. I forgot to write this in yesterday’s post, but I spent some of the evening playing John Prine songs. It would have been nice to have my music friends join me, but, you know - the apocalypse and all.
On the emotional roller coaster of the COVID-19 world, this morning I’m feeling sad and lonely. Later today or tomorrow, I might be doing just fine.
It being Monday, I’m headed back to work. It’s raining enough this morning that I’ll probably skip my walk and hope it clears up a bit later.
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Well, working is a welcome distraction from sitting around thinking about the state of the world. It’s sometimes hard to be motivated, but talking to my coworkers is a slice of normal, if I don’t pay attention to the fact that they’ve all turned into small rectangular head-and-torso videos, when they all used to look like full-on humans.
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I got in the hot tub after work today. Did you know there were hot tubs in the apocalypse?
March 31st, 2020
I’m feeling somewhat better this morning, mood-wise. I managed to get a walk in before work, which is nice. Tonight is the second installment of Phish’s Dinner and a Movie series. I’m not sure I’ll watch the whole thing, but it’s nice to have something to look forward to.
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Mini sausages and kale chips for dinner, yum! Watched the Phish show with my wife, but didn’t make mushrooms-on-toast or beans-on-toast like Mike said, but we did have some bean dip on bread for a snack.
April 1st, 2020
Bring on April Fools in the apocalypse!!
My son still hasn’t started any kind of online school. Last week was technically spring break, and the week before that would have been the start of the third trimester, but instead it was the first week of no school in the pandemic. The district is telling us that next week they’ll start distance learning, but it will be enrichment and review of the second trimester, which is already finished. Then, the following week, they’ll start the new stuff. I guess we’ll see how it goes - like many (most?) school districts around the country, they’re not really set up for this, and the teachers don’t have a lot of time to figure it out.
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Also, my son turned 15 almost a month ago, but he still hasn’t gotten his learner’s permit for driving. I wonder why? Oh yeah, I remember - he can’t! Cuz the ‘Rona.
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In the middle of a video-meeting, my son delivered a waffle that was really a chocolate chip cookie. I liked it!
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My cousin hosted another trivia night, over Zoom this time. It worked pretty well. My team, which consisted of my son and me, with help from my wife in the final round, came in fourth place out of seven. Not too shabby, not too shabby.
April 2nd, 2020
I dropped off my tax stuff at the accountant’s office today. Instead of going in, I left everything in a box on a table outside their door and called them to let them know it was there. I sat in my car and watched them get it, then waved and went back home. It was the first time I’ve been out in my car in about a week, and it was pretty quiet out there.
My neck has been complaining about my work-at-home setup, so I propped my laptop up on a couple of cardboard boxes and hooked up an external keyboard. I think it’s better. It would be nice to stop by my office and grab some of my normal desk stuff - a laptop stand, an external monitor, an ergonomic keyboard and mouse.
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Well I didn’t go to my office, but I did borrow a nice gaming keyboard from my son. It’s much nicer than the crappy keyboard I was using this morning. Also, it has cool LED lighting that shifts colors slowly. It’s a nice match for the gaming mouse I’ve been using (also borrowed from my son) for the past couple of weeks, which also has slowly shifting LED lighting. I think that makes me pretty cool, right?
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April 3rd, 2020
So we’ve been baking a lot of bread in quarantine. I’m also trying to make my first sourdough starter. I can’t tell if it’s working. I’ve been feeding it every day for 5 days. The second day, it puffed up a LOT, which was very exciting. But since then, there hasn’t been a lot going on, so I don’t know if it’s doing its thing. I guess I’ll know soon. Or not. Whatever.
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It’s Friday, which means it’s almost the weekend. I do not have any big plans. But it seems important to still have a weekend, especially since I’m working at home and the days all seem roughly the same. Yay weekend!
April 4th, 2020
I didn’t sleep well, and I woke up early. Great weekend so far. We’re planning our virtual Seder for next Saturday. Maybe it’s gonna be weird, but I’m looking forward to it. Today I’m going to help my mother-in-law with something in her house. It’ll be the first time I go into someone else’s house since in what seems like a very long time. I think I’m gonna mask-and-glove up and touch as little as possible. Wish me luck!
April 5th, 2020
Forgot to write anything yesterday, so I’m digging deep in my quarantine memory. I did a small woodworking project, to help free up space in my garage for a chest freezer. In the evening, I played online board games with my son, my cousin, and some friends. We used a Tabletop Simulator on Steam, which is more like a physics simulator that lets people create board games. Then you move cards around, shuffle decks, roll dice, move pieces, and stuff like that. It’s pretty cool, but a bit clunky compared to real life. Still, it’s a fun way to play board games with people who live far way - which, right now, is everyone.
Also, my sourdough starter is ready, so I started my first sourdough bread. So far, it’s been an adventure that may or may not end up in a loaf of bread.