Tag: coronavirus

The Worst Part of Telecommuting

Telecommuting is pretty great. You get to work from home. It’s nice. Covid-19 has put us onto a nine-months-and-counting telecommuting streak, but it’s cool. No traffic. Jeans and sneakers. Able to have dinner with my family every night. Sweet.

There’s only one downside. I’m dealing with it right now.

My wife is on the other side of the house getting caught up on The Mandalorian. She’s down to the last couple of episodes in season one.

The downside of telecommuting is I can hear the TV in the distance but I can’t sit and watch it with her.

I would really like to go watch it with her. I cannot though. I must work. This is the way. Damn it.

Weekend Wrap Up

On Saturday I posted my to do list for the weekend. How’d I do?

  • Wrap Christmas Presents. I only have one person’s gifts left to wrap.
    • Every Christmas present I had in the house that was not wrapped is now wrapped. I’m still waiting on a couple of deliveries, but that’s not a big deal. Almost done!
  • Do Christmasy things with the whole family, specifically we need to watch Elf.
    • Oh hells yes. Elf, Polar Express, Christmasy stuff all over the place. WOOHOO!
  • This is a late arrival to the list but I am going to help Jen make a shit ton of cookies. Hell yes.
    • So many cookies were baked. So many delicious cookies. I’ve done a decent job not devouring all of them, but I doubt my will power is going to hold out for very much longer.
  • MUSIC
    • Holy crap! 48 hours ago the December music was nine songs, seven of which had rhythm guitars. That’s it. Now? 10 songs, all of the rhythm guitars are done, all of the lyrics and melodies are done, eight of the songs have vocals done, two of the songs have all of the tracking done, and one of them is mixed. I did a car music yesterday, and another today, and I’ll need one more tomorrow. December music is suddenly on fire.

So there we have it. My weekend to do list may have been short, but it’s complete. Big time complete. I like it when a plan comes together. Now we just have three work days, and a Christmas Eve to go before our first and hopefully last ever Covid-19 Christmas. Here’s hoping the little bastard goes down in history as a unique little blip on the universe. HoHoHo.

Rest in Peace

We lost an old friend today. Someone from the old neighborhood that we knew since we were very little. She knitted our Christmas stockings for us. Growing up my whole family had one. Then when my sister and brother and I started having families of our own she made more.

Rest in peace.

Unique to Me

I just did something that I bet none of you reading this did. Well, at least today. Probably not. Actually… given the circumstances there is a pretty decent statistical probability that I wasn’t the only one to do this…

I just dropped two at-home Covid-19 tests off at the UPS drop box. There aren’t any symptoms or anything and it was just a precaution, everything is fine. I’ll tell all of you the back story someday. Maybe next week. Whatever.

Did anyone else drop two Covid-19 test kits off today? Was I the only one?

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 68

Quinoa. It’s not all the same. Who woulda thunk?

When I was still going to grocery stores I bought quinoa from what we’ll call Brand A. When I cook the one dish I know how to cook I put one cup of quinoa into two cups of boiling water and it takes about 15-16 minutes for the quinoa to absorb all the water.

For most of our lock down, instacart has been bringing us quinoa from what we’ll call Brand B. When I cook the one dish it takes about 9-10 minutes for the one cup of quinoa to soak up the two cups of water.

After months cooking with Brand B, instacart brought us Brand A again. Hooray! Not that it is better tasting (thought I think it might be) but just because it was fun. Unfortunately I was in such a groove of needing 10 minutes that having it take 15 completely threw me off my game.

In true stir crazy covid spirit though, I can’t help but wonder what the difference is? Why does one brand act so different from another? I mean, I can get two brands of onions and they cook up pretty much the same way. I can get two brands of chicken and they cook up pretty much the same way? What’s so special about quinoa, and is one brand normal and the other not? Is 15 minutes the industry standard while 10 is some kinda freakin’ freak?

Enquiring minds need to know.

It’s a Covid Christmas

It was bound to happen, but did it have to happen to that one?

It’s a Covid Christmas so all of my shopping has been done online. It’s a Covid Christmas so all of my shopping was done much earlier than I usually do it out of fear that somewhere along the supply chain the workforce would be having health issues and things would be delayed.

I found out today that my one big gift… the showstopper, if there were an actual showstopper this year, has had it’s estimated delivery date changed from this weekend to 12/24. Covid Christmas Eve.

I mean, I knew some of the gifts were going to get delayed, and some would probably be delayed long enough to morph from Christmas gift to Birthday gift, but why did it have to be that one?

Ho Ho OhNo!

(No worries, I have a backup plan. I’m covered. I mean, it’s a Covid Christmas after all, right?)

Fantasizing

Dinner dates with my love.

School music concerts.

Long drive day trips where we can stop at a gas station to take a piss if we need to.

Tejas chicken at the Border Cafe (though maybe they should think about changing the name. Freedom fries, maybe?).

LIZARDFISH!!!!

Christmas, though probably not until July.

High school graduation.

Vacations that are not staycations.

Disney World

Live music. If Jeff Beck plays anywhere in North America, we are going.

Weekend visits with the college student.

Seeing family and friends in person.

Hugs, high fives and the like.

Busy Evening

First, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the seditious attempt by the fascists to overthrow the presidential election.

Then the FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine. Sure, Cheeto tried to take credit for the brilliant work of a German company that developed the vaccine without taking operation warp speed money, but hey… every word out of his mouth since at least 2015 has been an instantly verifiable lie so I guess you take what you can get.

Overall, today has not been a good day, but those two things have brightened it up a smidge.

There is a Difference

I am way too loose with the word quarantine. I use it interchangeably with lock down and I really shouldn’t. They are two different things. Lock down is when you shut down your social activities in order to help keep everyone safe. Quarantine is when you suspect that you may have the virus and shut yourself in to absolutely keep everyone safe.

The end goal is the same, it’s just that lock down is much more abstract than quarantine. Lock down is a concept, or a mind set. Quarantine is your responsibility.

I need to stop using quarantine when I mean lock down and vice versa.