Tag: quarantine

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 69

Episode 69… hehehe… sorry

A thought on the continuing saga of lock down. We are all swearing more. A lot more. All of us. Casually, emphatically, humorously, savagely. We’re all swearing more.

We watched an episode of a new show about swearing. I think it was called Swear, oddly enough. Is that a sign that people outside of our house are swearing more too? All of America is swearing more, so much so that we need a TV show to celebrate it.

I’m okay with that. There are a lot of things worth swearing about.

12/30 Random

Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I have to work. We never get NYE off. We get Christmas Eve off, but never NYE. Why don’t I ever put in for that day? I don’t know… I guess I’m just responsible. Idiot.

Speaking of work, late next week I am going to be issued a new computer. A laptop this time. 16+ years as a desktop user and I’m making the switch. Actually, we’re all making the switch. At least that’s the rumor. The company is going laptop across the board. I’m actually the last of my group to get one. No more trying to find an open desk when I travel between buildings.

Traveling between buildings is actually the issue here. I actually have to do it in order to pick up the lappy. I have to go to the building in Canton. I don’t want to. Not even a little bit. I haven’t been in a work building since March 13th and I was really hoping to stay out until I got that second dose of one of the vaccines. I have to do all sorts of health checks before I can walk into the building, and I have to wear a mask the whole time. It’s safe, I just don’t like it. I’ll only be in there for 15 minutes or so. Still… I’m freaking a little. Just a little.

Speaking of work things that don’t have anything to do with work, I’m sitting at my desk finishing up lunch, typing this little postie and listening to music. My iPad is streaming to our new pair of HomePod Minis. It’s a really sweet little setup. I set my entire iTunes library to shuffle. It’s been running since a bit before 9:00. If I leave it on for a few days it still won’t have repeated a file. It just played a song from a Boston music compilation CD (Pipeline!) by a great band called Christmas. I thought to myself, I wonder if they are on Apple Music. I brought it up and searched and… yeah, shoulda known better. Naming your band Christmas back in the ’80’s might have been a cool move. Naming your band Christmas in the ’20’s when no one goes to record stores anymore and everyone finds your music by searching in one app or another… not a good move.

The kids are coming over tonight. That makes me happy. The kids are spending New Years Eve at their dad’s. That makes me sad. It’s the price we pay for having them at our house Christmas morning, but it still makes me sad.

Okay, it’s 2:00 so I need to get back to work. Lunch time is over. Back to it, red head.

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.

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.

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 67

I’ve mentioned this one or two (thousand) times before but when the lock down started we vowed (well, that’s too dramatic a word but it works) that we would make the bed every day. After a few months my company made a suggestion that if you’re from home in your bedroom you should keep your bed made. Two good reasons to keep the room looking neat.

I made the bed this morning. While doing so, I very nearly did the single most impossible thing a human being can do. I nearly, very nearly, made the bed while the cat was sitting on it. I pulled up the sheet on my side of the bed while Patches was sitting on Jen’s side. I walked around to Jen’s side and Patches walked back to my side and I did the sheet again. Same thing with the blanket. I did one side while she was on the other. As I was grabbing the decorative pillows to finish the bed making job, Jen walked in the room and Patches the magical kitty jumped off the bed to go say hello to her.

I was that close to completing the single most impossible task ever.

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 66

Execute Stir Crazy Files Order #66. What? Oh, sorry…

I’m feeling trapped. It’s rough today. I think it’s more than just the lock down. I think it’s the weather and the thin little sheet of ice that is covering everything. The Christmas lights are on, it’s warm and cozy inside, I have every thing I want and need and all I can think of is going outside. It’s barely above freezing out there but I want out. I want to go to a restaurant and a concert and a music store that sells Gibson guitars and Fender amplifiers.

In the immortal words of Tiny Rick Sanchez, “Let me out. Let me out.”

The kids will be coming over tonight. That is good. It should cheer me up. It does, definitely, but I still want out. I want to go outside. I want to go for a drive and have a destination. Come on, let’s end this pandemic thing and go out and see the world.

Let me out!

(having said all of that, I am most definitely not going out. I am, and will remain, a loyal observer of the lock down. I will keep my family safe and healthy if it’s the last thing I do)

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 65

I don’t have a stir crazy story. I wish I did. Today was just a crummy day at work. Lots of stuff going wrong. It just wouldn’t end. I’m so ready for the weekend. That’s my stir crazy, I’m going crazy waiting for the weekend.

Christmas is coming the covid’s getting fat. Please put a vaccine in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a vaccine then an antiviral will due, if you haven’t got an antiviral then shit man, yer screwed.

I need to go to sleep, I think. G’night, America. Dream sweet dreams of a fascist free country.

Cautious Optimism

The United Kingdom has approved one of the Covid-19 vaccines (Pfizer’s? I think?). They are starting to work on actual distribution.

There is suddenly a very tiny pin prick of light at the end of this long, black coronavirus tunnel.

The United States isn’t there yet. I’m not sure what the FDA’s timeline is, or even if they have a timeline yet. I’m not sure what Pfizer and Moderna need to do to proceed. I’ve heard that first responders and elderly folks in homes will be the first Americans to receive the vaccine. I’m good with that. After that, I don’t know what the rumors are. I hope my step son and his immune deficiencies will be near the front of the line. My weight problem puts me at risk too, but I want him taken care of first.

It’s still going to take months for that tiny pin prick of light to grow into an opening big enough for us to walk through, and it is WAY too early to start making plans. Still, we have a high school graduation in the Spring. We are hoping to go back to Disney World in the Summer.

I’m spending my lunch break today listening to a podcast where two part time musicians are fantasizing about getting their bands back together in the Spring and what that’s going to be like. I don’t want to look that far ahead. I don’t want to get optimistic. I don’t want to start fantasizing. But… that first band practice is going to feel like a victory parade. We’re going to play like garbage and it’s going to be the most enjoyable rehearsal in the history of rehearsals. The first gig… when we can fill up a room with friends and family and music lovers and people from all walks of life… that is going to be a celebration like no other. That is going to be an amazing experience. I mean, yeah we’re just a silly cover band, but it’s going to be a wonderful thing.

Don’t get cocky, Robert. Cautious optimism is all you get for now. Maybe stop thinking about that tiny little point of light at the end of the tunnel. Try, at least.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend has finally arrived. My favorite of all the long weekends. Sure Covid has destroyed it, but at least they can’t take it away from us completely.

Today is the first day we spent with my step daughter who is home from college. She’s going to spend the rest of the long weekend at her dad’s because that’s just the way the calendar worked out. Still, I am so glad she’s here.

We are doing a zoom Thanksgiving tomorrow with my side of the family. I don’t think my step kids will be available, but I hope we can sneak them in for a few minutes at least.

Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday. It’s going to take more than a global pandemic and a worldwide quarantine and the end of American democracy to ruin it for me. Damn right.

The Stir Crazy Files – Episode 64, aka The Perfect Delivery Storm

I just survived a perfect storm of deliveries. George Clooney was there and everything. It was crazy.

First, a package delivery service. I don’t know which one. The two packages came from Amazon, so was it an Amazon truck? No clue. What I do know is that the delivery professional leaned the two boxes against my door.

Let me type that out again in case you missed it. He/she/they leaned the packages against my door.

How, dear delivery professional, am I supposed to go outside and get the delivery if I cannot open the door because you leaned the friggin packages against the door?

Prior to my finding out about the first delivery, Instacart came by and dropped off some groceries. They did not block the door, because the door was already blocked. There is a little porch outside of our front door that has three steps leading up to it. They placed the groceries on the first step. They completely covered the whole step.

That sounds worse than it was. If someone who has a physical issue and can’t walk well came to our house they might have trouble, but for a reasonably healthy person, walking over the first step should be doable. It’s not ideal, but it’s not as bad as leaning the boxes against the door.

When we received the notification that instacart had been delivered, I went out to get it. That’s when I noticed that I could not open the friggin door because of the first delivery. Have I hammered home how obnoxious it is for a delivery person to block the door with the delivery? If I haven’t, it’s friggin obnoxious. Anyway, I looked out the window in our door to see why I couldn’t open the door, and that was when the perfect storm was completed. The mailman was two houses down the street, and heading our way.

Our mailbox is next to the door, at the top of the three steps. If the mailman arrived he’d have to step over the groceries. Shit. I can’t ask the mailman to do that, can I?

I forced the door open. I had to push the boxes aside and then swing my foot through the small opening and kick the boxes further away. Once I was able to squeeze out I grabbed the two boxes and threw them into the house (not literally, I placed them inside the door) and then jumped over the groceries and cleared a path. I got back in the house just in time to avoid Covid contact with the mail carrier. I did see that he was wearing a mask, which made me happy.

A minute or two later I had all of the groceries inside and put away. The boxes are in our little package staging area waiting for me to open them up later.

Please… if you’re delivering stuff… don’t block the door. Don’t block the steps either, but more important, don’t block the damn door.