legalmoose | Entries tagged with covid-19

Tuesday morning the husband and I went and got our second monkeypox vaccine shots. Mine has expanded out nicely in a flat pink splotch that's bigger around than a golf ball, but not as big around as a baseball; his has barely raised past the immediate dime shaped bit where the needle went in. Lucky dog. At least it isn't itching too badly, but I learned with the last one to moisturize it when/if it got itchy and that would calm it down. I took Tuesday off work, though I was monitoring email off and on. Other than the light itchy, no real side effects. Then sometime around 4am Wednesday morning I woke up, nauseous and headachey. No fun! And even less fun because I had to drive into the office on Wednesday.

Since C4/LM hadn't been updated since 2017, I haven't mentioned that I switched agencies in January of 2020, just before we all got sent home for COVID in March of 2020. Went from the Big Gubm'nt Agency (BGA) to a much Smaller Gubm'nt Agency (SGA), for more pay and without any supervisory duties. Woot! But, their headquarters is waaaaay down toward the end of one of the Metro lines out in the suburbs. Not exactly the 1.25 mile walking commute I had at the BGA. Then the husband and I moved to a townhouse in the MD suburbs in the late summer of 2020, to get more space after working from home on top of one another in my old one bedroom apartment in DC, which is on the same Metro line as my new office and close-ish to his office downtown. However, the Metro is currently horked thanks to construction, and will be until summer of 2023, so I'm unable to Metro to work until then, making driving there the only real option, which can take anywhere from 30-60+ minutes, depending on the time of day.

So, fast forward to yesterday. There was a high-level meeting with the head of the SGA which I unfortunately had to attend. I did take full advantage of our maxi-flex schedule and drove in around 10ish, which meant it only took 30ish minutes to get there. The meeting itself went very, very well; we had prepared for the worst, but really got the best result, so it was worth the face time with the agency head. Unfortunately there was another meeting scheduled after that, at a time that didn't give me enough time to get home first, so but the time I got out of that the various map apps had my commute home at about an hour. It took a little less than that, but only because it routed my all the way around the DC Beltway, as opposed to running up through the highway that cuts through the east side of DC proper. Less stop and go, which was appreciated since I still drive a manual transmission car.

I get to repeat that for some mandatory fun with my office mid-day on the 1st, but I'm scheduling my day such that I can get out of there soon after and avoid the rush hour nonsense. I wouldn't mind Metro'ing down, but driving is for the birds. And even after I'm able to go back my plan is to spend the minimum amount of time I have to in the office (two days every two weeks, which I'm scheduling on Mondays) to meet the HR requirements. Fewer people commute in on Mondays, and since I've avoided Covid by avoiding people, I'd like to minimize my risk there. Cynically, there are also more Monday holidays, so I'll get more random days off from commuting that way. But I expect that eventually there will be more call-backs for in-person meetings like the one I had yesterday, though even before the pandemic my new SGA was very big on and good about telecommuting and hybrid meetings.

I think yesterday hit the record for the most number of places I have been since the pandemic started. We hit the eye doctor to pick up my new frames, one of which I'm going to have to return and start over on - they're too curved in the front and are creating a fishbowl effect. I had forgotten that I need the flattest frames I can find. I think I'm going to have them put a big obnoxious note in my file to that effect so we avoid this in the future. Then it was off to the old apartment to pick up a package, a pre-order that we couldn't change the shipping on. Then off to the comic shop for the weekly haul. We then tried to find something the husband needed at BB&B, but no go there. Target was a winner, though, and then it was off to BJ's for gas and stocking up the fridge and pantry. And then, finally, home, where we had to haul much of the stuff up at least one floor to the kitchen. I think reminding the husband of that may control some of his impulses to buy, but I doubt it. ;)

So a very full late afternoon and evening. Didn't see anyone without a mask in all that, though saw several who thought they were wearing a chin guard, or a mouth-but-not-nose mask. Steered well clear of those, but otherwise didn't feel overly unsafe being out & about, which was a relief. I don't consider myself an anxious person, but I've had a certain low-level anxiety for any shopping outing, as I try and manage for other peoples' behavior. I know on some of those I could just do delivery, but at the same time I prefer to do the actual picking-and-choosing for myself. So, I manage behaviors.

One of my processes for avoiding people during the pandemic has been to do my grocery shopping mid-mornings, when way fewer people are in the store. My small gubm'nt agency has allowed us a lot of flexibility to work odd hours, so on days I want to shop I log into work early in the morning, work a bit, go shopping after 9:30, then back to work for the rest of the day. I've found it a pretty good system, and it's avoided crowded shopping conditions.

This morning's trip started out normally. Got in a little after 10, started shopping, didn't really notice much about the crowd, until I saw the electronic signs proclaiming that Tuesdays and Thursdays they had older and immune compromised shopping from 7am to 9pm. Yup, not just a couple hours in the morning like normal stores, they set out all of Tuesdays and Thursdays. And after that began the longest grocery shopping trip of my life.

The zombies who were in the store apparently didn't give a flying fuck about the directional arrows on the floor. I get it, they're a bit obnoxious, especially if you're flying down an empty aisle to grab one thing. But when you're camped out, blocking the wrong end of the aisle for an eternity while you contemplate canned foods, it's more than a bit rude. And that kept happening. Not often enough to just flat out ignore the arrows, but often enough to be obnoxious.

It promises to be another long night here in DC. We're not near enough to downtown or the WH to be really impacted by the demonstrations, but I can hear the helicopters flying overhead pretty well, and occasionally police sirens will sound in the distance. We have the windows open tonight because some planned electrical work by the local utility tomorrow caused the building to have to turn off the AC this afternoon and all day tomorrow. So it'll be loud, and a tad too warm while trying to fall asleep, and then too cold in the morning. Minor inconveniences, I know.

The overwhelming emotion I feel most from all of this is sadness (and more than a dash of anger). I worry about the rest of this year and how the US will muddle through, despite the idiot in the white house.

Aside from work today, I did get out of the house and to the grocery store. Well, tried to go to one, and the main entrance to their garage was closed with a "use the 9th street entrance", but no other signage, so I decided if they didn't want to tell me how to get there I didn't need to go there, and drove to another store. Which was actually better stocked on many staples than the other one has been of late (I go there because it carries the brand of deli sliced cheese that the husband insists on, but which I thankfully did not need today). Made him instant pot mac & cheese, which he says is really good, and very rich. Being a lactard (and now one who has to avoid wheat) I don't partake. Was going to make something new for myself as well, but had leftover meatloaf & veggies instead. It worked.

Oh, forgot, the husband's place of employment, the school he works for, is about 2-3 blocks from the WH, but was mercifully untouched. They tagged the windows of the big consulting office next door, but didn't break any of the glass (though several business in the surrounding blocks were smashed in). He walked by this morning and checked on it, both for the exercise and to see the results from the past two nights in person, and was relieved to see the glass storefront untouched, while confirming with the building management that they were going to cover it with plywood today. I suppose he'll check on that in the morning. And at some point tomorrow we have to go vote in our local primary. Lines are almost never anything at our polling station, which is across the street, so I didn't bother with an absentee ballot.

Current Mood: sad

If nothing else, this quarantine has confirmed that I can/should plan actual meals where I make an effort to cook for every other day. If I plan stuff for every day, I end up with too many leftovers, and a husband who just wants something easy like a hot dog. That or stuff goes to waste because of the aforementioned hot dog. So, every other day. Last night was meatloaf, squash, and asparagus. Tomorrow is a chicken pot pie-ish meal. Saturday will be sausage and marinara. And leftovers in between.

I think the husband and I finally hit our respective limits in terms of the lack of activity. I had tweaked my hip flexors, which led to some lower back pain, but that's finally resolved and I'm back to running. He had gotten tired of getting ugly looks from the local gendarmes when he took a morning walk, so he had stopped those, but I think he's ready to start some form of them back up again. We're probably both deal with quarantine fatigue, but are also committed to staying in as much as possible. A weekly grocery run and an occasional bit of take out have been it for us otherwise.

Today I'm straightening up for our cleaning person to come over tomorrow. It'll be the first time since the whole mess began, and I think she's feeling as stir crazy as we are, based on her texts today.

Other than that it's business as usual here. I did start playing Death Stranding last night, which is some messed up Japanese weirdness. Kojima definitely did what he was trying to do - create a different form of gaming. It doesn't neatly fit any of the current forms, and the game play is fun for having to figure that out. Around dealing with the aforementioned weirdness. Going between that and Animal Crossing is a bit of a mind fuck, honestly. Dark and broody to cute and perky.

While attempting to clean out my little keurig coffee maker this morning, I managed to blow the motor (and a house breaker). So, RIP coffee maker. Of course, no one is shipping them quickly (almost three weeks for Amazon), and I don't think I need to risk a trip out for one, so I ordered a slightly upgraded one from the company directly. I'd just forego the thing entirely, but I just got a big supply of the little k-cups, and I'm not going to let those sit or go to waste - there's not enough space in this apartment for that, and I'm not willing to waste the money. In the meantime of course I have coffee redundancy (gotta feed the addiction gods), so french press it is for the next week or two.

Went grocery shopping today during the day, rightly (I think) figuring that fewer people would be out shopping during the work day than before or after. I knew most of the local jurisdictions were requiring face masks, so I brought a homemade one (T-shirt method). What I was not prepared for was the metering to get in the store.

There was a line around the corner to get in (spread out because people were mostly staying away from one another; stickers on the pavement helped with that), and they were only letting a certain number of folks in at a time. As a result, it was busy inside, but not crowded. People were fairly good about keeping away, no inadvertent brushing, and no crowding in aisles.

But it was still stressful as all fuck. Glasses kept fogging up from the homemade mask; sort of got it fixed for most of the trip, but any time I had to talk they fogged right back up. And I just wanted to get in, grab the things on my list, and get out. There was no lingering, no real shopping for things I might not have been looking for when I came in. And of course every other human comes across as a threat, because who might have the bug? Who knows. And you can't use facial expressions to indicate anything. No smiling, no looks of shared hardship, just masks and gloves.

So the whole experience just shook me, I think because it was the first time under the new face mask thing, with a store that was really trying to make the whole thing safer for everyone.

Two nights ago I was cutting something in the kitchen and the knife slipped and I cut into one of my finger nails. My first thought was to make sure it wasn't bleeding (it wasn't), and then to trim it down so it didn't catch and tear. Then I started thinking about where I would even go now if it had been bleeding and hadn't stopped.

(side note: in grad school in St. Louis I was making a frito pie [don't judge], and while slicing the onions I managed to cut a finger in a way that wasn't painful, but it wouldn't stop slowly bleeding. Direct pressure didn't work, just wouldn't stop - it needed stitches. The on-campus clinic couldn't help, so they referred me to the local emergency room. I had the presence of mind to finish cooking and having dinner, and then my then-crazy-bf and I went to the ER. It took a couple hours to get me to the back and get the 2-3 stitches I needed to patch the slice. In the meantime, while I was in the back getting stitched there was a gang shootout outside the ER, much to the distress of the crazy ex-bf.)

Anywhere I would be likely to go would definitely up my exposure to covid-19, and be likely to take far too long, and take up resources that would be better used for the pandemic. Ugh. It was a sobering thought, and a scary one.

Didn't sleep well last night, and it was chilly-ish this morning (42?) so I saved the running for this evening. Did some speed work, doing three repeats of about a third of a mile, going faster than my normal running pace, then walking/slow running back to do it all over again. Still did the 5k distance all told, but because I was sticking closer to home (down along the local army fort and the soccer stadium) I avoided the 'crowds' over by the navy yard.

Got two robocalls from the mayor telling me either to stay calm or stay home, or maybe both. I'm not sure what her accent is, but it's odd, and as a result the word was kind of ambiguous. I think it was stay home, which would make sense, but anyway. I was kind of amused, because the first robocall I sent to voicemail and didn't get the identifying info at the intro, so it was just some random woman telling me to stay calm. Second time I picked up and let it run, and she clearly identified herself there.

The cats have sought out a lot more attention since we've been home for the last three weeks. Benjamin in particular decides he needs to be underfoot and getting head scratches sometime mid-morning. And Ezri comes fussing at random times when I'm in the kitchen. She would prefer I just lie down so she could sleep on my legs, but that only works for so long. She did enjoy that I took a short nap this afternoon before the run.

The husband has started marking the quarantine time on our chalkboard wall. I'm glad we're both working, as a complete lack of structure would not be fun. Plus, employment is good and all that. We're slightly worried about his school, but not overly so. But I'm also glad I already switched him over to the federal health insurance last year so he's covered regardless.

We did some grocery shopping today, before the governors and mayor of MD, VA, and DC all issued mandatory 'stay-at-home' orders (though our trip would have been allowed). No TP, and no eggs, otherwise we got pretty much everything on our list. Rice was sold out but for box mixes. There were no canned chickpeas to be found. People were mostly good about staying away, but it's not like you can actually shop and stay 6 feet away from everyone. It was rather dead, for a mid-afternoon.

We're not dire on TP, though we are on 'keep an eye out to get another set when we spot it' status. And the lack of eggs is annoying, but not life threatening. So, we'll muddle through.

After a fit in the kitchen last night while trying to do too many things at once (empty the dishwasher so I could empty the sink so I could cook, with no staging space for any of it), I spent a good bit of time straightening up in there today. Pulled some other things out of the cabinet and reorganized so they took up less space while trying to find something else. The husband did his normal head grooming (wahl clippers and a short cropped head for the win), then vacuumed the place. Did a lot of video gaming otherwise, and was very excited to have finally done something in Diablo 3 that I had not ever managed to get done (finish a set dungeon). I might actually get further along this season than I ever have before. Really digging the armor set that was awarded, too, it's been kick ass.

Past that I've learned that the cotton wash cloths I've knitted are the absolute best thing to clean my cast iron cookware. The sponges never quite cut it, and of course I'm not taking steel wool to them, and while the plastic scrapers will get big things off, they don't quite clear the surface. Enter the wash cloths, and all is good. And as a bonus they knit up fairly quickly if I would ever need more.

Made more cornbread and a dirty rice this evening. Will be good leftovers. We're not quite dire on TP, but we will need some things, so we're thinking a mid-day grocery run in the early part of the week. My work place allows some flexibility on timing of work between 6am and 10pm, so errands are a definite possibility (like the comics/home depot run last Wednesday). I expect this will last for months rather than weeks, so I'm trying to get used to the new normal.

I'm sad to say this, but I honestly think this isn't going to get real for the folks in the White House until someone close to them gets sick. So far they're treating this like it's this abstract thing that won't actually touch them, like it's too distant to be real. Meanwhile I know of at least two friends-of-friends who have died, and several others who are sick. Ugh.

We're trying pizza delivery from our normal shop. Keeping my fingers crossed, as this will be a nice break from cooking.

Been playing a lot of Animal Crossing. It's been fun to run into familiar faces and see new ones. Otherwise I ran today, and have been a lump around the house. The cats enjoyed me sitting still, as I'm a nice warm bed when I do. ;) Comics, video games, cooking, teasing the cats. And, of course, work, when it's time for that.

I think this whole isolation thing is going to drive the husband much crazier than it will me. I've always been a home body, so I have plenty of things to distract myself. He, on the other hand, gets restless each day and wants to get the fuck out of the place and do things, so staying in is not his favorite thing. He's very stressed over what this is going to do to movie theaters, as that's one of his absolute favorite things to do.

Work has been okay, I'm gradually getting more questions, and becoming a bit more productive at home. I did get myself a standing desk stand, which has helped (the dining table's ergonomics aren't right. I haven't tried using it on the floor yet, but I'm sure that'll come eventually. Half the fun has been finding the right place to do the video chats so there's not a ton of backlighting from the balcony. I'm sure my coworkers are amused at some of the stuff we have on the bookshelves (giant statues of Storm and She-Ra, for example). They're used to seeing the Legos, because I have those all over my office, too. ;)

After my last call yesterday I retreated to my own deserted island over in the new Animal Crossing game for the Switch. The husband has been generous in letting me play it on the TV yesterday and today so far, though I'll be happy to play it in handheld mode when he'd like the big screen. It's been fun, and they've had a good balance so far of allowing a lot of progress in the early part of the game (compared to earlier versions), while still leaving you needing more things that will come later to fully explore the island. Big thumbs up there.

I went into the office for the first half of the day. I had intended it to be the whole day, but they very strongly urged me to "get the hell out of here" as soon as I was able/wanted. Our cleaning woman was here this morning, so I lasted until around 1, when I finally took off. Did get to answer several virus related questions while there (travel stuff for agency grantees, mainly), but also sort of glad to be out. There were six of us there when I got there. One quickly left, and I think I was next out the door. But for the next two weeks, at least, I'll be teleworking. As, apparently, will be the husband.

So far the hardest part today has been keeping Benjamin the cat off the work laptop keyboard. Since I'm home he's very much wanted attention.

The local grocery store still looked like it was hit by locusts. Not terribly bad on fresh produce, though definitely low. But very little in terms of 'normal' meats, milks. No eggs, almost no long-term shelf stable when refrigerated meats (hot dogs, sausages). I grabbed margarine, squash, scallions, some fake cheese slices that I like to snack on, and some potatoes. Things should be getting re-stocked at some point, and we should be set for a bit, but it's still eyebrow raising to see the panic buying taking place.

Now back to work, post-late-lunch.